Janusz Korczak (Henryk Goldszmit 1879-1942) was a pediatrician, educator, and writer who dedicated his life to orphaned children in Poland. Dr. Korczak is credited in Europe with the introduction of progressive orphanages designed as democratic republics; he founded the first national children’s newspaper, trained teachers in what we now call moral education, and worked in juvenile courts defending children’s rights.  His books, How to Love a Child and The Child’s Right for Respect gave parents and teachers new insights into child psychology. His classics, King Matt the First and Kaytek the Wizard, enchanted children around the world. He stepped into legend when he refused offers to save his life. Together with 198 Jewish orphans under his care, Stephania Wilczynska, his assistant of 30 years, and 9 staff people, they entered cattle cars in the Warsaw Ghetto on August 5th, 1942, and left for the Treblinka death camp never to be heard from again. The Israelis revere Janusz Korczak as one of the Thirty-six Just Men whose pure souls, according to the ancient Jewish tradition, make the world’s salvation possible.

Emmy Award-winner Brian Hull is renowned for bringing compelling original ideas with arresting visual style to fruition.  With over 40 years’ experience in entertainment, Brian Hull is known for implementing high standards of quality and creativity into literally hundreds of successful productions. Brian also has international experience and has visited and been inspired by the puppet markets of Europe. 

In 1991 he created and performed "The Professor", which became a children's section for Opryland USA. In 2005 he became the writer/director for the Little Engine Playhouse at Dollywood Theme Park, adapting children's books to stage from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

Brian has been the head of Wishing Chair Productions Puppet Theater at the Nashville Public Library for 23 years where he is also the Artistic Director of their International Puppet Festivals - and was a former board member and President of PUPPETEERS OF AMERICA.

www.brianimations.com

Mary Tanner’s 38 year acting and puppeteering career includes 100+ professional roles on the stage and in film and television with companies in New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Nashville. For the first 10 years of her career she landed regular roles in two national series for PBS and CBS as well as numerous roles across the‘80s film and television landscape.  In the early 1990’s she returned to her native Nashville to be close to family and to create art in a more meaningful way. Participating in a great deal of theater as well as writing and producing various productions she eventually made her way to Wishing Chair Productions in 2004 to begin a new chapter of creativity with puppets! She was awarded the Individual Artist Fellowship Grant for acting from the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2005 and has continued to participate in Nashville theater, film and voice over work while maintaining full time puppeteering with Wishing Chair Productions and BriAnimations. 

Sarah Hart is a Grammy nominated singer-songwriter. She has written songs for such artists as Celtic Women, Amy Grant, The Newsboys, Matt Maher and Audrey Assad. A writer of production and library music, and a recent Mark Award nominee for her writing, her songs have appeared in national films, television shows, and numerous commercials. She is also a composer and producer of musical scores for children’s animations, working with both Scholastic and Vooks. She writes extensively as well for the church, and her songs appear in hymnals and worship catalogs across the globe. As a solo recording artist, Sarah has released twelve full-length recordings. In non-Covid times, she travels extensively, giving concerts and keynoting at various events.

Sarah makes her home in Nolensville, TN with her husband and two teenage daughters.

Galen Fott has adapted, directed, and animated more than two dozen children’s books to video for Scholastic/Weston Woods and for Vooks. These films have screened at the Guggenheim, Sydney Opera House, National Gallery of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Philharmonie de Paris, in the Hiroshima and Anima Mundi animation festivals, in the major children’s film festivals of New York and Chicago, and in the major international film festivals of Houston (ten-time Remi Award winner), San Francisco (three-time Golden Gate Award nominee), London, and Nashville. He has created animation for Sesame Workshop, Marvel Comics, Nashville Public Television, and Dollywood. Fott is also a writer, actor, singer, and puppeteer. www.bigfott.com 

Billy Butler has been a music and theatre maker between NH and NYC for more than three decades. In 2019, he appeared as Cratchit/Marley in the world premiere of Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol at the Colonial Theatre in Boston and as Billy in ONCE the Musical at Speakeasy Stage. As an actor in New England he has worked with, Greater Boston Stage Company, NE Light Opera, Seacoast Repertory, The Players’ Ring, The Palace Theatre, and the Barnstormers. Off-Broadway: Crazy Head Space (Abraxas Stage), Stepchild (Interborough Rep) and as Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (St. Clement’s Theatre). Other NYC credits: New York Musical Theatre Festival, Joe's Pub, iStar Theatre Lab, and 54 Below. He was 2018/19 Artist-in-Residence for the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra. Billy is also a recipient of the Excellence in American Theatre Award by the New England Theatre Council. 

 Lisa is Emmy-nominated and has won three dozen film festival awards as Writer, Producer, and Director.  Her work includes content for education, entertainment, corporate, and non-profit businesses. Her goals in life are to create programming that is informational, inspirational, helps bring about positive change in the world, and to hug trees as often as possible.

The Janusz Korczak Association of the USA (JKA-USA), promotes the legacy of Dr. Janusz Korczak (1879-1942), a pediatrician, writer, educator, and humanitarian, who is well known all over the world for his innovative work with Polish and Jewish orphans at two orphanages in Warsaw from 1912 to 1942. On August 5, 1942, Dr. Korczak was taken to the Treblinka death camp, together with his orphans and his staff of nine, and disappeared into its bowels, never to be seen again.

Today, in the USA, we are finding ways to bring Korczak’s legacy to public and private schools, after school programs, camps, Polish and Jewish schools and community centers. We write articles, books, offer lectures, workshops, and camp experiences for young people, parents, and educators.

http://korczakusa.com/

Matt Coale is an Emmy Award winning Director of Photography based out of Nashville Tennessee with international experience in 35mm, HD and Ultra-HD production.  Credits include over 1550 commercials, 170 music videos, 830 television projects, 840 corporate films, 73 webisodes, 6 feature length films and 7 short films.  Matt's projects have won over 156 awards including a National Emmy nomination for Cinematography and two Regional Emmy wins.