Caroline Bagesaanaatig Ferrante, MAEd/CI, is an award-winning musician, author, researcher, and multimodal storyteller whose work brings together song, movement, visual art, oral tradition, and community learning.

Drawing inspiration from Pawnee family traditions, Chesapeake Bay ecology, and contemporary educational research, she creates storytelling experiences that invite children and communities to learn through rhythm, embodiment, creativity, and shared meaning-making.

Caroline facilitates workshops and residencies in partnership with schools, libraries, museums, and community organizations. Her programs explore literacy through multiple modes of expression, including storytelling, music, movement, ledger art, environmental education, and hands-on making. Participants are encouraged to engage not only through words, but through image, gesture, sound, memory, and imagination.

Her book, Where Are the Fish?, incorporates artwork created from materials recovered from the Chesapeake Bay and serves as the foundation for interactive programs centered on environmental stewardship, Indigenous storytelling traditions, and multimodal learning. Children create their own art using reclaimed and natural materials while exploring how stories can be carried through many forms.

Caroline's work is also deeply informed by her Pawnee heritage. The name Bagesaanaatig, given to her by her grandfather, means plum. Plains traditions of reusing discarded ledgers and materials to create enduring works of beauty and memory continue to shape her artistic and educational practice.

Alongside her community work, Caroline serves as a Research Program Coordinator for Grants Made at Scale, a multi-institutional NSF initiative supporting undergraduate research and professional development. She is also a PhD researcher in Language, Literacy, and Culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she studies communication, participation, multimodal inquiry, and the many ways people create meaning together.

Across her artistic, educational, and scholarly work, Caroline seeks to expand our understanding of literacy, participation, and belonging by honoring the diverse ways people tell stories, share knowledge, and connect with one another.