Barbara Bailey-Smith currently teaches at Little River Elementary School, and she teaches an education course that she developed for integrating the arts with other curricular areas for North Carolina Central University in Durham. She received an Interdisciplinary M.A. in Arts Education from the University of South Carolina (1987), a B.F.A. in Art Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1979) and attended Penland School of Crafts for a concentrated study in weaving (1978) and basketry (1982). In addition, she is a certified Curriculum and Instructional Specialist in Supervision from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (1991). She achieved her National Board Certification in Early/Middle Childhood Art in 2001.

Barbara has taught visual art in a variety of settings and to every age student from pre-school to college undergraduates. In addition to her current teaching positions, she is a consultant for Binney & Smith (CRAYOLA) and for Davis Publications, Inc. Barbara has led professional development for the A+ Schools Program and she is a trained Assessor for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards for Early Adolescent and Young Adulthood Art. She also leads workshops about connecting the arts with other curricular areas throughout North Carolina. In addition, Barbara has served on the North Carolina School Improvement Panel by joint appointment of the Governor and the State School Superintendent.

Barbara has received many honors and awards, including recognition as North Carolina’s Art Educator of the Year by both the NC Art Education Association (NCAEA) and the NAEA. Barbara has presented at regional, state and national conferences on arts education, curriculum integration, classroom management and leadership. Her work has been published in CRAYOLA’s Dream Makers Guides on integrated lesson plans in alignment with the National Standards for Arts Education.

Currently, Deborah Bartz is the Project Coordinator for the "North Carolina Partnership in Improving Math and Science" at the Center for Educational Research and Evaluation at UNC-Greensboro. In past years, she has worked as the Evaluation Specialist for the Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Alipuippa, PA, and as the Principal Investigator for Community Needs Assessment at the Center for Family Life in Indiana, PA. She also worked for the Kercher Center for Social Research assessing a variety of projects in Michigan, including her work as the Field Director for both the Volunteer and Committee Chair Survey of the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival as well as the Parks and Recreation Survey for the City of Kalamazoo. Her assessment experience spans almost 20 years. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Studies – Evaluation, Measurement and Research Design from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, where she also received her M.A. in Sociology.

Martha Burdette is a visual artist whose specialties include sculpture, drawing and printmaking. She has exhibited her works in various museums and galleries in North Carolina, Georgia and Italy. Martha received her B.A. in Humanities from the University of South Florida, Tampa (1971), and she received her B.F.A. in Art Education at UNC-Greensboro (1988), where she also took graduate studies in sculpture (1989). In addition to her experience as a classroom teacher and visual arts teacher, Martha has presented residencies for elementary, middle and high school students, and in her capacity as an A+ Fellow, she has also led many professional development workshops for teachers about arts integration and related topics. Currently, in addition to presenting residencies and professional development sessions, she is collaborating with the Cameron Art Museum to prepare a series of integrated arts lessons to be offered on their website. Martha also served on the team that created the initial visual arts component of the North Carolina SCOS from 1989 through 1990.

Michelle Carr is the Curator of Internal Programs with the North Carolina Museum of History. She spent almost two years (May 2005-February 2007) as Acting Head of Education at the Museum. Prior to joining the NC Museum of History, Michelle worked with the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, first as the Associate Director for Adult Programs and then as the Acting Deputy Director of Education. She has a B.A. (1991) in history from Wake Forest University, where she was magna cum laude, an M.A. (1993) in history and a second M.A. (1995) in arts administration from Indiana University. Her professional affiliations include the American Association of Museums, Education Committee and the Museum Education Roundtable, among others. In 1996, she published a piece with the Institute of Museum Services in Washington, DC, entitled True Needs, True Partners: Museums and Schools Transforming Education.

