Are you an aspiring artist? Amplify your creativity at the Governor's Institute on the Arts!
“Being a part of GIA has helped to shape me and give me a sense of direction and control in my own life.”
Amplify your artistic voice at the GIV Arts Institute, also known as GIA! You’ll join a creative community of young artists from all over Vermont for an exciting two weeks of collaboration, creation, and inspiration. Come develop skills in the artistic disciplines of your choice alongside creators who love art as much as you do! With immersions into theater, music, writing, dance, visual arts and more, there’s something for everyone at the Arts Institute!
Join us on the campus of Vermont State University Castleton in a shared dynamic artistic inquiry. Together, we will build a vibrant artistic community, bringing together outstanding professional teaching artists and curious, motivated students to explore the processes of creativity.
**GIA is a 2-week intensive summer program for Vermont high school students finishing grades 9-11.
Summer 2024 dates and information coming soon!
For information regarding tuition, please click here.
The biggest and best known of the Governor’s Institutes, the Arts Institute has helped shape the trajectories and artistic visions of thousands of students, including world-famous musicians, actors, and artists. We can’t promise you’ll end up famous – but we promise you’ll have an amazing two weeks of fun, learning, and inspiration and leave with a whole new perspective and commitment to your art.
Note: This album is arranged in chronological order as events took place throughout the Institute.
Video recap from the Institute coming soon!
Choose from a menu of dozens of expert-led courses in film, visual arts, music, dance, writing, theater, and other media, then immerse yourself in two of your preferred class selections.
**Classes are different each year and announced when you arrive!
Outside of class, your time is filled with engaging workshops led by community members–teachers, staff, and you! Always wanted to learn… beatboxing? Salsa dance? Ukulele? Or teach… Pastel techniques? Adobe Premiere Pro? Haiku?
GIA’s open workshop format is endlessly enriching, empowering, and engaging.
7:30 AM – 8:30 AM: Breakfast
8:45 AM – 9:15 AM: Community Meeting
9:15 AM – 10:00 AM: Community Chorus
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Morning Class
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Workshops
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Afternoon Class
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Workshops / Specials
5:30 PM – 6:30 PM: Dinner
7:30 PM: Artist Series
9:30 PM: Suite Check-in
10:30 PM: Bedtime
Watch the Video
Whether or not you take a music class, you’ll be surrounded by music at GIA. Chorus in the morning will have you singing and dancing all day long. Classes often include songwriting, choir, group or individual composition. Musicians will grow personally and artistically as they learn to write their own music, collaborate with others, and have ample opportunity to perform on stage! Jam sessions abound, and many a GIA band has formed and performed in a mere 2 weeks.
Check out these VIDEOS or listen to GIA on Bandcamp
Over two weeks, our visual artists overflow the gallery with original works. We offer classes in a range of mediums–both 2D and 3D. Our drawing or painting classes include AND move beyond the boundaries of traditional practices. We work with nude models, we use weird tools, we work with our eyes closed, we work BIG and small. We work representationally AND abstractly. Our goal is to break you out of your comfort zone and provide you with some non-traditional approaches to visual arts!
Watch: Visual Arts at GIA
Theater performance classes will develop characters, scenes, and emotions that translate to the stage. Past classes included Improv ensembles, clowning, individual character and scene work. You’ll learn new theater exercises and games that hone your skills and help you work with others. Non-performance theater classes have included mask-making, stage prosthetics/makeup, and our infamous lighting classes which–beyond creating amazing projects–offer the opportunity to light professional performances in the evening!
Meet one of our GIA theater faculty alums – Isaac Eddy
All ability levels are welcome in our dance classes (and all of our classes for that matter). Unlike conservatory classes, or Ballet 1, 2, or 3, our classes are centered around movement and self-awareness. We learn how to express ourselves, ask questions, and have fun through movement. We often have one class involving choreography (both developing your own and learning others’) and one that delves into experiential and authentic movement.
Watch: Dance at GIA
We offer classes where writers can engage deeply with their craft. Creative writing classes in the past have included fiction, narrative, poetry, lyric writing, playwriting, and some with a mix of everything. Our writers are given the opportunity to write for the page, and are also encouraged to share their work through readings and performances, both in classroom settings and amongst the larger community.
