JULIE BENNETT was born in Glendora, California, and studied ballet and tap growing up. She received a BA degree from CSU Hayward, in English, and an MA degree in Dance from Mills College. She had her own dance studio, "Centrifigus," in Mt. Shasta for six years. She then worked for Siskiyou County Schools as a sign language interpreter for hearing impaired students. She received her teaching credential from CSU Chico in 1988 and taught kindergarten through third grade for twenty-five years. She became a member of Shasta Taiko and has performed with them for over fifteen years.
MARIANNE LOCKE, EdD, founding Executive Director is a model program consultant for curriculum, assessment and professional development. For over 30 years, Dr. Locke has been a teacher and leader in arts education in California public schools. She worked with agencies including the California Music Educators Association (CMEA), Music Educators National Conference (now NAfME), US Dept. of Education and design is for Multicultural Music and Dance in Public Schools, aimed at improving equity and excellence for Marin County’s underserved students. Dr. Locke was named Multicultural Music Educator of the Year by CMEA. She received a Bachelor of Music Education from Northwestern University, a Master’s from UC Berkeley, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Fielding University.
ALAN SCOFIELD, Founding Executive Director Emeritus, is one of Marin’s finest leaders and educators. His qualifications include a Bachelors Degree in Dance Education from San Francisco State University, training at A.C.T., over 20 years experience as a dance instructor at College of Marin and professional dancer. Alan has directly provided professional development opportunities for our arts educators and has consistently taught in schools throughout Marin County. Alan has been a part of the development of model projects sponsored by the California Arts Council, Arts in the City, U.S. Department of Education, and Arts Education Demonstration Project for the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District.
BETTY LADZEKPO has a long history as a teacher and performer. She is a principal dancer with the Ladzekpo Brothers African Music and Dance Ensemble. Ms. Ladzekpo has performed at major venues throughout the U.S. including the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, and the African Cultural Festival ("The Afrikans Are Coming"). Ms. Ladzekpo is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley in African Dance and is on the faculty of the East Bay Center for the
JEAN MILLER holds a Bachelor's degree in piano performance from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Jean has performed for many years, both as soloist and in ensembles.
She has an active interest in music education, having studied piano pedagogy with Roger Grove, completed Level 2 Orff certification, held Kindermusik and Musikgarten certification.
She was a co-founder of the Performing Arts Camp at College of the Siskiyous. The summer camp offered programs in music, art and dance for students throughout Northern California. Jean lives in Mount Shasta where she teaches piano privately.
Since the age of 4, ABEL COOPER has been singing and performing on stage. He continues to perform as a guitarist and singer both as a soloist and ensemble member. Abel has fostered a lifelong passion as a performer and teacher for students of all ages. In addition to his studies at Sonoma State University he will be graduating from Sonoma State University with honors in sociology
Alisa Clayton received her formal training from Academy of Ballet in San Franciso and The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City. She has performed with The Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company and Purple Moon Dance Company in San Francisco as well as MAAFA and Black to the future in Seattle, WA. [on leave, 2015-2016]
WANDA WELLBOURN was born and raised Siskiyou County. I graduated from McCloud High in 1971 I have been playing taiko, with Shasta Taiko (www.shastayama.org), since 1990. Carrying on a family tradition, Wanda started playing ukulele in 2012; her grandfather, Tony Correa paid his passage from Hawaii to California in 1917 as a ship's musician. She is an avid supporter of the arts, music, and sports. In Wanda’s words, “I am so grateful to be able to give back to my home community of McCloud with the programs offered by Young Imaginations.”
DOUGLAS ARRINGTON is known for his versatility as a jazz singer who creates warm, intimate, intense, electric and buoyant moods. He is a member of a prominent musical family from New York City and became known through television and radio appearances around the world. For many years, he has been a frequent performer and recording artist in northern California. As both a drummer and singer, he and Jerry Moore, jazz pianist, have worked together to bring music to thousands of public school children through Young Imaginations’ programs for rhythm, jazz and world musics.
CHASKINAKUY. Edmond Badoux and Francy Vidal have traveled to Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia over many years to make recordings in the field, attend music festivals, meet and study with native musicians, obtain instruments, and immerse themselves in Andean culture. Since 1985, they have performed together as the duo Chaskinakuy, have produced three recordings on their own label, and provided resource materials for the book publisher Macmillan and Schirmer. They have performed extensively in concerts and in programs for school children across the U.S. and abroad. They are well known for their ability in playing over 25 traditional instruments that capture the sounds of the Andean regions of South America.
YANQUIN ZHAO, is one of the world’s foremost yangqin performers. As an emerging artist in 1982, she won China’s first nationwide competition for folk music instrumentalists and embarked on a worldwide performing career. By the 1990’s, she moved to the U.S. and introduced traditional Chinese music to American audiences with her ensemble Melody of China. She has also become an innovative figure in the world of American jazz music. Yangqin Zhao has been a teacher with Young Imaginations since first arriving in California and teaches privately as well as presenting educational programs including the San Francisco Symphony’s program for public school children.
FACULTY & STAFF
JERROLD MOORE, PhD, has been one of California’s leaders in music education for decades – earning him the title of Music Educator of the Year after he served for ten years on the board of the California Music Educators Association. Jerry earned degrees in Music Education from Humboldt State University, Eastman School of Music and Kent State University. His teaching career and his parallel performing career throughout Northern California included elementary through community college – with over 30 years of jazz and world music leadership at College of the Redwoods. Since moving to the Bay Area, he continues his fascination with jazz as an ar-ranger/performer, as well as bringing jazz and other world musics to public school children.
RANDALL K WONG, DMA, Administrative Director, has had a career in opera and concert performance which has taken him to such far-flung places as Sydney, Juneau, and Rome. He has built a distinguished reputation specializing in both historically informed performances of Baroque and Classic period repertoire and contemporary music. A number of operatic roles have been composed for Mr. Wong. With Houston Grand Opera he premiered Stewart Wallace's Where's Dick and Harvey Milk (reprised by New York City Opera
CLOEE COOPER spent much of her teens dancing and choreographing with a multi-cultural dance troupe in Kosovo. She has collaborated with artists and organizers around the country to elevate racial and immigrant justice. Cloee brings over 10 years of training and dance education experience in Hip Hop, Balkan, Jazz, Modern and Contemporary dance to the classroom. She received her B.A. Magna Cum Laude at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
and San Francisco Opera), and Meredith Monk's ATLAS. With the Meredith Monk Ensemble he has participated in numerous theatrical and concert tours including ATLAS, The Politics of Quiet, and A Celebration Service. He has sung in innumerable modern performances of early operas including works by Handel, Mozart, Hasse, and J. C. Bach in international venues including Rome, Dresden, Stuttgart, Boston, and Hong Kong. As composer/designer/
performer Mr. Wong's has created a number of miniature operas via grants and commissions from (among others) the San Francisco Arts Commission, Yerba Buena Center, Zellerbach Foundation, American Composers Forum, Museum of Jurassic Technology (LA), Theatre Bay Area, and California Arts Council. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stanford University. Dr. Wong has been a Assistant Professor of Music at UC Santa Cruz, Director of Repertoire and Training at EBCPA, Richmond, and a teacher of early childhood music for Half Moon Bay Music.