Breath, Life, Creativity!

That's the refrain for Max Bent, Baltimore-based Human Beatboxer. The art form of Beatboxing is at once new and ancient, musical and linguistic. It is with these dualities in mind that Max approaches any project to which he adds his voice: as a percussionist for steel pan ensemble The Geckos, in performances as Baby Beats! with fellow beatboxer and Beatbox Dad Jamaal Black Root Collier, in many on-going collaborations such as his work with Afrohouse and as the creator, and main voice behind the all-vocal podcast Sound Tales.

Visit www.soundtalespodcast.com to check out the episodes!

Valerie Branch graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maryland College Park with a Bachelor’s Degree in Dance. She has experience touring as a performing and teaching artist both nationally and internationally. Valerie has brought dance into schools throughout South Africa, India and St. George’s, Grenada and has received an invitation from the Danish Embassy to participate in a Cultural Arts Program Exchange Visit to Denmark. As a Master Teaching Artist with Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, a Young Audiences National Credentialed Teaching Artist and Regional Director of the MD Wolf Trap Early Learning with Arts for Learning Maryland, her mission is to use dance as a catalyst to empower children to find value and greatness in the impact that their voice can have on their life and others. As the Co-chair of the YA National Credential, Valerie advocated for teaching artist representation while creating and uplifting innovative strategies that will increase the value and visibility of teaching artists around the nation. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of VB Dance Ensemble, a professional contemporary dance company focused on bringing social and cultural awareness and change through the power of dance into schools around the nation.

Harlan understands the transformational power that the arts have to improve the quality of life for individuals and the community. He possesses a passion for the arts, guided by a disciplined approach to change. Brownlee has worked for 37 years in the arts education field as a performing artist, teaching artist, and an arts administrator.

Mr. Brownlee joined the Focus 5 team in 2019 and is on the Kennedy Center’s national touring roster for the Partners in Education program and the Changing Education Through the Arts program. He has conducted master classes, workshops, and residencies extensively in the Midwest and throughout the United States. Harlan was chosen as a presenter for Project Lead the Way’s National Conferences 2018 and 2019 and was awarded a 2019 Young Audiences National Residency Teaching Artist Credential.

Regie Cabico is a spoken word pioneer having won The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and later taking top prizes in three National Poetry Slams. Television credits include 2 seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam, NPR's Snap Judgement & MTV's Free Your Mind. His work appears in over 30 anthologies including Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café, Spoken Word Revolution & The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. Mr. Cabico received the 2006 Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers for his work teaching at-risk youth at Bellevue Hospital. Journal publications include Poetry, Bellevue Literary Review & Beltway Poetry. As a theater artist he received three New York Innovative Theater Award Nominations for his work in Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind with a win for Best Performance Art Production The Kenyon Review recently named Regie Cabico the "Lady Gaga of Poetry" and he has been listed in BUST magazine's 100 Men We Love. He has shared the stage with Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg and through Howard Zinn's Portraits Project at NYU, has performed with Stanley Tucci, Jesse Eisenberg & Lupe Fiasco. He is the publisher of Capturing Fire Press.

Matthew Cumbie (he/him/his) is a collaborative dancemaker and artist educator in Washington, DC. His artistic research cultivates processes and experiences that are participatory and intergenerational, moving through known and unknown, and bring a poetic lens to a specifically queer experience. His choreography and dancemaking- considered “a blend of risk-taking with reliability, [and] a combination of uncertainty and wisdom,” by Kate Mattingly- weaves together a physical vocabulary of momentum and clarity, revelatory moments, and a belief in a body’s capacity to document and reflect back our lived experiences.

Click here to learn more about Matthew

Imani is a professional world/jazz vocalist, artist educator and children’s author. Her voice was

most notably featured on the musical soundtrack of the Emmy nominated film JANE GOODALL:

MYLIFE with CHIMPANZEES and on many of the National Geographic Television’s Explorer

Series soundtracks.

