Teaching Artists

Below is a list of teaching artists in the state of Michigan. This list is to be used as a reference. Please contact Teaching Artists individually for professional references. If you are a teaching artist interested in being included in the database, CLICK HERE for the application. 

Instrumental Music

Raven Hill Discovery Center

East Jordan Charlevoix

Outreach programs are also available in science, history and the arts for all ages:Museum To Go; Animals To Go, History To Go and Art To Go

Science, Visual Arts

Raven Hill Discovery Center Classroom Assembly

East Jordan Charlevoix

Raven Hill Discovery Center offers a wide variety of Classroom Assemblies designed for any age of student from Preschool through High School with subject matter & presentations geared to the specific group. Schools can schedule programs to work on topics of their choice, including but not limited to science, history, art & more to fit needs. Activities can be designed to introduce, reinforce or review topics including Common Core State Standards (CCSS) & grade level objectives.

Raven Hill staff travels from classroom to classroom with hands-on presentations.

Cultural, Instrumental Music, Vocal Music

Red Tail Ring

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo

Red Tail Ring is the Americana roots duo of Michael Beauchamp and Laurel Premo. Whether rendering a traditional tune or one of their original compositions, the duo infuses each song with musical imagination, haunting harmonies and instrumental artistry on fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, jawharp and plain-old foot stomping. Three years and 300-plus shows into their partnership, Beauchamp and Premo have traveled increasingly farther in their musical ramblings, playing shows throughout the Midwest, East Coast and Southeastern United States. In the summer of 2011, the duo added Denmark to their list when they performed and taught as cultural ambassadors through the American Embassy.

Instrumental Music

Reed-Works Saxophone Quartet

Milford Oakland

Reed-Works Saxophone Quartet dazzles audiences with musical finesse and sensitivity, while covering a broad range of music styles such as swing, jazz, rock, and novelty tunes. Their repertoire includes transcriptions of great classical music, original saxophone literature, original music and arrangements by members of the quartet. These fine saxophone players also double on clarinets, flutes, and piccolo. The Reed-Works Saxophone Quartet has performed throughout Michigan, Ontario and Ohio since 1988, and is equally at home in band shells, concert halls, libraries and art fairs. Reed-Works is an amazing chamber group capable of entertaining a wide range of audiences.

Reed-Works Saxophone Quartet

Cultural, Dance

Reg Pettibone’s Native American Dance-Cultural Program

Livonia Wayne

Champion powwow dancer and full-blooded Native American from the Ho-Chunk Nation, Reg Pettibone presents an engaging cultural program that amazes, entertains and educates audiences. Along with his wife Marca, who is from the Paiute Nation, Pettibone draws on his traditional upbringing to provide the audience with a better understanding of true Native American culture through dance, song, stories, audience participation and a hands-on artifact display.

Reg Pettibone’s Native American Dance-Cultural Program

Instrumental Music, Vocal Music

Rhythm Billies

East Lansing Ingham

The Rhythm Billies receive praise from their event performances at festivals, coffeehouses, schools and workshops for continuing to keep the old songs alive.

Theatre

Richard Paul

Macomb Macomb

Puppeteer/Ventriloquist.

Instrumental Music

Rick Robinson

Detroit Wayne

CutTime Simfonica is a classical music sextet that rocks.

Cultural, History, Theatre

Ring of Steel Action Theatre

Dexter Washtenaw

The swords of heroes walk into your classroom with a display and/or workshop of theatrical fighting along with a collection of over seventy historical weapons (safely dulled), wearable armor, and combative props from well-known movies. Presentation is tailored to class type (Theatre, English, Humanities, History, or Foreign Language) and includes a lecture on the historical context of theatrical combat, safety techniques that protect performers, and presentation of selected scenes from classic plays or duels between historic character types.

Ring of Steel Action Theatre

Instrumental Music

Rodney Lamar Page

East Lansing Ingham

Explore a wide variety of musical genres with violinist and DJ Rodney Lamar Page.

