Cathy Kielar
Cathy's twenty+ years experience in working with children in the art of puppetry and story telling makes a perfect fit with her training as a drum circle facilitator. Through her Explore!Rhythm program she teaches developmental drumming to young children, facilitates all ages community and family drumming circles and hosts musical birthday parties for ages 3 and up. As a rhythm education facilitator, she creates a fun experience that builds rhythm, listening, and leadership skills. Since 2004, she is a trained rhythm facilitator with Arthur Hull's Village Village Music Circles. Cathy's ventriloquist puppets add spice to any presentation for young children.

Cathy is also a found sound percussion artist displaying her art installation,
Sounds From Around Town: Unleashing the Sounds of Everyday Objects at the Scrap Exchange Art Gallery on August 15 - September 14, 2008.

Shannon Morrow
Shannon is a proud winner of 2008 Indies Arts Award! - Yeah, Shannon! She has been drumming for 16 years. Her goal is to use artistic process to facilitate empowerment and creativity for everyone she comes into contact with!  She has studied improvisation and drumset technique with jazz heavyweights such as Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, and Tim Mulvenna.  She is currently studying Deep Listening with composer Pauline Oliveros, and is working towards obtaining her certification in SoundPainting -  a musical sign language designed to facilitate creative music experiences for musicians and non-musicians alike!  In addition, Shannon is part of The Scrap Exchange’s team, and loves her work educating kids about the environment, re-use, and art-making.  Shannon currently directs Durham’s independent community marching band Scene of The Crime Rovers, and plays with several rock and improvisational ensembles in the Triangle area.

Shannon Morrow, received the 2008 Indies Arts Award for her many contributions to improv music. Go Shannon! Comments like this surface:  “But of all her activities, Morrow describes her role as ‘rhythm facilitator’ at Durham's Music Explorium as the love of her life, and her aim in that role—to maintain a space where people feel free to discover their innate rhythm, breaking down the artist/ spectator divide and restoring to music its ancient, communal function—seems like the purest distillation of what she does.” – Independent Weekly article on Shannon Morrow for her Indies Arts Award, July, 2008.

Jim Roberts
Jim Roberts has been a Cross-Cultural Percussionist for 15+ years.  His diverse background has lead him to a lifetime of ethnic and multi-cultural musical explorations.  Major stylistic influences Include West Africa, Cuba, Brazil, Americana, and Pop Cultures. His passion has been to cross different combinations of ethnic percussion with different genres of music. Presently, after a 11 year stint in Nashville, TN as a producer and studio percussion, Jim has returned to Chapel Hill, NC.  He continues teach and perform nationally.  In the past year, Jim has toured with Footloose and Laura Light in Michigan, Florida, Tennessee, Charleston,  W.Va, and North Carolina.  He performs with Tambor Vivo and studies bata regularly.  Jim was on the faculty of the American Dance Festival in 2006 and will be on the music faculty at Elon University starting in fall of 2007.

Farrunnissa Lila Rosa
Farrunnissa is a long-time student of Layne Redmond, the world-renowned drummer, recording artist, and drum historian. Farrunnissa has been a frame drummer for 14 years and has been teaching drumming for five years. She is the founder of Sancta, a nine-member frame drum ensemble that performs original rhythmic compositions in the Triangle.

Sue-Anne Solem
Sue-Anne has been teaching and performing for over 45 years. Over the years she was a dance and yoga teacher, and has performed as singer, dancer and actor in many musicals, choral concerts, dance concerts and plays. She has also choreographed dances for several productions. She taught pre-school and elementary school for 14 years and for the past 15 years has been a gifted education specialist for both Durham and Chapel Hill Public Schools. Currently she is creating and performing music with a four-part women's group, Jewelsong, which she founded, and with women's drumming group, Sancta. Recently retired from teaching in January, but her interest in and love for children has not abated! She created an afterschool enrichment program for gifted students which began this fall, and tutors gifted students. She is actively involved in her community, especially in environmental issues, and does volunteer work for a variety of organizations such as Code Green and the Haw River Festival. She is very excited about sharing her skills and talents and being a part of the Music Explorium family!