Sally Dix is the Executive Director for Bravo Greater Des Moines, a nonprofit organization in central Iowa that leverages community resources from 17 local partner governments to maximize the impact of arts, culture and heritage on advancing regional priorities.  Bravo is primarily funded through hotel-motel taxes and has invested more than $50 million to support the cultural sector since 2006.

 Dix has an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins, both in Environmental Science and Policy.  She also earned her MBA from the University of Iowa.  

Website: http://bravogreaterdesmoines.org

Facebook Page: @BravoGreaterDesMoines         

Katie Byers is a former attorney turned entrepreneur and an avid music lover. She is the Founder & CEO of HomeDitty, a web based software built specifically for house concert hosts that launched into Beta testing in February 2017. HomeDitty connects musicians directly with house concert hosts, automates the entire hosting process and facilitates online payments to the musicians including a crowdfund payment option. Since its inception, hundreds of house concerts have been hosted through HomeDitty with over 500 host signups in 40 different states. HomeDitty was created and inspired by Katie’s love of hosting house concerts, to get more people across the country hosting private house concerts and to create an additional revenue stream for musicians.

Katie is a graduate of The University of Iowa and The University of Iowa College of Law.  She received the David Hurd Community Supporter of the Year award from the Des Moines Music Coalition in 2017 in recognition for her dedication to hosting local house concerts and for helping create home venues across the country. Katie resides in Des Moines, Iowa with her husband, Jay and their two teenage daughters, Sophie and Charlotte.

Twitter:  @homeditty

Facebook:  @homeditty                                            

Website:  https://www.homeditty.com/                   

Jay Byers is CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership. The Partnership is the regional economic and community development organization serving Central Iowa with 24 Affiliate Chambers of Commerce and a network of more than 6400 regional members.

Byers is a Certified Chamber Executive (CCE), graduate of the U.S Chamber of Commerce Institute of Organization Management (IOM), graduate of the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute (OUEDI) and graduate of Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives’ (ACCE) Ford Foundation Regionalism and Sustainable Development Fellowship. Byers currently serves as Vice Chair of ACCE and on the Executive Committee of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, the General Council of the World Chambers Federation and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100. He is a member of the Professional Developers of Iowa, Iowa Association of Business and Industry and International Economic Development Council. Byers also serves on the boards of Simpson College, Catch Des Moines, Greater Des Moines Committee, ChildServe, Balance Autism and Keep Iowa Beautiful. He also is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization. Byers is a graduate of Simpson College and the University of Iowa College of Law. He resides in Des Moines, Iowa with his wife, Katie, and two daughters, Sophie and Charlotte.

Twitter: @DSMPartnership 

Facebook:  @DSMPartnership                                                  

Website: https://www.dsmpartnership.com/                  

Tobi Parks is the creator and Executive Director of Station 1 Records, a non-profit 501(c)(3) artist development and entrepreneurship organization dedicated to the patronage and development of independent artists on the regional and national stage.  Prior to her starting the non-profit, she was Director of Copyright at Sony Music where she worked with Sony’s Columbia Records, Epic Records, and RCA Records labels.  She has a long history working in media having worked for a number of years as a Programming and Promotions Associate for Clear Channel Broadcasting and as Director of Marketing and Public Relations with the PBS produced series, In the Life.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications, a Master of Arts in Media Literacy from Webster University in St. Louis, and a Juris Doctor from Drake University in Des Moines, IA. She is a musician that has played bass in the NYC glam-punk band Bambï, Toronto-based The Cliks, St. Louis-based acts The Star Death, Is That You?, and Grandpa’s Ghost.  As a solo performer and session player, she has worked with Cyndi Lauper, Margaret Cho, Darin Gray, Tim Garrigan, Keith Rowe, Mark Shippy, and video artist James Fotopoulos.  She has composed for stage, television and film.       

Twitter: @station1records

Facebook: @station1records                                        

Website: www.station1records.com                  

Jose Cordon by birth is a southern Cali raised street photographer based out of the LBC, a seaside city regularly referred to as Long Beach, CA. With an affinity for industrialism and the makeup of city life, Deadendbrigade is constantly in search of the montage that make up urban landscapes and the images they create.

