Currently the Chair of the Music Department at the Patel Conservatory in Tampa, Aric Brian has been a freelance trumpet player and educator in the Tampa Bay area for close to 20 years, having performed extensively with the Florida Orchestra, Opera Tampa, and with Broadway shows and other national tours. Aric has taught at the University of South Florida, the University of Tampa, St. Petersburg College, Southeastern University, and Florida College, in addition to maintaining a large private trumpet studio. He has also worked in the field of arts management, having been the Personnel Manager of the Florida Orchestra, as well as the Orchestra Manager of the Aspen Festival Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival (Colorado).

David Cox is a Tampa native who currently serves as the Executive Director for the Gasparilla Music Foundation. Prior to his current position, he worked in real estate development for over 15 years focusing on urban high rise and mixed use projects throughout Florida and the Southeast.  His passion for urban renewal and building a stronger community through the arts began in his high school years when he served as a volunteer for the Gasparilla Sidewalk Art Festival and the Tampa Museum of Art in downtown Tampa. He previously served on the Board of Directors of the Gasparilla International Film Festival for four years and as a founder and president of the Gasparilla Music Festival. He currently serves as an Advisory Council member for the University of Tampa's College of Arts and Letters. David graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in Managing Information Systems.

Tad Denham works for the Gasparilla Music Foundation who facilitates the Recycled Tunes program. This program collects musical instruments from the community and passes them along to schools in Hillsborough County. He actively engages in music activities in the community and with educators across the state and region.

Myron Jackson

Myron Jackson is a founder of KUUMBA, an organization that has presented traditional dance, music and songs of Africa for over 3 decades. His extensive studies in music and choreography from master artists include Babatunde Olatunji, Cornelius Kweku Ganyo, Mabiba Baegne, Neri Torres, Malik Faye, Souleymane Diop, Kadijah Wilson, Malang Bayo, Djimo Kouyate, Mouminatou Camara and Reginald Yates. Myron is a recipient of the Florida Assoc. of Multicultural Education Trailblazer Award, Arts Recognition Award Arts Council of Hillsborough County, Tampa/Hillsborough Youth Council and Weekly Planet's Best of the Bay/Best Dance Company.

Martin Norgaard

Martin Norgaard is Associate Professor of Music Education at Georgia State University in Atlanta where he is collaborating with faculty in neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, occupational therapy, and physics to investigate the cognitive processes underlying improvisation and related therapeutic applications. He received the Dean’s Early Career Award in recognition of “outstanding work” as a faculty member of Georgia State University and is associate faculty of the Neuroscience Institute. His research showed that middle school children who receive training in musical improvisation score higher on measures of executive function compared to students who receive traditional music training. His research appears in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Brain Connectivity, The International Journal of Music Education, Music Educators Journal, The String Research Journal and the interdisciplinary journal Music Perception

Rachel Seidler

Rachael Seidler is a Professor in the Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on the neural control of movement in health and disease, with a specific focus on motor learning. She uses a range of neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques coupled with precise measures of movement and cognitive function to determine the neurocognitive underpinnings of motor control. Dr. Seidler has expertise working with a variety of populations including healthy young and older adults, patients with Parkinson’s disease, and NASA astronauts in both basic science and intervention experiments. Her work has been supported by the NIH, the NSF, NASA, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), and a variety of private foundations. Active work in her lab includes investigation of human brain plasticity with spaceflight and experiments investigating which cognitive processes support skill acquisition and how they map onto underlying neural pathways