Zoe Crago is the co-founder of Duo Design + Media. A partnership of two creatives specializing in graphic design, social media, and video production for individuals and businesses/organizations looking to expand their visual presence. As the lead graphic designer and illustrator, Zoe's project list includes (but is not limited to) the 2023 Festival Design for NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth), illustrator for The Rise Book Project, event campaigns for TEDxSpokane, and social media marketing for Washington Filmworks and Seattle Creates! Her love for illustration and hand-lettering often finds its way into her regular projects creating a beautiful hybrid of traditional and digital art.

After 6 years in the design world, Zoe hopes that her work, collaborations, and community involvement will ultimately impact those who want to grow and succeed in the creative industry!

Tim Kennedy is a Seattle based musician, teacher, and producer,  he has toured all over the world performing music.  Tim is the front man for electro dance band Richie Aldente, the country funk band Hot Rod, and the dad pop band Big Tooth. As well as performing, Tim is an established producer working with artists in many genres of music.  When not performing or producing albums he teaches at Cornish College of the Arts and the Seattle Jazz Academy.

Lael Rogers is a Seattle-based writer & director hailing from Juneau, Alaska. Her 2020 short film, The Claw, was produced with the support of Film Independent and received a Vimeo Staff Pick. Her award-winning films have played at top tier festivals around the world including Fantasia International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, Palm Springs Shortfest and more. Her work has been featured in publications such as Rolling Stone, IndieWire, and The Seattle Times. In addition to writing & directing, Lael’s practical SFX design work is featured in the short film Dream Creep, which premiered at Sundance, played SXSW, and made someone throw up at a screening. She currently teaches film at Cornish College of the Arts.
 

Nicole is an actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, teacher, visual artist, wife to Josh and mother to Max and Huxley. Nicole has lived and worked on both coasts, loves to create, garden, and do construction! On screen, Nicole has been seen in Nike, LG, and T-Mobile commercials. On stage in Adrift (Sam French Festival), Big Effing Deal! (Duet with Reggie Watts), Cabaret (Gregory Award Nominee), Mary Poppins, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, How to Succeed, Once Upon A Time in New Jersey and many Village Originals (Village Theatre), The Constant Wife (Seattle Rep), Cabaret (5th Ave, AMTSJ, Ordway Center), Wonderful Town (5th Ave), Ming the Rude (Empty Space), Elephant and Piggie, Fire Station 7, Sleeping Beauty (SCT), Tapestry (Oregon Cabaret Theatre), and many more. As a choreographer and dancer Nicole had the honor of working with Sonya Tayeh and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with running the dance call for the original production of Head Over Heals. In New York, Nicole’s work has been seen at the HERE Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, Astoria Performing Arts, The Management and Acting Manitou. In Seattle, at KIDSTAGE, Cornish, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, The Triple Door, Café Nordo, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Fantastic Z, and Art Institute of Seattle. Nicole is currently teaching at Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle Film institute, and Westlake Dance Center. She has also taught at UW, Art Institute of Seattle, Hunter College High School, VAM Studios, 5th Avenue, Century Ballroom, McCarter Theatre Company, Jersey City Dance Academy, and The Studios. Nicole holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts, is a certified Simonson Technique teacher and a member of Actors’ Equity.

Lael Rogers is a Seattle-based writer & director hailing from Juneau, Alaska. Her 2020 short film, The Claw, was produced with the support of Film Independent and received a Vimeo Staff Pick. Her award-winning films have played at top tier festivals around the world including Fantasia International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, Palm Springs Shortfest and more. Her work has been featured in publications such as Rolling Stone, IndieWire, and The Seattle Times. In addition to writing & directing, Lael’s practical SFX design work is featured in the short film Dream Creep, which premiered at Sundance, played SXSW, and made someone throw up at a screening. She currently teaches film at Cornish College of the Arts.
 

