About: Staff Directory
Christie Walser
Executive Director
Christie Walser joined Project Create as Executive Director in January, 2011, bringing with her nearly two decades of nonprofit administration experience, a strong arts management background, a passionate commitment to child advocacy, and a long-time avocation as a community-theater actor/director/producer. Ms. Walser holds a Master of Public Administration degree, along with a Certificate in Nonprofit Management.
Jessica Girard
Intern & Teaching Assistant
Jessica Girard is an important addition to the Project Create staff. For over a year, Jess has been assistant teaching with Project Create, as well as contributing her knowledge and experience regarding therapeutic elements of arts education to Project Create’s curriculum development. She is currently attending The George Washington University for a Masters in Art Therapy. Last summer, Jess traveled to South Africa to provide art therapy to children in need. She intends to continue working in community arts education post-graduation.
Jenna Brown
Intern & Teaching Assistant
Jenna Brown, a third year teaching and office assistant with Project Create, currently assists with the photography and sculpture classes. Brown attended high school in Northern Vermont where she worked with refugees from Burma, Bhutan and Sudan as a mentor and family helper. Brown has studied African dance and drumming at the Dagbe Cultural Arts Center in Kopeyia, Ghana. In 2009, she traveled to Ecuador to work with orphans struggling with physical disabilities throughout the country. With a strong passion for helping others, Brown attends the George Washington University as a Bachelors of Arts in Human Services candidate for 2013. After George Washington, Jenna plans to go to graduate school in the Washington, D.C. area to obtain her Master’s in Social Work.
Chris Bantum
Teaching Artist
Christopher Bantum has been with Project Create since Fall 2010. Bantum is the owner and operator of Blue Robin Designs (BRD). An accomplished graphic designer, Christopher helps organizations and individuals attract and engage with those they want to reach—customers, clients, supporters, fans, stakeholders, or constituents—through custom visual messaging. Bantum has a fine arts background which he puts to use in all of his designs.
Larry Cook
Teaching Artist
Larry Cook is a new teaching artist with Project Create, having joined in Fall 2011. Cook was born and raised in Princes Georges County, right outside of Washington, D.C. Cook received a B.A. degree from Plattsburgh State University of New York in 2010 with a concentration in photography, mainly portraiture. In 2009, he received the Barbara J. Parnass Scholarship in photography, and currently has work featured in the UMUC Biennial Exhibition and Brentwood Arts Exchange PG County Exhibition. Cook is currently a 2nd Year MFA student at George Washington University.
Heidi Cooper
Teaching Artist
Heidi Cooper, who runs Everywhere Arts, is thrilled to be teaching for Project Create, a program that combines her interests in arts education and working with low-income and at-risk youth. She holds a Masters in Puppetry Arts and a Doctorate in Theatre and Drama and loves putting her education and experience to use for the students of Project Create.
Chanan Delivuk
Teaching Artist
Chanan Delivuk began teaching with Project Create in 2008. She is a conversation artist from Baltimore, Maryland, is trained as a fine artist, and works with both installation and new media in her art practice. Delivuk currently lives and works in Washington, D.C., after having received her Master of Fine Arts in New Media from George Washington University. Currently, in addition to teaching, Delivuk serves as the Assistant to the Director for Civilian Art Projects.
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Kenny George
Teaching Artist
Kenny George is a veteran teaching artist with Project Create. In his work, George explores notions of adolescent behavior, performing stunts for recreation, and asserting masculinity through the overcoming of ridiculous obstacles, often through photography, lenticular flip animation, interactive video, and video games. Born and raised in Ohio, George received his BFA from The University of Akron and his MFA from The George Washington University. George currently teaches photography and graphic design.
