Meet Our Educators

Joshua Parks is a filmmaker and photographer from Jacksonville, Florida. His roots stretch back over seven generations in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and Florida’s Gulf Coast. His work analyzes urban and rural Afro-Descendant communities in the Black Belt South and the Atlantic world; their relationship to land and water as the basis of subsistence, autonomy, survival, and collective memory; and how these elements influence social and cultural development. Joshua was the principal photographer for the Greenbook of South Carolina (2022), and has photos exhibited in the permanent collection of the International African American Museum (IAAM) and the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. He has worked as an in-house producer for the International African American Museum, contributing to core digital exhibitions/films Carolina Gold, Memories of the Enslaved, Gullah Geechee Overview Film, Moving Star Hall, the Parks/Wilder Family History, & more. He owns and operates Cimarron Productions, a full scale film production company and is Creative Director of Cedar Wolf Media Group. In addition, Joshua is cofounder of the Lowcountry ArtsMovement, a non-profit dedicated to building an ecosystem of Black artists and cultural workers. Joshua received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in History from Howard University and is pursuing a Masters in Public History from College of Charleston.

Marcus Amaker takes daily naps. He’s a dad, husband, Charleston’s first Poet Laureate, an opera librettist, and an Academy of American Poets fellow. In 2024, he was inducted into the S.C. Literary Hall of Fame and included on a list of favorite poets in America by Literary Hub and WildSam. He’s published ten books, released 44 albums of electronic music, and three albums with a two-time GRAMMY® Award winner. He’s also the graphic designer of the national bluegrass music journal, No Depression. His work has been recognized by The Lexington Philharmonic, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Washington Post, The Gaillard Center, And Mere. His re-fen version of S ototy, Tricon Poet was usin by to Kennedy Washington National Opera for President Biden’s inauguration in 2021. His work is on two GRAMMY®-nominated albums, and he is a member of BMI and the Recording Academy. His original opera, The Weight of Light, debuted in Chicago in 2024. In 2025, MacArthur “Genius,” GRAMMY® winner, and Pulitzer Prize winner Rhiannon Giddens sang Marcus’ words on the album Songs in Flight by his friend and collaborator, celebrated composer.

Learn more about Marcus here.

A native of Awendaw, SC, Charlton Singleton began his musical studies at the age of three on the piano. He would then go on to study the organ, violin, cello, and trumpet throughout elementary, middle, and high school. In 1994, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance from South Carolina State University. Since that time, he has taught music at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, as well as being an adjunct faculty member at the College of Charleston. In 2008 he co-founded and became the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Charleston Jazz Orchestra; an 18 piece jazz ensemble of some of the finest professional musicians in the Southeast and the resident big band in Charleston, SC. Mr. Singleton is also the organist and choir director at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Charleston, SC. In November of 2016, he was named the inaugural Artist in Residence at the recently renovated Gaillard Center in downtown Charleston. He remained in this position until July 2019; at that point he was named Artist in Residence Emeritus. In this position, he continues to lead the Summer Youth Jazz Orchestra Camp as well as lead the “Jazz Through the Ages” assembly, which attracts a capacity crowd of students at the Gaillard Center.

As a performer, Charlton leads his own ensembles that vary in size and style. He has performed in France, Great Britain, Scotland, Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, The Netherlands, as well as many great cities throughout the United States. He is a founding member of a new ensemble called Ranky Tanky. The group is a quintet that interprets the sounds of Gullah from the Southeast Coast of the United States. In 2018 Ranky Tanky reached the top of the Billboard, iTunes, and Amazon Contemporary Jazz charts with their self-titled debut recording. In 2019 they accomplished the same feat with the release of their sophomore effort, “Good Time”, which won a Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Album.

Sterling deVries, VP of Education and Community Outreach at the Charleston Gaillard Center, is dedicated to supporting the educational community through the arts. Following fifteen years as a classroom teacher, deVries builds on the knowledge that arts are an integral part of classroom content. Her Master’s degree in Arts in Education changed her approach to teaching and resulted in a student-centered, arts-enhanced method of content mastery.

Whitney Green is originally from Annapolis, Maryland. She graduated from the College of Charleston with a degree in Arts Management and minors in Dance, Psychology, and Marketing. She is committed to making the arts accessible for all and incorporating arts integrated lessons in schools.

Giselle Thomas is a graduate from the College of Charleston with a degree in Arts Management. As a South Carolina native, she is passionate about building community, making the arts accessible, and creating educational experiences that inspire lifelong learning for her community.