Rodney Lamar Page

Cultural, Theatre

Rosie Chapman - The Storyteller

Washington Macomb

Rosie Chapman, a.k.a. Miz Rosie, is a teacher, performing artist, author and school social worker who thrills audiences of all ages with storytelling. Her interactive performances are truly educational and entertaining. Life lessons and social skills, folktales and fairy tales are just a few of the shows she brings to the stage. Her one-woman shows of Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Madame C.J. Walker, Marian Anderson and Soujourner Truth are unforgettable. Multicultural stories from Africa, North America, Australia and more are accompanied with songs and African instruments.

Chapman also offers storytelling training workshops for both children and adults, as well as professional development sessions for teachers and others.

Rosie Chapman - The Storyteller

Cultural, Dance

Sailaja Pullela’s Natyatarangini-Indian Classical Dance

Canton Wayne

Sailaja Pullela is a exponent for one of the renowned classical dance traditions of South India.

Sailaja Pullela’s Natyatarangini-Indian Classical Dance

Instrumental Music

Saline Fiddlers

Saline Washtenaw

Fiddlers offering workshops and student performances.

Cultural, Dance, Instrumental Music

Sangeeta’s Dance & Music of India

Midland Midland

Sangeeta Kar is an internationally renowned exponent of Odissi, the oldest classical dance form of India. She is also an award-winning singer and performs regularly on Indian TV, movies, stage, and CDs.

Sangeeta’s Dance & Music of India

Cultural, Theatre

Scheer Genius Assembly Shows

Walled Lake Oakland

To call Doug Scheer just a magician would be an injustice. Scheer Genius Assembly Shows use magic and Las Vegas-style illusions to entertain, but they are a far cry from a typical magic act. Magic Castle Newsletter calls Scheer "One of the World's Best Children's Magicians." In the category of school performer Scheer is at the top of his field. 12 shows are available from Character Education including Diversity, bully-proofing, and Leadership skills to Science and math and even Democratic values. See videos of all programs on our website.

Scheer Genius Assembly Shows

Literary Arts

Scott Beal

Ann Arbor Washtenaw

Scott Beal is an award-winning poet, performer, singer/songwriter and workshop leader whose performances have been called engaging and humorous, as well as deep and empowering. His poems tackle serious subjects with humanity and wonder, inviting listeners of all ages to see the world in new ways. His inventive and stimulating workshops are renowned for inspiring novice and veteran writers alike. Having performed and taught in Michigan and around the country for nearly two decades, Scott can craft an educational and entertaining experience for any audience or occasion.

Cultural, Theatre

Sheepshank Sam, Old Time Michigan Lumberjack

Romeo Macomb

Sheepshank Sam is an old-time Michigan shanty boy lumberjack who, using historical information sprinkled with tall tales, transports audiences back in time to a lumberjack camp in the northern Michigan woods during the late 1800s. Participants learn how trees were felled, cut into logs, skidded out of the woods, decked on sleds, stacked along rivers, and floated to sawmills throughout Michigan.

Sheepshank Sam, Old Time Michigan Lumberjack

Cultural, History, Instrumental Music, Theatre, Vocal Music

Sheila Grazino and Neil Woodward as Matter & Ghost

Chelsea Washtenaw

Sheila Graziano and Neil Woodward pay tribute to the ghosts of their folk arts ancestors by performing the music and dances that are the foundation of their traditions. These Michigan artists are well known for their entertaining and educational performances of traditional and original dance, songs and folk music. Together as Matter and Ghost, the pair performs dances from England, Scotland, Canada and the Appalachian Mountains, accompanied with tunes and stories reflecting the historical settings of the steps.

Sheila Grazino and Neil Woodward as Matter & Ghost

History, Vocal Music

Sheila Landis Sings in Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald

Rochester Hills Oakland

Sheila Landis offers student performances and workshops.

Sheila Landis Sings in Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald

Visual Arts

Sketches to Sculptures, Rendered Reality: Sixty Years with Marshall M. Fredericks

Saginaw Saginaw

Traveling visual arts exhibit.

Sketches to Sculptures, Rendered Reality: Sixty Years with Marshall M. Fredericks