LAB PROGRAM FACULTY
FACULTY
Heather Bryce is a teaching artist, choreographer, and the artistic director of Bryce Dance Company. Bryce has expertise in working with people of all ages including populations often under-represented in the arts such as older adults, students who have disabilities, and people living with dementia. Bryce has over 20 years of experience as a teaching artist and educator.
She currently works as a teaching artist for organizations including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Lincoln Center Education, Durham Arts Council, and The Center for Arts Education. She holds her M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.
Heather Bryce
Jackie truly believes in the power of music education and the importance of creating safe environments for youth to learn in. She has spent the last 10 years teaching in the public school systems as well as in various non-profits. Jackie holds a a dual degree in Music Education and French Horn Performance from the Hartt School of Music and a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) through Bard College. Post graduation, Jackie worked as a teaching artist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles Neighborhood Project, where she implemented music curriculum into general education classes at the kindergarten through second grade levels. She also was a brass specialist with YOLA at Heart of Los Angeles and Exposition Park and taught elementary general and instrumental music for Pasadena Unified School District. Currently, Jackie serves as the Children’s Orchestra Conductor for YOLA at Heart of Los Angeles. She is also the cofounder, associate director, and brass teacher for Global Arts Corporation, a non-profit based in the Pico Union Neighborhood of Los Angeles. Global Arts mission is to contribute to educational equity by providing exceptional music classes for underserved youth and continual professional development for educators.
Jacqueline DesRosier
Dr. Derrick Fox is the Director of Choral Activities and Distinguished Associate Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He earned a BME from Arkansas State University, a MM in Choral Conducting from the University of Missouri – Columbia and a DMA in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University, where he was awarded the prestigious University Enrichment Graduate Fellowship. Dr. Fox has taught at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels. His conducting experiences have included singers from upper elementary choirs through collegiate and community choirs. In 2021, He was awarded the Bryan R. Johnson Service Award by the Nebraska Music Educators Association.
Dr. Fox has conducted all state choirs, led international, national and regional choral concerts/residencies and presented professional development workshops across the United States and internationally. His professional workshops focus on assessment in the choral classroom, building classroom community, rehearsal strategies, choral conducting techniques and shape note singing in the African American community. Dr. Fox has held teaching residencies at the Latvian Academy of Music and Syracuse University, led performance tours through Lithuania and Estonia. His recent engagements include presentations in Idaho, Nebraska, Kansas, New York, South Carolina, North Dakota, Missouri and Florida; as well as conducting the Hawaii All State Choir, Alabama All State Choir, New York All State MS/JH Choir, the Wisconsin Collegiate All State Choir and the 2019 National ACDA Middle School/Junior High Mixed Honor Choir. He recently traveled to South Africa as a 2019 ACDA International Conductor Exchange Fellow where he led choral workshops and rehearsals in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Potchefstroom.
As a baritone soloist, Dr. Fox has collaborated with various organizations; among them are the Arkansas Symphony, Lansing Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Columbia Chorale, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha Symphonic Chorus, University of Missouri, Michigan State University, Webster University and the Espaço Cultural (Brasilia, Brazil). He can be heard singing selections from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess on the compact disc In This Hid Clearing, available on the Naxos Classical Music label.
As an author, Dr. Fox has written articles for many organizations and was a contributing author in the Hal Leonard/McGraw Hill choral textbook Voices in Concert. His compositions and arrangements are published by Hal Leonard and Brilee Music. His book, Yes You Can: A Band Director’s Guide to Teaching Choirs is published by Carl Fischer. He launched The Derrick Fox Choral Series with Music Spoke to publish works by and about marginalized and minoritized people. He created the Professional Choral Collective (PCC) to collect and create learning activities and teaching strategies for choral music educators around the world to use during the 2020 Coronavirus virus pandemic and beyond. He also partnered with the Country Music Association Foundation to create the Unified Voices for Music Education Initiative which provides learning activities for instrumental and elementary music educators.
Dr. Fox serves on the advisory board for the Sound Spirit, a research lab and publishing initiative promoting collaborative engagement with the songbooks that sound America’s musical landscape. He is also a member of the advisory board for the Choral Singing in America documentary series. https://www.drderrickfox.com/
Dr. Derrick Fox
University of Nebraska- Omaha
Lorrie Heagy, Ph.D., has been involved in the advancement of music education for social change in public schools, Sistema-inspired programs and the university system for over twenty years. As a K-5 music teacher at Sítʼ Eetí Shaanáx̱ Glacier Valley Elementary School in Juneau, Alaska, Lorrie works closely with the community to fund and provide access to quality arts and music experiences for every student. After completing a Sistema Fellowship at the New England Conservatory in 2010, Lorrie created Juneau Alaska Music Matters (JAMM), an El Sistema-inspired program serving over 500 students in the Juneau School District. Lorrie provides teacher training across the U.S. in positive youth development, brain-based learning and student engagement and served as the 2011 Alaska Teacher of the Year.
