Lynette Ford
Storytelling & Spoken Word
Fourth-generation storyteller Lynette (Lyn) Ford is a teaching artist with the Ohio Teaching Artists Roster and the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, a Thurber House mentor to young writers, a storytelling and story-writing coach, a certified laughter yoga teacher, and a great-grandma. Lyn has also offered storytelling/story-writing residencies for the Ohio Arts Council’s Creative Aging Ohio Initiative.
For more than 30 years, Lyn has provided stories for libraries and schools, keynote and closing presentations, workshops at universities, education and literacy conferences, and featured programs at some of the most prestigious storytelling conferences and festivals in the United States, Australia, and Ireland.…
Jennifer Hambrick
Poetry
A poet hailed for her “brilliant” imagery, “masterful” craftsmanship, and “uniquely musical voice,” Jennifer Hambrick is the six-time Pushcart Prize- and Best of the Net-nominated author of the free verse poetry collection In the High Weeds, winner of the Stevens Manuscript Award of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies; the haibun collection Joyride (Red Moon Press), winner of the Marianne Bluger Book Award from Haiku Canada; the collection of avant-garde haiku and short prose poems, a silence or two (Red Moon Press), acclaimed as “a stunning collection … destined to become a haiku classic;” and the free verse poetry collection Unscathed (NightBallet Press).…
Heidi Heacock is an artist based out of central Ohio, working primarily as an acrylic, encaustic and mixed-media painter. She has nine years experience teaching art in public schools and 15+ years experience as a working artist. Having grown up on a 7th generation farm, she draws inspiration from landscapes, nature, found objects, and mixed- media. As a child, Heidi would often visit her grandmother, who was a big influence in encouraging her love of the arts. She would praise her creative efforts, buy her supplies, and take her to classes, making Heidi’s beginning experiences with art-making peaceful and therapeutic.…
Ann Heckler
Dance/Movement, Ballet, Yoga & Meditation, & Adaptive Dance
Ann earned her degree in both Education and Dance in west Michigan, where she began her teaching career in 1985. She joined the faculty of The Toledo Ballet in 2007, then shortly after created the first adaptive dance program in the Toledo Area. She is grateful for the training the Boston Ballet Adaptive Dance directors offered her through the years, allowing her to grow the Toledo Ballet Adaptive Dance program to the level it is today. Ann enjoys collaborating with local art organizations, such as Unruly Arts at the Toledo Botanical Gardens as well as The Toledo City Parks, to further the opportunities for the dancers she serves.…
Jessica Held
Visual Arts: Painting & Photography
Cincinnati native Jessica Held is an artist, a teaching artist, a small business owner, a festival coordinator, and an art editor living in Athens, Ohio. She earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts in painting and photography at Ohio University. Jessica has exhibited nationally and internationally with her first exhibit in Prague, Czech Republic while studying abroad. She continues to create, exhibit, and publish her paintings, photographs, and collaborations. In 2023, Jessica had a public art piece installed in Athens, Ohio. In 2024, she exhibited in a global group show in Rochester, New York.…
Yasufumi Ishida
Multidiscipline: Storytelling, Japanese Traditional Theatre, Origami, & Kamishibai
Inspired by a movie “Patch Adams”, Yasu came to the United States to become a professional hospital clown. Earning a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre for Young Audiences, he also graduated from the Chavez Studio of Magic, the world’s most prestigious magic school. He beautifully imbues the essence of traditional Japanese culture into his magic and storytelling. Yasu has enthralled family audiences all over the United States, including performances at the Disney Summer Stage Kids in New York, the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. (the world’s largest festival of Japanese culture outside of Japan), the Florida Storytelling Festival, the Hawaii Book & Music Festival, the Tryon Super Tuesday Children Festival (NC), KIDabra International and Touhill Performing Art Center (MO).…
Kimberly Jarvis
Dance/Movement
Kimberly Crislip Jarvis is an educator, choreographer, and administrator, known for her exceptional contributions to the creative arts. With an impressive educational background, Kimberly holds degrees and certifications from respected institutions such as the Scandinavian Institute for Physical Culture in Denmark, the American College of Sports Medicine, Malone University, and the University of Akron.