Emma Lawes (she/her) is a dancer, educator and producer based between Los Angeles and Seattle. Currently, she is in creation processes with Keyes Wiley (SEA) and Sean Ardor (CA) to premiere in 2025. She is on faculty at Orange County School of the Arts and California School of the Arts SGV, and producing work with CO-, G.U.M. Collective and zoe | juniper. She has presented her own work at Base: Experimental Arts + Space, 10 Degrees Arts + Events, Mutuus Studio and Atwater Village Theater. She is a graduate of the University of the Arts with a BFA in Dance Performance under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield.

Nicole Flores (they/she) -- Nicole (Nikki) is a movement artist, dance educator, and personal trainer based in Seattle, Washington. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Nikki received her BFA in Dance from Columbia College Chicago before relocating to Los Angeles in 2018 where she received secondary training from The American Music and Dramatics Academy (AMDA) and performed with Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company, Psychopomp Dance Theater, and Heidi Duckler Dance. Nikki is a close collaborator with the Artistic Director of Psychopomp, Shenandoah Harris, with whom she co-facilitated three consecutive Psychopomp summer workshops (2020-2023). As a facilitator, Nikki strives to center community-building and somatic awareness in conjunction with strong technical foundations for the dancers they work with.

 Since moving to Seattle in 2021, Nikki has performed works by Coriolis Dance Collective, Dance Undercurrent, and Earthworks Dance. Nikki’s passion for live performance and deep curiosity for humanity in movement ultimately led her to badmarmarDANCE (Marlo Martin, Artistic Director), with whom she currently performs. Nikki is also a dance educator at eXit SPACE and Dance Fremont as well as a NASM certified personal trainer for their business Powerchord Movement. Her belief is that movement, and dance especially, is for everyone, so Nikki does her best to meet each student where they’re at while encouraging a balance between rigor and joy. As a trainer, Nikki focuses primarily on the functionality of the body and how each individual can fine tune their working parts for optimal freedom in everyday life. At home here in Seattle, Nikki is eager to see how dance and life will continue to unfold.  

Kiné Camara is a dance artist and educator based in Seattle, WA, but you can often find her in Paris and Johannesburg as well. 

She began dancing traditional Senegalese styles professionally at 8 years old, and teaching in 2005, under the direction of her father, Master Drummer and Dancer, Ibrahima Camara, of the National Ballet of Senegal. In 2019, she shifted gears to the world of Afro, training in a mix of styles including Afrobeats, Azonto, Ndombolo, Amapiano, and Afrohouse. 

She loves bringing her passion for dance to the stage, and has performed with artists including Uncle Waffles, Asake, Tiwa Savage, Sauti Sol, and Archie. She has also dance and hosted with nightlife events such as the “Tune4Tune” series at Neumos, and “Private Piano” both in collaboration with KEXP DJ, Lace Cadence.

She is currently teaching Amapiano classes, and has taught with organizations like The University of Washington, the University of Florida, Vashon Island Center for the Arts, The Overlake School, The Union Cultural Center, Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Repertory Dance.

Olivia Anderson is a Seattle-based dancer, educator, and stage manager who is continually growing into her own practice and purpose. You may have seen her performing her own work around Seattle, or dancing with companies/artists such as dani tirrell and the Congregation, Keyes Wiley and the NOGOODDOERS, EL SUEÑO, Gansango Dance Company, Malacarne, Chamber Dance Company and badmarmarDANCE, among many others.

She recently began teaching dance at the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences and the University of Washington. Olivia is moving through the world with care, intention, and a great curiosity that drives her love of people. 

