Creativity in Captivity

A national touring comedian who has appeared on Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central & Dry Bar Comedy. Josh is one of the most played artists on Sirius X/M radio and His comedy special, Josh Sneed: Live in the Dessert, was released in 2018 by Dry Bar Comedy. Clips from the special have been viewed more than 50 million times. He has performed at the prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Mon...

An award-winning foley artist at Skywalker Sound that has created and performed foley sound effects for over two hundred live action and animated films and TV series including such projects as Top Gun: Maverick, Jurrasic World Rebirth, F1, The Mandalorian, Andor, Toy Story 4, Inside Out 2 and Soul.   Her favorite projects include Black Panther:  Wakanda Forever and The Black Panther, Pixar’s Light...

An Academy-Award nominated, screenwriter, director and animator who co-wrote and co-directed the Pixar film Up in which he voiced the characters Dug and Alpha.  Prior to coming to Pixar, he wrote and illustrated the comic strip Loco Motives while attending Purdue.  He worked at Wavefront Technologies and Rezn8 Productions as a technical director and when hired by Pixar he started as an animator fo...

A professional fine art photographer based in Austin, Texas, Candice is driven by the allure of the unseen and the enigmatic. Her work delves into the mysteries that lie beyond the veil, exploring the world through a metaphysical lens. Utilizing diverse mediums such as water, glass, mirrors, and fabric, she strives to create ethereal and moody imagery that evokes a sense of otherworldliness. These...

Owen is the world record holder for the longest hang gliding flight out-and-return of 222 miles in Owens Valley, CA.  He has been selected to be a member of the US Men’s hang gliding team to compete in the World Championships this July in Ager, Spain. Owen is also member of the comedy juggling duo The Passing Zone with his partner Jon Wee. They began their professional journey by winning the Gold...

A 30-year working actor and respected acting coach that has played roles in films directed by Mel Brooks, Clint Eastwood, the Coen Brothers, and Woody Allen. Gregg starred in the films Revenge of the Nerds 3 and 4 and served as the spokesman “Dan the Del Taco Guy” for six years with 58 commercials. He portrayed Don Knotts in the NBC movie of week Behind the Scenes of Three’s Company. Later, he was...

A pair of New York City based playwrights & performers that create absurdist physical theatre and clown content.  This two-person theatre company is a three time consecutive recipient of the prestigious Fringe First Award for Outstanding New Writing for their plays "And Then The Rodeo Burned Down" (2022), "What If They Ate The Baby?" (2023), and “A Letter To Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads...

The founder of TheOnion.com, a best-selling author with over 30 published books including the million-copy #1 bestseller Our Dumb Century, and a creative catalyst and coach. In his 20s, he created the comic strip Jim’s Journal, which ran in over 100 college newspapers and spawned a self-published book collection that made the New York Times bestseller list. He helped create The Onion and led it fr...

A bestselling writer, public speaker, gender equality advocate, cofounder of the acclaimed Iceland Writers Retreat and former first lady of Iceland. She was born and raised in Canada but has lived in Iceland for over twenty years. Eliza’s first book, Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland’s Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World, was an instant bestseller in Canada and Iceland, a New Yo...

An Internationally acclaimed visual variety artist from Adelaide, Australia who excels in humor, magic, ventriloquism, and physical comedy. His hand shadow act has been seen by over 5 million people world-wide. Raymond’s beguiling bewitchery has delighted audiences on Broadway, the Royal Variety Performance, the Sydney Opera House and the London Palladium, to name just a few. You might also recogn...

A singer-songwriter and former frontman of The Ugly Americans and The Scabs, Bob Schneider is one of the most-celebrated musicians in Austin. Combining diverse styles, Schneider’s music spans genres, blending elements of folk, rock, rap, funk, bluegrass, reggae and country with the more traditional singer/songwriter aesthetic. Schneider has won more than 59 Austin Music Awards including: Best Albu...

A Senior Research Scientist at the Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence where she currently serves as the Director of the Creativity and Emotions Lab. Zorana is the author of the new book The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action. She is a regular contributor to Psychology Today and Creativity Post and co-editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Creat...

