Rhythm…funk…innovation…excitement: that’s the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble (NCYTE). One of the best youth tap ensembles in the world, NCYTE features 40 dancers, ages 8 to 18, who hail from throughout North Carolina. Don’t let the word “youth” fool you. These dancers tear up the floor with poise, passion and professionalism. NCYTE honors the traditions of this unique American form while infusing it with youthful energy, contemporary music, and innovative dances from some of the world’s most talented choreographers. Their educational concerts and demos teach percussive dance styles from around the world and throughout history. Founded by JUBA award winning artistic director Gene Medler in 1983, NCYTE entertains audiences with cutting-edge contemporary choreography along with traditional rhythm tap. NCYTE has toured throughout the U.S. and the world, with performances in Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany and Mexico. The company has toured or collaborated with the Greensboro Symphony, Michelle Dorrance, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Mallarme Chamber Players, and the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra, among others.

A professional touring theatre company in continuous operation since 1981.
The company provides sets costumes, scripts and music in conjunction with professional consultation in theatre and musical theatre productions.

The Sumter Civic Dance Company provides Dance education through residencies, demonstrations, and performances. All performances are age appropriate and some pieces tell a moral story. Their residencies are grade specific teaching dance corresponding to what the students are learning in school. For instance: 3rd graders are studying SC History. Therefore, they teach The Charleston and the Shag, the SC official state dance.

Act!vated Story Theatre is the national touring theatre division of L'Eau Theque Productions, a non-profit corporation, known nationwide for fun educational family shows. The duo presents entertaining theatrical productions, based on multicultural folk tales and classical literature before a giant over-sized book with all the theatrical trimmings.

With rave reviews in New York City (Cabaret Scenes Magazine) and hailed as "one of the most celebrated teams" in the Lowcountry (Lowcountry Today), Charleston, SC sisters Gracie & Lacy captivate audiences with their "smooth-as-butter harmonies" (Viera Voice), power-house vocals, intricate tap dancing, and drop-dead-gorgeous costumes!They are best known for their preservation of The Great American Songbook and United States history of the 1920s-1960s.Gracie & Lacy's unique backstory inspires students that no matter their age or their resources, they can pursue their passion.At the ages of eight and ten, Gracie & Lacy strung a bed sheet curtain on a garden hose across their garage, and thus, "Broadway On The Driveway" was born.Soon off the driveway, the company grew to include a full orchestra, technical team, and casts of up to 90 performers.The annual productions reached thousands of patrons each year, packing the house at local performing arts centers in St. Louis, MO.Gracie & Lacy expanded Broadway on the Driveway's reach to include performing arts classes in theatre, vocal performance, and dance, serving hundreds of students over the course of 15 years.In addition, their programs have been featured in both public and private schools, universities, libraries, and museums.They host the annual "Great American Songbook Star Search" each year during Piccolo Spoleto Festival to recognize outstanding youth.With infectious humor and wit, Gracie & Lacy relate well to students of all ages and abilities.They emphasize the importance of character and teamwork, and connect students with areas where they can shine, building confidence and leadership skills.They make learning music, public speaking, dance, and history fun, through interactive games, stories, songs, and a trunk full of costumes, props, and more!Gracie & Lacy work with teachers to enhance objectives set forth by the South Carolina Teaching Standards in History / Social Studies, Music, and Theatre, and Dance.They specialize in the history of World War II, Prohibition Era, Charleston, SC History, Songwriting, Choreography, Dance and Music of The Great American Songbook.

KEVIN FERGUSON is a playwright and dramaturg. His plays include The Other Side of the Sky, A Thing With Feathers, Spinning Jenny, and Child’s Play. He is Playwright-in-Residence at Atlantic Stage in Myrtle Beach, SC. Kevin was awarded a SC Arts Commission Artist Fellowship in Theatre: Playwriting. He is also both a Production Dramaturg and a New Play Dramaturg. Formerly, Kevin was a Drama Therapist working with children, teens, and families. He has a B.A. in Theatre and an M.Ed. in Counseling (focusing on Drama Therapy) from the University of South Carolina, as well as an M.F.A in Playwriting with a concentration in Dramaturgy from Hollins University. Kevin is a member of the Dramatists Guild. He is a Lecturer at Coastal Carolina University.

