About our Artists
Afro-Brazilian Dance and Music
Afro-Brazilian Dance and Music brings dance and musical traditions into communities across Western New York. Lead artist Clyde Alafiju Morgan is an associate professor at SUNY Brockport and the artistic director of Sankofa African Drum and Dance Ensemble. ...
American Institute of Architects Buffalo/WNY
The Architecture + Education in Buffalo Project (A+E) is a collaboration of teachers and the American Institute of Architects in Buffalo/WNY. Teacher-architect teams have designed curricula which use architecture and design as a vehicle through which stud ...
Amy Greenan
Amy Greenan is a painter and bookmaker. As an unwavering advocate of the DIY (Do It Yourself) movement, Amy has been making zines (self-published, photocopied magazines) and books as an alternate art form for over a decade. She is a member of the Western ...
Andy Parker-Weather Machine
Andy Parker is a professional meterologist and "weather educator." Prior to working in television, Parker studied math and atmospheric physics at SUNY Brockport, where he obtained a B.S. degree in Meteorology Science. He is an AMS Sealed Meteorologis ...
Annette Daniels-Taylor
Annette Daniels-Taylor is a playwright, poet, actor, teacher, singer and costumer. In 2009, Daniels-Taylor won the Artie's Emanuel Fried Award for New Play, A Little Bit of Paradise, which premiered at Road Less Traveled Productions in 2008. She has w ...
Babik
Babik (pronounced bah-beek) is a Buffalo-based, progressive Gypsy Jazz band inspired by the legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli. Their sound is original and eclectic, reflecting their interests in many musical genres and ...
Bart & Kevin
Bart & Kevin have been professional songwriters and performers for over 20 years. They perform over 250 shows annually in schools, libraries, festivals and private events. They have received numerous awards for their individual and combined efforts, inclu ...
Benched Players
The Benched Players are a theatrical improvisation ensemble led by Melissa Kate Miller, a songwriter, stage and voice actress, writer, and poet. The Benched Players lift students from the sidelines ("off the bench") and, through theater games and improvis ...
Brill & Baczkowski
Brill & Baczkowski is a free jazz ensemble that emphasizes collaboration, improvisation, and creative self-expression in hands-on workshops and performances. Ringo Brill, the ensemble's lead artist, has played percussion professionally since 1993, and ...
Bruce Adams
Bruce Adams is a veteran art teacher, a painter, writer, and performance artist. He has more than 30 years of teaching experience with the Tonawanda School District, and he has been an active member of the Western New York contemporary art community for j ...
Buffalo-Cuba Connection
The Buffalo-Cuba Connection was formed in 2011, when five local artists came together in their love of Cuban music and dance. Group members Ringo Brill and Kevin Doyle have both studied and performed Cuban music for over twenty years, with the remaining ...
Celes Tisdale
Dr. Celes Tisdale is a professional actor, a published poet, a national and international storyteller, and a lecturer on the arts and culture. Tisdale grew up mostly on Buffalo's East Side, and in his lifetime he has taught in a variety of contexts, inclu ...
Cindy Hanna
Cindy Hanna is a dancer and educator. She was the recipient of the 2009 Teaching Artist of the Year award from Young Audiences. She holds a B.A. in Dance from SUNY Buffalo, and an M.S. in Special Education from Buffalo State College, as well as completin ...
Configuration Dance Theatre
Established in 2000, Configuration Dance Theatre is a contemporary ballet company with dynamic and diverse programs, now based in Buffalo. The ensemble combines classical ballet's formal traditions with modern dance's dynamic expressiveness to create dram ...
Defiant Monkey
Defiant Monkey Improv is a two-person improvisational group that creates on-the-spot theatre, based on audience suggestions and participation. Performers Karen L. Eichler and Andrew M. Spragge are experienced improvisers, actors, corporate trainers, and t ...
Diaspora Drumming
Diaspora Drumming Ensemble - Ringo Brill, Tiffany Nicely, and Gabriel Gutierrez - takes their audience on a trip through time and across oceans, tracing the path of rhythms and musical instruments from Western Africa to North and South America and the Car ...
