A collaborative supporting quality Arts learning for all students in NH by sharing information, resources, and services.
PRESENTERS and COLLABORATORS
Emily Read Daniels, M.Ed., MBA, NCC, SEP™ in training
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Emily is the founder of HERE this NOW, a trauma-informed consulting firm and author of the new somatosensory and Polyvagal-informed approach to SEL (social-emotional learning): The Regulated Classroom: “Bottom-Up” Trauma-Informed Teaching.
Daniels is an internationally recognized trauma specialist in the trauma-informed schools movement and has served thousands of clients through in-person and virtual professional development training, workshops, webinars, conferences, and keynote addresses. She is a proud resident of Hancock, New Hampshire, a mostly patient mother of two teens, and the wife of a school psychologist.
Catherine Stewart
Catherine is a freelance writer, director, dramaturg, and projection designer working in theatre and film. She has developed her practice as part of the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab 2018 and as a Creative Community Fellow at National Arts Strategies. Between 2019 and 2021 she served as the Artistic Director for New Hampshire Theatre Project, an applied theatre company founded in 1988 and based at its 50-seat blackbox theatre in Portsmouth NH. In 2020 she was in the inaugural cohort for Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process Certification and Company One’s PlayLab Unit.
Inquiry drives the creation of Catherine’s multidisciplinary theatre that aims to ignite social, economic, and political change. As an applied theatre practitioner she works with communities to articulate a challenge, problem, or necessary exploration. She then leads theatrical processes, as a playwright, director, or facilitator, that grapple with finding answers. She is on the NH Teaching Artist Roster, as well as the Lifetime Arts Roster. She actively seeks professional development for her teaching artistry through the International Teaching Artist Conference and The Center for Civic Practice led by Michael Rohd.
Anthony Bounphakhom
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Anthony Bounphakhom is a choreographer and hip-hop dancer who started dancing at age 13. Anthony’s passion in teaching people to “push love,” to help people feel the love for themselves through art. Anthony has choreographed for flash mobs, local artists, dance companies/crews. Anthony is founder/owner of The Block Collaborative in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, whose mission is to provide various classes in the arts with a focus on dance, to create a safe space for students to express and learn, and to help unite and grow community
Amanda Whitworth
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Amanda Whitworth (alias, Lead With Arts) is a dancer who is excited about cross-sector collaboration in art-making, creative economy support and arts and health. She uses her experience as a performer, choreographer, teaching artist and collaborator to lead and consult on interdisciplinary projects in performance, wellness, public education and creative economy development.
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Growing up in metro Detroit, Amanda was surrounded by music, art, education and athletics as modeled by her parents and extended family. Her passion for dance performance has carried her to New York City and around the world. She now resides in central New Hampshire with her own family. Named one of NH’s “40 Under 40” young leaders by the NH Union Leader in 2019, and awarded a Vermeil Medal from the Academy of Arts, Sciences and Letters in Paris, France, Amanda, continues a rigorous practice of dance making, working as a performer of dance and physical theatre nationally and internationally.
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In March of 2020, with the support of the NH State Council on the Arts, Amanda was nominated by New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and confirmed by the Executive Council as the state’s eighth Artist Laureate, and first dancer to receive the honor. She feels energized about bringing visibility to New Hampshire’s rural spaces and people using the arts.
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In her inaugural year as laureate, Amanda alongside C. Robin Marcotte, MFA and Bobby Kelly, MD, MPH, founded the nonprofit organization ARTICINE, which uses the performing and creative arts as a means to improve people’s health, both at the patient and healthcare provider level. Passionate about equity, care and healing for all people the organization creates devised physical theatre based on public health challenges, creates narrative medicine curriculum and provides standardized patient services.
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Very proud of the “extended family” she has garnered through her teaching and service in higher education, Amanda is Senior Teaching Faculty and Dance Program Coordinator at Plymouth State University where she has integrated interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative performance into the curriculum. In 2020, she was the recipient of the Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Theo Nii Martey
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Theo Nii Martey also known as (Emperor T-Jiga) is a talented artist who was born and raised in Accra Ghana, West Africa. Theo is a Songwriter, Recording Artist, Producer, Performer, Teaching Artist, Award recipient of the 2019 Governor’s Arts Award for Arts Education and he was featured on New Hampshire Magazine who’s it for 2019 It list. His vibrant artist residencies give students an opportunity to experience hands-on West African drumming and a variety of dance styles. He has been on the Arts Council’s juried Arts Education Roster since 2005. He has taught and performed African drumming, dancing and music in Ghana, United Kingdom, Ireland, Mexico, Canada and the United States. At the age of 6, Theo began performing with the African Personality youth Ensemble in 1986 and he then joined the Shidaa Cultural Troup in 1989. At age 17 he joined the Dance Factory Company at the National Theater of Ghana in 1997, one of the most sought-after performance ensembles in Ghana. When in London in 2000, he performed with the Brekete. While touring with the Brekete Ensemble, Theo Martey formulated the idea to create the Akwaaba Ensemble in 2002. The Akwaaba Ensemble's energetic and engaging performances are a reflection of their name, which means 'welcome' in the Twi language of the Ashanti tribe of Ghana. At each performance the Ensemble brings West African drumming and dance to vivid life, holding sway with the rich and subtle rhythmic patterns and styles specific to different tribal groups of West Africa. In addition to his on stage experience, Theo is an accomplished teacher of African drumming and dance and he has received numerous grants from the NH State Art Council to teach school residencies and workshops in dozens of schools in New Hampshire. He enjoys working in a variety of settings, with children and adults, making music, teaching rhythms and songs, and telling the stories behind the songs and the Ga's tribe. He has performed for and taught children at dozens of schools throughout the United Kingdom and the United States. Whether he is onstage performing or leading a workshop, Theo's goal is to share the art and play of African percussive music and dance. Theo and the Akwaaba Ensemble release their first Album, “AKWAABA WELCOME HOME” in 2008 and he released his solo album Jei Elaaje wo (Lost in the world) in 2012 and he then went on to release four singles title Saka Saka, Pretty Jeniki, Kilode and Yeloi in 2021.
Kate Crary
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Kate Crary is an artist and a Project Director with UNH’s Institute for Health Policy and Practice. Her work includes policy analysis, project management, group and organizational strategic planning, and curriculum delivery and development. In addition to this work, Kate serves as a Person-Centered Systems and Planning Educator for the Center on Aging and Community Living. She is also a certified long-term care Ombudsman, and much of her work focuses on person-centered systems change, and resident’s rights. A life-long artist, Kate has been developing and sharing her graphic recording skills for more than 7 years throughout New England.