Our writing students often find themselves Filled with Inspiration
Film, photography, and digital media arts are so ubiquitous in our world that they have also become an integral part of our curriculum. Students make anything from narrative or informational films to abstract and multimedia projects. In Vermont State University Castleton’s fully equipped video studio with green screen and editing suite, there’s no shortage of possibilities! With access to the Adobe suite, our digital artists have created photoshop stills and animations, utilizing photography and traditional art mediums.
Check out these student-made VIDEOS
Every night we enjoy unique evening performances by musicians, illustrators, sculptors, comedians, theater troops, dancers, filmmakers, poets, songwriters, creators, and collaborators. You will see local artists, alums, faculty & staff performing on the BIG STAGE at the Vermont State University Castleton Fine Arts Center. The Artist Series is the highlight of our evenings, where we come together to be inspired, to ask thoughtful questions, and to expose ourselves to many different artists and artistic genres.
Watch: Artist Series at GIA
Misoo was born in the Bronx in 1980, but moved back to her parent’s homeland of South Korea when she was a one-year old. 17 years later, she returned to the US with ambitions to use painting as her mode of emotional communication and story-telling. Her recent work, The Giant Asian Girls, is the manifestation of Asian women living in the western world who have hurt inside after seeing images of the dehumanizing, fetishized version of themselves, or felt oppressed by the stereotypes of cultural passivity. The Giant Asian Girls literally grew out of the intersectionality of racism and sexism that Asian women experience living in America. Misoo has exhibited in a number of galleries and museums across America and around the world. Misoo was selected as one of the Emerging Artist of New England in 2019 and Vermont Artist to Watch in 2020. Misoo currently lives and works in South Burlington, Vermont and can be reached at [email protected]
Troy Anthony, is a Kentucky-born composer/lyricist, director, and theater-maker based in NYC practicing Black queer joy. He has received commissions from The 5th Avenue Theater, The Civilians, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theater, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and The Shed. He’s enjoyed residencies with Musical Theater Factory (MTF), The O’Neill Theater Center and Village Theater. Additionally, he’s presented work at Joe’s Pub, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, JACK, Prospect Theater Company, the National Alliance of Musical Theater Conference, and 54 Below. Troy recently received the Vivace Award from the Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation and is currently an artist-in-residence at The Chelsea Factory. As an actor, Troy has been seen in the Public Theater’s Hercules, Twelfth Night and As You Like It, as well as Prospect Theater Company’s Tamar of the River. Troy’s work lives at the intersection of art, social justice and community practice. In this spirit, he recently founded The Fire Ensemble as a home to develop his work and to share the joy of singing in community.
For twelve years Isaac has performed with Blue Man Group in New York City, Chicago, London, and Las Vegas. With the production he has helped cast and train Blue Men, captain casts, write material, and perform nightly in the show. Isaac is an Associate Professor of Theater and Drama at Northern Vermont University Johnson. There he built the Performance, Arts, and Technology undergrad which focuses on the student-led creation of new multi-disciplinary performance works. This program is in its third year of operation and has been highly influenced by the work that is created at GIA every summer! Concentrations include: Theatre/Musical Theatre, Dance, Music, Immersive Design, and Social Justice and Activism. Isaac is also a writer and a cartoonist and has been published in the New Yorker and in the weekly newspaper, The Herald of Randolph, Vermont. He makes animated documentary shorts for Time Magazine and has a non-fiction multi-panel series about the people that live and work in his neighborhood published in the New York Times’ Brooklyn blog, “The Local.” Isaac also created and animated the online series, “Cat, Dog, Stoop.”
A native of Hardwick, Vermont, Andy Gagnon has dedicated his life to music. Gagnon has worked with the Vermont Jazz Camp, U-32’s summer jazz camp, the Get Thee to the Funnery camp in Barre, and the Green Mountain Youth Symphony Summer C.A.M.P., as well as being a private percussion instructor for many years. Gagnon has also served as a mentor for Music-COMP (formerly the Vermont MIDI Project) and as a guest conductor for numerous Vermont district music festivals. Gagnon holds a B.S. in Music Education with a concentration in music composition from the University of Vermont, and an M.F.A. in Music Composition from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. He regularly performs with The Renegade Groove, LOVECRAFT, The Vermont Jazz Ensemble, and PURPLE feat. Craig Mitchell, among many other artists and groups. Andy currently lives in Morrisville, Vermont with his wife Leah, their dogs Spock and Kiwi, Minerva the cat, and Poppy Seed the chinchilla. He is the instrumental music teacher at Stowe Elementary, Middle, and High schools.