Instagram: @deadendbrigade

Website: https://www.deadendbrigade.com

She is a staple at Hamburger Mary’s, where she is the entertainment director for its 19 locations nationwide. But outside of the weekly drag brunches she hosts, Jewels has also become a powerful fundraiser. Her efforts have helped raise money for entities like the LGBTQ Center, the International Imperial Court of Long Beach and the Arts Council for Long Beach. 

Instagram: @jewelslongbeach

Twitter: @jewelslongbeach

Facebook: @jewelslongbeach

She was born and raised in the wonderful city of Long Beach, California. and has a passion for art and creativity. Davison launched Art Realm in the summer of 2017, a tight-knit community of emerging artists, ranging from filmmakers to painters, sculptors to zine-makers, that make up one of the city’s most visible groups of visual artists.

Instagram: @lilbrandie | @art.realm.collective

Griselda Suarez was born in unincorporated East Los Angeles and grew up in a place where her thoughts did not easily find voice; instead, she found a pen and paper. She believes that the arts are essential in empowering others to express their thoughts. Throughout her career, she has created programming and training dedicated to facilitating transformation and creating agency for her communities. In 2016, she became the Executive Director of the Arts Council for Long Beach and currently serves as an advisor for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors’ Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative council, representing the fourth supervisorial district. She has taught at Cal State Long Beach for the Chicano and Latino Studies department since 2006. Griselda was awarded “40 under 40” by the LB Post for her leadership in the arts and her resiliency in battling cancer. She Suarez is dedicated to Long Beach and loves contributing to the city because she strongly believes in the impact arts has on residents’ lives. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in Aunt Lute Press, Seal Press, NCOC Press, Acentos Literary Review, Finishing Line Press and Sinister Wisdom Journal. Her artistic career has involved being an apprentice with world renowned muralist Paul Botello, producing an event for the National Queer Arts Festival featuring New York Times Bestseller Dorothy Allison, and being a Lambda Literary Fellow for two years. She graduated from Pitzer of Claremont Colleges with a BA in Studio Art and Latin American Literature. She also holds a Master of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She and her wife, Amy Eriksen of Angels Gate Cultural Center, run arts nonprofits. During the height of the pandemic, they had assistance from their three cats, AKA nap consultants.

Mainframe Studios director Siobhan Spain has over 25 years of experience in arts administration as an advocate of individual artists. She managed contemporary art nonprofit SITE Santa Fe, the studio office of MacArthur Fellow and blacksmith Tom Joyce, and Mary Goldman Gallery in Los Angeles. Siobhan has served in committee and board roles for Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines Public Art Foundation, Los Angeles Times’ foundation, and Women, Food & Agriculture Network.

Website: mainframestudios.org

Instagram: @mainframearts

Facebook: @mainframearts

Deshara Bohanna is the owner of Design Fetish by Deshara, member of her local school board and an active community volunteer. After earning a BA in Journalism at University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and pursuing a graduate degree at Iowa State University, Deshara worked in corporate America for more than 10 years. In 2016, she decided to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams in the wreath and floral industry. At Design Fetish, Deshara’s mission is to create beautiful conversation pieces and décor that uplift, inspire and celebrate life’s special moments, even when they’re hard to find. Deshara’s designer wreaths are now sold in local hospital boutiques, gift shops and a top purchase item for realtors, event planners, restaurants and hotels.

Website: bydeshara.com

Instagram: @designfetish_wreaths

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bydeshara

Gretchen Bohling is a graduate of The Illinois Institute of Art - Chicago with her BFA in Fashion Design. Her fashion brand, Gretchen Bohling Design, launched in 2016 with a mission to provide the highest quality sustainably handmade wardrobe. Gretchen's brand works hard to educate her clients on how to maintain an ethical wardrobe through the several different services she provides at her downtown Des Moines atelier. GBD offers a size-inclusive private label collection of handmade-to-order garments, one of a kind bespoke garments, custom tailoring and alterations services, and hosts private sewing lessons. Gretchen is adjunct Professor at Des Moines Area Community College where she recently partnered with her students and faculty to make and donate masks to local healthcare employees and essential workers.