Martha Connerton is the Director of Kinetic Works, a company founded in 2000 whose mission is to foster awareness of dance as an art form that impacts lives in a direct, positive and evolving process. Martha is a choreographer and teacher with a wide range of experience. Her career has included time with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Louisville Ballet, and The Joyce Trisler Danscompany, as well as 12 years as a dancer, choreographer and teacher in New York City, where she produced concerts of her work and danced with other independent choreographers. Martha has served as a Visiting Artist in dance at UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Greensboro; Hamilton College, NY; and Winona State University, MN. She has been a guest teacher for Summer Arts at Bologna PAC; Delta State University, MS; Greenville Ballet, NC; and Columbia City Ballet, SC, among others. From 1993 to 1996, she was the director and principal teacher of DancePlace, the Official School of North Carolina Dance Theatre under the artistic direction of Salvatore Aiello. She was also the Education/Outreach Coordinator for North Carolina Dance Theatre. Martha has been a teaching artist for the Lincoln Center Institute in New York, and she is on the artist rosters of the North and South Carolina Arts Councils, Alternate Roots, United Arts Council, Fayetteville/Cumberland Co. and Asheville/Ashe Co.

Elizabeth Grimes Droessler, Senior Administrator for Arts Education with the Wake County Public School System, holds a B.S. in Dance and a M.Ed. in Theater from UNC-Greensboro. Elizabeth has more than 20 years of experience as an arts educator, teaching dance and theatre arts at elementary, middle and high school levels. She has conducted numerous workshops on arts education, arts integration and arts education advocacy.

Puppeteer Hobey Ford has been working with puppets for almost 30 years, and he established the Golden Rod Puppets in 1980. He has received the UNIMA Citation for Excellence and three Jim Henson Foundation grants, and he has presented workshops at the Kennedy Center and is a member of the UAC Artists in the Schools Directory. In addition to presenting puppet shows in a variety of styles, from Bunraku and rod to marionette and shadow puppetry, Mr. Ford also designs and constructs all of his own puppets and their sets. He studied at the State University of New York and the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and his presentations showcase tales from the United States and around the world.

Imani Gonzalez is a professional and world vocalist who has lived in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area for more than 20 years. Her voice is featured on many of the National Geographic Television’s Explorer Series soundtracks, including the Emmy-nominated film The Jane Goodall Biography. Imani has taught in the DC Public School System and in private schools as a traditional world music teacher. In past years, she has been a resident artist with the Kennedy Center and has received grants from both the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Artist-in-Education Program for the Maryland State Arts Council. Imani is an education associate for Imagination Quest, and she is on the artist rosters with the Louisiana Division of the Arts, South Carolina Arts Commission and the Maryland State Arts Council. Her children’s world music book, entitled Dhimiki, has been published with a sing-along compact disc.

Emily Grant has been the Youth Programs Coordinator with the North Carolina Museum of History for almost 15 years. She received her B.A. (1989) cum laude from Tulane University with majors in anthropology and Spanish, and she received her M.A. (1991) in teaching with an emphasis on museum education from George Washington University. Prior to her work at the NC Museum of History, Emily worked at the M-NCPPC in the History Division as the Interpretive Program Specialist, creating tours and programs for children and adults for a variety of historic county sites. Emily is a member of the National Council for History Education and of the North Carolina Museums Council, and she is a member and project judge for National History Day.

A writer and teacher of fiction, poetry, journal writing and nonfiction, Mimi Herman holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College. She is the author of The Art of Learning: A Guide to Outstanding North Carolina Arts in Education Programs. She has presented residencies in poetry, journal writing and fiction for students in grades 4-12. Each residency involves discussion, group work, individual writing and revision. She also leads staff development workshops on writing across the curriculum, journal writing and teaching tough kids. Mimi is an adjunct professor in Lesley University’s Masters of Education program and associate editor for Teaching Artists Journal.

Sean Layne is the founder of Focus 5 Inc., a national arts education consulting company. He holds a B.F.A. degree in acting and studied acting in London, England. Sean presents workshops for teachers and designs training seminars for teaching artists nationwide for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is also an Arts Coach for the Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program. For more than a decade Sean acted, directed and designed sets for the InterAct Story Theatre, a professional theatre company that has served more than 4,000 schools, museums, libraries and festivals around the world. He began working with the Wolf Trap Institute Early Learning Through the Arts program in 1989. As a Master Artist, he has represented Wolf Trap across the country and internationally, and he has designed and piloted new residency and workshop materials for the Wolf Trap Institute.