Lily gold (she/they) is a white, queer, fourth generation new york ashkenazi jew witch, living with chronic illness between the occupied lands of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Oneida and Lenape, where she was born. She is a choreographer, performer and visual artist, working interdisciplinarily in modes of movement, sound, painting, and installation. Lily is also an organizer and grief-worker, practicing somatic healing through an abolitionist and anti-oppression framework. Lily loves hot pink, hot water and newly, sci fi.
Lillie J. Harris is a Cartoonist and Narrative Designer from Southern Maryland. Both their visual art and writing have been in The New Yorker, Burlington City Arts Gallery, The Vermont Folklife Center, and several anthologies. Themes of ‘tension’ and ’empathy’ play a large role in Lillie’s work, and they’re a huge proponent of not “punching down.” Wilderness is their debut graphic novel.
Caitlin La Dolce is a multidisciplinary artist and educator originally from the Northeast Kingdom region of Vermont. La Dolce’s work explores such themes as memory, the body, growth, survival, and inheritance. Working in the mediums of sculpture, painting, and drawing, La Dolce researches in the fields of ecofeminism and biology to explore intersections of gender, toxicity, reproduction, and organic matter. Caitlin is currently pursuing her MFA at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia in Athens.
Cavan Meese got his start in theater at an early age with the Bread and Puppet Theater and in performances at schools, libraries, clubs, festivals and small theaters around the country with his family. Cavan is an alumni of the Governor’s Institute on the Arts and first studied lighting design and television production at Vermont State College Castleton. He went on to The University of the Arts in Philadelphia where he studied theater arts and apprenticed with lighting designers and directors at the Pennsylvania Ballet, The Arden Theater, Pig Iron Theater, and others. Cavan has designed for Anais Mitchell (Hadestown), Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour, Phish, Vermont Stage Company, Lost Nation Theater, The Barre Opera House, Kingdom County Productions (The Voices Project Tour), Ryno Fest, The Northeast Kingdom Music Festival, and toured extensively as both a performer and lighting technician. Cavan is founder of The Parker Pie Company and the Village Hall barn stage in West Glover.
Liz is a graphic designer and illustrator with a focus on branding, print, and digital design. She holds a certificate in Graphic Design from Massachusetts College of Art, and a B.A. from Smith College, where she studied Environmental Science and Studio Art. For five years, Liz worked on creative teams both large and small, learning the tricks of the trade. Clients have ranged from multinational companies to local coffee shops. In 2020, she left her job at a larger design firm to start Liz Moran Design. With that change, she enjoys a closer connection to client outcomes and the creative process.
Alexa Rene’ Rivera (she/her) is a basket weaver of Puerto Rican and Jewish descent based in Burlington, VT. Alexa is founder and owner of WOVN.COUNTRY, a small business selling baskets and teaching basket weaving workshops in the Northeast. Her workshops take place anywhere from institutions such as The Shelburne Craft School and Montgomery Center for the Arts, to friends’ backyards, a muddy farm in a flood plain, and basements where Punk Bands usually practice. She is a proud member of the Hive on Pine, a studio collective in Burlington’s South End, and has attended the artist residency program at The Vermont Studio Center. Her work has been featured in Boston Home Magazine and for the Vermont Arts Council. Alexa is interested in basket weaving as both a basic utilitarian craft, and as an important study of vessel, geography, intuition, and abundance. When not weaving baskets in her studio, you can find Alexa waitressing, reading murder mysteries, and taking way too many pictures of food.
Naomi Saito is a Chicago-born, New York City based filmmaker and cinematographer. After studying film at Wesleyan University she worked for experimental theater artist Kaneza Schaal and director Josephine Decker before moving to freelance film production. She now works as a camera operator and DP on documentaries, commercials, music videos, and narrative feature films. Naomi has done camera work for companies including Lincoln Center, BAM, The Shed, Condé Nast, PBS, WNET, Telfar TV, Stella McCartney, Google, and Planned Parenthood, and collaborated with artists and performers including Jomama Jones, Pam Tanowitz, and Eiko Otake. She is drawn to filmmaking that’s collaborative, interdisciplinary, and challenges binaries by engaging with the slipperiness of categories. Naomi first learned to use a camera through a childhood passion for birdwatching and continues to love movement, close observation, and building intentional relationships with the spaces around her.
