The Exchange: Teaching Artist Professional Development Summit

Presented by Katie Grace McGowan

Katie Grace McGowan is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural producer, and committed advocate for creative workers. In 2011, following a decade of working as an artist, entrepreneur, and college lecturer in several U.S. locations and in Croatia, Katie returned to her hometown to collaboratively build the Department of Education and Public Engagement at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD). In this position she co-founded the museum’s DEPE Space Residency program and helped launch and program the Mike Kelley Mobile Homestead (a sculptural edifice on the museum’s grounds), in addition to designing and implementing educational public programming and creative activations at the museum. Subsequently she ran an art consulting firm between NYC and Detroit and served as program director for the Ann Arbor Film Festival—the oldest experimental and avant-garde film festival in North America.

Katie’s performative and literary work has been presented at the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities (Ann Arbor, MI), Provisions Library at George Mason University (Washington D.C.), GALERIE8 (London, UK), The Museum of Contemporary Craft (Portland, OR), Galerija Kortil (Rijeka, Croatia), and Detroit Artists Market and N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art (Detroit, MI), among others. Her residency history includes Craft Advanced Research Projects Agency|CARPA, (Joshua Tree, CA); Udruga Filmaktiv (Rijeka, Croatia); and Prostor Plus (Rijeka, Croatia). She holds an MFA from The University of Iowa in Intermedia as well as M.A. and B.A. degrees from Wayne State University, in English. Katie has served on the board of directors of Detroit Puppet Company since 2016. She is the director of Kresge Arts in Detroit, where she has held leadership roles since 2018.

Presented by Kate Hude

Kate Hude has a BFA in Theatre Design & Production from the University of Michigan, a MS in Arts Administration from Boston University, and a JD from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. She served as an Association Manager at Kelley Cawthorne, a multi-client lobbying firm in Lansing, Michigan, where she provided association management, lobbying, legal services, and nonprofit consulting. Kate is an adjunct professor at Michigan State University in the Arts, Cultural Management, and Museum Studies graduate program. She is also active in the community, currently serving as the Kiwanis Club of East Lansing President and on the Board of Directors for the East Lansing Kiwanis Club Foundation.

Presented by Lori Burkhardt

Lori Burkhardt is an MSU graduate with degrees in special education for those with cognitive impairment, learning disabilities, and autism. Theater director for 14 years that included a diverse population as actors, prop and set building, technical support. Currently, employed with Detroit Opera House and Broadway in Detroit at the Fisher Theater.

Presented by Rebekah Hurst

Rebekah Hurst is an interdisciplinary artist and educator, specializing in process based learning. Their passion for creative connections has led to diverse teaching experiences in museum education, private lessons, K12 education, and AP art courses. They hold a BFA in New Media with minors in Art History and Museum Studies (UTSA), Art EC-12 Teaching Certificate (TX), and MFA in Sculpture (Cranbrook Art Academy). For the last three years, Rebekah has been a Teaching Artist for the Cranbrook Art Museum’s Create Camps.

Presented by Julie Weatherhead

Julie Weatherhead is a lifelong learner, educator, grief doula, professional licensed counselor and professional hugger. She’s worked as a school counselor + life coach for 16 years while also being a founder and director of Weathervane Counseling & Consulting and the Detroit Nonprofit Got Grief House. She believes access to healing is a human right and works to destigmatize and educate people around mental health and wellness locally and globally.

Presented by Rev. Robert Jones

Rev. Robert Jones, Sr. has been a professional musician for more than forty years. The legendary blues man, Willie Dixon encouraged him to bring his music into schools over 35 years ago. In fact, The National Blues Foundation recognized his work as a leading blues educator in 2007. He has been a Pastor for more than 20 years, and he has been a nationally recognized storyteller for more than fifteen years. All of those experiences have allowed him to work in a variety of ways and to apply his speaking and musical skills to educate, entertain, and inspire. At the heart of his message is the belief that our cultural diversity tells a story that should celebrate, not just tolerate.

Rev. Robert Jones makes his home in Detroit, Michigan but performs throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. An award-winning multi-instrumentalist, he is accomplished on guitar, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and ukulele. He has recorded six albums of original and tradition songs. Robert is the former host of the award-winning radio programs “Blues from the Lowlands” and “Deep River” broadcast on Detroit Public Radio’s WDET-FM Detroit. He has taught music history courses at Wayne State University in Detroit, and he serves as a member of the affiliate faculty at Boston’s Berklee School of Music. Jones has taught and performed for a number of folk music organizations including the Ashokan Center, Summer Acoustic Music Week, Fiddle Hell, the Houston Folklore Society and more. In recent years Robert wrote, performed and recorded a one man show entitled “An Evening With Lead Belly”, and in recent years Robert has been a featured artist at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum (Springfield, IL), Rutherford B. Hayes Library (Fremont, OH) and Gerald R. Ford Library (Grand Rapids, MI). Robert is also a frequent performer and presenter for The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (Dearborn, MI). In 2018 Robert received a Kresge Arts Fellowship for Music Composition and Performance.