Welcome

DAN DRESSEN, Associate Dean of Fine Arts, Professor of Music, St. Olaf College

Dan Dressen is a professor of music and Associate Dean for the Fine Arts at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota where he teaches voice and lyric diction. Editor of an anthology series of opera arias by Benjamin Britten for Boosey & Hawkes, Dr. Dressen is currently working to create a center for Nordic art song at St. Olaf. A former president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Minnesota College and University Council on Music, he now serves on the Commission on Accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Music. Dressen is also an active tenor soloist who has recorded and performed nationally and internationally

Keynote Speaker

PHILIP BRUNELLE, VocalEssence Artistic Director and Founder

Philip Brunelle, artistic director and founder of VocalEssence, is an internationally renowned conductor, choral scholar and performer. His conducting engagements have taken him across the United States, South America and Europe. Recently he has conducted the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and at the Oregon Bach Festival. He will return to conduct at the Berkshire Choral Festival next summer.

For the past ten years he has been very involved with the International Federation of Choral Music: serving as president of the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music held in Minneapolis in 2002, on the Artistic Committee to plan the Eighth Symposium in Denmark in July, and on the Artistic Committee planning the Ninth Symposium in 2011 in Argentina. This summer he was elected Vice-President/Treasurer of the IFCM Board. In 2006 he served as artistic director for the NEA initiative, American Masterpieces: Choral Music. He serves on the boards of Chorus America, St. Olaf College and Musica.

Among his many awards are honorary doctorates from St. Olaf College, Gustavus, St. John’s University and United Theological Seminary. Chorus America has honored Philip with its most prestigious award, the Michael Korn Founder’s Award for Development of the Choral Art, and he has also been recognized with the F. Melius Christiansen Lifetime Achievement Award by the Minnesota chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, its highest honor. In December 2005, Philip was Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition for his service as "ambassador for the United Kingdom within the music world." The American Composers Forum named Philip Brunelle "2007 Champion of New Music" and in December 2007 he was invested as a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit for his promotion of Norwegian music in the United States.

How to start an Arts Organization

Moderator: DIANE LEBLANC, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, St. Olaf College

Diane LeBlanc is the author of two poetry chapbooks: Dancer with Good Sow (Finishing Line Press, 2008) and Hope in Zone Four (Talent House Press, 1998). Awards include literary fellowships from the Wyoming Arts Council, a Brenda Ueland Prose Prize, a Robert Penn Warren Award, and a Pushcart Prize nomination for poetry. Diane received the 2005 Bechtel Prize from Teachers & Writers Collaborative for her essay "Weaving Voices: Writing as a Working Class Daughter, Professor, and Poet." Her poetry and prose appear in a variety of literary journals. Diane directs the writing program at St. Olaf College, where she teaches writing and women's studies.

MARY ABRAMS ’84, Owner/Director, Moving Body Resources

Mary Abrams started Moving Body Resources in New York City in 1999 after 15 years concentrating on choreography and performance in Minneapolis and New York City. Moving Body Resources is a center for classes, workshops, seminars, and private sessions promoting creative human development through a focus on the moving living body. Since 2002 Mary has served on the board of the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA) serving as president since 2005. Mary also served on the boards of Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church (1993-2002) and the Minnesota Dance Alliance (1985-1987).

Since 1994 Mary's teaching has been highly influenced by Continuum Movement and explorations in Epistemics and Affect-Script Theory. Offering dynamic and detailed attention to breath, sensation, emotion, and creative process, her work shows successful results with aging issues, post-surgical rehabilitation, chronic illness, and trauma along with general wellness and creative development. Mary teaches groups and individuals at Moving Body Resources, travels throughout the USA, and teaches in the Dance Somatic Wellbeing Masters Degree programme at the University of Central Lancashire in England. Abrams holds a BA in Dance with Departmental Distinction from St. Olaf College, and has received grant support for teaching and choreography in Minnesota, Iowa, India, and New York.

BEN KRYWOSZ, Artistic Director, Nautilus Music-Theater

Stage director Ben Krywosz is the artistic director of Nautilus Music-Theater. He works with writers, composers, and performers to make new operas and other forms of music-theater, and presents innovative productions of existing pieces. He has directed such world-premiere productions of Loss of Breath, Meditations on Arion, I Am Anne Frank, Hearts On Fire, Dante's View, and the revised version of Snow Leopard, as well as new productions of A Water Bird Talk, Carousel, Man of La Mancha, Songs from an Unmade Bed, John and Jen, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, The Last Five Years, Goblin Market, Into the Woods, Orpheus and Euridice, and most recently, The Diary of Adam and Eve. He also conducts Composer-Librettist Studios in Saint Paul and New York, runs the annual Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute, and hosts Nautilus' monthly Rough Cuts works-in-progress series.