Website: gretchenbohling.com

Instagram: @gretchenbohling

Facebook: Gretchen Bohling Design - GBD

Pinterest: Gretchen Bohling Design

Nancy Lowden Norman leads the vision of one of the top nonprofit artists' communities in the world, with input from stakeholders, including its Trustees, national artistic advisory board, artists, members, and the community at large. Founded by Doris Leeper in 1977, Atlantic Center for the Arts is an interdisciplinary artist-in-residence community located on 68 pristine acres in New Smyrna Beach, FL.  The program’s hallmark is mentorship offered by distinguished contemporary artists – Pulitzer-Prize winners, Guggenheim Fellows, Grammy-Award winners – during a three-week residency with 24 emerging and mid-career artists. Nancy oversees daily operations, and artistic and fiscal management, and is responsible for a premier residency program. She is also in charge of the management of Arts on Douglas Fine Arts & Collectibles Gallery, representing 50 Florida artists, and diverse programs engaging the community through arts education and multigenerational events in Arts & Wellness. Through her 24-year tenure, 13 years in an executive position, she has also experienced more than 125 residencies as part of its Artists-in-Residence Program. 

An advocate for Atlantic Center for the Arts and the field of Artists’ Communities nationwide, Nancy completed the Certificate in Philanthropic Fundraising from Rollins College Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Center, Winter Park, FL, and the Leadership Development Program at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC. She received an MS in Mass Communication from San Diego State University, a BS in Journalism from the University of Florida, and is on the Board of the Volusia County Cultural Alliance. She has presented at conferences including, THE CREATIVE AGE, Global Perspectives on Creativity and Aging held in Washington DC, the Florida Alliance for Arts Education, and the Alliance of Artist Communities, among many others. She is also the editor of Doris Leeper: Legacy of a Visionary, a book published by the Florida Historical Society in 2017.  

Website: www.atlanticcenterforthearts.org

Follow Atlantic Center for the Arts on Social Media:

Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter

Born 1973, Bronx, New York, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz is a nationally and internationally recognized, award winning interdisciplinary visual and performance artist. Honors include: Art and History Museum Maitland 2019-20 Artists in Action awardee, UCF 2018 Woman of Distinction Award, UCF LIFE award, 2018 Research Incentive Award, 2017 UCF Luminary Award; 2016 Franklin Furnace Grant for performance;  2016 United States Artist Fellow nominee; UCF’s 2016 Woman Making History honoree; 2016 Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition semifinalist, 2015 Orlando Museum of Art Florida Prize in Contemporary Art finalist; 2013 Creative Capital “On Our Radar” honorable mention; 2011 UCF Keeper of the Creed Award in Creativity.

Raimundi-Ortiz was class of 2008 Rutgers University Mason Gross School of Art Ralph Bunche Fellow; AAS 1998 Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alum, 2002. Selected exhibitions include The Florida Prize in Contemporary Art, Orlando Museum of Art 2015, Identify: Performance as Portraiture series, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery 2017, Project 35: Last Call, Garage Museum, Moscow, Russia, Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain 2010, American Chambers, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Changwong City, South Korea 2011, Performa 05 biennial, Artist Space, NY; The S Files 05 and Artist in the Marketplace 25, Bronx Museum of the Arts; Gallery @ Hostos; The L Factor, Exit Art, New York. 

Collections include: The Cornell Fine Art Museum at Rollins College, The Orlando Museum of Art, FL, El Museo del Barrio, NY, Jersey City Museum of Art, NJ, Dr. Robert Feldman, and numerous private collections. She is an associate professor at the University of Central Florida.

