Faculty

Centrum Faculty

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

Photo of Erick “Spider” Paul

Erick “Spider” Paul

Faculty

With a goal of encouraging and motivating others, Erick “Spider” Paul brings a wide array of knowledge in the arts. He’s worked in the Los Angeles dance Industry for over 12 years and loves bringing his professional and versatile knowledge to each student he encounters.He and his wife Abby’s company Æ Creative produces stage shows, music videos, and routines for both the national and international stages.…

Photo of Jerron Paxton

Jerron Paxton

Guitar

Jerron Paxton is a skilled interpreter of Black traditional music, having spent his life learning the multifaceted musical dialects of blues, old-time, ragtime, and Cajun music and playfully dressing them up in their brightest hues. He is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, banjo, piano, fiddle and other instruments with deep histories and ties to Black American music — each with a master’s touch.…

Photo of Dawn Pemberton

Dawn Pemberton

Dawn Pemberton has deep musical roots that take her powerful voice from gospel and soul to jazz, funk and world music. She has become a staple of the Vancouver music scene and can often be found tearin’ it up as a vocalist, teacher, facilitator, choir director and “go to girl” for live performances and studio sessions.…

Photo of Nick Pence

Nick Pence

Guitar

Nick Pence is a well-known guitar player from St. Louis. Nick plays with The Bottlesnakes, The Dust Covers or The New Missouri Fox Hunters. These two have worked together in the past, including forming a gospel group The Houndsteeth.

Photo of Nicole Persun

Nicole Persun

Afternoon Workshop Faculty

Nicole J. Persun is an award-winning and internationally bestselling novelist with a master’s degree in creative writing and instruction. She writes in many genres, most notably contemporary fiction under the pen name Jennifer Gold. Nicole has taught writers as a keynote speaker, in large-scale class settings, intimate workshops, and one-on-one coaching for over twelve years. For more information, visit nicolejpersun.com or jennifergoldauthor.com.

Photo of Phil and Russ Tanner

Phil and Russ Tanner

Gid Tanner was a farmer in Dacula, Georgia, and played the fiddle on the side. By 1926, he and other musicians such as Clayton McMichen on fiddle and Riley Puckett on guitar, created a group called Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers

Photo of Dawn Pichon Barron

Dawn Pichon Barron

Afternoon Workshop Faculty

Dawn Pichón Barron is currently the academic director/faculty of the undergraduate interdisciplinary Native Pathways Program at the Evergreen State College. She writes across borders and genres, while dreaming of ripe lemon sunrays at the southern tip of the Salish Sea–on the lands of the Medicine Creek treaty tribes and bands—with her wingman and Chihuahuas. Her chapbook, ESCAPE GIRL BLUES, was published by Finishing Line Press, 2018.…

Photo of Dawn Pichón Barron

Dawn Pichón Barron

Afternoon Workshop Faculty

Dawn Pichón Barron (she/her) is a mixt-blood Indigi-Euro writer & scholar born in Southern California and primarily raised in rural Spokane. She is the academic director of the Native Pathways Program and member of the Faculty at The Evergreen State College. Dawn is thrilled to participate in state-wide artist promotion and sustainment as an Artist Trust Board Member.…

Photo of Karin Plato

Karin Plato

Canadian vocalist and composer Karin Plato came to jazz almost by accident. The music she heard in her formative years was the rock and pop music of the day and the classical music she studied from a young age. She didn’t get the “jazz bug” until she was in her early 30’s and that’s when her music career really began when she made the move from central Canada to the West Coast.

Photo of Jessica Plumb

Jessica Plumb

Jessica Plumb is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and interdisciplinary artist who crafts nonfiction stories infused with wonder and a strong sense of place; she is best known in Jefferson County for the feature documentary Return of the River, the story of the Elwha River dam removal.