(2006) Ken Myers is the executive producer at MARS HILL AUDIO, a nonprofit organization devoted to helping Christians think wisely about modern culture through a variety of audio resources. He was formerly the editor of This World (the forerunner of the monthly journal First Things). Prior to his tenure at This World, he was executive editor of Eternity, the evangelical monthly magazine. For eight years he was a producer and editor for National Public Radio, working for much of that time as arts and humanities editor for the two news programs, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Mr. Myers is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where he studied film theory and criticism, and of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He is married and has two children, and lives in central Virginia. (bio from the MarsHill Audio web site)
(2007) Steve Thrall is in ministry with International Teams.
He has been working in creative urban ministry in Paris, France for the
last 17 years including church planting, teaching, networking and
ministry through the arts. In 1997 Steve helped to create a Christian
theater company (La Compagnie Des Actes), and began more extensive work
with artists in France. Steve completed a Doctor of Ministry degree
from Bakke Graduate University in Seattle, Washington in April of 2005.
His final project was entitled, “Engaging in Art with Missional Intent:
A Contextual Approach to Mission in France." While residing in Vermont
the past two years (he and his family will return to Paris this
summer), one of his activities has been Innovation, a fairly
new ministry, both to the arts community of Montreal, as well as
through the arts to the city. The Innovation team recognizes the gifts
of creative communication as God given, yet often misused. We desire to
be salt and light to the artistic community of Montreal stimulating,
challenging, encouraging and caring for these gifted people, helping
them to discover the Lord, their creator. In addition we want to
promote the spiritual transformation of Montreal through a wide variety
of artistic expressions which allow people to experience the height,
depth and breadth of God's love in new ways. Another endeavor is Urbanus,
an urban leadership partnership for the French speaking world,
comprising a network of individuals, mission agencies, and theological
institutes committed to training urban church leaders for ministry in
French speaking cities. Steve was one of the founding members in 1995
and has worked on Urbanus initiatives in Europe ever since.
Performing Arts: Music, Theater, Dance, Song-writing, Performance...
Composer and Violinist Devin Arrington, (b.1978) graduated in 2004 with a Masters in Composition from Carnegie Mellon University where he was a scholarship student of Leonardo Balada. He also studied conducting with Dr. Robert Page. Other studies in composition were completed at Middlebury College in 2001 under the guidance of Su-Lian Tan. He has studied violin privately with Masao Kawasaki, Yehonatan Berick, and Salvatore Princiotti, and participated in the Aspen, Bowdoin, and Masterworks summer music festivals. This year Mr. Arrington was the recipient of the First Music 21 prize (chamber music division). His trio for clarinet, cello, and piano was premiered in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in April 2005. Other honors include being named the recipient of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers (CFAMC) 2004 scholarship and a Special Distinction in the 2005 ASCAP Rudolf Nissim prize for his orchestra work “La Via Dolorosa.” His second string quartet, “Gilead,” won the 2003 Harry Archer String Quartet Competition and received its premiere by the Grammy-nominated Cuarteto Latinoamericano. His first string quartet, “Lamentations,” was honored in the summer of 2002 with a premiere in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the Great Hall of the Composers. In 2001 Mr. Arrington received a grant from the Vermont Arts Council and the NEA to form the Quintown Community Strings Program which he directed in rural Vermont. Current projects include commissions from internationally renowned flautist Alberto Almarza and the Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble. Mr. Arrington performs regularly with the Westmoreland Symphony and teaches violin, composition, and theory privately in Pittsburgh. Devin Arrington received a 2006 fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, in the Music - Classical Composition category. (from www.devinarrington.com)
(2005) Charmaine, who moved to the U.S. from Australia in 2001, co-wrote over half of the songs on her premiere album, including I Love You Lord, Acceptable, and Only You. She brings both youthful energy and vertical lyrics to her contemporary style. Currently Charmaine is touring with acclaimed artist Rebecca St. James, singing background vocals as well as opening shows with a performance of her own. Her desire is to minister to her peers, and to create urgency in them to love and worship God passionately. “Basically since the day I was born, I've been traveling around the world with my parents," says Charmaine. "Singing and ministry are two things that have been a part of me and who I am, throughout my life. My desire and my prayer is that whatever may happen in the future, whatever I say and whatever I do, that it will please Him and give glory to God.” Jon Tyson, Charmaine's youth pastor at The People's Church in Franklin, Tennessee, says, "One thing that's desperately needed is for teenagers to have examples and leaders they can follow who will lead them in a worship movement. That's why I'm excited about Charmaine... she has helped lead our students in this worship revolution and hungers to realign the hearts of today's generation with the heart of God. I'm excited about her ministry as she becomes a voice for the glory of God in our time.” For more information visit www.charmaineworship.com.
