Caron Atlas: is the director of the Arts & Democracy, which supports the cross fertilization of culture, participatory democracy, and social justice. She also directs NOCD-NY, the Naturally Occurring Cultural District Working Group and teaches at Pratt Institute for Sustainable Planning and Development. Previously she worked at Appalshop, the Appalachian media center, and was the founding director of the American Festival Project, a national coalition of activist artists. She has also worked with National Voice, Animating Democracy, Pratt Center for Community Development, Urban Institute, Dance Theater Workshop, Network Ensemble Theaters, and been a foundation consultant. Caron is co-editor of Bridge Conversations and Critical Perspectives, and contributor to Beyond Zuccotti Park, Toward a 21st City for All, and the Cultural Blueprint for New York City. She is on the district and steering committees for participatory budgeting in New York. Caron was a Warren Weaver Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation, an alumnus of Coro’s Leadership New York, and received her BA and MA from the University of Chicago.

Arthur Aviles: was born in Jamaica Queens and grew up in Long Island and Bronx. He received a B/A from Bard College in Theatre/Dance. He has also received the Charles Flint Kellogg Award for Arts and Letters from his alma mater in ’95. He was a member of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance company from ’87 to ’95. Mr. Aviles was honored as a performer from the New York Dance and performance (Bessie) Awards for a series of performances with the Jones/Zane co. in ’89. In ’96 he created his Bronx based dance company Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre (AATT). He is a NYFA Fellow and has received the Mayor’s Award for Art and Culture. In December ’98 , he and his partner Charles Rice-Gonzalez inaugurated a performance space, The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!), producing 4 festivals a year. In ’02 AATT founded The Bronx Dance Coalition which strengthens and supports professional dancers and dance companies based in the Bronx and produces the Bronx Dance magazine.

Victoria B Bailey: is Executive Director of Theater Development Fund (TDF), the only non-for-profit organization dedicated to serving the entire spectrum of the performing arts with programs that touch the lives of millions of New Yorkers and visitors each year. Its tkts booths and its membership, education, subsidy, access and dance programs all further its core mission. Ms. Bailey was also instrumental in the execution of a comprehensive study of the lives of American Playwrights and the production of new American Plays. The study culminated in Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play written by Todd London with Ben Pesner and Zannie Giraud Voss, published in 2009. Prior to her appointment at TDF, she had a nearly 20- year association with Manhattan Theater Club. Ms. Bailey is an Adjunct Professor at the School of the Arts, Columbia University, and is a member of the boards of the Times Square Alliance and the Non Profit Coordinating Committee. She has served two terms on the Tony Awards Nominating Committee. Ms. Bailey received a BA in history from Yale College.

Hollis Bartlett: was born in Barrington, IL and began dancing at a young age. His love of performing stuck with him as his family moved to Cape Cod, MA before he began high school. In May 2010 Hollis graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Dance. Since graduation he has had the pleasure of working with Doug Varone and Dancers, Brian Brooks Moving Company, Adam Barruch, and the Metropolitan Opera.

Monica Blum: is an attorney who spent more than 25 years in government and the nonprofit s founding President of sector before becoming the founding President of the Lincoln Square BID in October 1996. Ms. Blum began her career as an Assistant to Congressman Ed Koch and went on to assume senior positions in government; from 1990-1995, Ms. Blum served as the Executive Director of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Appointments and under Mayors Dinkins and Giuliani. In 2002 Ms. Blum was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to the Mayor’s Committee on Appointments from 2004 until 2013 she was a member of the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board. She is the former President, current board member and Co-Chair of the Mentoring Committee of the New York City BID Association, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Chinatown Partnership.
Ms. Blum is responsible for creating Winter’s Ever at Lincoln Center Square, NY’s largest holiday festival, held annually since 2000. This outdoor event features free musical performances, including specially choreographed dance performances, outdoor food tastings, and more. Ms. Blum graduated from Connecticut College in 1965, received a Masters in Arts and Russian Literature from NYU In 1967, and a law degree from New York Law School in 1980. Ms. Blum resides in Manhattan with her husband Robert P. Lemieux, whom she met in City Hall. They have two grown children.

Dick Caples: In his 30 years as Executive Director of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company (one of the longest such tenures in dance), Caples has provided the resources so that Lar Lubovitch could create more than 60 new dances for the company.He has produced more than 2,000 performances, seen live by more than a million people in more than 20 foreign countries and 30 American states.He has served on panels of various national and regional arts organizations, and currently serves on the boards of the Lubovitch Company and Doug Varone and Dancers.For 14 years he served on the board (and in various officer positions) of Dance/USA.He was educated at Yale, Johns Hopkins and Cornell.After practicing law in New York City with Sherman & Sterling, in 1983 he was appointed Executive Director of the Santa Fe Festival Theater.In 1984 he returned to New York and joined the Lubovitch Company in his present capacity.In 2010, Dance/USA presented him with the Ernie Award, in honor of his service to the entire field of dance.

