TEAM Making Divine Sparks has led to a vibrant collaborative project with a wide range of artists. It is exciting to feature their talented work in this film. I am deeply grateful for their invaluable contributions. Working with them is an inspiration and a delight! Gifted friends—such as modern dancers Kathryn Alter and Raphaël Boumaïla of the world renowned Limón Dance Company, as well as award-winning musician/composers David Rothenberg and Kristin Hevner, and master puppeteer Cabot Parsons—contributed their artistry directly to Divine Sparks. Behind the scenes, key members of the Divine Sparks Dream Team include film editor Lesley Flanigan; cinematographers Phil Buccellato, Kitama Seeger Jackson, and Bruno Kern; and dramaturge/script editor Eileen Charbonneau. In addition to the cast, crew, and participating artists, some friends formed the incomparable Board of Advisors. Over several years’ time, they supported this project in countless ways, including contributing salient ideas, insightful feedback and guidance. Working with such generous-of-spirit, multi-talented friends has been exciting! My deep gratitude goes out to each of them. Here are Bio’s of Some of the Artists Whose Work Makes Divine Sparks Sparkle: Imogene Drummond Writer, Director, Producer and Artist After a successful 20-year painting career, Imogene Drummond began pushing the boundaries of her painting to a new medium: film. She subsequently created three shorts that explore creativity: Divine Sparks, a 30-minute multimedia; Sparky, a 3-minute animation; and Between Silence & the Sea, a 5-minute art video. Divine Sparks won the Legacy Outstanding Merit Award at its premiere at the MIX International Short Film Festival. It has been screened at other film festivals in the US and India, and selected for presentation at the 2013 National Art Educators Association (NAEA) Convention. In creating Divine Sparks, Imogene synthesized her experiences as an artist, former psychotherapist, author of articles on cultural transformation, and world traveler. To actualize the film’s educational potential, Imogene developed Divine Sparks Arts, Creativity & Literacy Guide. Imogene’s artwork has been exhibited and collected internationally. Exhibitions resulting from extensive painting expeditions to beautiful and spiritual places around the world—including the Galapagos Islands, Uluru in Australia, Delphi and Knossos in Greece, the Ellora and Ajanta Caves in India, and Borobodur in Java—led to her selection as a member of the esteemed Society of Woman Geographers. Imogene’s collectors range from luxury hotels to private collectors in the US, Germany, Greece, Bali and the United Arab Emirates. Her paintings are in the collections of such distinguished collectors as a former First Lady of Greece; a noted New York collector of modern art by painters such as Motherwell, Jackson Pollack and Marsden Hartley; and the prominent collector of the iconic Obama portrait “Hope” (recently donated to the National Portrait Gallery); among others. David Rothenberg Musician/Composer Award-winning composer and jazz clarinetist and best-selling author (of 11 books), philosopher-naturalist David Rothenberg has performed and written extensively about the relationship between humanity and nature. A singular “interspecies musician,” he interweaves new music with global rhythmic innovation, improvisation and natural sounds. David has nine CDs out under his own name, including On the Cliffs of the Heart, named one of the top ten CDs by Jazziz Magazine in 1995. David’s 2005 CD and book Why Birds Sing: A Journey Into the Mystery of Bird Song was published in the USA and England, as well as Italy, Spain, Taiwan, China, Korea, and Germany. In 2007, it aired as a feature-length BBC TV documentary. The CD features David making music with birds. David’s 2008 CD Whale Music and book Thousand Mile Song are about making interspecies music by playing his clarinet with whales in their native habitats, from Russia to Canada to Hawaii. The book came out in paperback in 2010, and is currently being developed into a film for French television. His first CD on ECM Records, with pianist Marilyn Crispell, One Dark Night I Left My Silent House came out in May 2010. David is currently at work on a book about insects and music, to be published by St Martins Press in 2013. Rothenberg is professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). In 2008 and again in 2010, NJIT awarded him the NJIT Excellence in Research Prize and Medal. Kristin Hevner-Wyatt Musician/Composer Kristin Hevner-Wyatt compositions span the musical genres