Ashley Menestrina (she/her) is a movement artist with deep ties to improvisation. She has been performing her own work around the world since 2016. Her solo work, 'The Human Condition: Absent Presence', premiered at The Martha Graham Theater in April 2018 and has since toured in New York City, Los Angeles, Turkey, Mexico City, Portugal, Oklahoma City, and Germany (receiving ‘Best Creation’ Prize at Solocoreografico Festival in both OKC and Frankfurt). Her most recent work, 'Combative Echoes', was originally shown in Thessaloniki, Greece for Die Wolke Art Group’s Unit Motives: GRM festival in 2019, and was accepted into the 24th International Solo-Dance-Thetare Festival Stuttgart in 2020, the 39th Edition of NYC's Battery Dance Festival in 2021, and Seattle International Dance Festival in 2024. She has further worked as a performer/collaborator/choreographer for the following: Manhattanville College (NY), Alice Gosti (Malacarne), Gonzaga University, 5th Ave Theater production of Afterwords, Anna Mlasowsky for the Amazon Artist in Residence program, DX arts department at UW, Emily Schoen Branch, and Maia Melene Durfee.

Majinn  is a queer, disabled, mixed Black dance artist and educator who utilizes their training in multiple dance forms to find and express their whole self. They believe that to be the best dancer and person they can be they need to continuously push their own comfort zone. Majinn works to help guide people in becoming more confident and connected in their bodies, find joy in their movement and be able to speak their voices primarily through Black social dance forms. One of Majinn’s biggest goals in dance is to spread the histories of Black social dance forms in and out of academia so that the cultures are learned and more respected. They also aim to give back to the communities that these art forms were created from through any way they can.  Majinn’s art is for them and the communities they come from, always striving to be authentically themselves in their movement and work You can find Majinn under Majinn_Mike on Instagram

Courses Taught

Genna Carey is an interdisciplinary artist working at the
intersection of dance, choreography, and film. With a BFA in
Dance from Western Michigan University, she integrates her
movement background with cinematic and multimedia elements to
explore new dimensions of storytelling. Her performance career
includes dancing with companies such as Conteur Dance Company
(Toronto, ON) and LED Dance Company (Boise, ID). Genna’s
choreography has been presented on renowned stages, including
the Ailey Theatre, Peridance Capezio Theatre, Center for
Performance Research, and 92nd Street Y in New York. Beyond the
stage, her work has expanded into dance film, where she blends
movement with visual composition. Recent highlights of her film
work include movement direction for Seattle-based musical artist
Yellacatt and an upcoming immersive collaboration with new-media
a r t i s t M a j a P e t r ić. I n a d d i t i o n t o h e r p e r f o r m a n c e ,
choreographic, and film work, Genna is the co-founder of AETHER,
a multidisciplinary arts space that fosters creative
experimentation within both her own practice and the Seattle
community.

Born and raised in Seattle, after high school, Nikki moved to California to attend college, receiving a BFA in Film Production in2002 from Chapman University. For the next 6 years she worked various office jobs in the film industry while also earning a Masters Degree in Secondary Education. In 2006 Nikki decided to shift her career to special effects make-up from there segueing into the stop motion world, beginning in 2008 with Shadow Machine on the Adult Swim hit show, Robot Chicken: Season 3. Nikki has worked as a puppet fabricator, lead fabricator and department head on numerous stop motion television shows, commercials and films, helping create iconic stop motion characters for such shows/films as Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas, Happy Honda Days (SoCal regional commercial campaign 12 years running), Ask the Story Bots, Buddy Thunderstruck, Anomolisa and Ted Lasso to name a few. In 2022, the next adventure brought Nikki back home to Seattle to be closer to family and to hang out her own shingle as Puppets Northwest, offering a one stop shop for puppets of all kinds, SFX, 3D modeling/printing and educational outreach.

J. Gordon brings over two decades of experience as an artist, educator, and curator, to his classrooms.  Gordon earned his BFA and MFA in painting from the University of Kansas and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts respectively. While his current professional practice centers primarily around the medium of drawing, he incorporates aspects of traditional and contemporary painterly practices in both his teaching methods and mixed media art works.

Gordon is a recipient of multiple scholarships and awards, as well an artist fellowship from the state of Delaware.  He has taught drawing at many colleges, art centers, and museums including the Tacoma Art Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He is currently represented by Gallery Strega, where he also plays a supporting role in exhibition design and curation.