Luna Shen is a visual artist currently based in Burlington, VT. She graduated from Middlebury College as a Sociology major and works at a homeless shelter while pursuing art professionally. Her artistic practice focuses on unearthing the dysphoric and persistent feelings that come from unbelonging. Her interest in what lies beyond the binaries of “here/there,” “native/alien” stem from her family’s migration patterns and her own transcultural and transnational migrations. Shen works in ink and paper, and her sculptures combine non-traditional mediums associated with her sense of “home,” like rusted metals, concrete, felt, stockings, hair, and spit. As an emerging artist, her art picked up momentum in 2022-2023 during which she was an artist-in-residence at Generator (Burlington), showed at Karma Bird House (Burlington), was awarded an Artist Development Grant by Burlington Community Arts (BCA), was selected to participate in BCA’s annual virtual auction, and committed to her first studio space at The Hive (Burlington). You can see her work at Lunashen.com.
Former Poet Laureate of Belfast, Maine, poet, bass clarinetist, and composer Toussaint St. Negritude conjures whole liberations in full tempo. US Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks described his work as “full of sweet sounds and surprises.” Originally from San Francisco, Toussaint has lived and broadly thrived across the African Diaspora, from the sacred mountains of Haiti to the Coltrane District of North Philadelphia. He, along with bassist Gahlord Dewald, is the leader of the band Jaguar Stereo!, a free-form ensemble of his own poetry and improvisational jazz, and his works have been widely published and recorded for over 40 years. On an alpine sanctuary facing east, Toussaint St. Negritude continues to thrive in the farthest elevations of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.
Sophie Wood is a multidisciplinary performance artist whose work explores ritual, land use, myth, humor, and the metabolization of grief. She has simultaneously built a career in farming, floristry, and landscape design, so she is versed in operating both sequins and heavy machinery. Her art uses textile, sculpture, movement, clown, storytelling, poetry, shadow/light work and plant/earthworks design. She has a self-directed degree from Hampshire College, is co-founder and producer of The Royal Frog Ballet performance collective, and currently runs her own landscape design business and plant nursery. She has additionally run a summer performance project on Shakespeare and clowning, built for various large-scale parades, including HONKfest and the Cleveland Art Museum’s ‘Parade The Circle’, worked with Bread and Puppet Theater, and published two collections of poetry. She came to GIA as a student and just won’t leave, having occupied roles as student, RA, guest artist, Director of Operations, and Director of Student Life. She is thrilled to be teaching this year. While she has pursued a professional career as an artist and drawn from the work of many well-known artists, she identifies primarily as a folk artist, as much of her work and creative practice includes quilts, clothing, food, gardens, home spaces, and community rituals. Her influences draw from folk traditions and many ‘anonymous’ artists, homemakers, and ritualists, and much of her art practice is not made for public viewing. She currently lives and works on the same hill she was born and raised on in Vermont.
MacArthur Stine moved to Vermont as a 2-year old with a bindle full of dreams and a golden retriever named Annie. He spent his youth tramping the forests of Cornwall Vermont and can still often be found meandering amongst the maples. Since a starring role in ‘Free to Be You and Me” in grade school, he has been active both on and backstage. A graduate of the Second City Conservatory, he founded a sketch group, Sassafrass Productions, worked at the Steppenwolf Scene Shop, and ran a successful standup showcase. Following his move back to Vermont in ’09, he immediately left to work for FELD Entertainment as a touring Props Master, Pyrotechnician and Assistant Stage Manager for both Mickey Mouse and Phineas and Ferb. For the last few years he has been the Director of Technical Services at Vermont State College Castleton, providing lights, sound and other sundries for too many acts to mention. He is the lucky spouse of Haley Rice and proud father to six-year old, Keaton Stine. He is super excited to be involved with GIA and hopes you are too!
Sarah Lowry is a theater maker and Registered Drama Therapist. Lowry works both as an individual and family counselor at Centerpoint’s clinic in South Burlington, as well as in the Winooski Middle and High Schools where she collaborates with educators and students to incorporate trauma-informed, youth driven, creative arts work into curriculum. In the clinic, Lowry uses somatic and creative practices to work with predominantly LGBTQIA+ youth as well as with teens, young adults, and families who have experienced trauma. Both in the counseling room and on the stage – Lowry centers her work on listening to young people and uses storytelling and theater as tools to center the voices and perspectives of teens in Vermont. As a white, Jewish, queer 39-year-old counselor and artist, Lowry brings her own life and experiences into her relationships with young people, and strives to make work that prioritizes the leadership of young people to tell their own stories. She is thrilled to be a part of the GIA community.