of classical opera, electronic dance music and atonal rock. Her music has been performed internationally in such esteemed venues as Carnegie Hall and Birdland, and in conjunction with La Scala in Milan. Kristin has composed music for numerous independent films, as well as national commercials including GEICO. As Composer-in-Residence for Metropolis Opera Project, a NYC-based opera company, Kristin penned four full-length contemporary operas recently performed off-Broadway. Kristin holds degrees from The Ester Boyer School of Music at Temple University, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and the School for Audio Engineering (SAE), NYC. Kristin also served on the board of directors for “The Look and Listen Festival,” an annual event dedicated to the performance of contemporary music in art galleries in New York City. Phil Buccellato Cinematographer Phil Buccellato is the co-founder and Creative Director of Greener Media, a NYC multimedia production company. Through Greener Media, Phil has worked on several documentary films in various roles, including cinematographer, editor, director and producer. Phil has worked as a cinematographer on three feature documentary films: I Think We’re Alone Now, Calvin & Sweetpea, and Common Ground. Phil has been filming, producing, art directing, and designing for film and TV ever since graduating from the NYU film program. Phil did the production design for several music videos, a documentary feature about musician Arthur Russell, and a Serbian feature film featuring Cyndi Lauper. Additionally he has also worked in the art department for such films as Wes Anderson’s Darjeeling Limited, and Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York. Phil worked under designer Mark Friedberg on both of these films. Cabot Parsons Puppeteer Cabot Parsons is a master puppeteer, filmmaker, director and visual performance artist. His new puppet film, Souris et chat, recently premiered at Kunstleben Gallery in Berlin, Germany. An award-winning producer of public art projects, he creates original visual theatrical work with his own company—cabot | andcompany performance collective. As well as developing several new performance projects for puppets and people, Cabot is currently working on a public art project—that he conceived and designed—to place a three-story tall sculpture of a human head in the Hudson River near Beacon, New York! Cabot has performed at such acclaimed venues as the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival. Cabot teaches puppetry and acting at the State University of New York, and is a tireless advocate for the arts in the Hudson Valley, where he lives and works. Kathryn Alter Modern Dancer and Choreographer A modern dancer and choreographer, Kathryn has been a member of the Limón Dance Company, one of the world’s acclaimed dance companies, since 2003. She is also a founding member of the Riedel Dance Theater (RDT), and has worked with Alan Danielson and Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater. As a member of the Limón Dance Company, Kathryn has toured in the U.S., South America, and Europe. She has had the privilege of performing works of Jose Limón, Doris Humphrey, Jiri Kylian, Lar Lubovitch, Susanne Linke, and Jonathan Riedel. Kathryn’s choreography has been seen from Spain to Alaska. Currently, Kathryn enjoys teaching and choreographing in New York City and across the United States and Mexico. Her most recent works were created at Stephens College in Missouri, and for Nemian Dance Company in Mexico City. Kathryn hails from Juneau, Alaska. After attending Interlochen Arts Academy, she went on to graduate from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance with the highest honors in 2001. Kitama Seeger Jackson Videographer Kitama Seeger Jackson founded his production company Black Wasp Productions in 2005. A documentary filmmaker, Kitama has worked on dozens of documentaries for the Travel Channel, History Channel, PBS and theatrical release. His credits include Associate Producer on “Pete Seeger: Power of Song” and as an Assistant Editor on “Feel Like Going Home,” the first episode of Martin Scorsese’s PBS series “The Blues.” Eileen Charbonneau Script Editor and Dramaturge An award-winning author, Eileen Charbonneau has published nine novels, as well as short stories and non-fiction. Her latest non-fiction book Elements of the Novel came out in April 2012. Her plays have been produced and her screenplays optioned. She has worked with various theater and independent film projects. Eileen is also a Native American and Celtic storyteller.