Laura Macias is a Mexican American composer, native of El Paso, TX. Laura's music catalog includes works for chamber orchestra, art songs, chamber music and incidental music for the theatre. Macias received her Bachelors in Music Composition and Theory from the Petrie School of Music and her Masters in Composition from the Longy School of Music, where she was awarded the Nadia Boulanger scholarship. In 2005 she was selected to be a part of the European American Music Alliance, where she was awarded a scholarship to study in a composition program in Paris.
Laura is an active composer in the Boston area. Besides writing art music, Laura enjoys working with children; She currently teaches at ZUMIX; a non-profit music organization in East Boston, where she teaches piano, directs a childrens' musical theatre troupe and a childrens' chorus.
Melissa Sawatsky is currently completing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. She served as the 2010-2011 Contest Manager at PRISM international, as well as mentoring high school students in creative writing through the New Shoots program. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including OCW Magazine, Quills, Sad Magazine, Rhubarb, and emerge 2006.