Cecilia Clarke: is President and CEO of the Brooklyn Community Foundation. For more than 20 years, she has successfully managed and developed nonprofit organizations in the greater New York City area, with an emphasis on community and cultural advancement. Cecilia joined the Foundation in September 2013 after more than a decade as Executive Director of the Sadie Nash Leadership Project, an innovative educational leadership program she founded in 2001 for low-income young women from New York City and Newark, NJ. Cecilia built Sadie Nash from an inaugural class of 16 girls in 2002 to an annual roster of more than 500 participants. Under her leadership, Sadie Nash was awarded the 2010 New York Times Company Gold Prize for Overall Management Excellence. Prior to establishing Sadie Nash, Cecilia enjoyed a successful career in arts management. She led the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, was Associate Director of The Drawing Center, and was responsible for government fundraising at the Brooklyn Museum. She got her start as a social worker, counseling women at Fountain House, a “clubhouse” program for the mentally ill. Cecilia received her B.A. from Georgetown University. She lives in Fort Greene with her husband and three children.

Anne Coates: joined the Municipal Art Society in 2011. She is responsible for the arts portfolio at MAS as part of its livable city platform. She also leads strategy development for the organization, as well as special initiatives, including community-based planning and arts activation in Brownsville, Brooklyn. She was Vice President at the Alliance for the Arts from 1996-2011, directing special projects including the large-scale technology project, NYC ARTS; advancing audience building and arts advocacy, including research. She is a graduate of Syracuse University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Anthropology and Secondary School Education. She was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Arts Administration by Columbia University in 1994. Ms. Coates has worked in the field for over 25 years in arts management, finance, fundraising, project management and operations. She serves on the Coro Alumni Advisory Board and is a delegate to the Fine Arts Federation in New York. She has served on the Selection Committee for the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee Nonprofit Management Excellence Awards, the New York Cultural Data Project Task Force, and on the boards of Women in Development and the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, the New York City Department of Education’s Visual and Performing Arts Task Force, and the Project Audience Oversight Committee. She is a Coro Leadership New York XXI graduate and 2013 Rockwood Institute Arts Leadership Fellow.

Melanie Cohn: is the Executive Producer of Staten Island Arts. She has leas Staten Island Arts since 2007, initiating the annual LUMEN video and performance art festival and receiving a 2009 Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund Grant. She spent seven years at the New Museum working in the cultural department. Ms. Cohn has curated many exhibitions including “New York, New York, New York” at Flux Factory, Queens and “Counter Culture” at the New Museum, New York, featuring site specific installations on the Bowery. She is currently a member of the Naturally Occurring Cultural District- New York working group and on the Steering Committee of the Staten Island Response to Disaster Coalition. Ms. Cohn received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in 1992.

Jennifer Wright Cook: Executive Director of The Field since 2006, has worked on both coasts in arts management and as a dance/theatre performer for more than 15 years. Her work has been recognized by published articles in Backstage and AM New York, interviews on WNYC Public Radio, and by participation on adjudication panels, seminars and at roundtables (National Endowment for the Arts, Alliance of Artists Communities, CUNY Prelude Festival, Americans for the Arts, Future of Music, Center for an Urban Future, Cultural Data Project Task Force). The Field’s Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists program (ERPA), initiated and implemented by Ms. Cook, received an inaugural award from The Rockefeller Foundation’s Cultural Innovation Fund (2007) and a renewed grant from The Rockefeller Foundation in 2010 for expanded programming. As a performer, teacher and art-maker, Jennifer has performed/created with the Joe Goode Performance Group, and with Neil Greenberg, Sarah Skaggs, Mark Dendy and others. She has performed her own dance/theatre work in Madrid, New York, San Francisco and Portland, OR. She sings in a gospel choir and lives in Brooklyn.

Aviva Davidson: has over 25 years experience as an arts administrator, producer, and presenter. Dancing in the Streets, she has produced over 35 site-specific works including PASEO, a traveling celebration of the South Bronx’s Latin music history. From 1999-2010, she oversaw Dancing in the Streets’ Red Hook Initiative of community based programs. From 1993-98, Aviva was the curator of Performing Arts at the John Michael Kohler Art Center, a contemporary arts center in Wisconsin, where she established Connecting Communities, a series of community-based projects with visiting artists. From 1985-93, she was a Producer and Marketing Director at Symphony Space. Aviva has an MFA in Arts Administration from Columbia University. She was a member of the selection committee for the New York Dance and {performances Awards (a.k.a The Bessies); and served on panels for the MAP Fund, the Alpert Awards, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC Fringe Festival, the Arts Partners Program, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council; and she served on the steering committee for Wisconsin Dance on Tour, a statewide consortium of dance presenters. 

