New Roster Artist

Alsa and Morgan are married actors, improvisers, and educators with 15 years of mental health and play work between them. They are passionate about using imaginative play to drive the momentum of social change and amplify strategically undervalued voices. They believe that a playful and flexible spirit builds capacity for transformation, both personally and communally. [...]

In 2008, Esther left the practice of law to live more creatively. When she was introduced to the Zentangle (R) method of pattern drawing, a non-representational, contemplative way of drawing complex patterns, her life changed. She’d been drawing patterns since she was a child, but it wasn’t until she experienced the Zentangle method that she [...]

Currently, not available for Creative Classroom Residencies until Spring 2026. Jinjer Markley is an artist, illustrator and color nerd in Minneapolis, MN. Her formal training is in science: She has an M.M.s in Plant Biology . She also formally studied science teaching, and formerly taught middle school science. Her interest in math and science leaks [...]

Duo Mythos is a unit with Momoko Tanno (singer/actor) and Asako Hirabayashi (composer/harpsichordist). Momoko Tanno has appeared on many stages of the Twin Cities and beyond as a singer/actor including in the production of Don Juan Giovanni with Theatre de la Jeune Lune which won a Regional Tony Award, and Asako Hirabayashi is a McKnight [...]

Andy Jacobs is an interdisciplinary artist who works with the mediums of fibers/textiles, sculpture, drawing, and installation. Her work contemplates biodegradability, cyclicality, and explores the field of intrinsic relations found in ecology. As a self-taught weaver, she has developed a style of tapestry weaving that pushes against the rectilinear grid of the loom, and weaves [...]

Through public art collaborations across Minnesota, Moira Villiard (pronounced “Miri”) is a multidisciplinary artist who uses art to uplift underrepresented narratives, explore the nuance of society’s historical community intersections, and promote community healing spaces. She is proficient in a variety of artistic mediums and genres, including public art, painting, digital and graphic design, animation, photography, [...]

Karlyn Coleman is an award-winning writer, teacher, and teaching artist based in Minneapolis. She is the author of nine YA novels under the pen name K.R. Coleman and two picture books, Where Are All the Minnesotans? and The Great Get-Together. Her short fiction has appeared in journals including Sycamore Review, Water~Stone Review, and McSweeney’s Internet [...]

Joe Colihan is a skilled musician with versatile abilities. He specializes in guitar, bass, keys, and vocals. Though Joe particularly enjoys blues and standards, he enjoys the full spectrum of music covers. Joe Colihan for years has played at many senior living facilities in the NE Metro, as well as residences for developmentally disabled individuals. [...]

Video game enthusiast Matt Silverberg (AKA MarimbaMatt) has carved a niche in the music world thanks to his love of video game music and the marimba. He has arranged a plethora of video game and film music that have garnered thousands of views on YouTube and has performed as a marimba soloist at numerous conventions [...]

Mike “Biig Miic” Brooks, a Chicago native, is a multi-faceted artist who utilizes his artistry to teach, mentor, and inspire the masses. An innovator who developed the curriculum for his class Hiptronic that he taught for two years at Maranatha Christian Academy. He honed his teaching skills throughout his nine years at Urban Ventures as [...]

Experience jazz and American social dance and music – and enhance learning in music, physical education, art and history – through a performance from Rhythmically Speaking (RS)! RS is a Twin Cities-based 501(c)3 nonprofit dance organization with a mission to spark vibrancy and connectedness through jazz and American social dance ideas. Using the rhythm that [...]

Renee Vaughan is a Minnesota-based musician and educator who brings Sweden’s folk traditions to life through the resonant sound of the nyckelharpa, the national folk instrument of Sweden. The nyckelharpa has roots as far back as the 1350s, with depictions in Norway, Denmark, and Finland during the 1400s–1500s, and some of the earliest Swedish immigrants [...]

Karen Caldwell is a British-born Barbadian artist whose abstract works explore transformation, identity, and connection through layered textures and shifting light. Working primarily with acrylics, palette knives, and metallics, she creates pieces that evolve throughout the day, inviting new perspectives with every glance. Her work has been exhibited in Europe, the Caribbean, and North America, [...]

Constanza Carballo is a bilingual, bicultural Latina artist and nurse based in Minnesota. Her art practice began in 1991 and is deeply rooted in community engagement, storytelling, and the traditions of printmaking, mosaic, mural, and public art. She works to create spaces where art is not only seen but also experienced and shared collectively; sparking [...]

Joe Davis is an award-winning spoken word artist and bestselling author who uses poetry to power possibility. He is the founder and director of Finding Your Freedom Practice, an artist collective teaching holistic health and wellness practices through spoken word, writing, music, theater, film, and dance. Joe holds a Master of Arts degree in Theology [...]

Erinn Liebhard is a dance artist making opportunities for people to experience the reflective and connective power of groove through performance and education. Having grown up dancing socially at her dad’s rock band’s gigs, she discovered young the exhilaration of playfully experiencing groove alongside others. Guided by this inspiration and a fondness for jazz and [...]

Michelle Perdue is a dynamic and transformative educator, performer and change agent. As a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a master’s degree in education, a graduate of the Ruskin School of Acting, former VocalEssence Teaching Artist, and military veteran, Michelle has had the privilege of working with some of the most culturally and [...]

Minneapolis-based artist Dj Piecemeal is best known for his genre-bending sets. Steeped in hip-hop and nerd culture, Dj Piecemeal strives to push the classification of how a DJ should look and sound. From livestreams, live performances and community events, Dj Piecemeal strives to create a memorable and in-the-moment soundscape for his listeners. Teaching Artist Statement [...]

Seth Eberle is a Minneapolis based puppet artist who focuses on using various forms of puppetry to tell stories for family audiences. Seth started his puppetry career in college while pursuing a theatre and visual art degree, interning with the Bread and Puppet Theater, the Nordnorsk Opera of Norway, and In the Heart of the [...]

Ardaa Ensemble is led by poet Ahmed Yusuf on vocals with Magan playing the Oud and vocals, and fellow COMPAS Teaching Artist and Performer mick laBriola on percussion. After fleeing Somalia, Ahmed Ismail Yusuf lived in several states but has lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota since 1997. He did not speak English when he arrived, he [...]

As an educator, my hope is that my audience is not only entertained but also learns more about the world around them in the process. And through listening, they may also become more interested in other cultures, initiating a curiosity that will carry itself into their own lives. – Scott Keever Scott Keever is an award-winning [...]

Currently not taking programs until Summer 2026. Stephanie Hunder is a Minnesota artist and arts educator who creates with ink, paper, and light. Her current work studies human relationships to the natural world through botanical and scientific iconography, combining photographic and digital techniques with traditional printmaking processes. Creating content through process and the importance of [...]

Candice Simpson is an art teacher, painter, and a passionate ‘wholeness through creativity’ advocate!  She works as a COMPAS teaching artist and also teaches and creates in her studio in NE Minneapolis’ Arts District California Building. Candice worked as the Art Teacher and then Art Director at a day program for adults with disabilities, has [...]

Rita Panton shares her whimsical passion for clay while exposing students to foundational techniques of ceramics. She seeks to create a playful environment of exploration, welcoming students to find their own story in clay. As an educator her focus involves encouraging students to find meaning and connection in their making process. Students learn to use [...]