A Show Director and writer whose clients includes Disney, Disney Cruise Line, SeaWorld, the Tribeca Film Festival and the World Science Festival. Other clients include the BBC, TLC, ABC, Carnegie Hall, Scholastic Publishing, South Africa Tourism, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Light the Night for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of New York.  As an improviser Greg has worked with some of the...

A rock & roll marionette artist that brings to life the iconic rock performances of Jimmy Hendrix, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson and others by pulling a few strings. Lee Zimmerman, aka “The Puppet Guy” has been doing his show all over the world for more than 40 years. Some of the greatest names in music history come alive in a unique and amazing display of humor and skill. Lee was a regular perform...

A Los Angeles-based artist, writer, poet and actor whose art is full of vibrant texture and layers, exploring the depth and beauty of imperfection. As the third female solo dating game show host in television history, she brought her signature wit and charm to the nationally syndicated dating game show, BZZZ!, which reran on BUZZR TV in 2020. Annie is the author of three books: Just a Girl in the...

A Nuclear Engineer and environmentalist who spent the first ten years of her career redesigning nuclear reactors to make them safer and reducing the amount of waste they produce. Together with a classmate from MIT, she created and served as CEO for Transatomic Power, reimagining a 1960s design for a molten salt reactor. Leslie earned a Ph. D. in nuclear engineering with a research focus on computa...

An accomplished Electronic Dance Music DJ, producer and songwriter that plays worldwide at festivals, clubs and appears in Las Vegas as a part of his Wynn Nightlife residency. In 2011, Elliott was introduced to EDM and was instantly hooked. He remembers the first song he fell in love with was “First of the Year (Equinox)” by Skrillex. He focuses his production skills on EDM with some pop and hip-h...

As the Co-Artistic Director of Streb Extreme Action she ziplined across the Park Avenue Armory, scaled the walls of the Bergdorf building and danced on the spokes of the London Eye. Cassandre was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her investigation in movement began at the age of four with the sport of gymnastics. Over a span of twenty years as a competitive gymnast, she earned several state a...

A touring singer, custom songwriter & music arranger who performs as the high tenor for the R&B/Soul/Pop A Cappella group Ball in the House which as been featured on America’s Got Talent and in Cool Whip Commercials. In high school Wallace participated in All-State choirs, Solo and Ensemble competitions, and even had the opportunity to share his talents overseas in Europe. He pursued a degree in m...

One of the most renowned improv artists today best recognized from his 20 seasons as one of the stars of Whose Line Is It Anyway?  Colin currently tours the country with his two acclaimed shows – Asking For Trouble with Brad Sherwood. Colin & Brad had the honor of headlining at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. And then there is Hyprov: Improv Under Hypnosis with Master Hypnotist Asad which...

An award-winning playwright, screenwriter, journalist, ghostwriter, producer, and film director who has been featured in American Theater Magazine, The NY Times, NPR, Bust Magazine, and New York Magazine. Micheline's award-winning storytelling journey began with her daring debut Poop – A True Story, inspired by her avant-garde experience as a living art piece in a downtown NYC gallery. Micheline A...

A two-time Grammy Award winning American Roots musician and an 8th generation Louisiana Creole performer who leads the Zydeco Experience Band with accordion and vocals as they take their audiences on a multi-cultural tour of the world. The band creates a hypnotic mix of zydeco-roots-reggae-folk-soul-gospel and New Orleans jazz that is carefully crafted to lift spirits and force bodies onto the dan...

A preview of the Mystify Magic Festival in Las Vegas where mystique, wonder and empowerment blend seamlessly into one extraordinary event spotlighting women in the magical arts.  Mystify aims to be a transformative gathering, where magicians of all ages and backgrounds creatively connect to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and become stronger in their craft with historical programming that reveals...

An independent filmmaker and Hollywood trailblazer who made his mark by writing, directing, producing and starring in films like Hollywood Shuffle, The Five Heartbeats and Meteor Man. Robert returns to his theater roots in his one man show Living the Shuffle.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Austin Film Festival and a co-founder since it’s  inception in 1993, Barbara has shepherded the festival from a single weekend of films and panels into a week-long celebration of storytelling through film, television, and other emerging forms of narrative media. Recognized as the prominent festival that champions screenwriters and media creators, the festival als...