Website: www.raimundiart.com

Instagram: @Wanda_Raimundi

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WepaWoman

Lexa Walsh is an artist, cultural worker and experience maker based in Oakland, CA. She employs social engagement, radical hospitality, performance, sculpture, installation, text and institutional critique in her projects, objects, and exhibitions. Her works become places for conversation, storytelling, collecting and classifying, and address subjects such as labor, power, and value.  

Walsh is a graduate of Portland State University’s Art & Social Practice MFA program and was Social Practice Artist in Residence in Portland Art Museum’s Education department. She was a recipient of Southern Exposure’s Alternative Exposure Award, the CEC Artslink Award, the Gunk Grant, the de Young Artist Fellowship, and Kala’s Print Public Residency Award. Walsh has participated in projects, exhibitions, and performances locally at the de Young, di Rosa, Exploratorium, Kala, Oakland Museum of California, NIAD, SFMOMA, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  She has shown nationally at Apexart, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Portland Art Museum, Smack Mellon, Walker Art Center, Williams College Museum of Art, and has participated in several international artist residencies, tours, and projects in Europe and Taiwan.

Her upbringing as the youngest child of fifteen informs her work, as does practicing collectivity while coming of age in the Bay Area post-punk cultural scene of the 1990’s.  She founded the experimental music and performance venue the Heinz Afterworld Lounge, worked for many years as a curator and administrator at CESTA, an international art center in Czech republic, whose team created radical curatorial projects to foster cross-cultural understanding. Walsh co-founded and conceived of the all-women, all-toy instrument ensemble Toychestra. She founded and organizes Oakland Stock, the Oakland branch of the Sunday Soup network micro-granting dinner series that supports artists’ projects, and the Bay Area Contemporary Arts Archive. She has been Culinary Artist in Residence at Atlantic Center for the Arts since 2014.

Website: www.lexawalsh.com

Adriana Grino (she/her/hers) is the Program Officer for the Rainin Foundation’s Arts Program. She collaborates with the Director and Associate Director of Arts Strategy & Ventures on grantmaking activities, and developing and implementing new initiatives. She currently serves as: the co-chair for the Arts Loan Fund at Northern California Grantmakers, Funding Advisory Committee member at the City of Oakland and member of Grantmakers in the Arts Support for Individual Artist Committee. Adriana came to the Foundation from Galería de la Raza, a non-profit community arts space based in the San Francisco Mission District that is dedicated to advancing intercultural dialogue, where she served as the Curatorial and Special Program Manager. She is a former fellow of the Harmony Initiative, a program of Justice Funders, which supports professional grantmakers in strengthen and ground their philanthropic practice in principles of equity and social justice. Adriana has a BA in Art History and Archaeology from Tufts University.

Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik is an artist, writer, and educator based in Oakland, California whose work has been called a “joyous political critique.” Her community-centered projects use craft, photography, and food to tell the stories migration and displacement. Sita is a co-founder of People's Kitchen Collective and teaches the interdisciplinary course A Taste of Resistance at California College of the Arts in Diversity Studies. She holds a BA in Studio Art from Scripps College, an MFA in interdisciplinary art and an MA in Visual and Critical Studies from California College of the Arts. Sita has exhibited internationally and is currently working on her first book forthcoming from Kaya Press. 

Website: www.sitabhaumik.com | www.peopleskitchencollective.com

Jocelyn Jackson’s passion for seasonal food, social justice, creativity, and community is rooted in a childhood spent on the Kansas plains. Her family would sing a song before sharing a soulful meal. Since then, Jocelyn has practiced law, taught environmental science and ethics, become a yoga instructor, and created performance and visual art. Her inspiring international experiences include serving in the Peace Corps in West Africa and teaching in an ecovillage in Southern India. Jocelyn has presented on the principles of community nourishment at Court Bouillon in Southern France and back home in Oakland for the Fusion of Food and Yoga series at Anasa Yoga. She enjoys collaborating with a wide range of wonderful people and organizations including People’s Community Market, BALLE, Bryant Terry, Life is Living, Impact HUB Oakland, MOAD, Kitchen Table Advisors, NUMI Tea, YES!, and Late Nite Art. She is beginning her fourth year of full hearted cooking. Jocelyn founded JUSTUS KITCHEN to continue to create food experiences that inspire people to reconnect with themselves, the earth, and one another. And she still begins every meal with a song. justuskitchen.com

Website: justuskitchen.com | www.peopleskitchencollective.com

Linda Steele is the Founder and CEO of ArtUp, an idea incubator and business accelerator that breaks down barriers to the creative economy; nurtures ideas that drive social change; and launches artists into creative entrepreneurship.

