Arts Are Core: Summer Conference
August 1, 2024
8:00 am–4:00 pm
Utah State University
Presenters
Keynote Speakers: Sherry and Bobby Norfolk
Sherry Norfolk is an award-winning storyteller, author and teaching artist, performing and leading residencies and professional development workshops nationally and internationally. A dynamic storyteller, Sherry has appeared in the Manitoba International Storytelling Festival, Taiwan International Storytelling Carnival, International Art of Storytelling Festival (Miami, FL), International Storytelling Center (Jonesborough, TN), Singapore International Storytelling Festival, Manila International Storytelling Festival, and many more festivals, schools, libraries, museums and universities nationwide. In addition to a BS in Elementary Education and an MLS in Library Science (with a focus on children’s work), she has completed the Young Audiences National RAISE (Responsive Arts in Education) training, has received a PPE Certificate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in “Learning to Talk by Talking; has completed the Supercharged Storytimes online Train-the-Trainer course with OCLC and the Institute of Museum & Library Services and is co-editor and/or co-author of five books that explore rigorous, standards-based storytelling strategies for learning across the curriculum. Sherry is a recognized leader in integrating learning through storytelling.
Bobby Norfolk is an internationally known story performer and teaching artist. He is a three-time Emmy Award winner, multiple Parents' Choice Gold and Silver Award winner, and a National Storytelling Network Oracle Award recipient. Using dynamic movement and vocal effects, Bobby creates vibrant characters who come to life through imaginative, creative story. His stories promote character education traits (such as respect and responsibility), cultural diversity, and literacy. Bobby began his career as a stand-up comedian in 1975 at local St. Louis comedy clubs and as an actor with The St. Louis Black Repertory Co. In television, Bobby won three Emmy awards as the host of the CBS TV show “Gator Tales” and also hosted the Emmy nominated series “Children’s Theater at Bobby’s House.” Bobby was given the national Circle of Excellence Oracle Award, an honor presented by the National Storytelling Network, which recognizes the very best storytellers in the nation. He has co-authored eight children’s books, and won first prize from Foreword Magazine in the Spoken Word category with his Dunbar Outloud CD. Bobby travels both nationally and internationally presenting performances, keynotes, and workshops. A past member of the Board of Directors for the National Storytelling Network, he currently serves on the St. Louis Storytelling Festival Advisory Council and is a featured artist in festivals world-wide.
Tina Misaka
Tina Misaka is an alumna of the University of Utah Modern Dance Program and has performed with Repertory Dance Theatre and other professional dance companies around the world. Throughout her career Tina has worked as a dance educator, teaching throughout the United States and Europe. She served as rehearsal director for New Carte Blanche (Bergen, Norway) and acting dean of Danshogskolan (Sweden). Tina was honored with the Salt Lake City Mayor's Arts Award (1998), and the Sorenson Legacy Award for Excellence in Arts Education (2014). She was the 2021 recipient of the University of Utah’s College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumi award for arts education. For the past 15 years, she has served as a highly qualified licensed dance educator in the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program (BTSALP). Currently, Tina is the BTSALP dance specialist at Mountain View Elementary in Salt Lake City. Tina is renowned throughout Utah as a master dance pedagogue and an expert in the field of arts integration. As a dance educator, she promotes young people's artistic enrichment as well as their personal growth. She educates the whole child and elevates learning as students meet and achieve dual learning objectives in dance and other core subject areas to understand both better.
Liz Brown
Liz Brown has been in education for over 20 years. She has worked as an elementary classroom teacher in every grade K-6, been a reading specialist, math specialist, ESL specialist, interventionist and a BTS visual art specialist. She is currently serving as a BTS Arts Integration Coach for NUES (Northeastern Utah Educational Service Center). She has also served on the board of the UAEA (Utah Arts Educators Association) for 8 years. This year she was named the Utah Art’s Educator of the Year. She is passionate about the difference arts integration can and will make in the life and education of your students.
Cynthia Davis-Nordfelt
Cynthia Davis-Nordfelt graduated from BYU with a double BFA in Education and Music Dance Theatre. She studied Shakespeare while living in London and spent many a rainy evening at the Tate Modern. She is currently a professional singer with the Utah Chamber Artists and has performed at exciting venues from the Chicago Opera House to the Utah Olympic Games. With her own children in elementary school, Cyndi became a BTS Arts Educator. She currently teaches grades K-6 at Riverton Elementary School in Utah. Her students range from Special Needs cluster classes to Advanced Placement learners. Cyndi specializes in light and shadow theatrical works. She has adapted Plato’s Allegory of the Cave for high school production and most recently wrote and directed a K-6 Arts Integrated Native American program that includes dance, music, and 3 trickster tales told through shadow puppetry.
Sandy Christensen
Sandy Christensen is a BTS Dance Educator at Promontory School of Expeditionary Learning in Perry, UT. She graduated with honors from the University of Utah with a BFA in Modern Dance and has taught creative dance for many years with The University of Utah’s Tanner Dance program in Brigham City, Ogden, and Salt Lake City. Sandy enjoys choreographing musical productions for Heritage Theater in Perry, UT. She has also partnered with Utah State University’s Up to 3 early childhood education program. In her teaching, Sandy aims to create an environment where students not only learn the art form, but also the ability to observe, question, deconstruct, and create.
Cindy Hall
Cindy Hall taught elementary music and Orff training courses for over 30 years and is an active workshop clinician for both music and classroom teachers. She currently works as a professional development partner with music teachers in the BTS program and presents guest classes at USU and BYU. She served as a contributing writer of recorder materials for the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill series, Share the Music. Ms. Hall holds a BA in Music from Duke University, MA in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma, and Orff Certification from Memphis State University and Hamline University.
Katherine Ross Hejazi-Far
Aurora Hughes Villa
Aurora Hughes Villa is the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Endowed Program Director for Elementary Arts Education and Professional Practice Associate Professor in the College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University. Aurora was recently selected as the 2020-21 Utah Art Education Association (UAEA) Higher Education Art Educator of the year. Aurora was formerly the District Arts Coordinator for Cache County School District in Logan (UT) where she founded Art in Transit: From Schools to Community – a program that brings art made by children into public places. She received the Sorenson Legacy Award for Excellence in Arts Education in the category of exemplary arts program initiative for her work with Art in Transit. Prior to moving to Utah, Aurora was a full-time art professor at North Central College (IL) where she taught sculpture and ceramics. As a licensed teacher, she has taught art in the public schools at the elementary, middle school, and high school level in Buffalo (NY) and Phoenix (AZ) and has taught art to children and adults for over 25 years.