“Being a teacher is a gift of helping others experience new things. To watch students move past their limitations and enjoy the process of dancing is still a miraculous moment for me. To see my students shine with smiles on their faces is a mission worth embarking on. Pure Joy is only a few steps away.”

“The arts – in all genres – provide both carrier and crucible for examining our deepest values and embodying expressions of our better selves. I think this is the case in both process and product. We can take risks and ask penetrating questions in our poems or collages, as well as try out our vision of a better, more equitable world. Especially if we support each other as artists through this transformation – have each other’s backs as we make mistakes and adjust from them – we can build, through artistic endeavor, greater community. In doing so, we have the power to create the more just world we want to live in and pass along to next generations. We need each other in and through the arts.”

“I have constantly craved new movement experiences and opportunities to develop my skills to enhance the stories that I feel so passionate about. In the beginning, it was the pure joy of moving and being able to express my emotions and dramatic impulses. With further training and awareness dance became so much more. Dance is a place for investigation, experimentation, struggle, desire and the opportunity to take risks, fall and rise!”

“The arts — artists — have always been there to bring light to dark times and places. That’s our work. As artists, we can energize, inspire or bring comfort and solace. Art is all about how we enter the world.”

“I think the arts are essential. Arts help express the complicated and urgent needs of the soul. Arts connect us, inspire us, and create space for voices and communities to share their stories, their lives, and their culture. Also, we need healing and inspiration now more than ever, and arts will lead the way.”

“Poetry can make strange and wonderful connections that surprise us into understanding.”

“My favorite thing about teaching is empowering young people to express their creativity and skills. Often people think they "can't draw" or "aren't artistic," and that blocks them from creating art. Art is so subjective, so I aim to encourage people to create freely without caring about the result. I love to see students making what they are passionate about, and passion is what really makes the piece.”

“I believe when we learn about each other, and listen to each other’s stories, we can help end racism. When we learn about each other, we create a place where we all feel valued, appreciated and safe.”

“Now, as always, artists are the visionaries who lead us in dreaming and manifesting genuinely just and beautiful realities. A society that does not value and uplift its cultural workers is a society that will never reach, much less eclipse, its ideals. Artists insist on revealing to us the extent of our connectedness and the depth of our illusions, and help us to engage with our collective history as a dynamic, living thing.”

“I think artists and creative people are crucial to imagining the world in new ways! And this is what we need to do right now- imagine new futures and then come up with action plans to accomplish major changes.”

“I believe everyone should have the opportunity to practice art as a part of being human.”

“While it might sound like hyperbole, I believe the arts are everything! When it comes down to it, I believe that art changes people and people change the world. I’m not the first to say that, but I see it happening all the time. To me art is not only a “what,” but a “how.” Impetus coming from the “artistic how” moves in terms of possibility, connection, interrelationship, and shared power. It is how we heal ourselves and each other, create and maintain society.”

“I love teaching songwriting because I love seeing the faces of songwriters light up as they take ownership of their songs and marvel at their musical creation. I love seeing the students grow by learning a new skill and adding to their songwriting experience. I love introducing songwriting to people that have never written before and showing them new ways to tell their stories. The scientists all agree that creating music lights up the whole brain and energizes our connections to one another and the world long after the activity.”

“I believe that the arts community has historically made space to investigate matters of conscience, and I believe that we will continue that tradition in light of present-day events.  The arts not only highlight beauty and seek out truth, but art connects and re-connects us with our shared humanity.  We need all of this now more than ever. “

“To be a creative person is truly a gift. My own artistic practice is like breathing, always there: I observe, translate, communicate. Seeing the world through the eyes of an artists allows me to serve as a bridge to worlds unseen, to delight, to inspire.”

“By bringing accessible cast metal experiences right into communities that enable individuals to participate in the entire process – from ideas, sculpting, mold-making, metal-pouring, metal finishing, and possibly installation – there is more investment, ownership and empowerment.”

“Being able to see youth celebrate and express their humanity through poetry, rhyme and live performance is energizing and transformative. I am afforded the opportunity to provide leadership, mentorship, hear new perspectives, witness real potential and greatness in the next generation.“