Jasmine Colbert joined the Perry County Council of the Arts team in 2003. She is a graduate of Lycoming College with a double major in photography and commercial design, and she was recently enrolled in Professional Development for Arts Programming at UMass Amherst. Jasmine previously served as Office Manager and Gallery Manager, leading PCCA Gallery to a NICHE Magazine Top Retailer Award for Best Guild Store in 2006.

In her previous role as Creative Programs Director, she coordinated programming at both PCCA Gallery and Landis House, including exhibitions, concerts, presentations and workshops. She has spent significant time with member artists to develop their work and encourage pursuit of their artistic passion. While not on the job, she enjoys reading, gardening, creating art and spending time with her husband and two young children.

Ariana Koch joined the PCCA team in August 2022.  A native of south-central Pennsylvania, Ariana grew up with a paint brush in one hand and a pencil in the other.  She holds her Associate in Fine Art from Harrisburg Area Community college, 2019, and her Bachelor in Fine Art with a concentration in ceramics from Alfred University, 2021.  Most recently, she finished a two-month long studio assistantship at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, and is gearing up to teach clay classes at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center, in Carlisle, PA .

Interested in working with her hands from a young age, Ariana found clay during her 2^nd semester at community college and has never looked back.  Primarily working within the realm of functional ceramics, she focuses on vessels for your home, table, and daily life.  It is the connection to family, community, nature, as well as the lineage of craft that informs the direction of her work.  Moving forward, Ariana says she is most excited for the opportunity to work with PCCA and share her knowledge as well as love of art with the Perry County community and its neighbors.

Rebecca Myers is excited to be the new Project Director for Perry County Council of the Arts. She is responsible for the Arts in Education program and Poetry Out Loud event, as well as other collaborative projects.

Ms. Myers is an ordained Episcopal Priest and also holds a Master of Social Work Degree. She brings nearly 40 years of experience working in nonprofit organizations in Pennsylvania, Kansas, North Carolina, Washington, DC, and New York City. Her connection to the arts started with piano lessons at the age of 7. She sang in choirs throughout her school years in Mechanicsburg and then sang in church choirs as an adult. She was part of the all-volunteer Cathedral Voices choir at the Washington National Cathedral and sang in the Schola at General Theological Seminary in New York City. She enjoys networking and connecting people.

Rebecca is the mother of Scot and Carrie. Scot is married to Leah and has two children, Logan and Sydney. Carrie is married to Monet and has two service dogs, Rona and Gemma. She grew up in the Mechanicsburg area and lived in the city of Harrisburg for many years, serving on the Harrisburg School Board. She is currently the Chaplain for the Newport Fire Company. She serves on the Board of the Partnership for Better Health and is the Chair of the Governance Committee and serves on the Audit Committee. She is also the secretary of the Harrisburg Civil War Roundtable and president of the board for the Newport PA Farmers Market.

Erin Sparler is the Gallery Manager of the Perry County Council of the Arts Gallery in Newport, PA. She is also the designer and inventor of the company EyeConnectCrafts.com and the one-of-a-kind 3D Tunnel Book craft kits. These fun crafts and craft kits were invented for her sons, enabling kids to make a book while learning about the natural world. They also allow teachers and parents to bridge the gap between STEM and STEAM by combining crafting with storytelling and stop-motion animation!

Erin’s one-of-a-kind posable designs are manufactured and sold through sales reps and stores across the US. Her artwork is licensed and available as prints online through multiple websites, including PiCreative and others. However, Erin is probably best known—or infamous—for asking the question, “How DO YOU make money with your art?!”

What began as an innocent question became a full-time research project and obsession to change the way we talk about the business of creativity. Consequently, she shares copious amounts of information and interviews with other artists on the podcast TheArtistAPPEALS.com and has a book available summarizing her findings entitled The Artist APPEALS.

Before Erin’s online preoccupation with finding the common threads of how to “make it” without “selling out,” she was known as “Professor Sparler.” As a full-time college professor of Digital Art, she taught various courses, including the Adobe applications and all forms of art and design for 12 years.

Erin’s previous experience as a College Professor of the Digital Arts, a podcast host, and author of The Artist APPEALS, as well as being a working artist and designer, has prepared her to bring a wealth of knowledge to our wonderful organization!

Erin currently resides in Central PA, where she loves to hike, paint, and photograph her surroundings in the company of her big, fluffy white Great Pyrenees and rambunctious sons.

Alexis is a student rising into her junior year at West Perry High School. While much of her focus remained on field hockey during her middle school and freshman years, she is now looking forward to embracing her interest in literary criticism, focused on theology, philosophy, and the psyche. She is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to network and explore the Arts through her internship. Alexis has, and continues to, spend her time in and around Newport, encouraged by her parents to visit Perry County Council of the Arts and to further her participation in literature and the arts.

In her free time, Alexis enjoys searching for vintage shops that sell classic, foreign, theological, and symbolic literature. She is drawn to literary criticism and analysis, her favorite critics being Nikhil Krishnan and Harold Bloom. She often tunes in to podcasts hosted or joined by Pete Holmes or Benjamin McEvoy. She attends the YMCA, as well as Planet Fitness, to utilize their all-day rec-swim sessions and weight room.

Alexis is exploring options to become a professor for a short time after achieving her doctorate, then to curate at an archive or museum catering toward historical literature.