Let's welcome a new cohort of BuildaBridge Restorative Teaching Artists!
In mid-September, we onboarded a new cohort of restorative teaching artists to our team as well as two interns from Temple University's music therapy program and a Teaching Artist Fellow based in Turkey! This is also an opportunity to highlight the team the joined us this summer. Please welcome them in the comments.
Kimberly Fourney: Kimmy (she/her) grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and involved herself in visual arts from a young age. She graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimor e County in 2018. She obtained a B.A. in Psychology and had the opportunity to study art forms of sculpture, painting, drawing, crafts, and figurative claywork. Kimmy is currently obtaining a M.A. in Art Therapy and Counseling from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA and has five years of experience working with children who have an ASD and/or ADHD diagnosis. Kimmy is passionate about teaching skills necessary to cope with stress and trauma and helping others to discover how to process non-verbal feelings through art mediums. She strives to promote hope and healing through restorative art-making and enjoys implementing watercolors, pastels, collages, fiber arts, and textiles into her creative expression and teachings.
Parker Sera: Parker Sera is an actor, theatre maker, singer, poet and teaching artist from Minneapolis, MN. She believes that the role of the artist is to help humans understand ourselves and one another. Parker's teaching emphasizes mindfulness, somatics, and theatre as a tool for presence and c onnection. In addition to her work with BuildABridge, she teaches at Philly ASAP and Temple University, where she also received her MFA in acting. More at parkersera.com
Ryan Pater: Ryan is a proud graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Pig Iron School. He grew up in North Carolina but has spent the past 10 years in New York City and Philadelphia. He is an actor, devisor, musician, and teaching artist inspired and led by his passion of clowning. For the past 8 years he has worked as a teaching artist for the Stuttering Association for the Young and is a passionate ally to people who stutter, believing everyone should be given as much time as they need to speak.
Community Solutions Program (CSP) FEllow
Rawan Takriti: Graduated from the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts, Damascus University, Scenography department in 2012. Gained her diploma in fine art from Adham Ismael Institute for Plastic arts in 2014. After finishing her studies, she worked in many film, television, and theater productions, as well as she was a cultural manager of Binaa Cultural Forum and took a part as a cultural consultant in many civil society organizations in Damascus. Since 2018 she works as a coordinator of Spaces of Culture in Gaziantep and neighboring cities and recently a coordinator of Bag Theater in Turkey. She is also a fellow in Community solution program 2020 and an intern with BuildaBridge.
CSP is program sponsored by IREX and the United States Department State. Rawan currently is based in Turkey and learning how to implement BuildaBridge Safe Spaces Pedagogy and Restorative Art-Making for Arabic speaking participants who faced displacement from Syria due to the ongoing violence.
Interns
Sarah Army: Sarah Army is a third year music therapy student at Temple University. She plays saxophone, trombone, guitar, and piano, and enjoys having new musical experiences. Sarah is originally from New Hampshire, and has lived in five different states. As well as being an avid reader an d knitter, she is also in the marching band at Temple, and assists with the Night Owls Community Band. Sarah has a passion for working with children and hopes to combine that with her musical interest in a future career.
Christina Zhang: Christina is a Junior Music Therapy major at Temple University. She is also the treasurer of the Temple University Music Therapy Club. Her primary instrument is the trumpet, which she has been playing for over 12 years, and she is also the trumpet section leader for the Temple University Diamond Marching Band. Her main goal in life is to help people through the power of something she loves, which is music! In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, taking walks, baking, yoga, and spending time with her cat.
Summer Cohort
Bee Gilmore: Bee Gilmore is a creative community builder on a mission toward empowering as many communities as possible to be human-centered, trauma-informed, and holistically supportive. Bee has toured the country as a professional musician, taught in classrooms, helped develop and facilitate music-based workshops with Carnegie Hall, Build-a-Bridge Foundation, and other organizations, and has supported startups in tech and wellness industries with community building strategy and creative projects. Bee’s dream is to keep discovering new ways to bring humans closer together. Bee wants you to do what makes you feel good. Bee wants you to trust yourself. Bee wants you to be human.
Sanovia Garrett: An Energetic Storyteller that uses music and movement performances, Sanovia instigates an instinctual full-body expression that sparks her audience to infuse more authenticity and joy in their everyday lives. Sanovia leads first as a trauma-informed artist with a MA in Urban Studies (Community Arts) from Eastern University/BuildaBridge International. You can find her on youtube and instagram using her hashtag #catchmeinthelight.
Laura Lizcano: Laura Lizcano is a Colombian-born vocalist, songwriter and teaching artist. Laura has worked as a teaching artist for the Kimmel Cente, Carnegie Hall, and World Cafe Live for various youth and community oriented programs. In addition to her work as a teaching artist, Laura regularly performs and produces her own music. Her latest album, Heart, is available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms.
Alyssa Resh: Alyssa Resh is a percussionist and music educator based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She specializes in contemporary solo percussion, orchestral percussion, and drum set performance. As an educator, she prioritizes social/emotional learning, joyful exploration, and play. She has been a teaching artist with various Philadelphia organizations, including Play on Philly!, BuildaBridge International, Haverford College, and the Carnegie Hall Lullaby Project. When she’s not teaching, you can find her playing drum set with either of her two bands, Lizdelise and the Goalie.
