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Austen Danielle Bohmer is an actor, songwriter, and proud Arts Ignite teaching artist since 2012. She loves inciting moments of communal dance, inspiring silliness amongst students, and cultivating spaces that feel safe to follow the impulses of imagination. Broadway: Diana. Off-Broadway: Days of Rage. TV: FBI: Most Wanted. Barrington, Goodspeed, St. Louis Rep, Sacramento Music Circus. BFA: Webster Conservatory. RADA, London. You can listen to her original music on all streaming platforms under the name Plain Austen. @plainausten

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Zahra Budhwani is a queer Desi-American director, choreographer, and teaching artist based in NYC. She has taught theatre and dance with Arts Ignite, CO/LAB Theatre Group, Broadway Bound Kids, Child’s Play, and more. She holds a BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch- Playwrights Horizons Theatre School with a minor in Global and Urban Education. Zahra is passionate about creating community spaces for people of all ages to imagine new worlds and cultivate joy together!

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Marcus is an actor and screenwriter hailing from Glasgow, Scotland. A proud member of SAG/AFTRA, Marcus’ work has been seen on AMC, AdultSwim, the BBC and at major LGBTQIA+ Film Festivals around the world including New York’s own, NewFest. As a teaching artist, Marcus has worked with the National Queer Theater, stART Osceola – a Central Florida Performinmg Arts Initiative and has been active member of the Arts Ignite Community since 2016. He is currently a candidate for the MFA in Writing For Screen and Television at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.

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Designer, researcher, and illustrator deeply passionate about using community-based design, media, and art to create a positive social impact, especially as it relates to children’s development. Ana has a wide range of experiences working with nonprofits and community-based organizations. In the past years, she has brought free arts programming to homeless shelters and social service centers in NYC, co-created resources to help teachers implement participatory budgeting in their schools, and supported a youth media collective formed of residents living in informal settlements in Cape Town. In her free time, you can find her sketching all over Barcelona, her hometown.

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Emily Hart Lopez is a professional dancer, actor, and teacher based in NYC. She is a graduate of UNCSA with a B.F.A in Dance. Her work ranges from company work, choreographing, latin dance, immersive theater, commercial work, etc. Some credits: Gotham Dance Theater, Alterra Productions, Rumbamena, NYLA, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Grace Kelly, Flint Rep, DPA Tour, and ABC’s Dirty Dancing. Emily started with Arts Ignite in 2018 in India and has taught with Notes in Motion, The School at Columbia, SassClass, Brooklyn Dance Lessons, and beyond. She has worked with little ones to adults domestically and internationally and is a passionate arts advocate.

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A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Morgan McGhee is a New York City based professional dancer/singer/actress. She has performed in numerous regional theatre, Broadway, and Off- Broadway productions, as well as TV and film. Morgan received her training in Dance Theatre at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) of New York, where she studied multiple genres of dance, in addition to acting and vocal performance. Morgan believes it is important for everyone to be exposed to the power of the arts, for art can be medicine for the soul. She has dedicated her time to teaching at youth summer camps, intensives, and workshops at various schools and dance studios across the US and internationally. 

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Catherine Melendez is an artist and art educator based in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a B.A. in Visual and Public Art from California State University Monterey Bay, and an M.A. in Art Education from the City College of New York. Catherine has worked as a Teaching Artist with Arts Ignite since the summer of 2016. During the school year, she teaches art at an elementary school in Brooklyn. Catherine is a practicing artist whose most recent work involves a scope of mixed media approaches; encompassing painting, embroidery, collage and paper craft. Thematically, her work navigates concepts of feminism, sexuality, and identity, and the ways in which those concepts are celebrated and endured.

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Leila is a multi hyphenated artist teaching with Arts Ignite (formerly ASTEP) since 2017. A BFA Dance Performance graduate of George Mason University (‘18) and the Tennessee Children’s Dance Ensemble (‘14), Leila is driven by a desire to work from a politically informed, liberatory place. In addition to teaching, she performs throughout the city with a variety of dance companies, writes for thINKingDance, acts as a community organizer, and choreographs. Her work has been featured in publications like the New York Times and Washington Post. She is a current MA candidate at NYU Tisch where she focuses on Middle Eastern performance and diasporic studies.

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Juanita Castro-Ochoa is a Colombian NYC based actress and teaching artist with an MFA in acting from the Actor Studio Drama School. She specializes in teaching  and coaching in the non-profit sector with students in the New York City area. She has been teaching with Arts Ignite for 5 years in different programs including IRC NYSA, Shanti Bahavan in India and Lutheran Children service. She has also acted in various plays, short films and commercials. In her free time she is training to become an amateur boxer. 

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Tameishia, pronounced Tuh-My-Sha, A native to Dayton but equally raised most of her youth hood in Memphis. Her talent and passion for storytelling guided her towards a career in acting. She attended The Ohio State University, Michael Howard Studios (NYC) & Fiasco Conservatory (NYC) to study Theatre. Prior to Ohio State, she studied Business Management with a focus on Entrepreneurship at Sinclair Community College. She’s passionate about social causes, devised theater/sketch and her family. Connecting with Arts Ignite during the Artist as Citizen Conference was pivotal in her journey to become a teaching artist. Can’t wait for all the good we’re going to do!

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Midori Samson has been a teaching artist with Arts Ignite since 2012. Currently, she is the bassoon professor at Oklahoma State University and performs with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Other recent collaborators include Yo-Yo Ma and Youth Music Culture Guangdong (China), Mashirika Theater Company (Rwanda), Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Trade Winds Ensemble, and Project Tumugtog (Philippines). She recently completed her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where her dissertation research explored how musicians can operationalize social work principles as anti-racist action. She holds additional degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and The Juilliard School. MidoriSamson.com

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Will Thomason joined Arts Ignite in 2018 and has enjoyed working as a Teaching Artist, Program Facilitator, and Guest Performer for Arts Ignite initiatives in NYC and beyond. As a multi-hyphenate artist, he has performed regionally in various musicals and plays, and has had his original songs performed in festivals in Michigan, North Carolina, and New York City. Will has worked internationally with a variety of community organizations, ranging from youth development and education to community organizing and social activism.

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