Creative Spark Staff

Brandi Hunter Elkins

Executive Director

Brandi is a Charleston native.  She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts Management from the College of Charleston and has been managing Creative Spark since 2002.  She has been lead vocalist for several local performing groups and bands.  During her free time she enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, family and friends.  Life’s motto:  “Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss you’ll land among the stars!”

Inger Brown

Outreach Director

Inger is a graduate of Morris College where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree. Inger came to Creative Spark after working in the counseling field for ten years. As the Outreach Director for Creative Spark, Inger is able to blend her love of community, counseling, and the arts. In her free time, Inger enjoys event planning, reading, and spending time with her family.

Magic Sparks Preschool Staff

Kristin Zeaser Sydow

Preschool Director

Kristin has her Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership & Curriculum.  She brings 26 years of experience to this successful preschool program that began in her home in 1992 after ten years of teaching first grade and kindergarten in Berkeley and Charleston Counties. Her belief that “Learning Can Happen At Any Moment” and a strong desire to incorporate a child-centered curriculum combined with developmentally appropriate practice makes this arts infused, multi-age program the creative alternative for young children East of the Cooper.

Kristin and husband Steve have two children, Lindsey (19) and Rebecca (15) who were the inspiration for Magic Sparks.  She can be found kayaking almost anywhere in the lowcountry at high tide and supporting the Wando High School Marching Band and spending time with her family and friends when the tide is low.

Kristin’s business, Learning Extensions, provides resources for home-schooling families, parent coaching, curriculum workshops and environmental education programs for children of all ages.  http://www.learningextensions.net

Lisa Gair

Lisa is proud to be a part of the “Magic Spark” family as an assistant this year.  All three of her sons are graduates of the program and she loved the program so much she just had to be a part of it. Before becoming a mother, she taught 1st grade in Charleston County and Ashwaubenon, WI.  In addition, she taught a Multi-age class of 1st and 2nd graders for 5 years in Mayfield, OH.  While teaching, she was a peer coach, enrichment coordinator, assessment coordinator, principal led team committee member, and a lecturer on the benefits of teaching an integrated curriculum in the multi-age setting.  She has taken graduate courses at John Carroll University and Cleveland State University.  Lisa is a huge fan of her alma mater The Ohio State University.  Spending time with her family is an important part of her life.  Together they enjoy doing crafts, camping, cooking and other activities.  She is looking forward to growing with all of the “Magic Sparks” and their families this year.  

Kendall James has a BA in history (Art History) from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC and a MAT in Early Childhood Education from the University of Charleston in Charleston, SC. She has been teaching young children for 18 years. Prior to teaching, she was an arts administrator for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. She lives in Mount Pleasant with her soul mate and two children where she practices and teaches yoga- unless she’s traveling the globe!

Nina Smith , stepping from the world of imagination as Mother Goose, has engaged children with quality literature for over twelve years. Using books, toys, & costumes, she entices young learners into the world of words, imagination, & magic. Prior to becoming Mother Goose, she graduated from University of South Carolina, taught in public & private schools, raised 2 sons and more dogs, cats, and other various pets than she can count. She is currently involved in research on imagination and the young child and is writing a novel.

Private Lesson Instructors

Inga Agrest

Piano and Voice Instructor

Inga earned her BA in Piano Performance and Composition from the College of Charleston and her MM in Opera/Theater Directing from the University of South Carolina. She teaches piano and voice at Creative Spark, Charleston Music Academy, and Ashley Hall.

Marina Agrest

Piano Instructor

Marina started playing piano when she was 5 in St. Petersburg (at that time Leningrad) Russia. Music flooded her life since that time. Marina was six when she had her first public performance. Music made the difference in Marina’s life; it helped her survive through tough times in the Soviet Union. It was a challenge to receive a Bachelors of Music in Piano from the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music, and then Masters of Music in Piano from the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia. Marina taught piano at St. Petersburg School of the Arts where she accompanied singers, violinists, and performed solo. During her more than 30 years in music, Marina taught hundreds of students. Over the last eight years, Marina has shared her international experience with the greater Charleston community teaching at Creative Spark, at her own studio, and through the activities of the Russian Studies Program at the College of Charleston. Marina was acknowledged for excellence as a Distinguished Educator in “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers”.

Dr. John R. Francis                                                                      Piano Instructor                                                                                     John teaches piano (and theory/composition) to students of all ages. (Currently his youngest is 4 and oldest is 79). He incorporates popular music of all kinds with classical music, catering to the interests of the students. He also involves improvisation and jazz/blues, if the student so desires, or compositions that the students write. It is important to him that the students enjoy and understand the music that they are playing, so he goes out of his way to find music appropriate.

