"Nancy Volpe Beringer’s personal goal is to inspire others to dare to hope, persevere, and dream. 

Nancy took an unconventional journey from single parenthood, restaurateur, public school teacher, and teacher advocate to award-winning fashion designer and founder of AgeFiftyNine.com. She believes that age doesn’t matter when pursuing a dream. At age 59, Nancy became a first-year grad student at Drexel University, the country’s fourth-ranked fashion school. At age 61, she graduated top of her class with a Masters of Science degree in fashion design. This came just a week after earning a record-setting seven awards at the 2016 Drexel Fashion Show. In addition to her custom work, many of her designs are exclusively sold at Joan Shepp, Philly’s premier fashion boutique. In 2019, she made her red carpet debut when her work clothed North Philadelphian rapper and Grammy-nominee Tierra Whack at the 61st annual Grammy Awards. 

But Nancy believes her true success comes with how she uses her compassionate spirit, experience, and fashion design skills to benefit others. After graduating, she became the lead teacher of Philadelphia’s “Refugee Women’s Textile Initiative” and now founder of AgeFiftyNine.com.

Curiosity about why a 58-year old would give up a successful career to enter the highly competitive fashion world frequently resulted in being asked, “What do you plan to do when you graduate?” She has no definitive answer except to say that she wants to create exciting, artistic garments, as well as use her experience and interest in fashion to make a difference and inspire others."

Davon H. Smith demonstrated the excellence of dance at a young age. His training began at the
Messiah Dance Works where he was taught the genres of ballet, modern, jazz and African
dance. While under the watchful eye of his director, Duane Wilkins he was groomed to start
performing in the Jr. Company of Messiah. Because of his special talent it was important to
send Davon to a special public school that specialized in the arts. He attended the Meredith
School for the Performing Arts. It's there his dance teacher Shawn Lamere, director of Eleone Dance Theater invited him to become a part of Eleone Connections where Davon's talents stood out. When time to choice a high school the choice was easy. He went to The High School for the Creative and Performing Arts where both Duane and Shawn attended. Upon leaving CAPA he auditioned and was accepted to the Philadelphia University of the Arts. Davon extraordinary talents has afforded him the opportunity to dance across the nation in various venues, to do photo shoots with Naomi Campbell, to tour around the world with Rashaad Newsome, and also being in the MTV music video “Feel the Vibe” by Bob Sinclar and also tour the world as well.

Mike is a filmmaker whose work ranges from narrative and documentary projects to pieces that explore the evolving notion of cinema. As part of his continued collaboration with ARC, Mike uses filmmaking technique and direction applied to the performance practice of Video DJing. In ARC 2.0 | Contra, Mike explores the impact of the institution on VJing. Through collaborations; visuals and identities in science, media, fashion, and pop culture create humerus representations of materialism in the Anthropocene. McGuirk designates the art of voguing as a type of demonstration within the space contra to the institution.

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Mike recently received an MFA in Screenwriting from the David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts. He has a bachelor's from Columbia College Chicago, where he studied theater and filmmaking with related programs at Goldsmiths, University of London; and also a graduate of the Directors Guild of America Trainee Program. Mike has produced several independent features and presently in development on several TV shows and feature films.

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Erin Alcorn is a lyric soprano and cofounder of ARC. Originally from Dallas, Texas, she is happy to call Philadelphia her home since 2016.  

Erin was a 2017 Vocal Fellow of the Music Academy of the West and a 2014- 2015 Dallas Opera young artist. She was recently seen at Carnegie Hall in The Song Continues young artist series and as the soprano soloist in Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem with Reading Choral Society and Kutztown University Orchestra. Erin sang in Opera Philadelphia’s productions of Turandot and Carmen as a chorus member.

Erin has performed as a soloist in several great halls including the Resnick Education Recital Wing at Carnegie Hall, Winspear Opera House with The Dallas Opera Orchestra, Meyerson Symphony Center with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, and the Murchison Performing Arts Center with the UNT Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared as a chorus member in concert with Opera Philadelphia at the Kimmel Center.

Erin has performed roles with the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, The Dallas Opera, Oberlin in Italy Opera Theatre in Cortona, Italy, the University of North Texas Opera Theatre, and Oberlin Opera Theatre in Ohio. She also sang in recital with the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

On the contemporary side, Erin was invited to sing in Steve Reich’s
Music for 18 Musicians and David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble. She was an ensemble member in the staged production of Exercices de Style by French- Canadian composer José Evangelista with Oberlin Opera Theater.

Erin maintains a busy freelancing schedule, singing around the greater Philadelphia area, in addition to collaborative performances such as ARC. She also teaches private voice lessons. Erin holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Opera from the University of North Texas.

Collaborative pianist Ting Ting Wong is active as a vocal coach and accompanist in the Philadelphia area. Ting Ting was recently appointed as the staff

accompanist at the Academy of Vocal Arts. She has served as chorus pianist with

Opera Philadelphia and assistant conductor with ConcertOPERA Philadelphia and Temple University Women Chorus. Ting Ting is currently the accompanist for the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, Jefferson University Singers, the Arcadia University Choir, Philadelphia Voices of Pride and T-voce with Opera Philadelphia. She is the music director at Newtown Square Presbyterian Church and music director for Union League Voices. Ting Ting also maintains a busy schedule giving recitals to the community.

Ting Ting was born and raised in Hong Kong. She completed a master degree in piano performance at Carnegie Mellon University, where she also earned a piano pedagogy certificate, and a master degree in piano accompanying and coaching at Temple University, where she studied with Mr. Lambert Orkis and Dr. Charles Abramovic.

International dancer Davon Smith honed his skills in his hometown of Philadelphia. In addition to dancing in France and Germany, he has also modeled with Naomi Campbell, toured worldwide with Rashaad Newsome, and appeared in the MTV music video "Feel the Vibe" by Bob Sinclair. Davon demonstrated the excellence of dance at a young age and began training at Messiah Dance Works, where he studied ballet, modern, jazz, and African dance under the tutelage of the director Duane Wilkins. There he joined the Junior Company of Messiah. He went on to study at the Meredith School for the Performing Arts, where his teacher Shawn Lamere, the director of Eleone Dance Theater, invited him to become a part of Eleone Connections. He continued his studies at the Philadelphia High School For Creative & Performing Arts (CAPA). He is an alum of Philadelphia's University of the Arts.

Elaf Saeed is currently a third year dual degree student at the University of Pennsylvania's Dental School and the Graduate School of Education. Elaf has honed a passion for painting since a young age, taking after her Father. Elaf's father, Omar Saeed is a painter and has built a career in the fine arts. Elaf was born to Sudanese parents and grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. Her art is a reflection of the intersectionality of her identities and experiences. Her art reflects the challenges, success, love and heart break of Black Muslim Women.