Department: ChiArts Arts Conservatory Faculty

Avery Ferin

Avery Ferin is a creative writing teacher and fiction writer from Grand Rapids, Michigan. She attended Depaul University where she graduated with her BA in English and MFA in Writing & Publishing and served as the Editor in Chief of its art & literature magazine Crook & Folly from 2018-2021. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Kitchen Table Quarterly, Motley Magazine, and The Grand Rapids Press. She is the recipient of the 2022 Story Studio Master’s Award and the 2024 AWP Scholarship. Her short story “Summer on Lloyd’s Bayou” was nominated for a 2023 Pushcart prize.

Greer Hutchison

Born and raised in Chicago, Greer Hutchison studied the majority of her pre-highschool years at Dance and Music Academy under the mentorship and teachings of Krissie Odegard-Geye. In 2011, Greer attended the Chicago High School for the Performing Arts, where she trained and performed works by former director Sarah Ford Thompson, Lizzie MacKenzie, Reginald Harris, and Brian McGinnis; along with guests from Gus Giordano and Hubbard Street. Greer studied summers at Peridance Capezio Center and the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago intensive, with a full tuition scholarship provided by the Anthony Quinn Foundation. Greer graduated with her BFA from UNC School of the Arts in 2019 where she had also served as Student Body President during her senior year. There she had worked with faculty members such as Brenda Daniels, Sean Sullivan, Abigail Yager, Ming Lung-Yang, and Kira Blazek-Ziaii. There she also studied the repertoire of Natalie Desche, Charles Zarney, Martha Graham, Kelly Maxner and Aszure Barton. Greer has had the honor of performing professionally with UNCSA at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in NYC as well as with Mandala South Asian Performing Arts in Chicago. Post University, she has worked as a teacher and choreographer for Greensboro Performing Arts as well as UNCSA’s Acting Out program in North Carolina. This season, Greer is excited to join her second season with Trifecta Dance Collective as a Principal Dancer and choreographer as well as return to perform and choreograph with Mandala South Asian Arts. Greer is also honored to be teaching at Dance and Music Academy and The Chicago High School for the Arts.

Frank Vega

Frank Vega (b. 1992, Ecuador) is a transdisciplinary artist working with sculpture, painting, and hybrid objects produced from repurposed materials. His practice centers on an archaeological approach to objects that shape our culture and collective knowledge. Different materials, surfaces, and shapes help Vega build objects with unique attributions that coexist creating empowering narratives.

Vega lives and works between Chicago and Ecuador. He received his Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago), MDW Fair at Mana Contemporary, (Chicago), El Lobi, (Puerto Rico), The Green Gallery (Milwaukee), Koik Contemporary, (Mexico City), and the Krannert Art Museum, (Champaign). Awarded with a Frankenthaler Scholarship from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Florence M. House Scholarship and the Helen E. Platt Blake Scholarship from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and a Leroy Neiman Fellowship from Ox-Bow School of Art.

Rebecca Baruc

Originally from New York, Rebecca Eve Baruc has called Chicago home since 2015. Rebecca is an arts producer, curator, educator and visual artist based in Chicago with 8+ years experience in delivering impactful and transformative programming to diverse audiences. She received her BFA in American Studies and minored in Studio Art from Skidmore College, where she also produced the National College Comedy Festival. Other art schools of study include the Art Students League of New York, The Glasgow School of Art, and The Chicago Mosaic School. Her other professional experiences span project managing, producing and curating with David Wallace Haskins Studio,The Den Theatre, Uncommon Ground, Haymarket Books, Bruce Mau’s Massive Change Network, and CPS Department of Arts Education. Rebecca is passionate about settings that cultivate cultures of liberation, take creative risks, and archive contemporary American culture; she feels the high school classroom is a perfect place to bring these together with the students. Baruc never read Harry Potter, a fact to which her students said “ok so you’re not a weird Millennial.” Baruc is actually your typical millennial: has lots of plants, a cat, and remembers Blockbuster fondly. www.beccabaruc.com

Lauren Wells-Mann

Lauren Wells-Mann is an actor, director, dancer, choreographer and arts educator. As a proud company member with MPAACT, she has had the pleasure of directing the following productions: Pulled Punches (BTAA and Black Excellence Award Nominee for Best Direction) Mother of the Dark Water (Jeff Nominee for Best Ensemble, Black Excellence Nominee for Best Production and Best Direction), By Association by Shepsu Aakhu (Black Excellence Nominee for Best Production) and various podcast plays. Assistant Director credits include: Upstate by Aaron Todd Douglass, directed by Carla Stillwell and Crowns by Regina Taylor, directed by Chuck Smith. Mrs. Wells-Mann holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Theater/Acting (Columbia College Chicago) and a Masters in Secondary Education (Univ. of Phoenix). She began her professional acting career with Eta Creative Arts foundation. It was here that Lauren had the pleasure of working with esteemed directors such as Ilesa Duncan, Kemati Porter, Runako Jahi and Cheryl Lynn Bruce. She has also performed with companies such as Lookingglass, Black Ensemble, MPAACT, Harlem Theater Company, Healthworks Theater Company, and Victory Gardens to name a few. Mrs. Wells-Mann has been coaching competitive acting and speech events for the Illinois High School Association for 20 years. Under her direction, students have won numerous state and national championships in various acting and public speaking activities. Lauren Wells-Mann believes in the power of the arts and the importance of BIPOC artists having autonomy over their own narratives. It is a mission to which she is deeply committed.