Arts Every Day

Ephraim Nehemiah’s poetry uses rhythmic call and response, evocative narratives and accessible subject matter to create a transformative experience for listeners across the nation. The work embraces vulnerability to share personal experiences that create necessary dialogue around race, class and gender. Ephraim is currently a teaching artist for Dewmore Baltimore. A finalist performer in several regional and national competitions such as 2018 Individual World Poetry Slam and 2019 Rustbelt Poetry Slam and in 2021 took the National Slam title with Baltimore's poetry team Slammageddon. Ephraim has also performed in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, The Cleveland Foundation, TEDx Talks, Button Poetry, The Saul William's World tour and others.

Ryan Fan has been teaching special education English in Baltimore City Public Schools the past three years. He spent a year teaching at NACA II Freedom and Democracy Academy before it closed, and then two years at the REACH! Partnership School. He will be continuing in education as an IEP Team Associate to pursue a further career in special education law. Ryan has an M.S. Ed from Johns Hopkins University, as well as a B.S./B.A. in Neuroscience and English and Creative Writing from Emory University. In his free time, he enjoys running marathons and writing. He runs a blog on the side on Medium and has been published in publications like Business Insider, Psychology Today, and EdSurge, as well as prestigious house Medium publications. He is looking forward to bringing his expertise in special education, neuroscience, and writing to help integrate the arts into ELA curricula.