Winifred Westergard is a Seattle based fine art and commercial photographer with degrees from the University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts in Creative Writing, Journalism and Art. Her art making foundation is rooted in the early processes of photography, fully embracing the slow processes of 19th century photography. She is a visual creator with a strong base on human emotion and storytelling. She has managed the photography studio at Cornish College of the Arts since 1999 and has taught Photography and Portfolio Development through Summer@Cornish since 2003.

Bradley Taylor is a Seattle based artist, and printmaker. He is currently working at Cornish College of the Arts as the Printmaking Studio Technician. Proficient in all forms of printmaking Bradley specializes in woodblock prints. His work has been shown in numerous galleries in the Seattle area. He has also work collaboratively with many notable Seattle Artists.

David Taylor Gomes (he/they) is a composer, music director, and actor, best known for writing Boxed Up: The Musical and Ranked, featured in the HBO Documentary “My So-Called High School Rank”. David was selected as a semi-finalist in the 2023 Eugene O’Neill National Music Theatre Conference for his new musical in development The Way. David also co-founded UproarTheatrics.com, a theatrical licensing company. In Seattle David has worked with Village Theatre, The 5th Avenue Theatre, Taproot Theatre, Showtunes, Artswest, and Seattle Children's Theatre. He has also performed at Sacramento Theatre Company, Capital Stage, and the iconic Birdland Jazz Club in NYC. In addition to performing, David coaches singers, songwriters, and pianists at his music studio in Seattle. His students have performed on Broadway, national tours, The Disney Channel, and many regional theatres across the US.

Meg McLynn is an actor, vocalist, and teaching artist who has been seen on stages and screens throughout North America. Meg loves to share her passion for performance with students of all ages, and it is her belief that the work we do in “the studio” is applicable to all aspects of our everyday lives. 

Having studied for 7 years under renowned voice teacher, Kristin Linklater, Meg now works with students to help them take ownership of their wonderfully unique voices. She teaches Voice and Speech at Cornish College of the Arts, and she serves as a vocal coach with Jack Straw Studios. She has assisted with voice training at Columbia Business School and World Leaders Forum in New York City. Meg also teaches Voice and Acting classes at Freehold Theatre Lab and Mighty Tripod Studios in Seattle. 

Meg is a member of the Seattle-based vocal trio, Blue Plate Special, and has been an Anthem Singer for the Seattle Seahawks. As a concert soloist, she performed the songbooks of Patsy Cline, Judy Garland, and Carly Simon with Purple Phoenix Productions. Local acting credits include roles with Seattle Shakespeare Company, Book-It Rep, Seattle Symphony, ArtsWest, Seattle Opera, Seattle Public Theatre, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Theatre22, Harlequin Productions, and 14/48: TWQTF, as well as the feature films “Different Drummers”, “7 Minutes”, and “Colton”. You can see her in the series, “The Girl in the Woods” streaming on NBC/Peacock.

Chelsea Cook is a freelance costume designer, educator, and business owner. Her work has been seen at Kentucky Opera, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle Opera, Village Theatre, Tacoma Opera, George Street Playhouse, ArtsEmerson, and more. Select favorite designs include Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (Off-Broadway Alliance Award, Second Stage Theatre); O+E (Seattle Opera) She’s Come Undone (Gregory Award Nomination, Book-It); What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Book-It Repertory); and Medea (Seattle Shakespeare Co.). She has a B.A. from Cornish College of the Arts.

Samar Abulhassan is a writer and teaching artist living in Seattle. She's a Hedgebrook alum, Jack Straw Writer and holds an MFA from Colorado State University. She's worked with Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools since 2008, and for Hugo House's Scribes program and the Skagit River Poetry Foundation since 2010. She was an instructor for Cornish's summer film program in 2019. 