Anne Dunning: became principal consultant at ARTS Action Research (www.artsaction.com) in March, 2004. Prior to that, she was administrative director of the Danny Grossman Dance Company in Toronto. In Canada, she was founding chair of the Canadian Dance Assembly, whip of the Creative Trust endowment campaign and served for twelve years on the George Cedric Metcalf Foundation’s Strategic Initiatives Advisory Committee. She has been a trustee and chair of the board of Dance/USA, a member of Dance/NYC’s advisory committee and is currently chair of the board of freeDimensional, a nonprofit organization that supports culture in the service of free expression, justice and equality. She has taught for Humber College’s arts administration program and been a guest speaker at the University of Toronto and NYU. Before becoming involved in the arts, Anne studied biology at McGill University in Montreal, where she received a BSc in ecology, evolution and behavior. She lives in Boston and New York with her husband, Gary, president and executive director of Celebrity Series of Boston.

Anita Durst: has been a star, a muse, and a patron of the avant-garde performing arts and emerging arts scene in New York City, since she was 18. She founded chashama in 1995 following the death of her mentor and artistic professor Reza Abdoh. While performing and working in his company, Dar A Luz, she learned the value of unbridled expression and how to value art objectively. In the wake of Reza’s absence, she was driven to create a place for artists free of financial and subjective constraints. Anita has worked tirelessly for over 20 years to secure over one million square feet of space in New York City for artists. She believes programs like chashama are the vital building blocks to ensure cultural capital in New York City. Anita was born in New York City and was the flower child to hippy parents living in New Foundland Canada, Ibiza Spain, and the suburbs of New York City. As a precocious teenager she resisted conventional schooling. Shortly after graduating high school she moved back to New York City to help care for her grandfather. Today, Anita sits on the boards of the Tai Chi Chuan Center and Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. She is a recipient of The Black Alumni of Pratt’s “Creative Spirit” Award and a proud mother and loving wife. Who ensures her entire family eats healthy, practices mindful movement, and lives in the moment. True to her ability to be in the moment and greatest strength of objective thinking, she believes all art to be valuable.

Jennifer Edwards: is a writer, choreographer and organizational development and communication consultant based in New York City. She is a sought-after speaker and facilitator who has been called on by various organizations like The American Heart Association, Columbia University Medical Center, HUD, the Girl Scouts of America, and The Jerome Robbins Foundation. Major publications have written about her work in stress management including The New York Times and Martha Stewart’s Whole Living Magazine. Her advice to business professionals can be found across the blogosphere and in Forbes. Edwards is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post. She is also the founder of JenEd Productions, and is the creative force behind Grounded, a stress management app for the iPhone.

Pamela Epstein: received her BA from Vassar College and graduated from Rutgers University with a PhD in American History in 2010. Prior to graduate school, she worked at the Smithsonian Institution and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. She currently works as the Assistant Director of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs’ Community Arts Development Program, which provides technical assistance in capacity building for organizations serving low- to- moderate income neighborhoods and populations. She is also one of DCA’s main users of the Cultural Data Project, as well as its biggest cheerleader.

Juan José Escalante: became the Executive Director of the José Limon Dance Foundation in November 2013. Mr. Escalante brings extensive nonprofit management experience to his new role. Most recently, he worked as Director of Finance and Administration for El Museo Del Barrio. He has served, respectively, as the Executive Director for the Orlando Ballet and Ballet Florida in West Palm Beach, the Development Manager and Human Resources Director for the Miami City Ballet and as the Associate Director of Finance for the New York City Ballet. Mr. Escalante holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a Master’s Degree in Global Management. He has chaired the national committee for small and medium companies for DanceUSA, and the Cultural Executive’s Committee for the Palm Beach County Cultural Council.

Jamel Gaines: is the artistic director and founder of Creative Outlet Dance Theater of Brooklyn. Gaines began dancing under the direction of Diane and Adrian Brown. His choreographic career began at Purchase University, where he received the Harry Bellefonte Scholarship graduating with a BFA. Under the tutelage of Kevin Iega Jeff and as a member of JUBILATION! Dance Company, Mr. Gaines developed his unique and nurturing approach to teaching and composing dance art. His work has been staged by the Actors Theater Workshop, The NYC Department of Parks, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, the Paramount Theatre and The Martha Graham School. He has worked with such distinguished artists as Jennifer Holiday, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Savion Glover, Malik Yoba, George Faison, Ornette Coleman, Ossie Davis, Olatunje Babatunde, Max Roach, Cassandra Wilson and Rick James. He has also taught and choreographed dance for productions in Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Spain, Germany, Canada, Italy, London, and Portugal. Over the past sixteen years Mr. Gaines has choreographed and staged over 25 repertory and concert productions. In 2004, Jamel appeared on Public Television’s American Talent in which he was presented The Teacher Recognition Award, during the Presidential Scholars in the Arts Committee at The Kennedy Center, and has been featured in publications such as Essence Magazine, The New York Times, The Seattle Times and The Daily News. Mr. Gaines is the director of St. Paul’s Eldad Medad Danced Ministry, which seeks to find a spiritual path through movement. His work at St. Paul’s includes “He Got Up”, the commemoration of the African Holocaust and the acclaimed “Black Nativity” for which he won an Obie Award.