Differential Flavor Crew
Differential Flavor Crew (DFC) has been Buffalo's premiere B-boy (hip-hop dance) crew for the past 10 years, bringing style and originality to the urban dance scene. Shane "B-boy Depree" Fry has seen the positive effects that B-boying can have in the live ...
Doug Rougeux
Doug Rougeux is an entertainer specializing in circus and theater performance. He is a graduate of Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey's Clown College, Venice, FL and the University of Buffalo. Rougeux has appeared in two national tours with Ringling ...
Doug Yeomans
Doug Yeomans and Geoffrey Fitzhugh Perry make up this musical duo, bringing over 30 years of award winning performing, recording and teaching experience to young people across Western New York. Their workshops on the performance, history and profession of ...
Dramatic Solutions and the Wondermakers
The Wondermakers, now in their 25th season, perform interactive story theatre and have given over 3,000 performances throughout New York, Florida, and Ohio in schools, libraries, theatres, festivals, and museums. Their performances celebrate diversity, co ...
Elizabeth Clark Dance Ensemble
The Elizabeth Bickel Clark is a creative dance ensemble that connects the art of dance with aspects and stories from everyday life. Elizabeth Bickel Clark, the founder and Artistic Director of the Ensemble, creates performances and designs workshops for s ...
Ellen Melamed
Ellen Melamed has recently relocated to Buffalo from New York, NY, where she gained decades of experience working as a teaching artist and art therapist. She was a co-playwright of the stageplay Ethel: A Life, and she was the founder and director of The P ...
Empire Shakespeare Co.
This engaging and lively ensemble makes Shakespeare relevant for students from all backgrounds. Lead artist Roger Keicher has worked as an actor in the Buffalo theatre community for 15 years. He is a regular performer at Shakespeare in Delaware Park, app ...
Eric Crittenden
Eric Crittenden is an award-winning saxophonist, keyboardist, and vocalist. He's played thousands of shows across thousands of miles. Crittenden is also a renowned entertainer and radio show host. His musical resume is varied. He has worked with many well ...
Gayle Danley
Gayle Danley is an award-winning slam poet and educator. Born in New York City and raised in Atlanta, Danley studied broadcast journalism at Howard University and various media at Syracuse University. However, while she was always interested in developin ...
Gerald Mead
Gerald Mead is an award-winning visual artist. His workshops expose students to collage and other artforms, using found objects and 3D to make art come alive. He is passionate about teaching, making, and collecting art. Mead's artwork is in the collect ...
Glenn Colton
Buffalo Music Hall of Fame inductee Glenn Colton is a singer/songwriter who has performed over 6,000 high-energy educational shows since 1992. His concerts encourage students to laugh and sing out loud as they learn important lessons about character devel ...
Gretchen Murray Sepik
Gretchen Murray Sepik's storytelling career really began in Mercer, PA, where her father, a mill-worker, used to tell her colorful stories about the Pennsylvania coal mines and railroads, and her mother encouraged her to dress up and perform nursery rhyme ...
Hill Brothers
The Hill Brothers are a lively ensemble group that uses participatory, ‘toe-tapping’ musical performance to teach young students literacy skills and character development. Two or more members are present at Young Audiences of Western New York programming. ...
IMAGE Urban Arts
IMAGE Urban Arts was developed as a pilot program at Bennett High School in 2003 by Ann Marie Doleski Crittenden, Eric Crittenden and Jeff Grossi. Together they felt the need to address the gang violence plaguing Queen City streets and schools, and "Indi ...
In Jest with Nels Ross
Nels Ross's gravity-defying arts-in-education programs promote character education, wellness, math, science, reading, and fun! Nels provides several popular performances that blend physical theater, variety arts, humor, music, and a theme. Teachers, stu ...
Ismail and Co.
Ismail and Co. is a musical duo that brings together the instrumental, singing, songwriting, and musical production talents of Ismail Johnson and Lonnie Barlow. The duo has been collaborating since 1998, and collectively Johnson and Barlow possess decade ...
Janice Spagnola
Janice Spagnola is an entertainer specializing in magic, puppetry, juggling, and other forms of popular entertainment. She has worked in children's theater and for an international musical mime troupe. Since the mid 1990s, she has performed educational an ...
