Our Story

Lynnea is both an accomplished Artist and Healthcare Administrator. She has performed with Children’s Theater Company, Old Globe Theater and others and holds a Masters in Healthcare Communications from St. Thomas University, with undergraduate studies psychology. Lynnea brings her many skills as an Artist and Healthcare professional to further the mission of Kairos Alive – both locally and nationally. Join us in welcoming Lynnea to the Kairos community!

This enthusiastic dancer, musician, puppeteer, storyteller and theater artist is long associated with Ethnic Dance Theater and Heart of the Beast Theater in Minneapolis. He was an environmental educator on Pete Seeger’s Hudson River Sloop Clearwater in Beacon, NY; was music director at St. Elizabeth Seton School, Minneapolis; taught dance at the Twin Cities Waldorf School, and grade 5-12 social studies in Minneapolis Public Schools. He taught creative arts to children on the Red Lake Nation, and conversational English through music and improvisation as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Graz, Austria. He is a participant in the Creative Community Leadership Institute at Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis.

Parker Genné is an Intergenerational Arts Educator, and Interdisciplinary Performing and Producing Artist. Since 2011, Parker has been a collaborative artistic leader at Kairos Alive!, co-leading programming, training and performing in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, outstate Minnesota, and regionally and nationally. Parker loves creating art in collaboration with intergenerational, multidisciplinary artists, and community artists of all abilities. She was a co-founder and principal performer in Impossible Salt theater. Since 2008, Parker has created over 18 original music-theater-dance and character comedy cabaret works in Ms. Luisa Eats, and performs and produces new work with her new band, Folktopia. Genné holds a Bachelor of Music from Lawrence University – Conservatory of Music. More information at

www.parkergenne.com. 

In 2001, Maria developed The Dancing Heart™, a nationally recognized, evidence-based program which engages older adults of all abilities in weekly, interactive arts participation and health education. It was featured in the 2012 PBS documentary, Arts & the Mind, and is recognized as a model arts involvement program by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA), and winner of awards for program innovation by the American Public Health Association, American Society on Aging, and others.

Romeo is recognized for his affability, and capacity to receive pats, scratches and rubs.

He was born in 1975 in Detroit, Michigan to musicians and music scholars Donald and Faye Washington.  His musical career began at the age of five with his first performances at the Detroit jazz festival.  As a young performer he also played at jazz festivals in Chicago, Alabama, and Connecticut.

After first moving to Minneapolis at the age of thirteen, Kevin went on to New York City in 1996 to study jazz at the New School for Social Research. During his stay in New York he taught rhythm section fundamentals at the Harlem School of the Arts.

Vladimir Garrido-Biagetti was born in South America in the city of Arica-Chile. He is a music performer, folk dancer, and community activist living in the Twins Cities since 2005. Vladimir produces, engineers, and directs musical projects and studio recordings as well as live sound events and multicultural festivals. He was born in Arica-Chile and came to live to the United States when he was 18 years old. Folk music from the Andes Mountains and “La Nueva Canción Latinoamericana” influenced Vladimir’s first musical creations back in his home land and still shape the music he creates now days. Vladimir currently directs the Latina band Alma Andina and the mother and son singing duet Ina-Yukka. He is also a folk dancer from the group Chile Sin Fronteras, sound technician at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, and Teaching Artist at Kairos Alive!  

Tom Johnson is an eclectic performer, composer and arranger based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A multi-instrumentalist, Johnson’s main focus is guitar, but he also plays and teaches: dobro, pedal steel, mandolin, bass and banjo. He recently received a Masters of Music Education with a emphasis on Guitar Pedagogy from St. Thomas University and is currently a lead teacher at the Linden Hills House of Music. Tom has in the past 15 years performed across the United States and Europe, with such diverse groups as: The Johnson Family Band (Blue Grass), The Carluster Crumplebee Orchestra (Gypsy Jazz), People’s People (Modern Jazz), and D Mills and the Thrills (Hip-hop), as well as playing solo classical or jazz guitar. Johnson has also collaborated and performed with Minnesota musicians: Trampled by Turtles, Pert Near Sandstone, Tim Sparks, Charlie Parr, and Todd Clouser.

Heather Bunch is an actor and teaching artist based in the Twin Cities. After graduating from Macalester, she moved to London, where she studied Lecoq-based physical theatre at the London International School of Performing Arts. Once returning to the Twin Cities, she worked with companies such as Transatlantic Love Affair, Frank Theatre, and the Playwright’s Center. As a teaching artist, Heather has worked for Interact Center, The History Theatre, and Stages, among many others. Heather is thrilled to be working for KAIROS again, team-teaching their MSS online classes.