ArtUp initially began as an idea during Steele’s leadership as Chief Engagement Officer at ArtsMemphis. Accomplishments during her tenure include creating an arts-based community development grant portfolio, the Engagement Transforms Communities (ETC ) grants, and launching a Community Engagement Fellowship to build the capacity of Memphis artists and neighborhood leaders in the field. She is the visionary and driving force behind the transformation of an abandoned storefront and former liquor store into an art gallery and community flex space called OMG in Orange Mound, Memphis, Tennessee.

This work has allowed her opportunities to present on creative placemaking and the power of arts, creativity, and innovation to revitalize disinvested communities at conferences and workshops across the country and around the world.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Linda has used her entrepreneurial expertise in the past to help open the first arts-based private pre-school in Park Slope, Brooklyn. She has served in leadership positions at Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education, The Art Institute of Chicago, and Cool Culture, Inc., and has an extensive background in youth development and education. She is a graduate of both Amherst College and Harvard University. Her work at ArtUp and ArtsMemphis has received numerous honors and
awards including: the inaugural Robert E. Gard Award from Americans for the Arts; a 2016 and 2017 Artworks grant from The National Endowment for the Arts; membership in the 2016-17 PlaceLab Salon Sessions in Chicago, Illinois; and selection as a 2017-18 member of NEW INC in New York City, the first museum-led incubator dedicated to supporting innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship across art, design, and technology. Steele is the host of The Artivism Podcast on The OAM Network where she interviews artists, musicians, activists, and creatives who work at the intersection of art and social activism.

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/lindapsteele

Brittney Boyd Bullock of Memphis, Tennessee, has worked as Project Manager for the Urban Art Commission managing Memphis’ largest public art archive and as the Partnerships and Community Engagement Manager for Crosstown Concourse & Crosstown Arts overseeing a variety of collaborative creative programs and exhibitions.

She now holds the position of Director of Youth Programs for the Memphis Music Initiative helping to build sustainable relationships with Memphis' youth while implementing youth-led and youth-driven programs. Her journey of cultivating trust and lasting relationships has helped to naturally create opportunities for collaboration with various communities, organizations, and artists that invite participation from a broad range of backgrounds and expertise. 

As a mentor and former fellow of the Robert E. Gard award ArtUp Fellowship, her interests in community engagement and social change has led her to an artistic practice that embraces artists to redefine why they create, how they create, and for what purposes. As a freelance artist, she is most interested in art that questions notions of identity and culture, with power and ownership. Her work and process engage ideas of trust, beauty, and memory.

Instagram: @dontblink_bb

Sharon M. Louden is an artist, educator, advocate for artists, editor of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books, and the Artistic Director of the Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institution.  Louden's work is held in major public and private collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art, Arkansas Arts Center, Yale University Art Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. Louden is also active on boards and committees of various not-for-profit art organizations and volunteers her time to artists to further their careers. Sharon is a consultant for Creative Capital and the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and currently a faculty member in the MFA Fine Arts program at the School of Visual Arts in New York as well as Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. She is also a member of the Artist Advisory boards of the New York Foundation for the Arts, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency and the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation. Sharon is also the editor of the popular Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Essays by 40 Working Artists and The Artist as Culture Producer: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life, published by Intellect Books and distributed by the University of Chicago Press. 

