Presenters and Contributors

Janice Akers ArtsNow Theater Consultant Department of Theater Studies at Emory University email Janice

Janice Akers is on the Theater Studies faculty at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She teaches acting and theater along with other special topics courses, freshmen seminars and cross-discipline classes with the Dance and Visual Arts faculty. She is a resident actor/director with Theater Emory, the professional theater on campus, where she has performed over a dozen roles in productions and staged readings. She has also developed original plays/adaptations as well as directing Shakespeare, Ibsen and contemporary scripts. She is an Associate Artist with the Georgia Shakespeare Festival, performing 20 roles over eight seasons. She has received two Emory Crystal Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Performing Arts Education (student nominated awards) and over eight acting awards and honorable mentions in the Atlanta Journal Constitution and Creative Loafing since 1991. Since 2001, Janice  performed overseas seven times in French director Arthur Nauzyciel’s production of Bernard Marie Koltes’ Black Battles with Dogs in Paris, Clermont-Ferrand, Orleans, Lorient, Antwerp, Belgium and Athens, Greece.  Janice has been a Primary Collaborator with ArtsNow since 2007, conducting over eleven teacher-training workshops on the topics of arts integration in the classroom and the creation of an arts-focused teaching philosophy.

Jennifer Blackmon ArtsNow Educational Consultant email Jennifer

After graduating from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, Jennifer began teaching at 21, part of the Gwinnett County school system. She has taught kindergarten and first grade at Harmony Elementary School, McKendree Elementary School and Riverside Elementary School. In addition to teaching, Jennifer participated and led many school-wide conferences, and served on the leadership team at 27. Jennifer has volunteered as P.T.A. co-president, room parent coordinator, and as a kindergarten small group leader at her church. In between teaching assignments, she has lived in London, England; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Sugar Land, Texas. She recently traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, where she observed a primary classroom in a township school. Jennifer lives in Sugar Hill, Georgia with her husband, two children, and dog.

Lucinda Chapman ArtsNow Educational Consultant email Lucinda

Lucinda Chapman received her BA in International Relations and French from the University of California. She first heard of ArtsNow’s work in Chicago’s inner city schools and their corporate art program while living with her family there in the 90s. As a kindergarten teacher in the Winnetka Public Schools (north of Chicago), she began her Masters program in Education at National Louis University. Upon moving to Atlanta, she completed her Masters in Early Childhood at Oglethorpe University and began working in various volunteer positions at ArtsNow. Most recently, she has taught kindergarten and first grade at Trinity School and studied the Reggio Emilia approach to early education (with focus on the arts) in Italy during the summer of 2006. She works for Oglethorpe University, supervising and observing student teachers across metro Atlanta who are in their final semester of their Masters program. She has served as a Corporate Artist, a presenter at Level I workshops and a consultant to ArtsNow schools.

Diana Dansareau ArtsNow Music Consultant Assistant Professor of Music Education, Boston University email Diana

BM, Eastman School of Music; MME, The Pennsylvania State University; Ph.D., Georgia State University. Dr. Dansereau specializes in early childhood and elementary music education. She has collaborated extensively with Georgia State University's Center for Educational Partnerships in Music (CEPM), working within the Sound Learning program, ArtsNow partnership, and Laboratory Learning School Network of the Music-in-Education National Consortium. She has collaborated with the League of American Orchestras and CEPM to coauthor an evaluation of the League's Ford Made in America program and evaluated and coauthored reports on the League's Bank of America Awards for Excellence in Orchestra Education 2006 & 2007 honorees. She has presented at statewide, national, and international conferences, conducted professional development sessions for public and private school music and classroom teachers, and has been published in The Music Educators Journal. She has taught courses in music education at Penn State University and Georgia State University, and served as Assistant Director of Education & Outreach for the Pittsburgh Symphony, where she oversaw the orchestra's concert series and programs for children. She taught elementary general and instrumental music in Rochester, New York, early childhood music in Georgia and Pennsylvania, and was Early Childhood Music Specialist for the Lincoln School in Providence, RI. Her scholarly interests include the musical capacities of young children, classroom and music teacher education, school-community collaboration, and research methods in music education.

