Sasha Kahn offers author visits virtually or in-person for preschool and K-5th. Pre-K and K focus on readings and art activities and are 20-30 minutes. Author visits for grades 1-5 are 45-minute presentations or assemblies, including Q+A. Designed to inspire and invite children into the creative process, author visits provide a glimpse of Sasha’s path as an author/illustrator, how to turn an idea into a story, how the words and pictures move the story along, how a book gets made, and more. She offers two programs, one for grades 1-3 with an emphasis on story and one for grades 3 and up with an emphasis on STEM topics, research and revision.

Cheryl Wills is the 3x great granddaughter of Civil War Veteran Sandy Wills. The Emmy award winning journalist and children's book author visits schools nationwide teaching about her family's transition from Slavery to Freedom in Tennessee using primary sources in an exciting and captivating power point presentation. Cheryl made national news in 2024, when she hired an archaeology team to locate the remains of her heroic grandfather. He was found in an unmarked grave and the U.S. Army reburied Pvt. Sandy with full military honors in August of 2024. See report on CBS News! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGQybuYerV4&t=8s

Meet Dott! Like the Polkadot! And her talking dog Dusty, like the dust! Their mission is to foster the voice and imagination of the next generation. Dusty & Dott are committed to creating an environment that is welcoming and supportive of all identities. Through storytelling and the magic of puppetry, Dusty & Dott celebrate curiosity and encourage the values of creative play.

I am a sewist who makes bags and clothing. I love teaching others the basics of sewing and even getting into more advanced bag making. I am able to do live demonstration or run a workshop.

As an author of over 100 comprehensible readers for students learning languages, I very much enjoy connecting with students of all levels about the stories that I write and hopefully, those that they are reading in their language classes. I have stories in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish and will be delighted to travel to your district to interact with students (even in the target language!) about what they are reading, either independently or as whole classes. My visits are lively, fun and interactive - a great way for students to showcase their language abilities while their teachers stand by and bask in their students' success!

Nurture fun, character, wellness, reading, STEAM, and more with The UP Guys! Nels Ross and Richie Derwald uplift and empower through elementary, middle, and high school assemblies as well as staff development. They have shared 2500+ solo or duo programs to rave reviews from schools, arts centers, libraries, recreation, museums, and others. Applying their diverse training in theater, variety arts, music, and education, they promote laughter and learning! See www.theupguys.com/teaching-artists for more.

Top U.S. youth motivational speaker Jordan Toma, who wrote the self published book: I'm Just A Kid With An IEP* that has sold over 100,00 copies, with a social media presence exceeding 3.6 million followers is looking to reach and inspire people of all ages and abilities with his story and message: My Struggle Is My Strength. jordantoma.com *IEP = Individualized Education Program

Airigami is, at its heart, a team of artists who create large-scale installations, illustrations, and experiences entirely out of balloons—from small single sculptures and STEAM programs to stadium-sized, record-breaking installations. The common element in all our work: Attention-grabbing wonder. Our clients come to us for all kinds of projects. Airigami has built a range of inspiring programs around balloons that’s educational and unforgettable. We’ve worked with organizations of many types all around the world. Our displays can interpret important cultural touchstones like famous masterpieces and historic environments that inspire. Balloon sculptures can invigorate curiosity about familiar subjects. Balloons can even serve as the center of powerful team-building exercises. * How to Catch a Mouse: Simple Machines at Work While working on his master’s degree in elementary education, Airigami partner Larry Moss created How to Catch a Mouse as a presentation for grade-schoolers. The response to the first performance was so strong, he developed it for larger audiences. The show combines math, science, art and fun. Balloons are used to construct a Rube Goldberg-style mousetrap intended to solve the problem of a mouse on the loose. Student volunteers are invited to participate in building the working machine. It’s a dynamic way to teach kids how machines work and inspire them to eagerly set the trap in motion for themselves. The show is ideal for elementary school assembly programs and children’s museums. * Bubble Mural™ Designed by the experts at Airigami, this hands-on exhibit engages visitors in a collaborative project that offers maximum impact with minimal mess. Participants work together to construct a 2-D installation made entirely of biodegradable latex balloons. * Team Building Airigami’s Team Building program is designed to foster cooperation among participants—rather than competition. And the best part is, everyone who joins in starts at the same level: square one.