Gina Gibney: launched Gibney Dance in 1991 to both create contemporary choreography that expresses the humanity of the moving body and to reach communities in need. Since its inception, the Company has created a repertory of over thirty dance works. Highly sought-after by a wide range of performing arts institutions, her work has been featured in recent years by such venues as Danspace Project (New York), White Bird (Oregon) the Yale Repertory Theater (Connecticut), L’Agora de la Danse (Montreal, Canada), and Internationale Tanzmesse (Dusseldorf, Germany). Ms. Gibney has been honored with the Northern Ohio Live Arts Award, the Copperfoot Award for Choreography from Wayne State University, the Case Western Reserve University Young Alumni Award, Alpert Award (Finalist), the OTTY (Our Town Thanks You) Arts Award, and by Sanctuary for Families, Safe Horizon, and The Retreat. In April 2008, her company was named to the Vanity Fair Hall of Fame for “making art and taking action.” Ms. Gibney serves on the Board of Directors of Danspace Project and Dance/NYC. She is a frequent panelist and speaker on topics of dance, entrepreneurship, and social action. She has received recognition and support from prestigious organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the Emma Sheafer Charitable Foundation, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Mertz Gilmore Foundation. Ms. Gibney has pioneered numerous partnerships with the corporate world, garnering support from the Agnes Varis Trust, Johnson & Johnson/Society for Arts in Healthcare, MAC AIDS FUND, Avon Foundation, and EILEEN FISHER, among others. Ms. Gibney’s founding of the groundbreaking Community Action program in 1999 has since led to the building of reciprocal relationships between dance artists and social service groups and a greater visibility of the issue of domestic violence. Her commitment to “making space for dance” in New York City led to the founding of Gibney Dance Center in 2010 to provide high-quality, low-cost rehearsal space and programmatic resources to dance artists and audiences. Ms. Gibney holds an MFA in Dance from Case Western University.

Tom Gold: is an internationally known dancer and choreographer. He was a soloist with the New York City Ballet performing for them for the past 21 years in leading roles by Balanchine, Robbins, Lynne Taylor Corbett and William Forsythe. In 2002 Susan Stroman created the full-length ballet “Double Feature” for Mr. Gold. He has performed as a guest artist with THARP!, Donald Byrd the Group, the New York City Opera and many companies throughout the U.S. In 1999 he founded his own group Tom Gold and Associates which has toured to France, Italy, Spain, Bermuda and Israel. He can also be seen in the Warner Brothers film version of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” and in many Live from Lincoln Center telecast. His choreographic achievements include works for his own group, New works at the Miller Theatre at Columbia University “Works and Process at the Guggenheim”, Griflekin The Opera at the Manhattan School of Music, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Ballet Met, New York City Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Vassar College, Ballet School of Stanford, The Tree Lighting at Lincoln Center, Balanchine on Broadway at Studio 54, Ballet Academy East, An Evening of Tango at the Miller Arts Center, The Cuyahoga Youth Ballet, and The Macy’s Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. Future projects include three new works for his second New York season, a collaboration with 2wice magazine for a new iPad app called Dot Dot Dot, and a summer tour to Spain. Check out his website at www.tomgolddance.com

Naomi Goldberg Haas: Founded in 2005, Dances For A Variable Population (DVP) is a multigenerational dance company that brings artistically excellent dance to the community and brings the community into the concert hall. Through fun, lively and beautifully executed choreography, we make inclusive dance that engages community members, including senior citizens, as participants and audience members. DVP’s programs reach over 5,000 individuals each year providing access to movement in strong and creative ways. DVP is known for our free site-related professional dance performances in city parks and transportation hubs. The company has danced in many of NYC’s most visible public spaces including Times Square, The High Line, Battery Park City, Governors Island, and the Whitehall Ferry Terminal. DVP has also performed at the Joyce SoHo, Judson Church, The Public Theater, The 92nd Street Y, DNA, and PS 21 in Chatham NY. Upcoming in June 2014, DVP will collaborate with renowned dancer/choreographers Walter Rutledge, Sandra Genter, Robin Williams and older performers from our Movement Speaks programs in Harlem in a new site-related work at the West Harlem Piers Park. Director Naomi Goldberg Haas has developed and leads DVP’s slate of free, community-based dance programs to underserved older adults in New York City and low-cost dance classes for adults of all ages. She has worked in concert dance, theater, opera and film; collaborated with the Klezmatics, composer Michael Nyman, and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner; performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet; and holds an MFA from NYU’s Tish School of the Arts.