Darby Jones ArtsNow Program Director at ArtsNow and Visual Arts Consultant email Darby

Darby Jones serves as program director. Prior to joining ArtsNow fulltime in August 2008, Darby was a teaching artist and educator in Atlanta for seven years. Darby completed his academic career at James Madison University and The Maryland Institute, College of Art, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters in Art Education. In addition to serving as the Fine Arts department chair and classroom instructor at Inman Middle School, he was chosen by the Atlanta Public Schools to serve as a Georgia Performance Standards curriculum writer in 2001. In  spring 2002, Darby joined the adjunct faculty at the Atlanta College of Art in the Community Education Department and began a career as an instructor and facilitator of summer programs at the High Museum. In February 2005, he was elected to write a comprehensive curriculum for Summer Programs at the Atlanta College of Art. He has recently joined the staff at SCAD Atlanta, while continuing to host corporate events and serve as a lead instructor at the High Museum.

Melissa Dittmar Joy ArtsNow Dance Consultant Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education email Melissa

Melissa received her BS in Dance Education and minor in Theatre from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. As a dance educator, she has taught in the public schools of North Carolina and Georgia, Atlanta Ballet, Brenau University and others. She was also a co-author for the Gwinnett County Public Schools dance curriculum. Melissa presents at numerous conferences and professional development workshops where she shares her love for dance and its place in every classroom. Currently, Melissa is a Dance Education Consultant and works with Atlanta Ballet, ArtsNow and other arts organizations in Atlanta. Additionally, she is an adjunct faculty member with Breanu University’s dance department where she works with future dance educators. Melissa received the 2003 GAHPERD K-12 Dance Educator of the Year Award and the 2003 Ethel Martus Lawther Award for Professional Achievement from UNCG Dance Department.

As a choreographer Melissa’s passion is to work with young emerging artist and works with many local high schools and colleges. In 1999-2001 she had the honor to choreograph the “Opening Number” for the Georgia Thespian Conference. Melissa has also had choreographic works selected to be performed at the National HS Dance Festival.

Kimberly Landers ArtsNow Visual Arts Consultant Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta email Kimberly

Kimberly Landers is an artist, educator and traveler. She taught both elementary and high school in the Georgia Public School System and is currently teaching community education classes at SCAD-Atlanta. Additionally, she is the curriculum director of the newly formed Brookhaven Center for the Arts. Acrylic painting is her primary medium, using bold colors to enliven her semi-psychedelic, pop landscapes. Extensive travel, both personal and as a teaching guide, has influenced her artistic sensibilities.

Alan Louis ArtsNow Visual Arts Consultant  Director of Museum and Educational Programs, Center for Puppetry Arts email Alan

Alan Louis has directed the Center for Puppetry Arts’ museum and arts education programming for children and adults since 2000. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology and a M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education, both from Georgia State University. In 1999, he was chosen by the Japanese Government for a three-week study trip to Tokyo and Akita City as a participant in the Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program. For four years he worked with inner-city elementary school students in the Atlanta Public Schools Challenge Program for Gifted and Talented Students, where he achieved tenure. He has also taught in public schools in East Point and Lithia Springs, GA. 

Prior to entering the field of education, Louis was a puppeteer. He began his career in puppetry in the summer of 1983 at Fantasy Island theme park near Niagara Falls, NY. He later joined Vincent Anthony’s Vagabond Marionettes (Sleeping Beauty, 1984) and eventually became a resident puppeteer at the Center for Puppetry Arts (The Jungle Book, 1985) as well as a performer on several of the Center’s U.S. tours (The Wizard of Oz, 1985, The Jungle Book, 1986, and Hansel & Gretel, 1987). He has performed puppet characters in productions by the Alliance Children’s Theatre Company (The Wind in the Willows, 1992 and The Last Fairytale, 1993) and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Kid’s Holiday Concert, 1997). As a volunteer puppeteer, he performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. 

Louis has taught puppetry workshops in the Center’s Adult Education Series and at puppetry festivals in the U.S. and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria). He frequently contributes articles to the Puppeteers of America’s quarterly publication The Puppetry Journal.