Brooklyn Robot Foundry - Lower Hudson Valley provides a STEAM program that combines creativity through art with hands-on engineering builds that teach foundational STEM concepts - essentially, 21st-century skills and science through art. Each class introduces a new project featuring different robot components and art materials. Many projects incorporate sculpting, drawing, painting, and mixed-media decoration, allowing students to explore both artistic expression and scientific principles in an integrated, hands-on way.All robots designed and built by students are functional and interactive - some move, light up, vibrate, or even throw objects. Every creation is unique, reflecting each student’s artistic vision and creative approach. The program is currently active across multiple counties in New York State, offered in both public and private schools as after-school enrichment, in-school residencies, workshops, assemblies, and special events. Our program is recognized by STEM.org as one of the Top 5% “Best in STEM” programs for 2025. The robots we build in class are never the same — while the building process is guided, each student’s artistic vision and design make every creation unique.

I’ll start each workshop with a slide show of my personal journey into the arts. This will start from my entrance into the arts back in high school where I was guided away from the arts by guidance counselors and administration. I’ve found this to be helpful to mention as many students can relate to this. My entrance into the arts started in ceramics and has led me to Mould Making, Metal Casting, Fiber & Silversmithing. I’ll discuss how perseverance, determination, hard work, and elbow grease has awarded me with scholarships, grants, shows, and teaching opportunities that enable me to travel to craft schools and residencies to continue making work. I’ll show the evolution of my work and include photos of in-process works from different studios throughout the years. This introduction will last about 30 minutes concluding with 15 minutes of questions. I’ll continue with about 20 minutes of demonstrations and disperse materials for hands-on building. At this point, I’ll make my rounds to meet with each student and troubleshoot their project ideas and the best way to construct them. I’ll call the class over to discuss which method of building would be best depending on the desired outcome as there is no one way to make something. Program Descriptions Workshop 1: Personification of an Object First steps into the world of Abstract art by warping reality one object at a time. Students are prompted to give humanistic features/characteristics to inanimate objects to create something that’s never existed before. Workshop 2: Re-Create Everyday Objects Students will be asked to bring in 3-5 everyday objects. We’ll discuss different methods of construction, play with scale, and explore the surface through color and texture. Refrain from bringing in objects that are made out of ceramic materials. Workshop 3: Large Forms inspired by the Ancient World and Today This workshop focuses on giving students the necessary skills to create large vessels. Students will be asked to find references of Vessels from Ancient Egypt, China, Mesopotamia, or contemporary artists. -hand-building on a larger scale helps beginner students quickly adapt to the properties of clay and respond to the material quicker than something small. This method of construction [coil-building] is the oldest method of building with clay, allows for lots of adjustments to form and scale for a beginner student, causes you to be attentive to the material. -Discuss the benefits of hand-building and the freedom/ability to build in a gestural way, why this is helpful. -Ask students to choose or draw a silhouette to mimic for their vessel – A blueprint/reference photo is VITAL to making a successful shape, make this mandatory, this will help assist them in achieving the shape they want to. -brief demo on darting– show them how to edit a shape that’s not going in the direction (shape-wise) that they’re going for. Workshop 4: Advanced Techniques Ask students to make an object (sculptural or functional) using the extruder and slab roller. These can be very gestural, architectural, or realistic. -Demo how to construct a form using slabs slumping/wrapping/template techniques (cut-outs slipped and scored together) -Emphasize that the appearance of the object will be determined by what method of construction students wish to use (explain and show examples of architectural vs. gestural, organic vs geometric forms, etc.) -Demo how to use an extruder and how to attach extruded shapes securely together/to the form. Clay & tools can be provided for an additional fee.

Black Girls Don't Get Love is a book and multimedia coming of age brand for girls of color. Our mission is to use media to turn silence into language and change the way Black women and girls are perceived in society. Our non-Profit arm, Black Girls WILL Get Love, Inc. facilitates all of our philanthropic Programs such as the acclaimed Black Girls Don't Get Love Prom, the Black Girls Don't Get Love Slumber Party, the Black Girls Don't Get Love Outdoor Exploration, the Black Girls Don't Get Love Film Training Program and the black girls don't get love screenwriting workshops and labs. Our programs are a creative and engaging approach to addressing DEI and low literacy rates.

An visually exciting presentation for all ages of an ongoing art project that explores a broad range of artistic and scientific disciplines with a strong sense of humanity.