Brighid Greene: facilitates the exhibition and creation of dance film from the perspective of a dance artist. Recently she’s worked with Katie Rose McLaughlin, Katherine Brook and ANIMALS Performance Group and is currently performing in the 2012 New York Times Critic’s Pick immersive dance theater experience Then She Fell by Third Rail Projects. She champions for dance by serving on the Dance/NYC Junior Committee and presented at the 2012 Dance USA Conference in San Francisco on developing a blueprint for implementing similar peer-governed committees. Brighid went New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she received a BFA in Dance and a double major in Religious Studies and graduated with the J.S. Seidman Award. More about her other projects brighidgreene.com.

Charles Gushue: is a dance artist, educator and administrator living in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He currently dances for A+S Works, and serves on the advisory board for their yearly community dance festival in Hornell, NY, A+S Works ‘on the farm’. He’s currently creating new work for the company Rebecca M Sproul and the Imaginary Monsters. His work has previously appeared in San Francisco at ODC/theater, The Garage, and West Wave among other venues, in NY at Triskelion and The Cobra Club, and Summer Stages at Concord Academy. He works full time managing the front desk at Mark Morris Dance Center.

Daniel Gwirtzman: celebrates nineteen years as a company director, educator, choreographer and dancer in New York. His repertory is known for its humor, stylistic diversity, musicality and accessibility. Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, a performing and teaching nonprofit, was formed in 1998 with a commitment to education and the philosophy that everyone can join the dance. The Company thrives on collaborations with organizations throughout and outside of NYC, including a partnership with the NYCDOE since 1999, the Department of Parks and Recreation and other city agencies. Daniel has received recent fellowships from the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and the Sacatar Foundation, where he was in residence in Bahia, Brazil producing dance films. Among the repertory is the evening-length Encore which premiered in 2007 at Joyce SoHo and was an official selection of the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2009. This acclaimed show continues to tour and get set on other companies and departments including the Joffrey Ballet School’s Jazz and Contemporary Division February 22-23 at the Peridance Capezio Center. “The dancers can’t help but smile,” wrote The New Yorker at the time of Encore’s premiere. DGDC celebrates its fifteenth anniversary season at the BAM Fisher, May 30-June 1. Visit www.GwirtzmanDance.org

Denae Hannah: a native of Fort Worth, Texas, is a performance artist, social entrepreneur, and founder & CEO of Denae Movement Theatre. Denae Movement Theatre seeks to spark conversations on culture through the development of performance pieces that employ satire and the physical collision of pop culture with high art. She received her B.A. in Drama from Stanford University and M.F.A. in Performance & Choreography from Florida State University. Ms. Hannah is the former Associate Director of Programs & Development of Urban Bush Women and currently teaches Simonson dance technique at Dance New Amsterdam. She is a member of the DanceNYC Junior Committee and also serves on the board of Sweet Enuff, a youth outreach organization committed to diabetes and obesity prevention through dancing and health coaching. Ms. Hannah is a 2012 EMERGENYC artist with New York University’s Hemispheric Institute for Performance & Politics and a 2012-2013 Commissioned Artist at Stanford University.

Chad Herzog: has served as the director of the performing arts at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, since October 2006 and curator of the College’s performance series since 2002. Since taking over the program, participation in the arts at Juniata has increased by over 600%. Chad serves on the board of Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania, Gotham Arts Exchange, FOCUS Dance, North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents, and on the executive board of Penn State Public Broadcasting. He has served on the boards of Pennsylvania Presenters, Big Brother Big Sisters Huntingdon County, Huntingdon Arts Festival, and the Huntingdon County Arts Council. When not seeking out the latest technology trends, his mission is to investigate and implement audience development techniques through curation in the arts. Chad created and developed articulture, a community supported arts program; serves as an executive producer on the feature film Spell (2013); and is the producer of One Radio Host, Two Dancers: Ira Glass, Monica Bill Barnes, and Anna Bass in concert. Chad has a Masters of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. Learn more at www.chadherzog.com.

Jonathan Horowitz: Jonathan Horowitz serves as a Vice President and Program Officer at J.P. Morgan. His role includes the management of grantmaking programs for foundations working across a diverse range of funding areas, including arts and culture, education, combating poverty, workforce development and capacity building for the nonprofit sector. Jonathan is a board member of Hillel at Brandeis University and Joshua Venture Group, a fellowship for social entrepreneurs, and the executive committee of New York City Workforce Funders. In addition he serves on advisory committees of the Hive Digital Media Learning Fund and the Slingshot Fund. Jonathan has a Masters of Public Administration from New York University and a B.A. in Politics and English from Brandeis University.