I have been spinning yarn since 2008. Since then I have worked with many different types of fiber, turning them into string of all kinds. I also work extensively with natural dyes and pigments, and teach classes and workshops on both spinning and natural dyeing.

Columbia, SC artist Kathryn Van Aernum works in both the commercial and artistic worlds of photography. Her commercial work encompasses people, environments, and events for both profit and non-profit institutions. Kathryn received a BA in Visual Art from Naropa University in 2004, the premier educational institution to bring mindfulness and contemplative education to the West. It is this foundation that feeds her personal work, whose themes have focused on inner transformation through crisis, humanity’s relationship to the earth, and even a humorous look at the ubiquitous presence of corporate branding in the background of our lives.

While photography is her primary medium, she is also an accomplished watercolorist, mixed media, and book artist. She teaches classes---cross-generationally---in photography, creative process, watercolor, and journal making. She emphasizes working with hands-on traditional mark-making and contemplative practice as essential tools in stimulating cognition and the creative process. And through her coaching, she has aided professionals who have buried their creative soul in the daily grind reclaim creative confidence so they can thrive at work and beyond.

Silver Trout concerts are diverse, interactive and full of music and laughter.
Music on 7 instruments, storytelling, puppetry and poetry demonstrate that there are "So Many Ways to Share a Story.
Performances include an original puppet fable, dramatic storytelling, and award-winning original songs. There is even a Spanish-speaking sloth! Concerts are adaptable for multiple grade levels from Pre-K through Middle School.
Workshops and multi-day residencies feature puppetry arts and songwriting.

Susana Abell is a highly respected, veteran performing and teaching artist whose career in puppetry arts has spanned three decades and three continents. Her work as a bi-lingual puppeteer and circus performer both in South America and throughout Europe prepared her for a successful seven year tenure as one of the most sought after teaching artists in New Jersey where her programs and residencies were directly sponsored by Carnegie Hall, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ Department of Education and the New Jersey Council on the Arts. Susana holds a Master of Arts in teaching and also has extensive experience as an arts administrator, serving seven years as Executive Director of an active arts council in rural North Carolina where her Arts-in-Education programming served to build community and support rural schools. She is currently co-director of Silver Trout Arts with her husband and fellow teaching/performing artist Timmy Abell. This highly successful collaboration has resulted in a full touring schedule of performances and arts integrated residencies over the past 12 years.

Scott Ainslie is a traditional acoustic Blues singer, guitarist, historian, storyteller, and songwriter. Ainslie graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors from Washington & Lee University but his greatest love was studying with elder musicians on both sides of the color line – in the Old-Time Southern Appalachian fiddle and banjo traditions, as well as black Gospel and Blues musicians. Ainslie transcribed the original recordings and published a book on Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson, Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads (Hal Leonard, 1992), and recorded an instructional DVD on Johnson’s guitar work, Robert Johnson’s Guitar Techniques (Hal Leonard, 1997). Ainslie has six solo CDs to his name and maintains an active recording, performing and teaching schedule that carries him around the country, to Canada, and to Europe. His sixth album, The Last Shot Got Him, has been called “a must for fans of old-school Blues”. Ainslie has received numerous awards and grants for his work documenting and presenting traditional music. These include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Slide Guitar Festivals’ Living Heritage Award among others.