Lorrie holds a PhD in Education with a concentration in Learning, Instruction and Innovation from Walden University and an honorary doctorate in Education from the University of Alaska Southeast. She also holds three masterʼs degrees in elementary, music and library education and traveled to the UK in 2019 as a Fulbright Distinguished Awardee in Teaching where she researched music pedagogies that support student identity, agency, creativity and well-being. She holds both a Waldorf and English as a Second Language teaching certificate.
As an Alaskan K-12 educator and adjunct professor, culturally responsive-sustaining education has been an integral part of Lorrieʼs teaching standards for decades and increasingly so as the Juneau community strives to revitalize the Lingít language and culture. In 2014, she was adopted into the Kiks.adi (Frog) clan for her work with music and native Alaskan children and is carried by the name, Gax.áansán. With roughly 40 fluent native speakers left worldwide, Lorrie has been studying and integrating Lingít language and culture into her classroom. In 2020 she completed 50 hours of culturally sustaining pedagogy through Sealaska Heritage Foundation and a year-long national professional learning community with Zaretta Hammond, Culturally Responsive Education by Design. For the 2021-2022 school year, Lorrie is honored to team with native and arts organizations, university faculty, and school district to launch Haa Tóo Yéi Yatee, which will teach violin to all kindergarten and 1st grade students at Sítʼ Eetí Shaanáx̱ Glacier Valley through the medium of the Lingít language and a place-based curriculum.
Dr. LORRIE HEAGY
Gowri Savoor is a visual-teaching artist, whose practice includes sculpture, illustration, and writing. Born in England, she moved to the US in 2007. Savoor has been a practicing teaching artist for over 20 years, with experience in arts integration and community building. She has partnered with multiple organizations in the UK and across the US, including Community Engagement Lab (VT), Lincoln Center Education (NY), The Learning Alliance (FL), and ITAC—the International Teaching Artist Collaborative. Savoor is the founder of A River of Light, an organization committed to bringing art to the community through participatory art events, parades, and installations.
Gowri Savoor
A licensed social worker, Stefanie Wakeman brings a lifelong love of the arts to her role as Director of Community Partnerships at Astral Artists. Stefanie has expertise in the areas of training and education, community engagement, and trauma-informed care. Prior to joining Astral, she developed innovative pilot programs with the Drexel University Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice and the Pennsylvania Montgomery County System of Care.
Throughout her career, Stefanie has had the privilege to support survivors of violence, individuals experiencing serious physical and mental illness, and children and families involved with child welfare and juvenile justice systems. She has served as a training and facilitation consultant for multiple city, county, and state social service organizations, and has worked on federally funded grant projects through the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Stefanie holds a Master of Social Work degree from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, where her focus of study was Children and Youth, with a specialization in Non-Profit Management.
Stefanie Wakeman
Astral Artists
2022-2023 LAB Discussion Leaders
Macky Caldoza
Kevin Merkel
Carey Shunskis
ANA MARÍA QUINTERO
Past Program Faculty
Audrey Lynn Amadeo | Guest Clinician | Owner, AMA Teaching
Adam Eccelston | Discussion Leader | Director of Orchestras, BRAVO Youth Orchestras
Dr. Scott Edgar | Guest Clinician | Associate Professor of Music, Lake Forest College
Jasmine Fripp | Guest Clinician | Choir Director, KIPP Nashville
Dr. Suzanne Hall | Lab Lecturer | Associate Professor of Music Education, Temple University
Dr. Marinda Harrell-Levy | Lab Lecturer | Associate Professor of Development and Family Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Lenora Helm-Hammonds | Guest Clinician | Interim Director of Graduate Studies, North Carolina Central University
Stephanie Hsu | Discussion Leader | Executive Director, Yakima Music en Acción
Darlene Machachon | Lab Lecturer | General Music Teacher, Orange County Public Schools
Thomas Madeja | Discussion Leader | Executive Director, Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project
Robert Saunders | Discussion Leader | Assistant Professor of Music Education, Augusta University
Eva Stoumbos | Discussion Leader | Lead Teaching Artist, Yakima Music en Acción
Alice Tsui | Guest Clinician | Music Teacher, New Bridges Elementary