JERRY RUBINO, Musician/Director

Jerry Rubino is a musician regarded for his diverse musical interests, engaging artistry, and passionate enthusiasm for performing arts. Jerry founded and directs VOICES 360, a vocal and instrumental ensemble that prioritizes the collaborative process of the singer/actor and dancer to present multi disciplined performances of repertoire including early music, classical music, gospel, pop and jazz. His groups appear in diverse venues from Macy's to Orchestra Hall. He is a music editor with Oxford University Press and the Hal Leonard Corporation and his music directing has taken him to Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States. In Minneapolis, he has recently music directed Nautilus Music Theater productions of Man of La Mancha and Carousel at the Southern Theater and is currently co music directing a production of Swing at Chanhassen Dinner Theaters.

MARK NERENHAUSEN, President/CEO, Broward Center for the Performing Arts

Mark Nerenhausen has been President/CEO of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts since 1998. The Broward Center also manages the historic Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, the Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center at Nova Southeastern University, and provides guidance to the Miramar Cultural Center opening this fall.

Mark presently serves on the boards of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, Broward Alliance and Bluegreen Corporation and is affiliated with many professional organizations, among them the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, International Society for the Performing Arts, Performing Arts Centers Consortium, Fort Lauderdale Downtown Council, Urban Land Institute, and University of Wisconsin Alumni Association.

He is also an Adjunct Professor at Florida International University and at Nova Southeastern University where he teaches courses on the business of the arts. Prior to relocating to South Florida, Mark was the Executive Director at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center in Kahului, Hawaii.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Russian Studies, did Graduate Studies in Russian History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and holds a Master of Arts Degree in Arts Administration from the Graduate School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

GARY SMABY '71,
Director, Collaborative Innovation, University of Minnesota

Gary is currently working two jobs; as Managing Partner of Quatris, a seed-stage venture capital fund; and as the U of M's Director for Collaborative Innovation. In the latter role, he is the architect of a pioneering innovation framework designed to bring together superstar faculty, rising-star students, and forward-thinking corporations to collaboratively tackle big ideas that "defy answers within a single discipline".

A self-described liberal artist, Gary's stated life purpose is "to create, catalyze and transform ideas that can enrich and empower others". He traces its origin to Global Semester ('70) where he studied with a yoga guru in India and a Zen Master in Japan. He characterizes his three-decade business career as 'grazing through a renaissance'. Armed with his St. Olaf dual major in East Asian Studies and Art, his meanderings for creative nourishment led him to stints as an 'Almost Famous' rock concert photographer, Madison Avenue graphics designer, serial entrepreneur, influential Wall Street high-tech analyst, sought-after Fortune 500 strategic consigliore and successful seed-stage venture capitalist.

He serves on the boards of several venture-funded start-ups and non-profits, including the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, and the Minnesota Center for Photography. He was a founding advisor to the Finstad Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and is managing trustee of a family foundation that provides grants to numerous arts organizations. He is also a technology advisor for the major renovation underway at the U of M's landmark Northrop Auditorium. Gary returned to his artist roots with a November 2006 exhibit of recent work.

Arts Marketing & Management

Moderator: KENT MCWILLIAMS, Associate Professor of Music, St. Olaf College

Pianist Kent McWilliams has enjoyed a successful performing career since his debut in Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto with conductor Kazuhiro Koizumi and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. After a recent appearance as soloist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, the music critic exclaimed, "McWilliams' performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 was nothing less than a triumph". He has played in over a dozen countries, and has been an award winner at the competitions of Porto (Portugal), the Regina Symphony, the Canadian Music competitions and the Canadian National Competitive Festival of Music. Kent has three recent CD releases to his credit. As part of the Meridian Trio, he recorded a CD entitled "Triptyque" on the Furiant label; as the pianist for the Niagara Brass Ensemble, he recorded a CD entitled "Brass Feast" on the Echiquier label; as a solo pianist he was part of the 14 disc recording project of "The Celebration Series: A Piano Odyssey" released by Frederick Harris. He has also played frequently for radio, having performed live recitals on the CBC in Canada and the ABC in Australia. Kent holds a Doctorate of Music in Performance degree, which he completed under Marc Durand at the University of Montreal.

He also studied in Poland with Andrzej Jasinski while researching the Polish folk elements in Chopin's Mazurkas and Polonaises. Kent earned an Artist Diploma under Oleg Maisenberg at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule in Germany. Earlier, he completed Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano performance under Boris Lysenko at the University of Toronto. Kent joined the faculty of St. Olaf College in 2001 and is an Associate Professor of Piano Performance.