(2003, 2004) Project Dance, founded by Cheryl Cutlip, is a New York City based organization committed to reconciling dance to its proper place in the Body of Christ and the marketplace. Cheryl is the assistant choreographer and performing Rockett for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She is also on staff with Ad Deum Summer Dance Intensive, Dance Revolution, and the International Christian Dance Fellowship Conference. For more information visit www.projectdance.com.
(2007) Isabelle Depelteau received her Bachelor’s Honours Degree in Fine Arts (Dance and Music)
in 1976. She studied at the Martha Graham Dance School in NY and with
the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, also in NY. She apprenticed at the
Toronto Dance Theatre and DanceMakers in Toronto, Canada, and then
decided to return to Quebec to create her own Dance School. After 15
years of professional dance and a serious injury, Isabelle returned to
university to study scriptwriting. She graduated from UQAM in 1990 in
Scriptwriting and began a new career in the television industry. She
then met her husband, Director of Photography and Producer Daniel
Shannon and they created their own television production company.
Isabelle has written, directed and produced over 20 documentaries for
television for broadcasters such as: The Discovery Channel, PBS, CBC,
Radio-Canada, Télé-Quebec, Life Network, Bravo! France 5, France 3 and
many more. Her work has been broadcast in over 100 countries and now
extends to feature film screenwriting and educational websites. She is
in the process of completing her Certificate in Theology from ITF
(Institut de Théologie pour la Francophonie) and serves as Head of
Media Relations at Église Nouvelle Vie
(a church of over 3000 people) in Montreal, under the direction of
Pastor Claude Houde. She resides in Montreal, Canada with her husband,
15 year old daughter Katia and 13 year old son Anthony.
(2007) Clarinetist Steven Klimowski went to New York City after high school to study with the famed
clarinet teacher Leon Russianoff. He spent seven years with Russianoff
while attending the Manhattan School of Music and the State University
of New York at Purchase. Klimowski played for three years with the
State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra in Toluca, Mexico. He moved to
Vermont in 1980 and started teaching the clarinet and saxophone at the
University of Vermont. He also teaches clarinet and classical saxophone
at Middlebury College and St. Michael's College, and has his own
private studio. Currently, he concertizes in a solo and chamber music
capacity throughout Vermont and northern New England. Klimowski plays
with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Raising Cane, the
woodwind trio of the VSO where he plays for Vermont's school children.
He performs regularly with the Vermont Mozart Festival and the
Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival and has been recorded on Albany
Records and on Trey Anastasio's recent solo CD. He is very active in
the new music scene and has premiered several works for solo clarinet.
In 1987 he founded the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble
of which he the artistic director. The VCME continues to commission and
perform new music now in its seventeenth season. In 1987 and again in
1990 Mr. Klimowski was honored with an individual artist's fellowship
from the Vermont Arts Council and in 2003 received it's Citation of
Merit.
(2005) Contemporary American Impressionism best describes Thom Leshinsky's compositions on acoustic guitar. His fingerstyle playing interweaves melody, harmony and musicality into an intricate and melodious form of music that appeals to a variety of audiences. His artistic compositions have gained ASCAP Composer's Awards for the last decade. His CDs have been reviewed in Fingerstyle and Acoustic Guitar magazines, played on three nationally syndicated NPR programs, and used in commercials, film scores, and trailers.
