7Generations Forward Project
Primary Team
With a talented group of caring individuals desiring a better future, we bring a variety of experience, knowledge, schooling and passion to the table. From our tutors, to facilitators and mentors, we believe in what we can do together, and how we can grow together.
Tamara~Lynn
Co-Founder/Owner/
Principal Artistic DirectorDirector
Tamara~Lynn Jonason, artist, ballerina, choreographer, performer, educator and visionary found herself tutoring math her high school years in Colorado while training 30 hours a week in ballet. Born in Dickinson, North Dakota in 1965 she found her way to Phoenix, Arizona by her eighteenth year. She attended Scottsdale, Glendale and Phoenix Community Colleges. Her vision in making the world a better place spans from being a volunteer, an ESL teacher, instructing adults continuing their education, designing curricula to teaching workshops for the youth.
She developed Arts in Education, taught and designed numerous curricula for Phoenix Center for the Arts, charter and private Montessori schools for over fifteen years throughout the Phoenix Metro Area. Her approach was one of interconnectedness while integrating essential core curricula with her own. Tamara~Lynn added an artistic tapestry for students to experience, comprehend and retain what was being taught. Workshops and weekly classes were uniquely titled; GeoSculpture, Art History With A Twist, Create Your Own Language, Exploring Cultural Dynamics, and Shadow Light and Illusion were several of her favorites. Each one held 'a place of their own' in the Phoenix Metro area.
In 1995, she Founded Phoenicia Diversified Cultural Studies Academy in Phoenix, Arizona. The emphasis was multi-generational connection through community participation while simultaneously creating artful experiences for public schooled children and youth who were home schooled. All enrichment classes were taught by a professional community members, which ranged from French, Italian, Japanese calligraphy and drafting, to ballet and performing arts.
Parents would call upon Tamara~Lynn to organize full time summer enrichment programs and workshops. She designed and taught curricula that embodied traditional fundamentals and infused them with the arts offering a variety such as: Music Appreciation, Poetry n Motion, Math Application in Daily Life, Your the Inventor, Responsible Actions with Each Other and Our Environment always including professionals and local businesses. Whether it was clock makers, piano builders or hot air ballon aeronauts, these unique interactions brought inspiration into the lives of her students.
Along with designing curricula and structuring educational platforms for schools and local centers, Tamara~Lynn spent several years home schooling her own daughter in the mid 90’s. More recently, she home schooled a brilliant high functioning autistic 16 year old.
Enthios Art Venue is a powerful landmark in Tamara~Lynn’s career. She, being the Founder and Artistic Director, cultivated art, integrated education and art workshops, offered experience in performance productions, collaborative music, dance and theatre were paramount. Tamara~Lynn curated art shows for internationally recognized artists, offered after school programs and hosted international and national events with and for the local community. It is proclaimed by many locals and herself, “What Enthios Art Venue brought to the community had a way of bringing everyone together in such a way that leaves a nostalgic hum in your heart.”
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Tamara~Lynn has acted since she was 11 years old in a variety of musicals, one women shows and plays throughout her life. Tamara~Lynn studied, trained and performed with Actors Workout in Phoenix, Arizona with Director Mary L. Daisy who trained with John Gielgud in New York, New York. With her uncle, Marty Jonason being a profession director and Acting Couch and her father being a director and designer,
Tamara~Lynn has been immersed into theatre, including production, her whole life.
Tamara~Lynn inspires to share her wide variety of acquired skill and talent ultimately enriching those around her.
Tamara~Lynn cares for her daughter, Natasha, after a medical injury left her paralyzed ten years ago. "Natasha is my 'Wisdom On Wheels' and my mentor," is how Tamara Lynn refers to her daughter. "Natasha shows me a new perspective and shares numerous profound insights with me every time we are together. Life can turn on us in strange and unpredictable ways. But no matter how devastating it can be; it is love, kindness, patience, adaptation and perseverance that can help you find you center. That is what Natasha teaches me," Tamara shares with a steadfast conviction.
Finding inner balance has been Tamara~Lynn’s antidote for transforming tragedy into possibility. As the Principal Founder and Director of 7Generations Forward Project LLC, she believes our triumph is found when we move through the challenges that face us. She reveals, “Our need to grow, share and design better systems is the soil for a viable future. Now is the time to remember how being stewards of our earth and living as compassionate intelligent beings we are the only seeds that truly prosper.”
Grateful to call Loveland her home, her heart is rooted in making the world a better place through linking the generations together through intercultural arts. Tamara~Lynn claims, "7Generations Forward Project is the ground where it all begins. You, the parents, the artists, the professionals, and as a community member are the key to unlocking the door. Now is the time."
Samantha Ross
Co-Founder/Advisor
As a 15th Generation Wudang Sanfeng Pai and 26th Generation Longmen Pai practitioner of the Daoist arts, Samalita incorporates skills and knowledge accumulated throughout her life and compiles the practice through Dao Moving Meditations.
Being raised with herbs for healing and home grown foods, schooling in holistic health and philosophy, and living several years immersed in an alternative wellness atmosphere, she brings a different perspective on life in general.
Seeing how everything is connected, she understands that with intentional movement, meditation, diet and thorough your environment, you can create a healthy, happy and harmonious life for yourself. It just requires you to step out of your own box.
Renaissance I Design
Marvin Jonason
Co-Founder/Creative Consultant/Advisor
My Masters Degree is in Theatre from Emporia University of Emporia, Kansas. I also hold a Bachelor of Science, Majors in Art & Secondary Education, Minor English from Dickinson State University Dickinson, North Dakota.
Beginning my Teaching career at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio Design into following my career into holding the Technical Director position in the Theatre Department at Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. Later, I chose the Assisting Professor Position in the Theatre Arts Department at Dickinson State University Dickinson, North Dakota and Assistant Professor in the Theatre Department for North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota with a focus on Lectures on Interior Design and for the Art Department. During my Career as Professor, I enjoyed teaching Speech Communications, Radio Broadcasting, Acting, Theatre History, Theatrical Design, Art and Art History, Theatre Acting, Design, Lighting, Interior Design Lighting and the History of Furniture. One of my specialty areas was serving on committees for developing programs for college curriculums for theatre and interior design.
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I established RENAISSANCE DESIGN STUDIO offering project consulting, commercial and residential design, production design for theatre and film, graphic and artistic paintings. My recent theatre productions include: “The Last Flapper," Main Stage in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and Designer, Technical Director, Lighting for Willo Mancifoot and the Mugga Killa Whomps a premier childrenʼs performance at The Auditorium in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. and produced and directed “The Bell of Amherst" at Enthios Art Venue in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Several recent Design and Build projects were for American CBD & Kava Bar in the Metro District of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Artist for two large Murals at Northwest Childrenʼs Shelter Bentonville, Arkansas. Additional Design and Build commissioned works range from a dynamic Moroccan Office for Cosmic Caverns to Museum Lighting at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, Minnesota. I have enjoyed remodeling and designing lighting for my daughter's 5,000 square foot venue Enthios Art Venue Eureka Springs, Arkansas and creating a Monet Experience Design and remodel through out Allen Shapiro Law Office in Minneapolis, Minnesota with numerous Theatrical Productions, Community Theatre Designs and Remodels in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Fontas Pizza Mural Design as Artist/Painter in Greeley, Colorado was one of my first large murals. I spent many years as professional Technical Consultant for lighting/rigging for Fargo Theatre and one of my favorite was my position as Resident Lighting/Designer with Red River Dance Company in Fargo, North Dakota.