Martha was a school nurse in Central VT for 23 years until moving to the coast of Maine in 2019. During the Covid pandemic she worked for the Maine Dept. of Education helping schools manage their infections. Martha is also a psychiatric nurse and works remotely for the VT Department of Mental Health. She has been involved with the Governors Institute for over 15 years and loves working at GIA because it is two fantastic weeks of art, music, theater, dance – and really happy, creative students and staff!
Emily C. Billado’s entire personality is based on her love of three things: art, warm beverages, and Vermont. Born and raised in Castleton, she left for the big city (Washington D.C.) for 5 years, but she eventually had to follow the call of New England’s mountains and relocated closer to home in Western Massachusetts. With a background in both musical theatre, costume design, and art history, she loves to take an interdisciplinary approach to art and loves the challenge of a new medium. By day, she works as the project manager and marketing coordinator for a Vermont-based skincare company. But when she isn’t working, she can be found exploring museums, taking deep breaths of fresh air, making music, making herself laugh, sewing, researching niche historical topics, or generally frolicking. She was first introduced to the magic of GIA as a student in 2011 and always considers it the highlight of her year to spend time learning from and being inspired by our amazing young artists.
Sam returns to GIA as a sixth year RA! A GIA participant herself in 2010, Sam was a student at The Sharon Academy where she participated regularly in the performing arts, especially theatre. She was a member of the Get Thee to the Funnery summer Shakespeare ensemble in Chelsea for many a moon! She went on to attend Beloit College in Wisconsin, where she expanded upon her experience with sketch comedy, writing for performance, dance, a capella, poetry, and more! In addition to being a fan of the arts and community building, Sam is also a globetrotter, having lived in five states and three countries. She has lived in Chicago, IL for a little over a year now, and spent her first year back in the states attending the most concerts she EVER has in a single year! Sam loves building relationships, coaching others and leading with empathy, which she does every day (in Spanish!) as a Customer Support Team Lead for a multinational tech company. She cannot wait to meet and grow with this year’s fabulous artists!
Anire Kim Amoda is an actor, singer, scuba diver, sticker collector, and lover of arts and crafts from Brooklyn, New York! She is a recent graduate of Oberlin College, where she majored in Theatre and minored in History and English. After graduating from LaGuardia High School as a drama major, she participated in a range of Theatre programs in and outside of school, including arts intensives at the National YoungArts Foundation, where she was a two-time winner in theatre, LAByrinth Theatre Company, and a study abroad program at the British American Drama Academy in London. She has also recently begun her journey into the world of acting for film and television! Anire loves singing with friends, Shakespeare (especially through a social justice lens), her dog Nova, making jewelry, crocheting, sunsets, and the color green. Her favorite animals are manta rays and sea turtles. She is so excited to meet all of the lovely humans who will be at GIA this summer!
Maya is a recent graduate of Oberlin College, where she majored in studio art and psychology. Maya is primarily a painter, print-maker, and drawer. She was born and raised in Boston, specifically Jamaica Plain, and loves dogs, summertime, friends, and astrology. Maya is passionate about mental health, community building, and creativity and is so excited for the first summer at GIA after many years spent in the Berkshires programming as a camp counselor!
Manda grew up in Upstate NY and loves everything about the outdoors! When she is not out running around with her dog Mimi, she can often be found getting crafty. She enjoys cross-stitching, working with watercolor, making cards, and sewing. If she is not crafting, she could very well be baking. She loves to mix flavors together and has been perfecting her vegan cookbook for years. Her current favorite flavor combination is lavender and lemon. She also loves to read and write and takes pride in being a Nancy Drew aficionado and a list-making fiend. She is currently working to become an environmental lawyer at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.
