Meet our artists

MEET MORE ARTISTS! Go to page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

artist Anna Menendez, Classical Spanish Dancer
Anna Menendez, a flamenco dancer, studied extensively in Spain and was recently awarded the Artistic Fellowship award from the DC Council on the Arts and Humanities for her flamenco performance. Among her recent credits include appearances with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on their “Symphony with a Twist” series in February 2005 and October 2001. Most recently she has been performing with Carmela Greco, daughter of late, great Jose Greco, in Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Chicago.
artist Alden Phelps
Alden Phelps is an artist, songwriter, and musician with eighteen years experience as a performer. Far-fetched and funny scenarios are brought to life through his songs and interactive performances. He has performed all over, from numerous schools and libraries, to The National Theatre, to festivals like First Night Annapolis and Columbia Festival for the Arts. A graduate of MICA, Alden co-founded Open Space Arts center in 1989 ad for the next 14 years he wrote and performed stage plays, musicals, and puppet productions.

artist Milkshake,
Children's Rock n' Roll

Milkshake is a rock duo for kids and grown-ups alike fronted by vocalist Lisa Mathews and acoustic guitar player Mikel Gehl. Before Milkshake, both were members of Love Riot, a rock band for adults. When Mathews became a parent she began writing “ditties” for her newborn daughter, Jesse. The songs “kept coming” and the audience grew and, now Milkshake performs across the United States and their videos can be seen on the educational channel Noggin.
artist Arianna Ross, Storyteller
Arianna blends the power of acrobatics, storytelling, and music to engage the students in programs that both entertain and enrich their school curriculum. Since returning from three years in Bhopal, India, she has performed for the Washington Storytellers’ Theatre, NPR, and across the United States in both schools, community centers, and hospitals. As a teacher and storyteller, Arianna strives to tell multi-lingual stories that augment the students understanding of history, culture, and geography of the world.

artist Debra Mims, Storyteller
Debra Mims has been an actress for over twenty-five years and an arts producer at PBS for thirteen years. With additional training in dance, she received a BFA in Theatre Performance from Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan. She has performed at the Georgetown Theatre Company, the Children’s Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin and the Detroit-Windsor Dance Company. Debra is the 2004 Individual Artist Award winner for solo performance from Maryland State Arts Council.
jspelman Jon Spelman
Jon Spelman is regarded as one of America's leading storytellers. As a performer, he has developed more than 26 hours of narrative material, all of which he continues to perform throughout the United States and Europe. He has received a Children's Radio Award, an Achievement in Children's Television Award, and two Emmy's (presented by the Washington Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) for "Three Stories Tall," which he hosted for six years on NBC-4 in Washington, D.C.

oot Odyssey opera theatre
Twenty-three year Young Audiences veteran, Odyssey Opera Theatre (OOT), is comprised of the area's finest singing actors in opera, operetta, and musical theatre. OOT has delighted audiences at the Smithsonian, The National Theatre in Washington, D.C., as well as countless schools across Maryland. Artistic Director Mary Gresock holds degrees in music education and voice/opera performance and currently serves as an Educational Artist with the Wolf Trap Institute. OOT successfully completed Maryland's Teaching Artist Institute in 2007.
artist J.P. Somersaulter, Filmmaker
J.P. Somersaulter is a Chicago Filmmaker whose animated films for children and adults has won over 40 National and International Film Festival Awards and has been screened at museums, festivals, schools and libraries and on television around the world. Invitational screenings include The Lincoln Center, The Museum of Modern Art (Permanent Collection), the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art and BBC Television London—to name only a few.
artist Amanda Pellerin,
Visual Artist

Amanda Pellerin received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from Maine College of Art, formerly Portland School of Art and her Masters of Fine Arts from Towson University. She is currently a resident artist and instructor at Baltimore Clayworks, as well as a ceramics professor at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, Maryland. She also teaches at the Academy Art Museum in Easton and Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis.

ssuunna Ssuuna, African Dancer and Drummer
A dancer, drummer, singer, songwriter, storyteller, and reggae artist, Ssuuna is a versatile, energetic performer from Uganda with a wide range of performing experience. In addition to having delighted and educated school audiences in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., about life in East Africa, Ssuuna has performed at The World Bank, The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian, and on numerous college campuses around the country, including Howard University, Louisiana State, George Mason, and M.I.T.


MEET MORE ARTISTS! Go to page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Young Audiences Arts for Learning Maryland | 927 N Calvert St, Balto., MD 21202-3742 | p: 410.837.7577 | f: 410.837.7579 | info@yamd.org