Olukemi Ilesanmi: is the Executive Director of the Laundromat Project, which brings arts, artists, and arts programming into local coinops to amplify the creativity that already exists within communities. With over 15 years experience in the cultural arena, she is inspired by the immense possibilities for joy and social impact at the intersection of the arts and community. Prior to joining The LP, she was Director of Grants and Services at Creative Capital Foundation where she supported the work of American artists making adventurous new work. From 1998-2004, she was a visual arts curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. While there, she organized several exhibitions, including The Squared Circle: Boxing in Contemporary Art, and ran the visual arts residency program. She holds a MPA from New York University and a BA from Smith College. She is also an alumna of the Coro Leadership New York and Arts Leadership Institute programs.

David Johnston: is Executive Director for Exploring the Metropolis (EtM). He previously worked at New York Foundation for the Arts, where he was part of the initial team responsible for conception of NYFA Source and helped to administer the New York Arts Recovery Fund. He joined EtM in 2002, and became Executive Director in the fall of 2012. For EtM, he served as liaison with government and foundation funders, outreach with local arts service organizations and councils, and oversaw web programs and special projects. In 2007, along with Founder/Director Eugenie C. Cowan, he led a strategic planning process which led to transfer of the NYC Performing Arts Space to Fractured Atlas. He was Project Director for the 2010 Study of dance rehearsal space needs “We Make Do, More Time is Better but Budget is King”, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. David has a degree from the College of William and Mary and a certificate from the Professional Workshop at Circle in the Square. A playwright and librettist, he is an active member of the Dramatist Guild, Actors Equity, Blue Coyote Theatre Group, BMI, and is a Resident Artist with American Lyric Theatre.

Jaamil Olawale Kosoko: is a producer, curator, poet and performance artist. He is a 2012 Live Arts Brewery Fellow as a part of the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, a 2011 Fellow as a part of the DeVos Institute of Art management at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and an inaugural graduate member of the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) at Wesleyan University. Rooted in a creative mission to push history forward, Kosoko’s work in theatre and dance has received support from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through Dance Advance, The Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, The Joyce Theatre Foundation, and The Philadelphia Cultural Fund. His new solo performance work entitled BLACK MALE REVISITED: Revenge of the New Negro premiered in December 2013 at Miami Theatre Center as part of Art Basel and Art Miami ’13. As a performer, Kosoko has created original roles in the performance works of visual artist Nick Cave, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Keely Garfield Dance, Miguel Gutierrez and The Powerful People, Headlong Dance Theatre, and others. Kosoko’s poems have been published in The American Poetry Review, Poems Against War, The Dunes Review, and Silo, among other publications. In 2011, Kosoko published Notes on an Urban Kill-Floor: Poems for Detroit (Old City Publishing). He is a contributing correspondent for Dance Journal (PHL), the Broad Street Review (PHL), and Critical Correspondence (NYC). Visit: www.jaamil.com for more information.

Leah Krauss: is a senior program officer for the NYC Dance Program at Joyce Mertz Gilmore Foundation. The Dance Program provides operating support for contemporary dance presenters located throughout the five boroughs and makes discrete investments to advance the dance field by improving conditions for individual artists. Leah is char of the NYC Dance Funders Group, an advisory board member for Dance/NYC, and serves on the board of The Churchill School and Learning Center. Leah joined Mertz Gilmore Foundation in 2009. Prior to that, she was senior program officer at the New York Community Trust (NYCT), where for 12 years her areas of responsibility included arts and culture, arts-in-education, and historic preservation. Her work at NYCT involved collaborative funding with program officers in the areas of community development, youth, people with special needs, and the environment. Additional experience in the arts includes five years as assistant director at the Arts and Business Council where she recruited, trained and placed business executives as pro-bono management consultants with nonprofit art organizations. Leah graduated Phi Beta Kappa with B.A. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania and J.D from University of Pennsylvania Law School. For three years, she practiced bankruptcy law and also served with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in Philadelphia.

Aubrey Lunch II: from Woodhaven, Michigan danced with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and then was an original cast member of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Disney’s The Lion King and acted as the production’s associate choreographer and then associate producer. As such, he led the team responsible for overseeing the creative aspects of all Lion King productions worldwide. Mr. Lynch works with artists all over the world coaching, teaching, and leading workshops including Steps on Broadway and The Ailey School. He is on faculty at Therapeutic Arts Alliance of Manhattan, has co-designed and co-led workshops and programs for Theatre Development Fund, and mentors for Young Arts Week. He is also Director of Dance and Musical Theatre at the prestigious Harlem School of the Arts. Most recently Aubrey has personally coached students with professional ambitions five of which have gone on to play lead roles on Broadway. Aubrey is the Founder and Artistic Director of Mr. Aubrey’s Show Kids an arts and education program, youth performance ensemble, and summer art and performance intensive featured on AubreyLynch.com. Aubrey Lynch is a firm believer that, “Art is not extra-curricular. It is extra-essential.”

