Teacher

Beth Sussman is a Juilliard trained pianist and a Master Teaching Artist with a number of arts organizations including The Los Angeles Music Center. In addition to performing throughout Europe and North America, Beth has devoted much of her time of sharing her love of classical music with young people through both school performances and workshops/residencies.

The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company (US) is a recognized leader in the fields of arts education, mentorship and community building, having been a thriving force in the underserved neighborhoods of Los Angeles County for over two decades. Our participant-driven theatre-arts programs utilize arts education to mitigate the underlying family and community risk factors that threaten the healthy development of the 1,000+ children and adults we serve annually (90% in grades 5-12), including foster youth and incarcerated minors.

Dramatic Results is an award-winning nonprofit that makes learning real by engaging educators and learners through collaborative hands-on projects that impact the practice of education. Since 1992, the agency has delivered educational programming to historically excluded students using art, design, and culture as an entryway into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects. Over 32 years, the agency has served 35,000 students and empowered more than 450 classroom teachers.

Drama Education Network provides standards-based curriculum products, teacher training services, and school residencies in arts and literacy for grades PreK-12. Our mission is to empower educators to use creative drama and theatre arts to create an optimal learning environment in any classroom. We specialize in theatre education, literacy development, and arts integration across the curriculum.

teachers throughout Los Angeles and surrounding communities since 1995 and has had non-profit status since 2003. Research shows that children who experience quality language oriented activities demonstrate early development of literacy, fluency, and mathematical skills regardless of ethnic or socio-economic background (The Chicago Longitudinal Study, 2011). Studies also show that children who have a rich and varied language arts experience have an easier time

Johanna Smith is a Professor of Theatre Education, Improvisation, and Puppetry at CSU-San Bernardino. Her research and practice focuses on integrating puppets into classrooms as well as professional Theatre for Young Audiences. She has served as a puppetry artist for Broadway-bound extravaganzas to museums to colleges to preschools and often directs tours for CSUSB. Her production of The Odyssey (director, puppet design) toured to the PuppetFair puppet festival in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2008, followed by a tour of 4 major Chinese cities for the Chonqing Children's Theatre season in 2009.

In just less than three decades of existence, LA Opera has become, under the leadership of Eli and Edythe Broad General Director Plácido Domingo, the United States' fourth largest opera company and "...stands out as a newly important force in American Opera." (Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times).

Since its founding in 1991, P.S. ARTS' purpose has been to ensure high-quality, sustainable arts education for children in under-resourced public schools. Our programs are designed and continuously revised to be in alignment with the needs of the communities we serve, contributing to children's wellbeing and elevating their future school and career prospects. P.S. ARTS was created in response to significant education budget cuts in the 1970s and 1980s that resulted in the near elimination of arts programs in California public schools. Now in its 25th anniversary year, P.S.

UniverSOUL Hip Hop, LLC is a K-12 cultural educational group of international, award-winning artists and educators. We artfully blend the creativity of Hip Hop with the rigor of standards-based pedagogy and practices to provide cutting edge, interdisciplinary dance programs that cultivate lifelong learning, social fellowship, and 21st century success.