SPAE Artists

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 Brian McNeill is a virtuoso on fiddle, viola, mandolin, cittern, bouzouki, bass, concertina, and hurdy-gurdy. Brian was the founder of the Battlefield Band in 1969, one of Scotland's best known folk ensembles. He is a leading writer of Scottish Song, has numerous recordings - solo and with other leading Scottish traditional musicians. In 2010, he released his twelfth solo album of original material. He has produced recording for many new and well-known folk artists, and has published 3 original mystery novels. He was head of Scottish Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD)) in Glasgow, Scotland from 2001-2008. Brian is a Master Teacher, able to motivate audiences and students of all ages. Visit www.brianmcneill.co.uk for more information. 

 
Jil Chambless, originally from Montgomery, AL, now resides in Tuscaloosa and has played an active role in the Celtic music scene for more than 20 years.  As singer and flute and whistle player, Jil has completed many recording projects and performed at Celtic festivals and concerts all over the USA, Canada, Scotland and Israel with Henri’s Notions, Ed Miller, The Vogt Family Contra Band, The Vulcan EEjits, and with guitarist Scooter Muse.  She teaches math at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. 

  Pacia Elaine is an Urban Bush Women SLI alumna, a 2020 New Leaders Council-St. Louis alumna, and a founding member of the youth-based art camp Cherokee Street Reach. A graduate of the Regional Arts Commission’s Community Arts (CAT) Institute, Pacia now heads the Institute as its program lead. She is a past Creative Director of the St. Louis Brick City Poetry Festival and a current Missouri Regional Coordinator for the NEA-sponsored Poetry Out Loud youth recitation competition. In 2020, Pacia became the St. Louis Visionary Awards’ “Community Impact Artist” Honoree.

Pacia is a consulting artist and has served as a national workshop facilitator with Americans for the Arts’ Artists at the Community Development Table initiative. An artist deeply invested in the neighborhood where she lives, Pacia has played key roles in the development of the Gravois-Jefferson Historic Neighborhoods Plan, stewardship and development of Love Bank Park, and member of numerous neighborhood-based community initiatives in the neighborhoods that surround the Cherokee Street corridor.