Throughout her career, Kimberly has collaborated with Kent State University, Ballet Magnificat! in Jackson, Mississippi, and Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts, where she had the privilege of working alongside esteemed dancers such as Merce Cunningham, Meredeth Monk, Craig Patterson, Patricia Lent, Susanna Chaffey, Jennifer Way, Milton Myers, and Dianne McIntyre.…
Nancy Kangas
Poetry
Nancy Kangas is a poet, filmmaker, and teaching artist based in Columbus. In the 1980s and 90s, she edited Nancy’s Magazine, an intimate mix of poetry, comics, and advice; the full run of this zine was recently selected to be archived in the Rare Books & Manuscripts Library of The Ohio State University. She’s written and performed poetry-theater pieces, including a selection for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, and paired family slides with flash fiction for fiction for Ohio Edit, an online magazine.
She facilitates creative writing workshops with students and teachers, with a special focus on art-making with preschoolers and elders.…
Douglas Laubacher
Visual Arts, Comics & Cartooning
I’m a cartoonist from Northeast Ohio. My comic strip “Unbound” runs in a handful of papers spanning Stark, Carroll and Tuscarawas Counties. I have nearly a decade of experience teaching every age group the art of cartooning and cartooning adjacent classes. I’ve taught students as young as 3 and as old as 93. I’ve taught in libraries, senior centers, museums, schools and community centers. I pursued Fine Art and English in College because ever since I was twelve I knew, this is what I wanted todo. I hold a BA in Fine Art from the University of Mount Union, am a certified substitute teacher and a member of the National Cartoonist Society.…
Sara Lawrence-Sucato
Dance/Movement
Sara Lawrence-Sucato (BA Dance & MS Organizational Leadership from Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA) hails from Columbus, Ohio and lives and works in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Sara has worked in various capacities with The Dancing Wheels Company & School since 2006. She danced in the company for sixteen seasons performing works by noted choreographers Marc Brew, Nai Ni Chen, David Dorfman, Christopher Fleming, Catherine Meredith, Stuart Pimsler, David Roussève, Ginger Thatcher, Mark Tomasic, Michael Uthoff and Robert Wesner as well as by internationally renowned choreographers Donald McKayle and Dianne McIntyre. She served as the company’s Tour Manager for thirteen years and as Rehearsal Director for three years.…
Sierra Leone
Entrepreneur, Poet, Wholistic Urban Creative Arts, & Theatre
Poet, producer, activist, educator, and entrepreneur Sierra Leone captivates audiences with her unassuming ingenuity, profound insight, and comedic sense of “knowing.”
A Governor’s Award winner and writer, Sierra is the president and artistic director of OFP Theatre and Production Company. For more than a decade, Ohio has benefited from Sierra’s vision of creative urban arts as a powerful artistic medium to bring communities together across racial, cultural, ideological, and economic divides. Her project “The Signature: A Poetic Medley Show” presents a hybrid of urban poetry, music, dance, and visual arts from local, regional, and international talent.…
Ami Majmudar
Dance/Movement: Classical Indian Dance, Creative Writing, & Storytelling
Ami Majmudar inhabits many crossroads: Indian-American, first generation, multilingual, cultural, and ethnic minority. Ami’s work as dancer, teacher, storyteller, and author is an ongoing effort to connect her many paths and to share her experiences, her art, and her stories with others.
With a degree in English Literature from the University of California-Berkeley, followed by a Master’s degree in Education, Ami began her career as a high school English teacher. While raising her three children, Ami began writing short stories and then books. Her debut novel, The Torchbearers, published by Penguin India, was shortlisted for the Neev Book Award for Distinguished Children’s Literature.…