Hyla Matthews Heyniger
Teaching Artist
Hyla Matthews Heyniger joined Project Create in Fall 2011. Heyniger is an actress, comedian and teacher, and has over 15 years of experience working with and teaching children ages 3-18. Heyniger has taught at Imagination Stage and Adventure Theater, where her classes included stand-up comedy, improvisation, creative drama and sketch comedy. She has been a professional actress for 20 years. From 1999 to 2009 in Los Angeles, Heyniger performed stand-up comedy and improv, and acted in independent feature films, TV shows and commercials. She also taught stand-up and improv to at-risk youth ages 9-18 with Comedy Playground and Laugh Links. She currently lives and works in Washington, D.C.
Donna Kearney
Teaching Artist
Donna Kearney has been involved with Project Create for several years. Kearney has been a member of Coyaba Dance Theater for 13 years. As a member of the adult African company Coyaba Dance Theatre, she performed at numerous venues including the Kennedy Center, Dance Africa DC, Dance Africa Chicago, Seoul South Korea, and Austin, Texas. Kearney began stepping in middle school, where she danced with the Bertie Backus Steppin Up Company. Inspired by Step Afrika’s unique style of fusiing step with other dance forms, Kearney became a founding member of the Dance Place Step Team. After serving as Team Captain and choreographer for many years, in 2008 she was appointed Artistic Director. Kearney currently is on faculty at Dance Place and Coyaba Academy for the Arts as well as other public and charter schools throughout the D.C. Metropolitan area.
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Henriette (“Henny”) Mendo
Teaching Artist
Henriette “Henny” Mendo has been working with Project Create for several years. Born in London, England, Mendo’s family is originally from the beautiful West African land of Sangmelima, Cameroon. Her parents traveled a lot when she was young finally settling in the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C. As a young child she was very artistic and loved to do drawings with her father. Henny was reintroduced to the world of art during her college years, as her love and deep interest in the genre drove her to major in Fine Arts. In addition to the visual arts, she also loves music and dance. Her works of art reflect the culture of hip-hop music, dance, and the deep roots of her African heritage. Her portraits of hip-hop artists are visually captivating as she exaggerates the nature of their character. Her medium is acrylic and oils. She has done several show throughout the D.C. area including the H Street Festival where she has sold her works.
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Alva Nelms
Teaching Artist
Alva Nelms is a new teaching artist, joining the Project Create staff in Fall 2011. Nelms is a resident of Northern Virginia and works deftly in multiple media and artistic genres. She began her art career with skin. She made leather and suede bags and clothing, and hand dyed sheepskin outer garments. She expanded that tailoring knowledge to creating costumes designed for stage performers and theatre. Her more recent creations are metal sculptures shaped in steel, bronze cast, copper and aluminum. Other favorite works on display at hers and local galleries are assorted oil and acrylic paintings, and pencil sketches. Nelms is currently working on illustrations for a children’s chapter book.
Sylvia Soumah
Teaching Artist
Sylvia Soumah has been working with Project Create for several years. Soumah’s formal training began in Cincinnati, Ohio where she majored in Modern Dance and Vocal music with various modern, jazz and vocal instructors at the school for Creative and Performing Arts. Soumah started dancing African for what she calls a crazy-but-true reason: her son. In 1990, a few years after his birth, she returned to her modern dance classes, but she had to bring her son with her. The baby’s restless noises interrupted the quiet focus that modern dance required. After class, the drummer approached her and said she should switch to the African class and bring her son because there, the drumming is so loud that if he made noise, no one would hear him. His acceptance into the African dance class embodies what Soumah loves most about African dance: the sense of community. Currently Soumah teaches at Coyaba Academy, Community of Hope, Dance Place, InnerCity/InnerChild and The Washington Ballet at THEARC.
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Jessica Vasas
Teaching Artist
Jessica Vasas has been a teaching artist with Project Create since 2010. In 2007, Vasas moved to DC upon graduating from Wheaton College with a degree in Sociology and minors in both French Studies and Studio Art. Vasas derives great pleasure from working with students to help them develop creative expression skills. For her own projects, Vasas creates mixed-media collages and handmade greeting cards fashioned from recycled materials. Currently working for a private foundation, the majority of her work is focused on the arts.