Our Staff
Gigi has been a teacher and Director at Spark Arts since co-founding the program in 2017. From 2011 to 2021, she taught at Studio Creative Play preschool and has assisted at the Roberts Field School elementary school in Park Slope. Gigi is deeply committed to providing children with a joyful, nurturing, and creative learning environment that celebrates each child’s inner spark of talent, kindness and inspiration.
As a child of a diplomat, Gigi grew up in Europe, Asia and the United States. Her exposure to a wide variety of cultures greatly shaped her worldview and appreciation of arts and traditions from around the globe. Her goal as a teacher is to cultivate in students global awareness, open-mindedness, compassion, and respect for diversity.
A nature lover, Gigi often integrates natural elements into her work with children. She received her Permaculture Design Course certification in upstate NY in 2009 and attempts in her daily life to honor the 3 permaculture principles: earth care, people care, fair share. In 2010, in an effort to offer urbanites greater access to nature and food, Gigi co-founded Get Dirty NYC- a non-profit that connected New Yorkers with volunteer opportunities at city farms and gardens.
Gigi completed her B.A. in Psychology and her Masters in Social Work, both at NYU. She spent eight years working as a Social Worker with high-risk children and adults in a variety of settings including inpatient psychiatric units, soup kitchens, supportive housing residences, shelters and public schools.
In her free time, Gigi enjoys spending time with her middle school aged daughter, a Spark veteran! Gigi is an avid reader, meditator, forager, crafter, and perpetual student of life. Her interests include cultural anthropology, ethnobotany, wilderness survival skills, as well as philosophic traditions from around the world.
Gigi Chew, LMSW
Director, Co-Founder
gigi@sparkartsbk.org
Angus Davidson
Assistant Director, Co-Founder
angus@sparkartsbk.org
A musician and educator, Angus Davidson holds a B.A. from Hampshire College in piano performance and orchestral conducting studies, and brings eight years of teaching experience to Spark Arts.
In addition to his work at Spark Arts, he is the Assistant Director of Studio Creative Play and the Roberts Field School, a creativity-centered arts enrichment program and elementary school in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where he has also taught music curricula.
He has served as Choral Director and head of the Music Department at Camp Lanakila, an outdoor camp in Fairlee, Vermont, where he also built and taught nature and outdoors curriculum as the Head of the Exploring Department. In 2017, Angus attended the Yarn/Wire Institute at Stonybrook University as a pianist, and was a candidate for the 2017 Ottorino Respighi Prize in Conducting at the New York Conducting Workshop.
Raised in Rhinebeck, New York with a passion for the outdoors, Angus is an avid whitewater canoeist and enjoys hiking and wilderness exploration.
He lived in Gwangju, South Korea in 2015, serving as an ESL instructor at ECC Namgwangju, teaching English and completing studies in piano and Korean language at the Gwangju International Center. He incorporates his love of the outdoors and exploration of other cultures into his teaching and musicianship.
Angus is so excited for the 2021 Spark Arts program, and the opportunity to explore the arts and the natural world through the multi-cultural lens.
Mae Monga
Teaching Assistant
Mae Monga is a multicultural and multilingual student born in Washington D.C., raised in both Maryland and Vienna, Austra. Since her childhood, she has traveled the world and learned about many different cultures, especially the significance of music in certain countries. She is currently studying Education Studies at NYU. Learning about the properties of plants and their historical relationship with people is very important to her, coming from a Cameroonian background as a first-generation African American. It is in her tradition to build a relationship with the land and to be grateful for all it provides. Mae makes sure to continue this practice wherever she is, especially while living in New York City. As a Montessori school graduate, she knows the importance of providing a nurturing environment to support the innate gifts every child has to share with the world. Mae has been helping with Spark classes for over two years and it always brings her so much joy!
Inbal Sella
Teaching Assistant
Inbal (they/them) is an artist and designer pursuing clinical herbal studies. They have always loved working with kids, ever since their Hebrew school teacher days, and are excited to bring their passion for art and plants to the Spark Arts kiddos! Inbal lives in BedStuy with their cat, Frida.