Pamela Millice ArtsNow Associate Executive Director at ArtsNow email Pamela

Pamela Millice serves as associate executive director. Pamela provides a broad background and expertise in the areas of curriculum development, music education, arts integration, and effective professional development. Having worked with preschool through college-age students, her experiences include serving as a music specialist for a variety of public schools; working as a curriculum specialist; teaching at Meredith College; founding, directing, and instructing at Asbury School of Music; serving as a Southeast consultant for Scott Foresman; planning and implementing regional workshops for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction; and teaching at Georgia State University. Pamela has also been actively involved in partnerships between universities and public schools. Pamela received the Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Master of Music degree with an emphasis on curriculum development and arts integration from Meredith College. She also has post-masters study at Georgia State University with an emphasis on professional development and educational partnerships.   

Susie Spear-Purcell ArtsNow Theater Consultant and Program Director for Playmaking for Girls Synchronicity Performance Group’s Community Outreach Program email Susie

Susie has been acting and teaching theatre arts for over 22 years. As a teacher, she has enjoyed teaching a wide range of students. She was program director for 9 years for The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company in Los Angeles where she developed curriculum to help imprisoned East LA boys to write plays and perform in front of large audiences. She also worked as a lead teacher for 7 years with The Imagination Workshop in Los Angeles where she helped teach theatrical arts therapy to physic patients throughout the city. Susie teaches Film acting classes and Meisner Technique acting classes to adults and children in Los Angeles and Atlanta. (Actor¹s Express Theatre, The Alliance Theatre, Dunwoody School for the Arts, Intown Community School, Decatur Arts Festival, private corporate events and private monologue and audition coaching). She is currently the Director of Synchronicity Performance Group¹s Playmaking for Girls community outreach program. This job allows her to write curriculum and train a teaching staff of 15 female artist to empower teen girls and help them find their voices. This program takes theatrical arts and imagination workshops to girls in Georgia detention centers (Metro, Clayton and Paulding Regional Youth Detention Centers), summer programs with girls who are out of the facilities and on probation as well as younger ³at risk² teens in the after school workshops. Susie has enjoyed working with ArtsNow as they educate teachers throughout the Southeast. She leads theatrical, imagination workshops to help teachers learn how to incorporate theatrical arts exercises into any discipline curriculum that they teach.

As an actress, she has been seen in theatre throughout Atlanta in Crimes of the Heart, Ghosts, The Velveteen Rabbit and Three Point Shot at The Alliance Theatre; Fireworks at the 14th Street Playhouse. Spain, Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Cherry Orchard, The Bacchae and Light Up the Sky at The Actor¹s Express. She has performed in many musical theatre productions; Maria in Sound of Music, Chava in Fiddler On The Roof, Dorothy in The Wiz and Bet in Oliver. Susie has appeared in the Broadway, Mark Taper Forum¹s and The Kennedy Center¹s productions of Neil Simon¹s, The Dinner Party. Some of her film credits include The Lena Baker Story, Dante¹s Peak, Deep End of the Ocean and Clubland. Television credits include "Family Law", "NYPD Blue", "High Incident", HBO¹s "If These Walls Could Talk I", "In The Heat of the Night" and "Matlock". She currently resides in Decatur with her husband and two children.

Maribeth Yoder-White ArtsNow Program Director email Maribeth

Dr. Maribeth Yoder-White serves as program director. She is a specialist in choral and general music education, having taught in elementary, secondary, and university settings for over 22 years. During appointments at Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, she taught graduate and undergraduate music and non-music majors, conducted choral ensembles, coordinated degree programs, led teacher training events, and supervised student teachers. Yoder-White received the Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Music degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina. As a children’s music composer and arranger, author, researcher, consultant, choral conductor, adjudicator, clinician, and editor, Maribeth has enjoyed varied opportunities to join others in creative activities internationally. She served as president of the North Carolina Music Educators Association and the North Carolina American Choral Directors Association. In 2005, Maribeth was awarded the prestigious Lara Hoggard Award for Service to Choral Music in North Carolina.