LEARN ITALIAN THROUGH MUSIC, THEATER, AND CONVERSATION

Giovanni Amodeo has been teaching Italian to students of all ages both privately and within institutions for over twenty years where he has developed his unique curricula, Teatrando l’Italiano courses, an engaging teaching method employing a range of artistic expressions to enhance Italian language learning and performances. He’s a vocal coach having taught Italian language and diction for opera singers including Tommy Ohira, Martha Frinzilla and Fedele Antonicelli. As an interpreter and translator he’s collaborated with Joerg Bremer, Rome correspondent for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Jonathan Harr on his novel, The Lost Caravaggio, and Tommy Ohira on his vignette series The Sea. As an actor and singer he appeared in “Notizie dal mondo,” a show by author Luigi Pirandello for the Company of Carlo di Maio in Rome, Italy and as a solo performed in cabarets.

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CREATIVE WRITING

Brenda Bowen has the unusual advantage of having seen publishing from all sides. She is the author of Enchanted August, published by Pamela Dorman Books/Penguin, and the forthcoming novel The Emergency Book Club (William Morrow, 2027). She has edited books that have won the National Book Award and the Newbery Medal; she is the agent of authors who have been #1 NYTimes bestsellers, and whose books sold in the millions of copies. Under the pen name Margaret McNamara, she’s also the author of more than forty children’s books, many of which have been in print more than twenty years. Currently a literary agent at The Book Group, Brenda lives and works in New York City and Maine.

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VISUAL ARTS — NEEDLEWORK

Liz Collins is an artist based in New York City known for her innovative and experimental work in fabric, yarn, and other materials associated with textile media. Collins frequently explores the dichotomy of structure and entropy—qualities inherent to textile that speak to the fissures present in broader architectural, political, and social structures. Collins’ work has recently been on view in the 60th Venice Biennale, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and The Museum of Modern Art. Liz Collins: Motherlode, Collins’ mid-career retrospective at the RISD Museum in Providence, RI, ran from 2025-26 with an accompanying monograph published by Hirmer.

lizcollins.com

VISUAL ARTS — PAINTING

C. Finley, Founder and Curator of the Every Woman Biennial and is known for her elaborate paintings, intense use of color, monumental murals, multi-disciplinary collaborations, and her activism through urban art interventions, including her acclaimed Wallpapered Dumpsters. As the creator of the 2014-2021 Every Woman Biennial she has exhibited 1200 female and non-binary artists in New York, Los Angeles and London. Finley has shown internationally and her work has been featured in the The New York Times, La Repubblica, Dazed, Fast Company, Women’s Wear Daily, Cultured, and more.

iamfinley.com

CREATIVE WRITING

Bob Hughes, formerly with The Wall Street Journal where he honed his skills in cultural journalism, is the author of “Late and Soon,” which was cited for its elegant prose and rich character development, earning praise from noted authors like Adriana Trigiani and Edmund White. He is also a playwright, currently polishing his new work, “A Constant Life.” His writing continues to reflect his diverse interests and expertise. Currently splitting his time between New York and Paris, Bob shares his insights and experiences of French life on his blog, Parisian on Purpose.

VISUAL ARTS

Elliot Kreloff is an award-winning children’s book author/illustrator arts educator and designer. His career as creative director for Scholastic Books, Disney Publishing Worldwide, MacMillan Publishing and his own studio, Design Five, has spanned over forty years. As an arts educator, he has taught at Parsons School of Design, New York Institute of Technology, Rutgers University and Fordham University. His books have been awarded Best Book of the Year by Child Magazine, and he has received numerous awards from various professional design organizations and publications including the Bookbinders Guild, Art Direction, Communication Arts and the Society of Illustrators. He is a graduate of Cooper Union and holds a master’s degree from Hunter College. You can find many of his books on his author’s page on Amazon.

CREATIVE WRITING

S.J. Rozan is the author of eighteen novels and more than 75 short stories, and the editor of three anthologies. She has won multiple awards for both novel and short story, including the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony, Nero, Macavity; Japanese Maltese Falcon; and the Private Eye Writers of America Life Achievement Award. She teaches and lectures widely and has been a Master Artist at The Atlantic Center for the Arts and Writer-in-Residence at Singapore Management University. Her most recent novel is Family Business.

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CREATIVE WRITING

Barbara Shoup is the author of eight novels for adults and young adults, a memoir, and two books about the creative process. Her YA novels have been named to the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, the Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book; Voya Best Young Adult Book and Perfect 10, and the International Reading Association’s Young Adults Choice List. The recipient of the PEN Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, Lilly Endowment Creative Renewal Fellowships, and fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation, she is the Writer-in-Residence at the Indiana Writers Center. Her most recent novel is Looking for Jack Kerouac.

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