Website: www.sharonlouden.com | www.livesustain.org

Twitter:  @LoudenStudio

Instagram: @SharonLouden

Julia Bloom is an artist who makes paintings, drawings and sculpture. She is also the creator of Freight Gallery, a small pop-up exhibition space in a freight elevator. She studied at Berklee College of Music, Boston Museum School, and Maryland Institute College of Art.  Her work has been exhibited at Addison Ripley Fine Art in Washington, DC; Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, VA; Lucky Street Gallery in Key West, FL; Salzland Museum in Schoenebeck, Germany; the Katzen Arts Center at American University in Washington, DC; along with other regional and national galleries. Bloom was awarded Artist Fellowship Program Grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2014, an Individual Artist Grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, a fellowship from the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and seven fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Publications and articles about Bloom’s work are in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Northern Virginia Magazine, Poet Lore, Southern Accents and New American Paintings.  Bloom’s work is in several public and private collections, including the University of Virginia School of Law, Wheat First Securities and the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru. Bloom lives and works in Washington, DC and is represented by Addison Ripley Fine Art.

Website: http://www.juliabloom.net/

Twitter: @juliasbloom  

In 2015 Eric Booth was given Americans for the Arts' Arts Education Leadership Award, and was named one of the 25 most influential people in the arts in the U.S. He began as a Broadway actor, and became a businessman (his company became the largest of its kind in the U.S. in 7 years), and author of seven books, the most recent are Playing for Their Lives (about the global El Sistema Movement) and Tending the Perennials: The Art and Spirit of a Personal Religion and The Music Teaching Artist's Bible.  He has been on the faculty of Juilliard (12 years), Tanglewood (5 years), The Kennedy Center (20 years), and Lincoln Center Education (for 40 years, where now he is a leader of their Teaching Artist Development Labs). He serves as a consultant for many arts organizations (including seven of the ten largest U.S. orchestras), cities, states and businesses around the U.S.. A frequent keynote speaker, he gave the closing keynote to UNESCO's first world arts education conference, and he founded the International Teaching Artist Conferences, and founded the Teaching Artist Journal, and is the only recipient of an honorary doctorate for teaching artistry. 

Websites:

http://ericbooth.net/

http://tendingtheperennials.com/

Victor Sawyer is a freelance trombonist based in Memphis, TN. Currently Sawyer serves as an Instrumental Instructor at the world famous Stax Music Academy, working with middle school and high school age musicians in a “pop” band ensemble and as the Senior Fellowship Coach for the Memphis Music Initiative, supporting a team of ten professional music Teaching Artists serving in traditionally underserved communities. 

As a performer he has recorded at legendary studios such as Sun, Royal, and Ardent. Sawyer has also performed with Memphis legends such as 8Ball and MJG, Valerie June, Steve Cropper, and many more. 

Victor Sawyer attended the Manhattan School of Music for a Masters Degree in Jazz Performance, While in NYC Sawyer performed at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, the Jazz Standard, the Bowery Poetry Club, etc. Abroad he has had the honor of performing at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands and the Veneto Jazz Festival in the Veneto region of Italy. 

Rishard Allen is the Director of Grant Services at the Arts Council of Indianapolis, working with artists and arts organizations to maintain the financial viability of the arts and culture sector in Indianapolis and to promote and elevate Indianapolis as a thriving cultural destination in the Midwest. His portfolio includes $1.8M in organizational grants and individual artist fellowships and over $10M in COVID-19 relief funding. As a grantmaker, Rishard values the opportunity to make deep financial investments in individuals and organizations with strong commitments toward innovation, creativity, and community impact. 

Rishard is an Indianapolis-native who graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 2017 with a B.S. in Arts Management and a minor in Psychology. Since graduating, Rishard has served as a Program Director at Arts for Learning Indiana and has assisted WolfBrown, a national nonprofit research consulting firm, with an evaluation of The Kennedy Center’s Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child program. Rishard is also a Board Member of the IndyHub Foundation and recently served on the inaugural Americans for the Art’s Arts & Culture Leaders of Color Steering Committee. 