(2006) Jeffrey S. Miller, director of theater at Gordon College, was the founder and served as Artistic Director of The Refreshment Committee Theatre Company of St. Paul, MN, for fourteen years. Sustaining multiple productions with local and national tours, he created a place for theatre with a faith perspective in the Twin Cities area, an arena of world-class performance art. For seventeen years, he also taught in, and at various times chaired, the theatre arts department of Bethel College in St. Paul, MN, where he received the 1995 Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship. He served as Director of Education as well as director and performer at Lamb's Players Theatre in San Diego, California, for six years before moving to Gordon College in 2002. Among his many directing credits are The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Busman's Honeymoon, Macbeth, Guys and Dolls, Shadowlands, Edith Stein and Forgiving Typhoid Mary. His first shows at Gordon were a new adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities and Tartuffe. At Gordon, the Communication & Theatre Arts Department faculty work closely with students in and out of the classroom, through teaching, mentoring, and providing guidance. Each professor contributes experience, knowledge, creativity, and a Christian perspective on the various communication arts studied and practiced at Gordon. The Department's mission is to engage students with the culture-shaping media from the perspective of a Christian worldview. Developing both the theoretical foundations for communication as well as those abilities necessary for practice, the department takes seriously the relationship between culture and communication. Worldview, values and ethics are central concerns. With an equal consideration for both critique and creativity, the faculty work both (a) to equip students intellectually to resist uncritical conformity to the media values of their own cultural environment, and (b) to nurture students in their capacity to be Christ’s agents of transformation in culture. (from the Gordon College website)
(2006) Kevin Parizo is organist and choir director at the Church of the Assumption, B.V.M. (St. Mary's Catholic Church) and the United Methodist Church in Middlebury, VT. He holds a doctorate in worship music, has taught at St. Michael's College, and is has been named the 2006 Artist of the Year of the Vermont Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. In addition to his music ministry, he accompanies choruses and performers in a variety of settings, from student recitals to the concert stage, and teaches piano and organ.
(2004) A writer above all else, Pierce Pettis pens insightful and evocative lyrics that are alternately beautiful, humorous, and haunting -- all wrapped in Southern mystique. The lyrics are equally matched by powerful and original melodies that highlight Pettis' ability to balance his passionate, edgy vocal and guitar style with a gentle intimacy. With over 20 years of songwriting and performing behind him, Pettis has been involved with Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama, Fast Folk Musical Magazine in New York, won the prestigious New Folk competition for songwriting at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas, and was for years a staff songwriter at Polygram/Universal Music Publishing in Nashville. Pierce Pettis' albums and songwriting have achieved national and critical acclaim. The San Francisco Chronicle speaks of Pettis' work as "a torrent of musical language that spoke to the head and the heart"; Performing Songwriter Magazine called Pettis "one of the more vital and critically acclaimed folk stars of recent years"; and Dirty Linen said "Pettis offers sustenance for mind and spirit, packaged in an amiable, easily digestible musical form." He has received numerous songwriting awards including a 1999 Country Music Award from ASCAP for You Move Me (co-written with Gordon Kennedy), recorded by Garth Brooks on his album Sevens. About his songwriting workshop, Pierce writes "I intend to explore how Christian thought can influence songwriting in a number of ways including: creating a universal rather than ego-centric vision, the Platonic/Augustinian ideals of Beauty, Truth, Goodness..., avoiding propaganda/preaching and stressing respect for the listener and integrity of the song, the Bible as source material with examples such 
as Dylan, Cockburn, T-Bone Burnett, Pete Seegar, etc., good basic songwriting form in melody and lyrics."
(2007) Hilary Rushford is a proud graduate of Pepperdine University with degrees in Theatre
and English. Immediately following graduation she was cast in the
Broadway 1st National Tour of 42nd Street. After a year and a half on the road she left to join the company of the Radio City Rockettes
as a member of the ensemble. She has lived in New York City for 3 years
and performed with the "Rockettes" now for 4 seasons. While in NYC she
has choreographed, taught, and performed with the Christian ministry Project Dance, and serves on leadership teams with a parachurch of Christian artists known as The Haven and the church plant Christ's Church for Brooklyn.
Visual Arts: Painting, Photography, Architecture, Cartooning...
(2006) Photographer Cyndi Freeman works in Vermont as well as New York City. She writes "Art, at its best, will keep its viewers' attention for years to come. Good art never bores its beholder. ... A photograph is art and to beheld forever. A good photograph will be looked at often and will bring back emotions, often new ones each time. I set out to create such images in which not only time, but a feeling, is captured." (from www.cyndifreeman.com)
(2005) Recognized by art instructors and local critics for her high level of natural talent, Elisabeth Ehmann achieved near photographic realism in her oil paintings by age nineteen. Although she has enjoyed successfully competing and undertaking serious commissions in the past, she is presently focused on finishing her B.A. with a Bible major from Liberty University. After college, Elisabeth anticipates furthering her artistic studies at the Florence Academy of Art.