Lily is an art maker and dancer, specializing in embroidery and sewing, painting, found-object art, and tap dancing. Lily grew up in Vermont and attended GIA as a high schooler, and will return as an RA for their third time this year! After a recent move to Kansas City, Missouri, they have been spending their time integrating into the vibrant local art and activism scene and connecting through creating. Lily has a background in sex-ed, LGBTQ studies, and suicide prevention, and will be attending Columbia University in the fall to pursue a degree in Social Work. They believe strongly in the healing nature of art, and love to use creative spaces in conjunction with their background in mental health care to facilitate growth and conversation. Lily is also passionate about baking and community organizing – in their new community, Lily is already known for giving the neighbors cookies while mobilizing them into local action.
Greta is an artist-activist who attended GIA in 2015! Their main love is poetry but they also write almost anything and dabble in music, dance, drawing, collage, and songwriting. Greta grew up wandering the forests and mountains of Vermont, then fell in love with the prairies and lakes of Minnesota while attending Carleton College. They’ll be moving to Minneapolis in the fall of 2023 to work as a community organizer, building a joyful, queer future despite capitalism and the climate crisis. The coolest three months of their life were living in Peru, climbing trees and studying parrots in the Amazon rainforest, and they hope to return to Latin America soon. In the meantime, they’re beyond excited to spend another summer creating art and community at GIA.
Zack is a graduating Africana Studies major from Oberlin College. Over the course of his life, Zack has found love and peace in nature, food, music, making, the sun, constant movement, and friends. He has used his undergraduate studies to the study of diasporas, specifically the African and Asian diasporas, and interracial tension and collaboration under the ever present influence of White supremacy. Attending an Elementary/Middle School privileged to own a 160 acre farm in upstate NY, he has grown up with a love of nature, animals, fresh air, and being in a live-and-work environment. Through experience teaching kids from ages 4-14, he has learned the importance of active learning and listening. In Zack’s free time he likes to bike, run, jump, swim, blast music, and laugh with friends and family. He is excited to join GIA for the first time and to immediately share so many of these experiences that he loves with young people whose shoes he was in not so long ago!
Hannah Little is a writer, podcaster, and musical theater nerd who grew up in Winooski, VT. After attending GIA in 2014, she studied Creative Writing, Theater, and Arts Management in undergrad, where she studied abroad with her university’s London Theatre Program. During those three months, she had the privilege of seeing almost 50 shows in the city’s famous West End. Hannah currently lives and works in the nonprofit scene in Rhode Island. When she’s not talking about her cat, Guava, you might find her painting, scrapbooking, writing, singing, dancing, or doing her best wobbly yoga pose. Hannah is incredibly excited to be a returning RA this summer.
Brittney comes to you from Burlington, VT. As a performing artist and newly found visual artist, she found her love of creation and exploration as a GIA student in 2014. She studied Theater at Northern Vermont University – Johnson, where she focused on Acting and Directing. During that time, she found a love for fusing artistic expression with activism and self-awareness. She is co-founder of Black Sacred Soul, a clothing company where she and her partner create and print custom designs. As of late, when not auditioning or using the heat press, she can be found recording music, streaming online, and playing in a field with her dog Nova. She truly enjoys the conversations and connections to be made when sharing and creating art with her peers and she is excited to get the chance to do that with you all at GIA this summer!
Aja is a filmmaker currently living and working in Atlanta, Georgia. After growing up in the woods of Southern VT and attending GIA as a student many moons ago; Aja followed his passion for filmmaking to Syracuse University where he received a BFA in Film, and to FAMU international in Prague in the Czech Republic where he studied 35mm. Between smaller and more personal artistic endeavors, Aja works full time as a set lighting technician on feature films; from tasteless comedies for streamers, to indie award show darlings, to big marvel blockbusters. After finishing principal photography on Black Panther 2 last year, Aja moved on to his first ever self-produced feature film that was shot right here in Vermont in the fall, alongside many artistic collaborators from GIA and beyond. Aside from trying to avoid burnout on Captain America 4 all year, he also loves to watch movies of any kind (ideally on the big screen), binge-read fantasy and sci-fi, listen to music that sounds like breaking machinery, ride his onewheel and have a nice cup of PG tips English tea. He truly cannot wait to spend the summer returning to his roots and helping to try and pass on the artistic passion to young artists in his home state of VT.
Kaelan Selbach is a filmmaker currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York. After Growing up in the woods of Southern VT and attending GIA as a student many moons ago; Kaelan followed his passion for filmmaking to Syracuse University where he received a BFA in Film, and to FAMU international in Prague in the Czech Republic where he studied 35mm. Between smaller and more personal artistic endeavors, Kaelan works full time as a set lighting technician on feature films and TV. Aside from his work he also loves to watch movies of any kind, binge read fantasy and sci-fi, listen to music that sounds like breaking machinery, eat donuts and have a nice cup of PG tips English tea. He truly cannot wait to spend the summer returning to his roots and helping to try and pass on the artistic passion to young artists in his home state of VT.
