Photo: Resident Teaching Artist Tracie Jiggetts performing in an Arts for Learning 2023 Juneteenth performance at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.

At Arts for Learning Maryland, we love a win-win—especially when it supports artists and enhances our work with students and educators across Maryland! This month, we’re winning again as we welcome four resident teaching artists to the Arts for Learning team. We’re delighted to have Tracie Jiggetts, Cristii Rodriguez, Mikela Thrasher, and Caroline Ferrante join us in these full-time positions.

Tracie, Cristii, Mikela, and Caroline will be primarily involved in our teaching programs and mentoring other artists. They’ll bring creativity and fresh ideas to our project planning and program development, and new, innovative ideas for student learning.

The creation of these new positions is a significant step forward in Arts for Learning’s commitment to artists. Artists are society’s most creative thinkers and problem solvers. They inspire us, teach us, and help us see ourselves and one another through a lens of hope, possibility, and joy. And teaching artists are the core of Arts for Learning Maryland’s transformative programs. We’re glad to help more artists in Maryland turn their creative work into full-time, sustainable careers.

Meet our new Resident Teaching artists!

Born and raised in Baltimore, Tracie Jiggetts is a dancer, actor, choreographer, director, and spoken word artist. She attended Baltimore School for the Arts, Towson University, and Coppin State University, and has graced the stages of The Lyric, CenterStage, Arena Players, and more.

Mikela Thrasher is a visual artist working primarily with 35mm film photography to examine the ever-evolving relationship between the self and the natural world. After graduating from MICA, she has worked extensively with students as a teacher, where she prioritizes mindfulness practices.

Musician and educator Caroline Ferrante brings 20 years of classroom experience to her arts-integrated classes, workshops, and performances. Caroline is an award-winning songwriter for film, television, and theatre, and holds semi-annual writing workshops on college campuses.

Cristii Rodriguez is an interdisciplinary visual artist with an interest in fashion styling and painting. A MICA graduate, Cristii believes that art involves beings, bodies, experiences and voices, and that the art classroom is about engaging in a collaborative conversation with various groups of beings: every student, culture, experience, art class, skill, is unique.

Welcome, Tracie, Mikela, Caroline, and Cristii!