Calysta Alborg received a bachelor of arts degree in Arts Management from California State East Bay and has extensive professional stage acting, tech, and directing experience providing her with a well-rounded foundation to teach theatre classes within the South Carolina College-and Career-Ready Standards for Performing Arts Proficiency. Most recently, Calysta taught all elementary through high school level theater classes at Blue Ridge Christian Academy (BRCA) during which she developed a four-year progressive theatre curriculum, based on the Stanislavsky Method, for high school students along with an elementary school adaptation of the program.The classroom lessons provide a solid overall understanding of theatre terms, audience critique, stage direction and production elements while incorporating the use of classical literature, poetry, music, movement, dance and visual art.The exercises foster a specific comprehension of script analysis, script writing, the role of a dramaturg, acting motivation and acting technique. At BRCA Calysta directed main stage high/middle school productions of Euripides Medea and Moliere's one act play, The Flying Doctor adapted by her high school drama class to take place in the 1950’s.Calysta also directed a middle school performance of scenes from Shakespeare’s A Mid-Summer Nights Dream. Her 2nd grade drama class produced Sneaker Cat, based on the book Puss N Boots by Claude Barbin, and her 4th grade class presented Goldilocks and the Three Bears in movement to music from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.The 5th and 6th grade provided a pre-show performance to the high school performance of Medea, in movement of Jason and the Golden Fleece to music from Samuel Barber’s Medea.Calysta’s high school drama students also participated in an ACSI speech competition and earned Superior and Excellent awards for their monologues.When Calysta decided to take a break from her professional career to start a family she began what would become the foundations of her teaching career by volunteering as a teacher’s assistant, substitute teacher, playwright, and director at her children’s elementary school, San Jose Christian School.During this time Calysta began developing the exercises used in her lessons plans. She wrote and directed several elementary productions; The Surprise Birthday Party, Sneaker Cat, The Tree Trees, (based on the book, and The Legend of the Three Trees by Catherine McCafferty.)For middle schoolers, Calysta adapted and directed the readers theatre script, Footprints of a Pilgrim by Ruth Graham Bell into a full-staged production.In college Calysta spent four years working in technical theatre as a master electrician and assistant technical director for the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts. Calysta also interned as an electrician for a year with the Professional Intern Program at the Juilliard School. She began her career in theatre management as the General Manager for StageSource, an arts organization that links directors and producers with actors in Boston, MA.She then moved to San Jose, CA where she worked in development and special events for the Lort B company, San Jose Repertory Theatre and was the General Manager for Gary Palmer Dance Company.

Annex Dance Company is committed to promoting dance in its home location of Charleston, SC, as well as around the globe. Through performance, collaboration, outreach/education, Annex Dance Company continues to evolve with each project. Under the artistic direction of Kristin Alexander, the company strives to be an internationally recognized classical modern dance company with an edge. Annex Dance Company is committed to arts advocacy. The company promotes the arts through collaborative projects with artists of different mediums and provides opportunities for dancers of all levels, students through professionals.

Marina Alexandra has established herself as a dynamic performer with a powerful stage presence. Finger Style Guitar Magazine described her as an “amazing player that commands the guitar with world-class technique and musicianship that is uncommon.” She has received awards in several guitar competitions including the Music Teachers National Association State and Regional Competitions and semifinalist in the 6th annual Edwin H. and Leigh W. Schadt National String Competition for classical guitar. Marina has a concert career spanning the last fifteen years, taking her to Piccolo Spoleto Festival, National Public Radio, Allentown Radio, and hundreds of venues including colleges, guitar festivals and museums throughout USA.She has released three albumsincluding; Timeless Enchantment (Baroque, Classical, Modern, and Latin-American music) , A Moment of Magic (modern music by Russian composer, Nikita Koshkin) and Americas from North to South (flute and guitar music). Her albums received high praises from such prestigious music magazines as Soundboard, Classical Guitar (UK) and American Record Guide.