(2004, 2005, 2006) Reed Prescott is one of New England's premier artists and illustrators. His oil paintings are receiving acclaim throughout the country. Prescott was the feature artist at the Seacoast Flower Festival in Durham, New Hampshire, and was asked to write a section in the North Lights on "How to Paint with Water Soluble Oil Paints." As a painter, Reed's work appears in numerous galleries and shows across the northeast, including Maryland's renowned Easton Waterfowl Festival, The Vermont Institute of Natural Science's wildlife art show, the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance's Reflections on Basin Harbor, and group shows in New Jersey and Cape Cod. As an illustrator, he has illustrated ten books, including Owls and Birds of Prey, both by Floyd Scholz; Ron Rood's Vermont: A nature guide; and Vermont Wildlife Viewing Guide by Cindy Kilgore Brown, developed in cooperation with Defenders of Wildlife. For more information visit www.prescottgalleries.com.
(2005) Paul Rogers is a commerical and fine arts photographer. As a commercial photographer in Vermont, he has worked with many companies and people needing publicity work. He does extensive work with local actor Rusty DeWees. His recent fine art project, Leaf Prints, is currently being exhibited at the Frog Hollow Vermont State Craft Centers. He also has worked as a mission photojournalist in ten countries since 1997.
(2005) Ted Dickerson has a Bachelors degree in Environmental Design and a Masters of Architecture from the University of Colorado. He has done architectural work in three continents and several states. In addition to work on various houses of worship, he has done health care, education, food service, and residential design. He is currently the sole proprietor of Integratus Architecture in Weaverville, North Carolina. His main desire is to creatively meet the needs of those he serves, and to give them something beautiful to enjoy. "What is important about my work is that it is always in the context of relationships."
(2005) Robert W. Brunelle, Jr. is the creator of "Mr. Brunelle Explains It All," a political cartoon strip in which the main character, a middle aged art teacher, attempts to explain the oddities of modern life to befuddled readers. Currently the strip appears weekly in the Vermont Times, and the nationally distributed humor magazine Funny Times.
Written arts: Fiction, Literature, Poetry...
(2004) Of the hundreds of poems Jane Ault has written, forty-eight are included in her book, Heart Connections, an interactive devotional workbook combining elements of scripture, poetry, photographs, drawings, and journaling. Her poem, The Mountain Peaks are Veiled in Silk Chiffon, was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2001 Poetry Contest sponsored by Roanoke Chapter of the National League of American Pen Women. She is a member of the Roanoke chapter of the Virginia Writers Club, and she was speaker at the 2002 and 2003 conferences of the Richmond chapter of the American Association of Christian Writers.
(2004, 2005, 2006) Matthew Dickerson is the director of the New England Young Writers Conference at Middlebury College and the author of several books, including a novel (The Finnsburg Encounter), a biography (Hammers and Nails: The Life and Music of Mark Heard), and a work of literary criticism (Following Gandalf: Epic Battles and Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings). Matt is also a fishing (especially fly-fishing) and outdoors writer with a regular column in The Addison Independent, and is a frequent contributor to Fly Fish America and the Burlington Free Press.
(2003, 2005) Robert Siegel has taught at Dartmouth, Princeton, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he twice directed the graduate program in creative writing and is currently Professor Emeritus of English. His seven books of poetry and fiction include In a Pig’s Eye and the Whalesong trilogy. His poetry and fiction won several awards from Poetry magazine, the Friends of Literature, and Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the National End
owment for the Arts. He and his wife Ann live in South Berwick, Maine.
(2007) David Wright's
poems, essays and reviews have appeared widely online and in print, in
such places as The New Pantagruel, Mars Hill Review, Books and Culture,
and The Christian Century, among others. His work also appears in the
anthology A Cappella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry (University of Iowa Press). David is the author of two poetry collections: A Liturgy for Stones (Cascadia, 2003) and Lines from the Provinces
(2000). He has been awarded an Illinois Arts Council Artist's
Fellowship for Poetry and has given readings throughout the United
States. He and his family recently returned to live in Central Illinois
after several years in the Chicago area. Since 2001, he has taught
writing and literature at Wheaton College. (see also www.dwpoet.com)
