Gareth Higgins was born in Belfast in 1975, grew up during the northern Ireland Troubles, and now lives in the US. He writes and speaks about the power of storytelling to shape our lives and world, peace and making justice, and how to take life seriously without believing your own propaganda. He has been involved in peace-building and violence reduction in northern Ireland and helping address the legacy of conflict, received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Queen’s University Belfast, and helped teach the world’s first graduate course in Reconciliation Studies at Trinity College Dublin. He also helped found the Wild Goose, New Story and Movies & Meaning festivals. Gareth leads retreats in North America and Ireland; and he founded The Porch Magazine.

Brian McLaren says Gareth’s new book How Not to Be Afraid is “a beautiful book,” Kathleen Norris says it’s “a necessary book,” and Micky ScottBey Jones says it’s “a much-needed resource for skill-building through our fear and trauma, so that we might create the belonging and communities we desire.”

http://www.garethhiggins.net/

Raymond Wise, Ph. D., a native of Baltimore, Md., began his musical career at the age of three, singing gospel music with his family singing group “The Wise Singers.” Professor Wise earned a B.F.A. in Music from Denison University (Granville, Ohio). He did additional studies in Opera, Art, and German at the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, Austria, and in African-American History, Music, and Dance at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California.

He completed an apprenticeship in the business and recording of Gospel Music with the Walter Hawkins Corporation in Oakland, California. Professor Wise earned a Masters in Music Education, Ohio Teacher’s Certification, and Doctorate in Music Education from The Ohio State University, with a dissertation titled Defining African American Gospel Music by Tracing its Historical and Musical Development from 1900 to 2000.

Professor Wise currently serves on the faculty of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he serves as Professor of Practice in the African American African Diaspora Studies department and instructs courses in African American music. He is the associate director of the African American Arts Institute, an IU division devoted to the perpetuation and performance of African American music and art. Wise conducts the African American Choral Ensemble. He has also served on the faculties of The Ohio State University, Denison University, and Trinity Lutheran Seminary.

Faculty page at Indiana University

Raise Productions

In the fall of 2011, W. Stephen Smith became a Professor of Voice and Opera at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Previously he served on the voice faculty at The Juilliard School from the fall of 1998 to the spring of 2011. He held a position on the voice faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School from 1996 to 2017 where he was honored in 2001 and in 2009 as a “New Horizons” faculty member. Mr. Smith has taught voice at Santa Fe Opera and Opera on the Avalon. He has also served on the adjunct voice faculty at Curtis Institute of Music, Teachers College of Columbia University, Stony Brook University, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Young Artist Program, and the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program. Mr. Smith was on the staff of Houston Grand Opera as Voice Instructor for the Houston Opera Studio from 1990 to 2003. Prior to his time a Juilliard, Mr. Smith served for eight years on the voice faculty at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. After moving to Houston from St. Louis where he was Chairman of the Voice Department at the Saint Louis Conservatory of Music, he maintained a voice studio in St. Louis for three years. He was a member of the music faculty at Oklahoma Christian College for eleven years and has also been on the artistic staff at Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony and the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company.

He holds the Bachelor of Arts degree in Voice from Harding University (voice study with Erle T. Moore), the Master of Music degree in Voice from the University of Arkansas (voice study with Richard Brothers), and the Master of Performing Arts degree in Opera from Oklahoma City University where he was a voice student of the late renowned Inez Lunsford Silberg. Other teachers include Dr. William White. In 2012, Mr. Smith was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Arts and Humane Letters from the University of Arkansas. Mr. Smith’s book, The Naked Voice: A Wholistic Approach to Singing, was published by Oxford University Press in 2007. He has given master classes and clinics throughout the United States including the Aspen Music Festival and School, University of Southern California, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Oberlin Conservatory, Glimmerglass Opera, and at Regional and District NATS conventions. He has also been a guest lecturer at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil and at Yonsei University in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

https://www.wstephensmith.com/