Gilbert Allen, a longtime resident of upstate South Carolina, is the Bennette E. Geer Professor of Literature Emeritus at Furman University, where he taught from 1977 until 2015. He has discussed literature and read his own work at public schools, colleges, literary festivals, writing workshops, and libraries throughout the Southeast. He has appeared frequently on South Carolina Public Radio, and he is listed prominently in Walter Edgar’s The South Carolina Encyclopedia. He was the 2002-2003 recipient of the South Carolina Literary Arts Fellowship from the South Carolina Arts Commission, and his short stories were chosen for the South Carolina Fiction Project Prize on five occasions. In 2007 his sequence of poems “The Assistant” received the Robert Penn Warren Prize in Poetry from The Southern Review, and in 2013 his short story “Trash” received Special Mention in Pushcart Prize XXXVII. He was inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors, the state’s literary hall of fame, in 2014. In that same year, Measure Press published his sixth collection of poetry, Catma. In 2016 his collection of short stories, The Final Days of Great American Shopping, was published by USC Press.

Ms. Autumn Hill is a native of San Jose, CA. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Boston Conservatory of Music where she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2004. She received the bulk of her training from San Jose Cleveland Ballet, later named Ballet San Jose. Ms. Hill then went on to be the first African American Principal Ballet Dancer with Ballet Rox in Roxbury, MA. She was invited to join The Columbia City Ballet were she danced as a Soloist Ballerina after ten years. She also became a territory owner for Creative Movement and Dance in Lexington and Richland Counties, of which she still owns several programs with. At her largest, Ms. Hill oversaw thirty programs at twenty five separate schools and approximately two hundred students. She has also taught at The Southern Strutt, The Dance Department, Columbia Conservatory of Dance, The Academy, Saint Peter’s Catholic School, amongst a variety of other schools. We are happy to announce her as the first African American Director at Ann Brodie's Carolina Ballet.

Drew Allison with Grey Seal Puppets has taught extensively in schools and universities. Through residencies, workshops and performance intensives he as worked to advance puppet theatre techniques for over 25 years. His book on puppetry creating puppets from polyfoam called "The Foam Book" is a standard in the industry. He is the winner of three Citations of Excellence from UNIMA-USA.

As a performing and recording artist for almost 30 years it is my purpose to inspire, educate and uplift our youth through music. To teach young people the greater possibilities of whom they can become when they embrace their natural gifts through empowering and educational mentorship via the arts. Being who you are comfortably in your skin gives others permission to do the same which in my opinion is a direct counteract to bullying. Arming students with the power to love themselves and understand that creativity is a source of their power is a fundamental key in what I reflect to my students.

Lindsey Anderson began her formal dance training at the SC Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities. She earned her BA in Dance Education from the University of SC and taught 4 years of public school dance while dancing professionally with Unbound Dance Company out of Columbia, SC. She has 12 years of private studio teaching experience and currently serves at the Director of Modern Dance at Columbia City Jazz Conservatory. Lindsey loves sharing her passion for dance technique, performance and choreography with public school students in our state. Her energy and genuine love for kids makes her a well sought after dance educator.

Alphaeus Anderson is the author of Youth Magnet. Alphaeus is also the creator of the Muse Core Arts initiative. Alphaeus is all about strategies on how to fuse the arts into the core curriculum. MCA is highly engaging for teachers and students. Alphaeus believes if the class is engaged, classroom management and morale will take care of itself.

He is also the founder of Gain Maintain, a platform dedicated to providing cutting-edge strategies, training modules, and courses to coach leaders, teachers and churches.

A successful independent music label was started by Alphaeus in 2008 and is home of award winning artists and provides production and compositions for many national recording gospel artists.

Annually, Anderson attracts over 400 students, during the spring and summer, to sing in a choir he started with only one child 17 years ago. Alphaeus speaks to thousands of students in schools, churches, and community centers. His musical compositions are performed across the nation and Canada and he has been featured at the National GMWA Youth and Young Adult Division Conference, the National Baptist Convention, YouTube, billboard and terrestrial and internet radio.

Alphaeus is one of the recipients of the 2016 President Barack Obama Volunteer Service Award, presented by Ambassador Lenora Peterson.