MIRANDA JIRIK '03, Dancer

A Minnesota native, Miranda Jirik graduated from St. Olaf College in 2003. While at St. Olaf, she traveled to Ghana for a semester and studied traditional West African dance. She received her MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Sarah Lawrence College in 2007, where she studied composition with Sara Rudner, Dan Hurlin, and Kathy Westwater, Alexander Technique with June Ekman, and anatomy with Peggy Gould. Miranda earned her Labanotation Intermediate Certification from the Dance Notation Bureau in 2007. She is currently working as a grant writer in the Development Department of New York City Ballet, as well as a one-on-one movement trainer in the New York City area. Miranda has worked with choreographers Sara Rudner, Jeanine Durning, and Krista Miller, and is currently working on a project with Anneke Hansen.

RON SELL '66, Musician

Apart from education at St. Olaf, Ron received his M.M. at the Manhattan School of Music in 1968 and Music.Education degree at Teachers College Columbia University in 1978. Ron has played french horn in the American Symphony Orchestra since 1970. Also, he has been a personnel manager since 1980. Ron has also been a part of the Manhattan Philharmonic playing french horn and as a personnel manager since 1988, as well as the American Theater Orchestra playing and as a personnel manager since 1985. His experience includes over 40 Broadway Musicals both with french horn and contractor. He also contracted and played many events in Carnegie Hall, Radio City, etc. with many varied artists. Ron has contracted and played 100s of recordings and commercials. Has performed and toured with artists from Sinatra to Pavarrati. Later, Ron plans to contract and play a revival Rogers & Harts, Pal Joey in November, putting together a gala performance of Stephen Sondheim's, A Little Night Music, in February followed by gala performances for ABBA of their musical Kristina in Carnegie Hall.

BETH CHAPLIN '85, Actress

Beth Chaplin has been a professional actor in the Twin Cities for nearly 20 years. Beth has been the on-camera "talent" and voice for hundreds of radio and TV commercials, as well as over a thousand industrial and corporate training projects. She has performed on several local stages, including Theatre in the Round and Park Square Theatre. She frequently teaches classes in on-camera acting and the business of acting. Her new book, The Business of Acting: An Actor's Guide to the Twin Cities will be published in late 2008. She has also produced and directed a short documentary for the "Shower of Stoles Project", an ecumenical advocacy organization for GLBT clergy members.

SCOTT STULEN, Project Director, MNartists.org

Scott Stulen is the Project Director for mnartists.org at the Walker Art Center, an independent curator, musician, writer and visual artist. He received his BFA in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1998 and his MFA in Painting and Drawing with a minor in Art History from the University of Minnesota in 2004. Scott worked as the Curator of Education and Associate Curator at the Rochester Art Center (MN) from 2004-2008, developing cutting edge contemporary art programming and exhibitions. Scott was named the Project Director of mnartists.org in the spring of 2008. mnartists.org is a joint project between the Walker Art Center and McKnight Foundation providing artists free websites, comprehensive arts writing and connections to creative resources throughout the Upper Midwest. mnartists.org is home to 15,000 artists and over 100,000 unique visitors each month.

Scott's visual artwork explores personal and collective memory, pop culture, failure, loss and obsession through painting, sculpture, installation and video. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2004 Katherine E. Nash Purchase Prize, 2005 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant and 2008 Meet the Composer's Creative Connections Grant. Scott exhibits throughout the country and his work is included in numerous private collections including the Weisman Art Museum and University of Minnesota. His work was selected for inclusion in the juried national publication New American Paintings in both 2004 and 2007. Scott also regularly performs as a DJ and sound artist and curated and performed at the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Headphone Festivals at the Rochester Art Center, 2007 Ice Shanty Projects, 2007 Spark Fest.

The Emerging Artist

Moderator: ANTHONY ROBERTS, Artist in Residence in Dance, St. Olaf College

Anthony Roberts unofficially came to St. Olaf College in 1994. While teaching at Gustavus Adolophus College that same year, he also spent his weekends guiding a ragtag, but enthusiastic, group of St. Olaf men through the fundamentals of beginning modern dance (for many of them, this was simply experiencing how to walk on the beat of the music). This process led to his first piece of choreography at St. Olaf, Jock-ularity, which was also performed by this same group of guys (and Anthony) at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 1995. Anthony was hired at St. Olaf the following year to teach the intermediate and advanced ballet classes. He currently teaches modern dance technique and is co-artistic director of Companydance. He developed an Interim course, Movement, the Camera and the Creative Process, which integrates elements of human movement, dance for the camera and character animation of the human form.

