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. 

Cultural, Dance, History, Instrumental Music, Literary Arts, Science, Theatre, Visual Arts, Vocal Music

Annie Chapman Brewer

Midland Midland

Annie Chapman Brewer is a hornist, instructor, and entrepreneur based in mid-Michigan. She owns and operates a home studio where she teaches private lessons on horn, brass, ukulele, and music theory, while also holding culinary classes and operating a side photography business. Before she moved back to Michigan from Iowa, she was a guest clinician for the horn studios at University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and University of Northern Iowa, sharing her knowledge on natural and modern horn performance practices. She also performed throughout the eastern region of Iowa through the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra, Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, Waterloo-Cedar Fall Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra Iowa. Currently she performs in mid-Michigan orchestras, churches, and chamber ensembles, including the Marquette Symphony Orchestra in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She holds a Master of Music degree from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she studied with Rick Seraphinoff, and received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from Central Michigan University under the tutelage of Dr. Bruce Bonnell. In her free time, you can find Annie adventuring on new trails with her husband Rick, and enjoying a cup of Oolong tea.

Science

Blandford on the Road

Grand Rapids Kent

Blandford’s On The Road programs bring environmental education to your school, senior center, or company gathering. We offer wildlife presentations, schoolyard activities, and lessons that engage everyone in discovering their relationship to natural systems and food cycles.

Science

Chippewa Nature Center "On the Road"

Midland Midland

Chippewa Nature Center (CNC) offers science - and history-based programs for preschool to high school groups both at the nature center or "On the Road" - where we go to the school. The programs are geared to meet the curricular needs of the teacher while being engaging and interesting for the students. All of the programs are correlated to Michigan's Great Level Content Expectations. We have more than 40 program offerings, as well as "traveling trunks" for rent, and educator workshops.

Science

Cranbrook Institute of Science

West Bloomfield Oakland

Cranbrook Institute of Science offers Science on the Go! programs in-school throughout the State of Michigan and Science on the Screen! programs on the screen nationwide.

Science

Detroit Zoo

Royal Oak Oakland

Bring the Zoo to you with one of the Detroit Zoo's Outreach presentations! Volunteer Docents visit your classroom and talk with the students about animals and conservation. No live animals are used. Many presentations include slides, videos and hands-on activities. Numerous programs are available and each one is geared for a specific age group. Check site for specifics.

Science

Great Lakes Children's Museum

Traverse City Grand Traverse

Stuffee- Body Basics Stuffee is a seven-foot, "friend " with a zipper down his front that helps children learn about the body parts they can't see. Body Basics is a 30 min presentation designed for a classroom or small groups. Stuffee's soft -sculpture digestive, respiratory and circulatory organs are removed one at a time so kids can appreciate both their size and shape, and can understand how body organs work together.

Science

Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center

Alpena Alpena

The sanctuary deploys a variety of speakers to share current research and education programs across the state. Education and outreach at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary includes both formal programs for learners of all ages and informal programs for sanctuary visitors and constituents, including user groups impacting sanctuary resources.

Science

Hartley Outdoor Education Center

St. Charles Saginaw

We have two types of outreach programs. The Traveling Naturalist is a program where a professional naturalist travels to the school to do a one hour program up to three hours. The subjects are: Pioneer Tools and Toys, The French Voyaguer, Abraham Lincoln - Honest and Lucky, and Slithers, Shells and Slimy Ones. Virtual Field Trips are performed using live, real-time interactive TV. The Hartley naturalist can interact directly with the students at their school through the TV. There are thirteen programs to choose from including: The French Voyageur, Abraham Lincoln, Owls with pellet dissection, Bats, Slime, Junk to Jewelry, Native Bead Making, Frogs and Toads, Worms, Recycling, Caterpillars, Leaves, and Farm Animals.

Science

Howell Conference and Nature Center

Howell Livingston

The Howell Conference and Nature Center offers several school-based outdoor education and live wildlife education programs. Examples include: Live Birds of Prey, Michigan Mammals, Creatures of the Night (nocturnal birds and mammals) and the Spirit of Alexandria Nature Bus – a hands-on mobile classroom presented with our live raptor program. Also offered is a comprehensive adventure and team building program.

Howell Conference and Nature Center

Instrumental Music, Science, Vocal Music

Joe Reilly

Ann Arbor Washtenaw

Joe Reilly is a singer, songwriter and environmental educator from Ann Arbor. Reilly writes songs from his heart that are playful, clever, engaging, joyful and always have something meaningful to say. He offers an educational and interactive musical program that teaches ecology and environmental science to grades K-6, making learning fun for all ages.

Science

John Ball Zoo Society

Grand Rapids Kent

Have an up-close encounter with live zoo animals in the comfort of your own classroom or facility. Zoo Instructors and/or trained Docents visit classrooms, scout meetings, retirement communities, civic events, and more! Topics vary depending on age of audience (ranges from preschool to adult).

Science, Visual Arts

Megan Heeres

Detroit

Megan's current practice is rooted in paper-making where her passion for experimentation, fascination with entropy and chance, and her love of science all meet. She works with unwanted plant species and the trash found where these plants reside to create art objects, installations, collaborations, and experiential workshops. Megan's art and professional endeavors have connected into a cooperative way of working with community both inside and outside of the studio. These collaborations engage with place, people, art and plants. They have ranged from large scale green space projects (Lafayette Greens Urban Garden, Beacon Park) that involve a wide array of stakeholders, to more intimate connections through the Invasive Paper Project and site-specific artworks. She participates in projects locally and nationally, most recently at the Broad Art Lab at Michigan State University and the Herron School of Art at Indiana University. Megan has been an artist-in-residence at the Broad Art Lab at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap, Georgia, the Michele Schara Residency at the Brightmoor Makerspace in Detroit, the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois, and the Santa Fe Art Institute and Women’s International Study Center in New Mexico.

History, Science

Michael S. Nassaney

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo

Fort St. Joseph was a French mission, garrison and trading post established in 1691 along the banks of the St. Joseph River in Niles. The site eluded archaeologists until 1998 when it was discovered in a survey sponsored by the Michigan Humanities Council. Since that time, Western Michigan University archaeologists have been investigating the site to uncover its secrets about the fur trade and interactions between the French and Native Americans. This program discusses the search for the long-lost French fort and what archaeologists are learning about daily life along the frontier of New France in the eighteenth century.

Michael S. Nassaney

Cultural, Science

Michigan Eats: Regional Culture Through Food

East Lansing Ingham

We are what we eat! For Michiganders this means pasties, muskrat dinners, coneys, fish fries and cherry pie. Twelve week program.

Michigan Eats: Regional Culture Through Food

Science

Michigan Iron Industry Museum

Negaunee Marquette

All programs offered at the museum are also offered as outreach programs.

Science

Michigan Science Center

Detroit Wayne

Traveling Science Program.

History, Science, Visual Arts

Midland Center for the Arts

Midland Midland

The Midland Center for the Arts has a variety of outreach programs in the areas of science, art and history. Programs include the human body, the light spectrum, magic of electricity, and Clay all the Way among others.

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.

Raven Hill Discovery Center Classroom Assembly

Science

Upper Peninsula Children's Museum

Marquette Marquette

Occasionally bring critters to schools.

Upper Peninsula Children's Museum