Meet Our Educators

Sterling deVries
Director of Education

Sterling deVries, the Director of Education 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.

Stephanie Lancaster
Education Manager 

Stephanie was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. She graduated from Flagler College with a bachelor of Fine Arts and College of Charleston with a Masters in Early Childhood Education. Stephanie was a classroom teacher for five years before joining the Gaillard Center three years ago. Stephanie currently lives in West Ashley with her husband and their pup, Hadley. In her spare time, she enjoys going to the beach, painting, biking, watching movies, and trying new restaurants.

Jordan Giancursio
Teaching Artist  

A native of Charleston, Jordan launched her dancing career with Moranz Entertainment in 2012 while attending the Charleston County School of the Arts. She is a graduate of the College of Charleston, double majoring in Dance and Theatre. In addition to regularly working with Brad and Jennifer Moranz, she has performed with Pauletta Washington and The Charleston Pops. Jordan’s work engages a form of video artistry that is a collaboration of storytelling and dance. Projects have included working with award winning artists Marcus Amaker and Ranky Tanky, World Renown Celloist Wade Davis (CNN), Gino Castillo (Cha Cha Charleston), Yuhas and Dancers, Carlos Brown, Glory Comes, Selah, and an Apple marketing campaign. Her dance was highlighted at the Juneteenth Freedom Festival and American Oxygen Gala. Jordan is making her debut this fall in Daniel and the Kings as Choreographer and Lead Dancer. Jordan is excited to be working for the Gaillard as a teaching artist.

JaMeeka Holloway
Artist-in-Residence

Raised in Durham, JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell has been a professional theater artist and champion for Black theater in the Triangle for years. She earned her theater degree from North Carolina Central University and continued her education as an apprentice for The Lark Play Development Center, and later, as an assistant director with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill. An Indy Arts Award winner in 2018, she is a 2019-20 grant recipient of both the Manbites Dog Theater Fund and the Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Program. In February 2019, Holloway-Burrell was honored by the African American Heritage Commission and Governor Roy Cooper for her contributions to the arts and culture landscape of North Carolina. She also served as a 2019 theatre panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and for the North Carolina Arts Council. Her directing work has appeared on numerous stages, including: Vermont’s Northern Stage; Shakespeare in Detroit; Classic Stage Company in New York City; Durham’s Manbites Dog Theatre; the Department of Theatre at Dartmouth College; Durham Performing Arts Center; and the National Black Theatre Festival.

Charlton Singleton
Artist-in-Residence Emeritus

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.

Marcus Amaker
Artist-in-Residence Emeritus
Poet Laureate of Charleston

Marcus Amaker is Charleston, South Carolina’s first poet laureate, the Charleston Gaillard Center’s Artist-in-Residence Emeritus, and an Academy of American Poets fellow. In addition to poetry, Marcus is an award-winning graphic designer and musician. He’s published nine poetry books and has been recognized by NPR, the Kennedy Center, The Washington National Opera, PBS Newshour, and more. Learn more about Marcus here.

Erin Bianco
Mount Zion Elementary
2021-2022

Lauren Norberg Coleman
Angel Oak Elementary
2019-2020

Lauren Norberg Coleman (1987-2023) was a shining star in life and in the classroom. As an educator, she was passionate about giving her students opportunities in the arts and the world around them. We are honored to have known her and will keep her light shining through arts education and inspiring young minds. Thank you, Lauren, for the impact you made in the lives of so many.

In her honor, the Gaillard Center will anually bring second graders at both of her former schools, Angel Oak Elementary and Harborview Elementary School, to the Gaillard once a year for an educational performance at no charge.

Angie Grimes
Northwoods Middle School
2018-2019