Nicole is an actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, teacher, visual artist, wife to Josh and mother to Max and Huxley. Nicole has lived and worked on both coasts, loves to create, garden, and do construction! On screen, Nicole has been seen in Nike, LG, and T-Mobile commercials. On stage in Adrift (Sam French Festival), Big Effing Deal! (Duet with Reggie Watts), Cabaret (Gregory Award Nominee), Mary Poppins, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, How to Succeed, Once Upon A Time in New Jersey and many Village Originals (Village Theatre), The Constant Wife (Seattle Rep), Cabaret (5th Ave, AMTSJ, Ordway Center), Wonderful Town (5th Ave), Ming the Rude (Empty Space), Elephant and Piggie, Fire Station 7, Sleeping Beauty (SCT), Tapestry (Oregon Cabaret Theatre), and many more. As a choreographer and dancer Nicole had the honor of working with Sonya Tayeh and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with running the dance call for the original production of Head Over Heals. In New York, Nicole’s work has been seen at the HERE Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, Astoria Performing Arts, The Management and Acting Manitou. In Seattle, at KIDSTAGE, Cornish, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, The Triple Door, Café Nordo, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Fantastic Z, and Art Institute of Seattle. Nicole is currently teaching at Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle Film institute, and Westlake Dance Center. She has also taught at UW, Art Institute of Seattle, Hunter College High School, VAM Studios, 5th Avenue, Century Ballroom, McCarter Theatre Company, Jersey City Dance Academy, and The Studios. Nicole holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts, is a certified Simonson Technique teacher and a member of Actors’ Equity.

I was born into a military family in Honolulu, HI and moved to the Pacific Northwest as a toddler. Already singing and dancing by the age of two, I began my formal dance training at the age of 8 while attending Elk Plain School of Choice, an arts elementary school that allowed me to study all disciplines of dance.

Over the years, my strong passion for music & the arts has given me the opportunity to sing and share the stage with the likes of Sugar Ray, Keith Sweat, (the REAL) Lady-A, Kim Archer and Tiffany Wilson. Singing has also allowed me to perform for the Seattle Seahawks Season Opener and the Make a Wish Foundation.

If you are local to the Seattle area, you may have seen me acting on stage at Village Theatre, Tacoma Musical Playhouse, or ACT Theatre. I’ve also directed and choreographed for Showtunes Theatre Company, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The 5th Avenue Theatre, Village Theatre, Theatre Puget Sound and Tacoma Arts Live.

On this site you will get to see all sides of me. Be it through my words, my music, or my movement, I hope I make you feel something.

Winifred Westergard is a Seattle based fine art and commercial photographer with degrees from the University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts in Creative Writing, Journalism and Art. Her art making foundation is rooted in the early processes of photography, fully embracing the slow processes of 19th century photography. She is a visual creator with a strong base on human emotion and storytelling. She has managed the photography studio at Cornish College of the Arts since 1999 and has taught Photography and Portfolio Development through Summer@Cornish since 2003.

A freelance flutist, artist, improviser, and composer in the Seattle area, Leanna Keith delights in creating sound experiences that make audiences laugh, cry, and say: “I didn’t know the flute could do that!”  She also teaches as the flute professor at Cornish College of the Arts. Her performance artworks have focused on cultural connection and the breaking of audience/performer boundaries. In 2021 she released her first solo album, TAROT Album, which she composed, performed, recorded, and mixed. The album release show premiered online, featuring collaborations between choreographers, digital media artists, stop motion artists, puppetry, and more.

Leanna is currently a co-director of the chamber music ensemble Kin of the Moon, with violist/improviser Heather Bentley and composer/vocalist Kaley Lane Eaton. Kin of the Moon is an improvisation-centric, technology-friendly chamber music series incubated in Seattle's rich musical scene. The series explores sonic rituals, promotes cross-pollination of genres, emphasizes the communicative power of specific performance locales, and celebrates the creativity that multiplies itself through the collaboration of performers and composers.