Website: https://indyarts.org/

Twitter: @artscouncilindy and @RishardDAllen

Instagram: @artscouncilindy

Facebook: @indyarts

Shamira Wilson is an interdisciplinary artist based in Indianapolis, IN. She holds a BA in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University, has studied Furniture Design at the Herron School of Art, and attended a residency at the Haystack Mountain School of Craft. Her work has been exhibited in Indianapolis at venues including the Indiana State Museum and Indianapolis Contemporary.

Website: https://shamirawilson.com/

Instagram: @shamirawilson

Allyson Esposito is a professional artist, arts administrator, change management consultant and lawyer with more than ten consecutive years of experience in the philanthropic field. In each of the philanthropy roles she has held, Esposito has led comprehensive change, designing and implementing new strategies, programs and systems to support a new vision that addresses areas of highest need and greatest opportunity, often in response to large scale, municipally-led cultural planning efforts. 

She currently serves as the Senior Director of Arts & Culture for the Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s Community Foundation and one of the largest community foundations in the nation, with net assets of $1 billion. Relocating to Boston during a critical “arts renaissance” for the city, Esposito designed a large-scale philanthropic response to the city’s first large-scale cultural plan, Boston Creates. One of her programs, Live Arts Boston (LAB), has been hailed as most well-known, field-changing grant programs for the arts in Greater Boston. In three years, LAB has supported 185 projects and more than 450 artists (70% of whom identify as people of color) with nearly $3 million to create, present or produce new work for Greater Boston audiences.  A recent WBUR article about LAB noted that, since its inception, “the arts in Boston is demonstrably more vibrant.”

Esposito came to Boston from her hometown of Chicago, where she worked for the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) as the Director of Cultural Grantmaking, leading efforts to strategically restructure all grant programs for the first time in 20 years, ultimately designing and managing 4 programs awarding more than 250 grants per year. Prior to DCASE, she was Program Officer for the Mayer & Morris Kaplan Family Foundation during a time of significant organizational and leadership transition.

In addition to being the Co-Founder and Director of Jean Appolon Expressions (JAE), Jean Appolon is a successful choreographer and master teacher based in Boston and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Appolon received his earliest training and performance opportunities in Port-au-Prince with the Lynn Williams Rousier Dance School, the Viviane Gauthier Dance Company and the Folkloric Ballet of Haiti. Appolon continued his dance education in the U.S. at the Harvard and Radcliffe Dance Program (1995-1996, Boston, MA), Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (1996-1998, New York, NY) and the Joffrey American Ballet School (1998-2003, New York, NY), where he graduated with a B.A. from a joint degree program offered by The New School. 

Appolon has also performed with Elma Lewis Productions (Black Nativity), Marlene Silva, North Star Ballet Company (Fairbanks, AL), Black Door Dance Company (Miami, FL), and the Atlantic City Ballet Company. Jean Appolon teaches dance at Boston Ballet’s City Dance and Boys in Motion programs, The Gold School, Wellesley College, UMass Boston and The Dance Complex (Cambridge, MA), among other locations. Beginning in 2006, Appolon conceived and has since directed a free annual summer dance course in Port-au-Prince that serves young, aspiring Haitian dancers who do not have regular access to dance training. The 2019 Summer Dance Institute is being held in Lawrence, MA for the first time this year, in partnership with Izizwe Dance Studio and Bread and Roses. 

Jean Appolon’s Boston-based Haitian Contemporary dance company has toured to Washington DC, Silver Springs, MD, NYC and Port Au Prince, Haiti. JAE has also performed at major venues such as Boston’s Paramount Theater, John Hancock Hall and Silver Spring MD Civic Center, as well as in city parks and community spaces in free performances accessible to the public. JAE also has performed at many schools and colleges, including Boston University, American Universtiy, Dartmouth College, Dean College, Harvard University, Lesley College, Northeastern University and Wheaton College. JAE has been fortunate to share the stage with celebrities such as Danny Glover, Henry Louis Gates and Edwidge Danticat, and to collaborate with community partners such as Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), Central Square Theater CityPop Egleston and the Irish Immigration Center of Boston.

Facebook: Jean Appolon Expressions

Website: https://jeanappolonexpressions.org/