Anthony has performed nationally and internationally with Repertory Dance Theatre and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, both located in Salt Lake City, Utah; Sharir Dance Company in Austin, Texas; and the Jacob's Pillow's Men Dancers (a project touring internationally to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ted Shawn's birth). He has performed historical modern dance works by Isadora Duncan, Ted Shawn, Doris Humphrey, Helen Tamiris, Jose Limón, Charles Weidman and Merce Cunningham. He has also performed the works of many prominent contemporary choreographers. He is extremely proud of playing one of the mice in Colorado Ballet’s Nutcracker, where he darn near gnawed the nutcracker’s cheesy foot in two.

Anthony earned a BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of Utah and an MFA in Dance with a Dance Technology Emphasis from Arizona State University, Tempe.

JENNIFER DOTSON, Executive Director, Alive Arts Media, Inc.

Jennifer Dotson, Co-Founder & Executive Director, assisted founding editor Heather Scheiwe in the creation of Alive Arts Media, Inc. and the production of the early issues of Alive Magazine. With dual degrees from St. Olaf College in Music and Communication of Faith, Ms. Dotson honed her skills for entrepreneurship through the creation of the latter degree, an interdepartmental course sequence through the Center for Integrative Studies. Since her volunteer work with AAM began in 2004, Ms. Dotson has completed a certificate program in non-profit management through Hamline University (completed in 2007). Alive's business plan transitioned to full-time work in May of 2007. An avid volleyball and tennis player, outdoors enthusiast and marathon runner, Ms. Dotson funnels her ambition into helping other young women realize their full potential. Jen serves as co-chair of media and marketing for the Girls Coalition of Minnesota's Annual Conference on Adolescent Females, and is a member of Free Press, the Forté Foundation, the Association for Women in Communications, Best Buy's Omega WoLF, and the Greater Twin Cities United Way Emerging Leaders Program.

CYNTHIA GEHRIG, President of the Jerome Foundation

Cynthia Gehrig is President of the Jerome Foundation, a private foundation that makes grants in the arts in Minnesota and New York City. She joined the Foundation 32 years ago as a Program Associate, and has served as its Executive since 1978. Gehrig has served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, serving as both Vice-Chair and Chair. Gehrig was Chair of Grantmakers in the Arts, a national affiliation of grantmakers interested in arts philanthropy. She facilitated the first Arts Funding Benchmark publication for The Foundation Center and Grantmakers in the Arts. She is the former Managing Trustee and Chair of the Camargo Foundation, an operating Foundation that supports scholarly and artistic work through subsidized fellowship residencies at a work-study center in Cassis, France. She served as Vice Chair on the Board of ITVS, the Independent Television Service, and is currently serving as Board Chair of Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota.

TONI MELAAS '00, Founder/Owner, Hatch NYCncer

Toni Melaas is currently working on projects with Alexandra Beller/Dances in preparation for 2009 European and Russian tours; Gerald Casel Dance in preparation for a New York season and a European tour with Scottish company, X Factor Dance; and also with Netta Yerushalmy/dancingpeople for New York seasons in 2009.

Toni has had the pleasure of performing and teaching nationally and internationally with Shen Wei Dance Arts (including performances at Lincoln Center's State Theater); the Aquila Theater Company with Olympia Dukakis; David Dorfman Dance (including the Harvey Theater for BAM); Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig; Risa Jaroslow in tours throughout Europe and Russia; Eun Jung Gonzalez for two New York seasons and a Korean tour; in numerous New York City seasons and regional tours with Faye Driscol and Melissa Briggs Dance; on Broadway at the Duke Theater as Gretel in 'Hansel and Gretel - Grim'; as a featured dancer in the film 'Across the Universe' (director, Julie Taymor) and in her debut acting in 'The Hottest State' (director Ethan Hawke).

Toni shares her company, Hatch NYC (www.hatchnewyork.com), with partner Lily Baldwin, bringing customized yoga and pilates to individual clients and corporations in NYC, throughout the U.S. and now internationally. Hatch NYC offers both individual and group retreats in gorgeous locales including Vietnam, Turks and Caicos, Hawaii, Panama, Greece, Turkey and Thailand.

EVA NELSON, '06, Actor

Eva is a singer and actor working in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

She received her BA from the Center of Integrative Studies (CIS) in Lyric Theatre. While at St. Olaf, she participated in numerous department and student directed productions including Blue Window, The American Clock, Assassins, Appalachian Dream, The Threepenny Opera, Pippin, and the Pat Quaid Student One Act Festival each spring. She studied voice with Janis Hardy and Jim McKeel.