Paul Gelpi

Guitar Instructor

Paul studied classical and jazz guitar at Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, MD in the late 1970s and he graduated with honors as a recording engineer from the Audio Institute of America in 1990.
Paul joined an alternative rock band, TRIBAL DOGS, in 1996 as the lead guitarist and released a favorable reviewed CD.
He was the principal guitarist in 3 Piccolo Spoleto Festival shows in Charleston, SC: 60’s soul show and Steely Dan Tribute in 2006, 70’s soul show in 2007. Paul was the principal bassist on the Spirit of Carolina for 5 years and the principal guitarist in the back up band for McDonald’s Choir Comp. at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center in 2009. Paul has taught acoustic, electric, and bass guitar at Creative Spark since 1999.

Sarah Morrison

Piano and Voice instructor

Sarah has been teaching private students in voice and piano for eight years and is also an active and certified instructor in Music for Young Children classes.  Early on, she attended the North Carolina School of the Arts as a boarding student studying both piano and voice and went on to study these disciplines at SUNY Purchase and at the College of Charleston. During two years in New York, she studied privately and continued to teach adult beginners in piano. Having returned to her native Charleston, she is currently teaching at Creative Spark and at Hungry Monk Music in West Ashley. Sarah is passionate about teaching young and adult beginners and those with more experience seeking to transition into more serious study. She is a graduate of the College of Charleston.

Art and Clay Class Instructors

Scott Debus

Art Teacher

SCOTT DEBUS was born and raised in Queens, NY. Born deaf, Debus was taught visually and given his first sketch book as an infant. After surgery, Debus’ hearing was restored. Today, he ordinarily keeps four working sketchbooks with him daily. Debus studied at S.U.N.Y New Paltz and the New York Studio School. Debus moved to Charleston in 2006, and promptly opened a boutique art gallery on Bogard Street. As a curator, Debus is best known in Charleston for coorganizing, with Amberge Sloan and Gustavo Serrano, the wildly popular Kulture Klash, a bi-annual, multi-disciplinary art event featuring Charleston’s most contemporary artists. Debus’ technique and style combine his rigorous training in figurative and abstract painting with the underground graffiti of his early years. His media – oils, acrylics, watercolor, spraypaint, Japanese enamel, cardboard, stretched canvas, wood panel, found objects and glass – is fairly unlimited. Debus has exhibited locally at Eye Level Art, Scoop Studios, Robert Lange Studios, Redux Contemporary Arts Center, the North Charleston Performing Arts Center Gallery and his own Bogard Street Gallery. Quick brushstrokes, sudden intuition and a belief that humanity is intertwined are all hallmarks of his work. Debus currently lives and works in Charleston.

Scott teaches Mini Michelangelos, Cartoons and Comic Books, Teen Painting, Advanced Claymation Workshop, Play with Clay Art Camp & Adult Painting.

Michaela Kuhn

Clay Teacher

lives in Mount Pleasant, S.C. with her husband and their three children. She has been a teacher at Creative Spark Center for the Arts for the past 10 years, and is owner of Brown Bag Art. Michaela's pottery is inspired by her love of the natural beauty found in the Carolina Lowcountry.

Michaela teaches Mudmuffins, Parent/Child Clay, Clay at the Wheel for Kids, Mosaic Tile for Adults,& Morning Clay for Adults.

Dance Instructors

Dale Ellison

ZUMBA instructor

A lifelong student and teacher of dance and movement, Dale is a dance and certified ZUMBA® Instructor who brings her own blend of music to her classes: Latin (Salsa, Cumbia, Merengue, Bachata), Argentine Tango, African and Middle Eastern.  Her classes have the moves, the energy and the spirit. Zumba is good for the body, mind and soul - becoming fit, toned, and strong are the added bonuses!

Creative Spark's Founder

Carol Antman founded Creative Spark in 1991 after careers as an elementary school teacher, piano teacher and business entrepreneur.  She is a life-long pianist and patron of the arts.  The inspirations for Creative Spark came from the realization that piano teaching was a cottage industry in need of professionalizing.  Also, Carol and her husband committed to educating their children in public schools and Creative Spark was one way she could augment their education.  The experience Carol gained from starting and growing a chain of retail stores provide the business experience that is the foundation of Creative Spark.   Carol’s hobbies include hiking, traveling, bicycling and enjoying the nature on Sullivan’s Island and the Lowcountry.