Faculty

Centrum Faculty

This skilled creative collective could wrap their arms around the globe. Much respect, big hugs.

Photo of Benjamin Hunter

Benjamin Hunter

Mandolin

Benjamin Hunter is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, community activist, social entrepreneur, and educator. Benjamin’s work explores the intersections of music & art, community, policy, and culture.

Photo of Judy Hyman

Judy Hyman

New York State
with Jeff Claus, guitar and banjo uke

From Ithaca, NY, land of lakes, gorges, waterfalls and colleges, Judy is a co-founding member of the alt-trad band, The Horse Flies, who toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe (including appearances on eTown, Prairie Home Companion, All Things Considered, World Café, and Mountain Stage), and recorded many albums, including releases on MCA and Rounder Records.…

Photo of Jourdan Imani Keith

Jourdan Imani Keith

Past Faculty

Jourdan Imani Keith is Seattle’s 2019- 2022 Civic Poet.  Featured in Forbes and on NPR, her Orion Magazine essays, Desegregating Wilderness and At Risk appear in the Best American Science and Nature Writing Anthology, as well as text books.

Photo of Tyler Jackson

Tyler Jackson

Tenor Banjo

Tyler Jackson is a world renown tenor banjoist and upright bassist. Under the tutelage of Buddy Griffin, Tyler quickly learned the ukulele, tenor banjo, and electric bass. Tyler went on to study the double bass at the University of North Texas under Lynn Seaton and began to fine-tune his skills as a professional bassist.

Photo of Hubby Jenkins

Hubby Jenkins

Banjo

Hubby Jenkins is a talented multi-instrumentalist who endeavors to share his love and knowledge of old-time American music.

Photo of Toni Jensen

Toni Jensen

Morning Workshop Faculty

Toni Jensen is the author of Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, a Dayton Peace Prize finalist and a New York Times Editors’ Choice book. Jensen’s essays have appeared in journals and magazines such as Orion, Catapult and Ecotone. She also is the author of the story collection From the Hilltop.…

Photo of Alejandro Jimenez

Alejandro Jimenez

Faculty

ALEJANDRO JIMENEZ is a nationally and internationally recognized poet from Colima, Mexico. He was featured in TIME Magazine as one of 80 Mexican artists shaping contemporary Mexican culture. His work, and story, are the subject of a short documentary for the PBS series, American Masters: In The Making, which highlights emerging cultural icons.…

Photo of Lakota John

Lakota John

Slide Guitar

Lakota John is a musician, producer and songwriter from Southeastern, North Carolina. Influenced by his dads music collection, he picked up the guitar at 7 years old and learned to play left-handed as well as slide guitar in standard tuning. Lakota John blends styles of Folk, Blues, Rock & Jazz with various instruments while mixing in part of his Indigenous heritage with sounds of the Native American flute.…

Photo of Reverend Robert Jones

Reverend Robert Jones

Guitar

Rev. Robert Jones, Sr. is a native Detroiter and an inspirational storyteller and musician celebrating the history, humor and power of American Roots music. His deep love for traditional African American and American traditional music is shared in live performances that interweave timeless stories with original and traditional songs.

Photo of Bettina Judd

Bettina Judd

Morning Workshop Faculty

Bettina Judd is an interdisciplinary writer, artist and performer whose research focus is on Black women’s creative production and use of visual art, literature, and music to develop feminist thought. Her book Feelin: Creative Practice, Pleasure, and Black Feminist Thought (Northwestern University Press, December 2022) argues that Black women’s creative production is feminist knowledge production produced by registers of affect she calls “feelin.” She is currently Associate Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington.…