Since graduation in 2006, she’s worked with The Great River Shakespeare Festival (Romeo and Juliet, Cymbeline), Frank Theatre (Mother Courage and Her Children, Vinegar Tom), Skylark Opera (Lost in the Stars, The Student Prince, Our Town, Naughty Marietta), and Minneapolis Music Theatre (Jerry Springer: The Opera) among others.

Eva is currently rehearsing a new play entitled 3/1/81 which will premier in November at the Bryant Lake Bowl as a part of a short play festival.

Lunch Speaker

ANTON ARMSTRONG, Conductor, St Olaf College

Anton Armstrong is the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College and Conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, a position he assumed in 1990. He came to this position following ten years in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he served on the faculty of Calvin College and conducted the Campus Choir, the Calvin College Alumni Choir and the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus.

A graduate of St. Olaf College, Anton Armstrong earned a Master of Music degree at the University of Illinois and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University. He holds membership in several professional societies including the American Choral Directors Association, Choristers Guild, Chorus America, and the International Federation for Choral Music. He also serves as editor of a multicultural choral series for Earthsongs Publications and co-editor of the revised St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Dr. Armstrong is widely recognized for his work in the area of youth and children’s choral music. He served for over twenty years on the summer faculty of the American Boychoir School, Princeton, New Jersey and held the position of Conductor of the St. Cecilia Youth Chorale, a 75 voice treble chorus based in Grand Rapids, from 1981-1990. He has conducted the Troubadours, 30-voice boys’ ensemble of the Northfield Youth Choirs since 1991. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Boychoir School, the Board of Chorus America and the Board of Choristers Guild. In June 1998, he began his tenure as founding conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy.

Anton Armstrong has conducted the St. Olaf Choir in critically acclaimed solo concert performances at the 59th National Conference of the Music Educators National Conference in April 2004, the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music in August 2002, and at the 1999 National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Chicago, Illinois. In February 2005, The St. Olaf Choir shared the stage with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in presenting the finale concert for the national conference of the American Choral Directors Association at the new Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, California.

He has frequently conducted ensembles and appeared before regional and national gatherings of the American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, Choristers Guild, American Guild of Organists, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Organization of American Kodaly Educators and the Orff-Schulwerk Association. In August 1996 he was featured as a clinician at the Fourth World Symposium on Choral Music in Sydney, Australia and served in the same capacity in July 2008, at the Eighth World Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dr. Armstrong is active as a guest conductor and lecturer throughout North America, Europe, Scandinavia, Korea, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Venezuela, and the Caribbean. In June 2003, he was honored to serve as the first Peter Godfrey Visiting Professor of Choral Music at the University of Auckland, New Zealand and in Spring 2005, he served as the Visiting Housewright Scholar in the School of Music at Florida State University. In recent years he has guest conducted such noted ensembles as the Utah Symphony and Symphony Chorus, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Westminster Choir, the American Boychoir and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has also collaborated in concert with Bobby McFerrin and Garrison Keillor.

In 1992 Anton Armstrong made his European conducting debut at the International Band and Choir Festival in Brussels, Belgium and returned to Vienna, Austria in March 2000 to conduct the 25th anniversary concerts of this festival. He led the St. Olaf Choir on a concert tour of Denmark and Norway in 1993, which included a performance at the Bergen International Festival, Norway and in January 1997, he conducted the ensemble in a four-week concert tour to New Zealand and Australia. In June 2001 he guided the St. Olaf Choir on a three-week concert tour of Central Europe and returned to Norway with the St. Olaf Choir for a three-week performance tour in June 2005 which included a performance for Queen Sonja of Norway. The St. Olaf Choir will embark on a concert tour of the United Kingdom in May of 2009. In the summer of 2001, Dr. Armstrong conducted the World Youth Choir sponsored by the International Federation of Choral Music with concerts in Venezuela and the United States. In May 2005, the St. Olaf Choir and Anton Armstrong received a special invitation to perform for President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush and their guests for the National Day of prayer held in the East Room of the White House.

In January 2006, Baylor University selected Anton Armstrong from a field of 118 distinguished nominees to receive the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. The award is designed to honor great teachers, to stimulate discussion in the academy about the value of teaching and to encourage departments and institutions to value their own great teachers. He spent February-June 2007 in residency at Baylor University as a visiting professor.

During 2008-2009 Dr. Armstrong will serve as conductor of All-State Choirs in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. He is also leading choral festivals in the Smetana Hall, Prague, Czech Republic as well as Carnegie Hall, New York, and the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.. Additional guest conducting and lecturing engagements this season include appearances in Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, South Carolina, Kansas, Texas, and Kentucky.