She is a 2016 thru 2022 fellowship grant recipient of the DC Arts &

Humanities Commission. Imani is a Kennedy Center National Teaching Artist, Consultant with

Focus 5 Consulting Firm, as well as on the rosters with Washington Performing Arts (WPA) and

Inspired Child (Dumbarton Arts Education). She is also the Artistic Director for the DCPS Teacher

Ensemble.

Imani has had the honor of performing, touring, and recording with such renowned

artists as WYNTON MARSALIS and the JAZZ AT LINCOLN ORCHESTRA for 8 consecutive years.

For thirty-four years, Imani has held the distinction of being the first and only American who

tours with the genuinely traditional Ghanaian ensemble ODADAA. Her children books and

compact discs entitled DHIMIKI and IYIPO AYÉ have received rave reviews from universities,

libraries, teachers and students. The Washington Post has called Imani “One of the most

important vocalists of all times.”

Lenore Blank Kelner is an author, arts educator, arts integration specialist, as well as a theatre and teaching artist. Lenore directed a professional theatre company for young audiences for 28 years and directed and acted in a touring company under the auspices of the regional theatre in Baltimore, Center Stage.

Lenore has presented her work in all 50 states and abroad. She has been a presenter with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since 1982 and was a Master Artist for the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts for 25 years. Lenore is the author of The Creative Classroom and co-authored A Dramatic Approach to Reading Comprehension. Both books were published by Heinemann. Lenore was awarded the Creative Drama Award from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education.

She worked with the Maryland State Department of Education serving as the Arts Education Consultant for Early Childhood developing art standards, based on the National Core Art Standards for young learners 0-3 years of age and is presently a consultant with the Maryland State Department of Education Fine Arts Division and the Maryland State Arts Council.

Penny Russell is a puppeteer, teacher and performer based in Prince George's County. She has performed with Good Life Theater for three seasons of Wolf Trap Field Trip Performances as Shelly in "Junkyard Pirates" and has worked as a Teaching Artist with the Wolf Trap Institute since 2010. In addition, Ms. Russell has worked as a writer, director and performer with the Blue SkyPuppet Theatre since 1994. She has also performed for the Kennedy Center (with Dinorock), The Puppet Company at Glen Echo, and Bread & Puppet Theater. She has taught puppetry for Camp Jabberwocky and Camp Tulgey Wood in Massachusetts; the Iona Community in Scotland; The Actor's Center in Washington, DC; and in schools, churches and camps throughout the DC and Baltimore region. Ms. Russell also sings with the Swing Set Trio and the Roland Cumberland Orchestra. She is a graduate of Parkdale HS in PGCPS and currently resides in Brentwood, Prince George's County!

Emily is a music educator and arts integration specialist. She received her Bachelor of Music Education from Shenandoah Conservatory, where she also studied for a Masters in Choral Conducting. Emily has worked as a Pre-K through 5th-grade general music teacher at the John F. Kennedy Center Changing Education Through the Arts School in Alexandria, VA, where she also served as the arts integration coordinator. During this time, Emily received multiple certificates of study in Arts Integration from the Kennedy Center.

In addition to her public school experience, Emily has worked as a teaching artist and Program Director for the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s El Sistema-inspired education program, Sympatico. She continues to work closely with other El Sistema USA programs across the country, collaborating and consulting on music-for-social-change projects. Through this work, she focuses on integrating music composition with current and social events.

As a music educator, Emily has led professional development engagements at numerous universities, as well as the LA Philharmonic’s “Take a Stand” festival and the El Sistema USA National Symposium. She is an enthusiastic collaborator and is just as excited to learn as she is to teach.

Selena Ward is the Project Manager in the Strategic Initiatives Office, PGCPS. In her almost 20 years with the county, some of her career highlights include being a Media Arts teacher, the Arts Integration Lead Teacher, and the program coordinator for Edward M. Felegy ES (the first designated Arts Integration school in the district). She has led professional development in the district, schools across the country, and has been a presenter at various conferences.