The Susquehanna Folk Arts Center presents a virtual workshop: Becoming a Teaching Artist
Saturday, April 26, 2025 Live on Zoom, 10 am to noon
About This Event:
If you’re a traditional artist, you’ve surely met people who would love to do what you do — and traditional arts are meant to be passed along. Whether sharing your knowledge as a teacher seems daunting or intriguing, join us for a FREE virtual panel discussion with three local teaching artists, presented by our Susquehanna Folk Arts Center. We’ll share stories, insights and experiences, and tips for success.
If you’re a traditional artist, you’ve surely met people who would love to do what you do — and traditional arts are meant to be passed along. Whether sharing your knowledge as a teacher seems daunting or intriguing, join us for a FREE virtual panel discussion with three local teaching artists, presented by our Susquehanna Folk Arts Center. We’ll share stories, insights and experiences, and tips for success.
How do you translate what you do as an artist into digestible lessons for someone who wants to learn? What does it really take to become proficient? How do you share your cultural knowledge while also passing on artistic skills and practices?
Our three panelists are local artists who have been teaching in a variety of settings for many years:
- short workshops in libraries and senior centers
- creating a school for dance or music
- one-off lessons and formal apprenticeships
Come hear what they have to say about becoming a successful teaching artist, and share your own experiences and insights. Hosted by SFMS folklorist Amy Skillman.
This workshop is sponsored by our Susquehanna Folk Arts Center, created in partnership with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Meet more amazing artists from Central PA in our Folk Artists Gallery.
Our panelists:
Muskan Balampaki
Muskan grew up in a musical family in Nepal, with his father playing the traditional sarangi and his mother playing the hand drum. His father recognized an aptitude for music in young Muskan and encouraged it. Even after leaving his village to go to college in Kathmandu, Muskan continued to study and play classical Nepali music, especially the traditional music from his village. Eventually, he won a fellowship to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts where he explored the connections between classical Nepali and western music.
In 2018, he was invited to the Harrisburg area by Bhagirath Khatiwada, a local Nepali Bhutanese who wanted to ensure that the music of their heritage did not disappear in diaspora. The result has been the creation of GEMCA MUSIC, a school that offers comprehensive music education. GEMCA MUSIC welcomes students of both Nepali and non-Nepali heritage. Most of the students are learning Nepali instruments such as the harmonium, tablas, and the bamboo flute, but some are also learning keyboard.
Muskan is a seasoned music educator with over 20 years of experience. He believes in the healing power of music and strives to promote mental well-being through music while nurturing talent and inspiring creativity in our community.
Bobbi Carmitchell
Bobbi Carmitchell has been a force on the Central Pennsylvania singer songwriter scene for over 40 years and has toured all over the country. She often uses her music and singing to support causes that she believes in, such as farmland preservation, domestic violence awareness, breast cancer research, AIDS education, and arts in the schools, among others. One of her passions is to organize community-gathering events such as the Central PA Women’s Music Festival, International Women’s Day concerts, and annual art shows that feature the creativity of local women.
But creativity comes in many forms, and Bobbi is a shining example of that. You may be surprised to know that she does not limit herself to writing, performing and producing music. She also creates with stained glass, bringing together color, light and design in unique ways. She built her own stained-glass studio where she designs new works and repairs treasured old stained-glass windows on commission.
With a personal commitment to nurturing creativity in others, she has been teaching aspiring artists how to create stained-glass items for many years. During this webinar, Bobbi will share insights into planning for and teaching a craft intended to inspire creativity in one-day workshop settings.
- Bobbi’s website: music
- Leaning Pine Studios: stained glass
Rachita Nambiar
Rachita is the Founder and Artistic Director for the Rasika School of Dance, which educates and promotes the ancient dance form of Bharatanatyam. Rachita was trained in India in the “pandanallur” style of Bharatanatyam and brings over 35 years of expertise to the field. Her goal with the dance company has been to introduce Bharatanatyam in a unique and creative fashion, while maintaining the fundamental basics that preserve its traditions. Most students study with Rachita for several years, working toward and culminating in a three-hour dance recital that announces the student’s readiness as a proficient dancer and teacher.
Rachita successfully collaborated with the Gamut Theatre in Harrisburg to bring Bharatanatyam to a theatre setting for the first time in Central PA. She is part of “Center Stage”, a program at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center that incorporates dance and art as therapeutic mechanisms in patient recovery.
Rachita’s unique approach of introducing Bharatanatyam in a story telling format has received much appreciation in the educational field. Her work has been showcased at the Susquehanna Art Museum (VAN GO), Hershey Public Library, the Camp Hill School District, and Perry County Council on the Arts, to name a few. She has also been acknowledged on the national level through the Academy of Creative Aging.
- Rachita in our Folk Artists Gallery
- Spotlight: Panchatantra Tales at Gamut Theatre, 2022
- Rasika School of Dance
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