A member of the Mallarmé Chamber Players, Bo Newsome currently teaches oboe, chamber music and aural skills at East Carolina University. His wide-ranging work as a teaching artist stems from his tenure as a visiting artist with the NC Arts Council’s Visiting Artist Program, an experience that led to many creative in-school residencies. He co-presented Mallarmé Chamber Players’ innovative, interdisciplinary residency for high school students called “The Creative Process.” This program created the group’s director, Anna Ludwig Wilson, culminates in the creation of new pieces written, choreographed and performed by students. Each year he leads residencies at Frenchboro School in Maine, where he guides the composition and production of an opera written and performed by students from ages 6 to 13. He also directs and performs in a chamber music series on the island. Active as a composer and an oboist, Bo received the NC Arts Council’s Composer Fellowship and a commission from the National Symphony Orchestra in 2005.

Diane Petteway is a native of North Carolina, having grown up in Laurinburg. Both the performing arts and the power of teaching impacted her early life, and she has spent most of her adult years balancing professional responsibilities as an artist and a teacher. As a 20-year teaching veteran, she has taught in public schools in Franklin, Wake and Scotland counties and in private schools in Wake and Durham counties. She is committed to using the arts to broaden the perspectives of teachers and students, and she has supported arts integration as an artist, a classroom teacher and a music specialist. Diane is particularly proud of her affiliations with A+ Schools (as an A+ Fellow), NCCAT (as a seminar leader) and United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, (as a grants panelist, guest artist and active participant in workshops and conferences).

As an artist, Diane is a seasoned musician, performing primarily in the areas of musical theater and contra dance. She performs regularly throughout the southeast with her contra dance band, Contrazz and with theaters in and around Raleigh–sometimes as an actress, sometimes as a pianist, sometimes as a musical director, always as a passionate believer in the power of music, theater and dance to change the ways we experience the world.

A native of Venezuela, Banu Valladares graduated with a M.A. in English from UNC-Charlotte. As a teaching artist, Banu has taught creative writing and Latino culture in colleges, universities and in schools. Banu’s work as poet, writer and painter speaks to the importance of discovering our native voices to find a place in society. Her book Gypsy Child, a bilingual poetry collection, tells the story of a young woman escaping a relationship and the confinement of her native Venezuela and searching for fulfillment in a new land. Banu is the Director of Education at the Durham Arts Council.

Kevin Warner holds a M.F.A. in dance from Temple University, has done post-graduate work in early childhood, elementary and music education, and he earned a B.A. in print journalism from Pennsylvania State University. He consults nationally in the areas of dance integration, the arts and comprehensive school reform, and the arts as assessment. Kevin holds dual certification in both elementary education (K – 6) and dance (K – 12). He has taught third grade in Manhattan and the South Bronx, worked as a creative movement specialist with North Carolina Public Schools, and has been listed in the North Carolina Arts Council Artist Directory for his work in modern dance and musical theatre performance.

Kevin Warner is the Program Director for the A+ Schools Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. As part of that role, he also served as the project coordinator for the Appalachian Arts in Education Partnership, a federally funded consortium of Appalachian State University, local schools and area arts councils in northwestern North Carolina. With Teaching Artist Mimi Herman, Kevin has developed a Teaching Artist training model that has been implemented in cooperation with the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (MD).

In the summer of 2006, Kevin celebrated 13 years of work with the A+ Schools Program as a teacher, professional development facilitator (A+ Fellow), A+ Network Liaison and Program Director. He has assisted the North Carolina A+ Schools Program in the planning and implementation of A+ Networks in Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas and Michigan. Each of these roles has provided him with a rich experiential and historical context with which to support the Program’s continuing development in North Carolina, and as a national leader in whole-school reform. Through this work with A+ Schools, and also as a national consultant with the Modern Red Schoolhouse Institute, Kevin has been an active participant in the dissemination of research-proven educational innovation in a variety of settings.

Virginia Zehr has more than 28 years experience in arts management and arts in education and is a practicing artist. She served as Executive Director of the Raleigh Symphony and the Community Music School and as United Arts Education Director before becoming Vice President for Education & Community Programs. Support staff for this project is Jamie Katz, who has a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University and has worked for the City of Evanston (Illinois) Cultural Arts Division and the performing arts department at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.