Renata Marinaro: is Eastern Region Director of Health Services for The Actors Fund. She counsels professionals and small businesses in the entertainment industry nationwide on health care coverage options. She created a series of guides on health care in 18 creative communities, as well as an online tutorial and a guide to the Affordable Care Act,  “Every Artist Insured: Understanding Health Care Reform.”. Renata is also a licensed social worker and has worked in health care in the New York metro area.

Sarah Maxfield: investigates contemporary performance, and its history, through practice, discussion, and critical theory. She is a performing artist, curator, writer, and producer. Maxfield has been actively engaged in the non-profit arts sector in New York City for more than ten years. She has been employed formally by Performance Space 122, Dance Theatre Workshop, Danspace Project, Lincoln Center, and the Open Society Institute. She has contributed as an artist/consultant to The Chocolate Factory Theatre, the Gibney Dance Center, A.R.T/New York, Galapagos Art Space, The New Museum, and the Museum of Arts and Design, among many others. Maxfield has written articles for The Movement Research Performance Journal, Contract Quarterly, and The Brooklyn Rail, and she wrote contextual program notes for Dance Theatre Workshop’s final season. She is currently part of a team working to develop ArtsPool, a collective framework for arts management, currently incubated by A.R.T./NY. Maxfield is also a Fellow at the Abrons Arts Center of Henry Street Settlement and is collecting an artist-driven archive of experimental dance and performance in New York titled Nonlinear Lineage.

Tamara McCaw: BAM’s Director of Government and Community Affairs, has worked at BAM since 1999, serving in the capacities of Marketing Assistant and Audience Development Manager, until her promotion to her current position in September 2008. Prior to her employment at BAM, Ms. McCaw worked as an editorial assistant at Aperture, a photo publishing company and gallery. In addition to her work at BAM, Ms. McCaw serves on the Board of the neighborhood development and affordable housing organization Pratt Area Community Council and Brooklyn Community Board 2. In addition, Ms. McCaw chairs the Fulton Area Business (FAB) Alliance, a 21-block business improvement district, which represents over 200 businesses in Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, Brooklyn. She is a graduate of New York University, where she majored in the study of the African Diaspora. Ms. McCaw has lived in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn since 2000.

Susan McGreevy-Nichols: is the Executive Director of the National Dance Education Organization, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and promotion of high quality education in the art of dance. NDEO provides the dance artist, educator and administrator a network of resources and support, a base for advocacy, and access to programs that focus on the importance of dance in the human experience. A national Arts Education Consultant, Susan has coached districts in Los Angeles County as part of the Arts for All initiative and in Northern California in Alameda County as a part of that country’s initiative Revitalizing Classrooms Through Arts Learning: Strategic Plan. As a teacher at Roger Williams Middle School in Providence, Rhode Island from 1974-2002, Susan founded and developed that institution’s nationally renowned middle school dance program. She is the developer of a cutting edge reading comprehension strategy that uses text as inspiration for original choreography created by children. This literacy-based methodology combines the creative process with reading instruction.
Co-author of five books: Building Dances (1995), Building More Dances (2001), Experiencing Dance (2004), Dance about Anything (2006) and Dance Forms and Styles (2010).

James Mettham: As Assistant Commissioner for the Department of Small Business Services – Neighborhood Development Division, James Mettham is responsible for the oversight of the City’s Business Improvement District (BID) Program and the growth of the agency’s commercial revitalization initiatives. These programs are designed to make New York City’s commercial districts better places to live, work and shop. James manages the City’s relationship with its network of 69 BIDs, liaising with City agencies and elected officials on a wide range of issues that impact these districts. At the same time, James directs efforts to support the creation of new BIDs by building relationships with business and property owners to garner stakeholder support, developing service delivery strategies and actively navigating the legislative approval process. Additionally, James oversees capacity building programming to support the organizational growth of non-profits serving commercial districts. Successful initiatives that James has worked on implementing include the BID Challenge, Neighborhood Leadership Program, Neighborhood Retail Leasing Program, and the $1.6M Avenue NYC grant program to promote commercial revitalization efforts in low-moderate income communities throughout New York City. Prior to joining SBS, James spent six years at the New York City Economic Development Corporation managing a variety of real estate development and strategic investment projects. James received a Master of Urban Planning degree from the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and holds a B.A. from the University of Pittsburg.

