Meet our directors

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Karen Kalafatas (aka Karen K) is a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, sister, daughter, changemaker and artist-preneuer living in North Carolina’s Piedmont.

A former musical theater actress in New York City, Karen is best known for her enchanting voice, award-winning songs, and captivating performances. As founder of the nationally acclaimed tot-rock group Karen K & the Jitterbugs she is best known for her work in the family music industry. Called a “must see act” by the Boston Globe, and “what Taylor Swift would sound like if she had a second grader who wanted to hang with Mom,” by the Huffington Post, Karen has lit up hundreds of stages across the country and has been featured in multiple media outlets including The New York Times, Broadway World,  PBS and CBS New York.  

A stalwart leader committed to providing meaningful arts access to all children, Karen is the creator and executive producer of Kids Really Rock™, the largest free family music festival in the country. Held in Boston, Massachusetts, the event attracts 10,000 people annually. Karen is also a co-founder of Family Music Forward, whose aim is to dismantle systemic racism and amplify Black voices in the family music industry.

Karen has written and produced five musicals, released four original albums and performed for thousands of audience members big and small across the country and world. Her new single “for grown ups," February Strong, a song of hope, is a reflection of a promising artistic evolution, and a return to her southern roots. Karen gratefully spends nearly every pandemic moment with her husband John, daughter Rebecca and dog, Hewey in a little house with too many guitars in Chapel Hill.

Aaron Nigel Smith (he/him/his) is a Grammy® Nominated producer and Billboard #1 recording artist who has performed throughout North & South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He is also a featured musical guest and composer for the Emmy Award winning PBS Kids show Between the Lions. Aaron has produced 16

albums on his label Aya World Productions garnering multiple NAPPA, Parents’ Choice, American Library Association awards, and recognition by NPR, People Magazine, USA Today, and The New York Times.

Aaron is an educator with 20 years of experience creating music programs, events, and curricula. In 2002, he founded FUNdamentals of Music & Movement, a fun approach to music education for preschool children. Since 2011 he has partnered with Young Audiences, The Right Brain Initiative and Arts for Learning, The Boys Girls Clubs, and Portland Parks & Recreation to provide arts programs, performances, and events to K-8

youth in the Portland Metro Area. In 2013 Aaron was named the Sunburst Teaching Artist of the Year by Young Audiences.

In 2009, Aaron and his wife Diedre, formed the non-profit 1 World Chorus with the mission of promoting peace and empowering youth through the Arts. More than 15,000 youth in Portland, Los Angeles, New York,

Kenya & Jamaica have participated in 1 World Chorus programs. In the summer of 2013, Aaron launched the Rox in Sox Children’s Music & Book Festival. This one-day free charity event features some of the nation's leading talent from the worlds of family music and literature. The festival has been produced in Portland, Las

Vegas and Jamaica, and we have distributed thousands of socks, shoes and books to youth in the USA, Kenya and Jamaica.

Since 2014, Aaron has partnered with Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, The Bob Marley Foundation and Partners for Youth Empowerment to create the One Love Youth Camp in Jamaica. During this week-long residential

camp, students explore creativity as a tool for empowerment. Recently, Aaron was invited to serve as a Black Music Collective Ambassador (BMC). BMC is a division of The Recording Academy committed to amplifying

artists of color in the music industry. He is a founding member of Family Music Forward and 1 Tribe Collective, both organizations that uplift and amplify BIPOC voices in the family music space. Aaron’s simple mission is to promote peace by connecting and empowering youth, families and communities through music and the Arts.

Diedre Smith trained at the School of Ballet West, Interlochen Arts Academy, the Jose Limon Foundation in New York, and received her BFA from The Boston Conservatory where she was awarded the Ambrose Scholarship for

Outstanding Choreography. She performed and assisted in the reconstruction of historical works by Doris Humphrey and Jose Limon, including Limon’s There is a Time with the Ballet de Monte Carlo. After moving to Los

Angeles, Diedre performed primarily with Pennington Dance Group while raising her two children. In 2002, she co-founded with her husband, Aaron Nigel Smith, FUNdamentals of Music and Movement, “a fun approach to

music and dance for children ages 3 mos. to 6 years”. She continues to be a passionate supporter of music and dance education for children and currently serves as Executive Director for 1 World Chorus. She also works as

Costume Supervisor and Executive Assistant to Carole Valleskey at California Dance Institute.

  For the last twenty years, Billy Miller has been making motion media, writing and producing hundreds of television shows broadcast on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and ESPN as well as commercials for Nike and long-form documentaries for Red Bull. His experience in all phases of production includes being crewed on an Emmy-award-winning Olympic broadcast, camera for The Oprah Winfrey Show, field audio recording for a BBC documentary and sold-out festival screenings at Sundance, XDance, New York Surf Film and the Banff Mountain Film. 

Billy has been bringing that moviemaking experience to hundreds of diverse students through non-profit youth programs like Caldera, ChickTech and The Hollywood Theatre. Working mainly with middle-schoolers, Billy has taught at schools all over Portland and Central Oregon, including Arleta, Boise-Eliot, Faubion, da Vinci Arts, Robert Gray and Portland State University. His student’s films have played in the NW Filmmaker’s Festival, Bend Film and The Silent Film Festival, winning an audience award.

Billy is the cofounder of LiveLabs, a live-production, experiential learning collective using moviemaking to establish team-building and pro-social awareness. LiveLabs workshops bring diverse groups together to use TV technology to capture live and pre-recorded performance. Billy is a producer of "The Big Up Show," teaching peace and unity to young people through the power of music while helping them use their own unique voice.