Mo Singletary is a creator, collaborator, and artist from Boston, Massachusetts. They recently graduated from Oberlin College with a double major in Environmental Studies and Africana Studies. Mo chose this combination of majors because they are particularly passionate about community organizing in relation to environmental and food justice. Mo strongly believes in the power of learning, growing, healing, and creating in community. Although they are interested in all types of artistic and creative endeavors, they are particularly drawn to the potential for healing and liberation that the act of storytelling through art can offer. Mo would describe themselves as a freedom dreamer, avid gardener, and lover of the moon, sun, stars, ocean, and all things green. They find peace and joy in nature, building connections, movement, cloud-watching, cooking, and dreaming up a future that centers community, creativity, healing, mutual-aid work, and Black agrarianism. Mo is SO very excited to be a part of the GIA team again this summer!
Anokha is a visual learner. As a recent grad from Oberlin College with an Environmental Studies major and French minor, Anokha is passionate about utilizing media, specifically photography and videography, as a tool for social and environmental change. From working as a media intern for Buzz Women, an India-based NGO addressing poverty amongst rural women, to studying sustainable development in Thailand, Anokha’s EOS 7D camera has remained a constant companion in her travels. At Oberlin, Anokha’s interests in media and environmental communications motivated her to work in public outreach for a sustainability funding board and the Asia Diaspora Coalition, as a photo editor for the Oberlin Review, a campus photographer, and as a Sustainability Intern for the City of Oberlin. Anokha will be moving to India for two years in August to pursue work at an environmental non-profit in the Nilgiri Mountains! On a warm day, Anokha loves to get out her roller blades and coast over well-paved roads. When it’s colder outside, she loves to film and edit videos of her friends and her travels.
Janice Amaya is an actor, theatermaker, and educator of Nahuatl descent based in Lenapehoking (New York City). There they teach at the Atlantic Acting School, both in the full-time conservatory program and the undergraduate acting studio through New York University. Janice is also a proud member of Pipeline Theatre Company. Recent theater credits: Shhhh (Atlantic Theater Company), Cartography (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), Sally Forth (Lincoln Center), 02020 (Performance Space New York), Tell Them I’m Still Young (American Theater Group), Bloodworks (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Brief Chronicle: Books 6-8 (Access Theater). Film: Patriot’s Day (Lionsgate, Dir. Peter Berg). They received their MFA in Acting from the Moscow Art Theater and the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University.
Corey grew up in a log cabin in the woods of Middlesex, Vermont. After graduating from Wesleyan University he became a professional contemporary dancer, while also mixing in some carpentry, teaching, cooking, arts administration, emergency medicine, conflict resolution, and educational advocacy. He is now the Co-founder and Chief People Officer at Luminary (www.roli.com and www.playlumi.com), a music technology company, headquartered in London, UK, where he lives with his wife, Kate, and their daughters, Hazel (7) and Willa (4). He is inspired by the work of, among others, Toni Morrison, Noella Coursaris Musunka, James Baldwin, and Cary Wolfe. He attended GIA in 2000.
Malina Leslie (she/her) is a red-headed giggler who graduated from the University of Vermont with a BA in English and Art. She is a quilter who likes to paint with fabric and draw with thread to portray people in various emotions. She also likes to make comics and worked for cartoonist Alison Bechdel on her comic book “Are You My Mother.” Malina is often found birding because birds are awesome. She has lived for significant chunks of time on four of the seven continents and has gotten really good at decorating envelopes because of it. Originally from Hardwick, Vermont, she attended GIA as a student in 2005 and is always thrilled to return!
Hazel Wood was born and raised in Thetford, Vermont. She now lives an adventurous and bicoastal life between Oregon and Vermont (and beyond) filled with family and gardens. When she’s not traveling, she likes to dabble in every artistic medium she can. Sometimes a performer, she clowns around and shakes her booty in festivals and performances that she gets roped into (usually by her sister Sophie Wood). An auntie and now mother, Hazel enjoys learning by trying new things and relishes epic failures that lead to revelations.