Jeanne Vuich
Jeanne Vuich is an experienced actress and director. Her professionalism and deep understanding of children combine to create fun, fast-paced workshops that are engaging and memorable. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and a former New Yorker. Dir ...
Jen Russo
Jen Russo is a visual artist who has been teaching in public and after school settings since 1998. She is a certified New York State art teacher and artist, and she focuses on figurative painting, murals and storyboard drawing. She also offers a variety ...
John & Mary
John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey, known as John and Mary, have recorded and toured since the 1980s, both on their own, as a folk-pop duo, and as members of 10,000 Maniacs. Lombardo is a songwriter, guitarist, singer; Ramsey sings, and plays the violin an ...
Josh Smith
Josh Smith is an international poet, comedian, actor, and videographer from Buffalo. In recent years, he has been at the core of some of the Northeast's most prominent Do-It-Yourself organizations, including internet radio station ThinkTwiceRadio, and the ...
Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy, a singer/songwriter, sang before he could talk, and he began entertaining at the age of three. Since Kevin began working as a full-time musician, he has become a popular regional performer at festivals, colleges, companies, and top clubs ...
Kip Ralabate
Kip Ralabate is a dancer, choreographer, and dance educator. She owns the Kiptom Dance Center in Cheektowaga, NY. During her competitive ballroom dance career with her brother, Tom, they were United States and North American Latin Ballroom Dance Champions ...
Kristen Crosson
Kristen Crossn has been a licensed, Board Certified Art Therapist for over ten years. She has a Masters degree from the Vermont College of Norwich University. She has worked for the Buffalo Boys & Girls Clubs, at Renaissance Campus, and for the Albright ...
Kyoko Roszmann
Kyoko Roszmann is an artist specializing in origami and other paper arts. Born in Japan, Kyoko began practicing origami (the art of folding paper) when she came to America. Practicing this traditional Japanese art helped her express and understand hersel ...
Ladies First
Ladies First Jazz Combo is led by award-winning bassist Jennifer May. She is joined by co-founder, drummer Peggy Scalzo; on saxophone and vocals, Jennie Jones; keyboards and vocals, Kathy Carr; and Julie Winden on trumpet. The Combo has performed at area ...
Larry Moss
Airigami, the art of folding air in latex containers, stands at the crossroads of three very ancient art forms: sculpture, puppetry and origami. Performance artist Larry Moss uses airigami to create original works of art, installations and experiences ...
Larry Trott
Larry Trott's distinguished career includes having being flutist and solo piccolist for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He performed the first piccolo recital in New York State, and went on to perform throughout the United States and Europe creating a ...
Latin Jazz Project
The Latin Jazz Project (LJP) was founded in the late 1990s, and continues a mission conceived by the late Anibal Hernandez. Hernandez intended to present Latin music to the Hispanic community; to help popularize it in general; to make Latino culture avai ...
Le Ballet Touba
Le Ballet Touba is a dance and music duo led by Robin Monique, a professional dancer and teacher. Monique was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and now lives in Buffalo. She holds a BA from the University of Buffalo in Human Services, Early Childhood Devel ...
Lehrer Dance
Lehrer Dance is a dance troupe led by John Lehrer, an amazingly innovative dancer and choreographer. Lehrer began studying dance in his late teens and continued these studies at the University of Buffalo, where he was a member of the Zodiaque Dance Compa ...
Lorna Czarnota
A storyteller, author, and musician since 1985, Lorna Czarnota's programs feature historical presentations, storytelling, and writing workshops. She is a national leader in the use of storytelling with at-risk youth. She also specializes in Celtic and Sco ...
Manya Fabiniak
Manya Fabiniak is an artist, writer, spiritual director, and expressive arts therapist who has lectured and conducted seminars throughout the area. In 1995, she created "Spiritual Empowerment: Surviving and Healing the Violence in our Lives" a program whi ...
Meg Robinson-Albers
Meg Robinson-Albers is a self-professed "kite-maven," bringing the joy of kite making and the science of flying to students in all grade levels. Robnison-Albers, a Buffalo native, received a B.A. in Mass Communications from Buffalo State College. She th ...
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716.881.0917
info [at] yawny [dot] org
16 Linwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14209
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