Education & Community Engagement > Overview
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Who We Serve
STG’s Education and Community Engagement Department served close to 40,000 Pacific Northwest residents in the 2022-23 Season. In the 2022-23 season, our vision was expressed through 541 individual engagements including 461 free events.
We are creating programs and spaces where we can ensure people are feeling welcomed and represented. Our targeted goal is focusing on historically excluded communities. We do this to ensure we are thinking about communities that traditionally would not attend or participate in our events. This is important to us as we are a world where the global majority population has a platform for creative expression.
Education Programs
STG’s Education Programs provide trainings and classes focused on personal and professional development for participants in schools, community centers, and STG theatres. The goal of these sessions and events is to empower, enrich, and celebrate participants’ quality of life using the arts.
Our vision for Education Programs:
- Connect the community with meaningful arts learning opportunities
- Ignite the possibilities of what participants role in the arts can be
- Empower participants to be and develop their best selves
- Support artistic and personal growth and goals
- Celebrate everyone’s artistry and brilliance
Community Engagement
STG’s Community Engagement creates work and programs in partnership with artists, community members, and organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest. The goal of Community Engagements is to showcase artists and their work, collaborate with creatives, cultural groups, and non-profit organizations, and share professional opportunities that positively impact people in our region.
Our vision for Community Engagement:
- Create opportunities for people of different cultural backgrounds and artistic mediums to collaborate on projects and performances
- Elevate the voices of Black, Indigenous, and people of color and historically underrepresented communities
- Provide Professional Development opportunities to artists
- Deepen the experience and perspectives on arts performances
Meet our Team
Our Education & Community Engagement team is excited to connect with you!
Get to know more about us
Leah Townsend, Community Engagement Manager
Born and raised in Milwaukee, WI Leah Townsend has always been an advocate for the arts. Growing up and attending concerts, plays and dance performances with her mom ignited her lifelong commitment to serving the greater community by providing access to the arts. Leah herself is classically trained in the violin and has played for over nine years. Prior to joining STG, Leah's experience with audience engagement and participation expanded with her work with the Walt Disney Company working at Disneyland as a Guest Relations Representative. Intentionally engaging with different communities from diverse cultural backgrounds and providing space for others to fully immerse themselves within an environment where they can show up as their true selves is a major passion of hers. Leah is coming to us from the Marcus Performing Arts Center where she served as the Community Education and Engagement Specialist working with a variety of community organizations, schools and local community leaders and artists. She received her undergraduate degree from Central Michigan University where she majored in Public Relations and Media Design with a certificate in African and African Diaspora along with a MA in Global Community Engagement from the University of Denver.
Connect with Leah Townsend: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Deshawn Morton, Dance Manager
Deshawn began dancing at Tacoma School of The Arts, performed with the Tacoma City Ballet Company, and studied in NYC with the Dance Theater of Harlem. Deshawn received a BFA in Dance from the University of Arizona.
Deshawn has worked with Kabby Mitchell, Donald Byrd, Tammy Dyke-Compton, Robert Garland, Rodni Williams, Amy Earnst, and more. Deshawn performed at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and danced with the Capital Movement dance company in D.C. Deshawn is currently a dancer with Khambatta Dance Company in Seattle.
Deshawn is also dedicated to teaching and mentoring youth through the art and discipline of dance. In the D.C area, as a dance educator with the Prince George's County Public School, Ballet Program Director at Starmakers Academy, Dance Camp Director with the Dance Institute of Washington and as the School Director of Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, a non-profit dance school dedicated to providing quality Classical Ballet training for Urban Youth.
Connect with Deshawn at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mary Kibala, Education Coordinator
Mary Kibala (she/her) is a graduate of the University of Washington Bothell where she obtained her bachelor's degree in Community Psychology and Society, Ethics, and Human Behavior. Having grown up in Seattle, Mary is very active in the local dance community. She grew up primarily dancing at Westlake Dance Center and has participated in performance groups like Westlake Affiliates and ZTheory Company. A background in dance and an interest in the role of the arts in our society influenced Mary’s path through higher education and her career goals. During her time at UW, Mary had the opportunity to participate in an Applied Community-Based Theatre Project with The Seattle Children’s Hospital Alyssa Burnett Adult Life Center. In this project, Mary Collaborated with staff and families to develop and deliver theatre education during the Covid-19 Pandemic. In March of 2023, Mary was hired as an Education Coordinator with Seattle Theatre Group and she is excited for the journey ahead.
Rachel McKinney, Community Engagement Coordinator and AileyCamp Administrator
Rachel McKinney (she/her) is a Seattle native and a graduate of Green River College, with an associate degree in Fine Arts. At Green River College she studied photography, which led to her interest in videography and editing. In 2021 Rachel collaborated with Seattle Theatre Group (STG), in the inaugural ELEVATE program as a videographer and editor. Her STG credits include, STG’s AileyCamp, Disney Musicals in Schools (DMIS) and Broadway Inclusion Program (BIP). Rachel has been dancing for twenty years and has taught tap for Northwest Tap Connection and Spectrum Dance Theater in Seattle, Washington. She has performed at Floripa Tap Festival in Brazil, Cross Cultural Exchange trip in Barbados, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and STG’s DANCE This and Global Dance Party for over 10 years. She has also been a member of Youth Tap Ensemble and Color Lines Dance Ensemble along with performing in the Groovement. She proudly joins the STG team to continue sharing her passion for the arts and administrative skills.
Andrea Freed, DANCE This and Dance for PD Administrator
Andrea Freed, born and raised in the greater Seattle area in Washington state, started dancing ballet at the age of four and fell in love with it. In 2017, Andrea earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree, magna cum laude from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she studied primarily ballet and modern dance. While at Cornish, Andrea performed in works by Kyle Abraham, Iyun Harrison, Pat Hon, Veronica Lee-Baik, and Gerard Theoret. Andrea has been teaching ballet since 2012 and has taught at the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet, Woodinville Dance Academy, and Gotta Dance. She also has a passion for dance administration and started working with Seattle Theatre Group (STG) in 2017. She now works with STG on their DANCE This program and more recently their Dance for Parkinson’s program. She believes that dance is for everyone and enjoys sharing that message in these programs and in the classes she teaches.
Meet our Artists
Our Education & Community Engagement team is fortunate to work with an incredible team of artists in our programs! You can read more about them here.