Joanne Mongelli: is Deputy Director for Programs and Policy at ArtsWestchester, the largest, not-for-profit arts council in New York State. In her capacity as Deputy, Ms. Mongelli oversees ArtsWestchester’s grants-making activities, education programs and public programs. She also serves as the liaison to the Board in areas such as strategic planning, is responsible for government relations, and initiates programs and services. Prior to her appointment as Deputy Director, Ms. Mongelli served as Director of Programs and Director of Education. Ms. Mongelli has served on panels for New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Arts Council of Rockland, and the Peekskill, NY Waterfront Public Art project. She holds a master’s degree from New York University. Ms. Mongelli serves on the gallery committee of Rockland Center for the Arts, as a mentor in the Her Honor Mentoring Program.

Ian David Moss: As Research Director for Fractured Atlas, Ian David Moss helps funders, government agencies, and others support the field more effectively by harnessing the power of data to drive informed decision-making. Ian designed and leads implementation of Fractured Atlas’s pioneering cultural asset mapping software, Archipelago, which aggregates and visualizes information about creative activities in a particular geography in order to better illuminate who’s making art, who’s engaging with it, where it’s happening, and how it’s made possible. Since 2007, he has been editor of Createquity, a highly acclaimed arts policy blog followed by thousands of arts managers and enthusiasts around the world. Previously, he was Development Manager for the American Music Center and founded two first-of-their-kind performing ensembles: a hybrid electric chamber group/experimental rock band and a choral collective devoted to the music of the past 25 years. Ian has been named one of the top leaders in the nonprofit arts sector by his peers each year since 2010, and is in demand as a writer, editor, speaker, grant panelist, consultant, and guest lecturer. He holds BA and MBA degrees from Yale University and is based in Washington, DC.

Alton Murray: is a Strategic Partnership Manager in the Public Affairs department at Con Edison. He manages the company’s partnerships with over 150 non-profits arts organizations. He earned his B.A. degree in Social Science with a minor in Economics at St. John’s University. He has served on many charitable organizations boards and is strongly committed to the success of young people. He’s responsible for co-hosting an annual ten-week summer internship program in conjunction with the Arts & Business Council of New York. This program pairs college and university students with an interest in arts management with corporate mentors and arts organizations. The internship provides them with learning experiences in the business of running an arts organization. He is a passionate dance supporter, currently serving on the board of Company Stefanie Batten Bland, CSBB.

Eva Nichols: is the Outreach Director for the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG). She graduated with honors from Barnard College and has worked for MMDG since 1993. She served as the Director of Education from 2002-2010, managing over 70 weekly classes for children and adults at The School at the Mark Morris Dance Center and developing outreach programs for the Brooklyn public school children and community residents. She helps direct MMDC’s Dance Music & Literacy Project in Brooklyn schools; Dance for PD, a program that provides free dance classes for people with Parkinson’s disease; as well as an on-going collaboration with the New York City Housing Authority.

William Penrose: joined Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2010 and is an advocate for providing direct support to artists across disciplines. His background includes working at the Scottsdale Cultural Council for both Scottsdale Public Art and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Upon relocating to New York, Will was the registrar at Sundaram Tagore Gallery based in Chelsea and with locations in Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Additionally, Will currently consults at the Research Center for Arts and Culture for research projects on living artists. At the RCAC, he coordinated and was a contributing author to Still Kicking: Aging Performing Artists in NYC and LA Metro Areas. Will has lectured at NYU and Parsons: The New School for Design. He holds an M.A. in Arts Administration from Columbia University, as well as a B.S. in Economics, B.F.A in Drawing, and Minor in Philosophy from the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University. He has participated in NYFA’s Emerging Leaders Boot Camp and has served on the Junior Committee for Dance/NYC.

Ellen Pollan: is the Deputy Director at the Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA). In her current capacity she oversees all aspects of development, and programs at the Council including the signature Longwood Arts Project and Bronx Writers Center. She over sees all programs and is managing a portfolio of initiatives in the South Bronx and the Westchester Square area. She leads the creative team of the successful Bronx Culture Trolley now in its 11th year! She recently managed the innovative Bronx Indie performance series and the Bronx creative services directory, the Creative Bronx! Black Book. Currently, she is working with executive staff to facilitate contemporary and transparent policies and practices across the agency while overseeing the implementation of successful, high profile arts programs that engage culture, commerce and community partnerships. In her previous capacity as program director at BCA, she managed the South Bronx Cultural Corridor, Cultural Venture Fund, Cultural Tourism Venture Fund and Bronx Arts Stabilization Fund. Prior to working at BCA, she was at the Arts and Business Council, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and taught intergenerational art classes Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, among others. Ms. Pollan’s board affiliations include Thrivent Financial – Metro NYC, Washington Heights Community Services Inc, and The Bronx Council for Environmental Quality. Ms. Pollan is a NYS certified and bonded legal guardian. She also is a studio potter at Mud, Sweat and Tears in NYC.

Pascal Rioult: A former track and field athlete in France, Mr. Rioult came to the United States on the fellowship from the French Ministry if Culture to study modern dance in 1981. After performing with the companies of May O’Donnell and Paul Sanasardo he was invited to join the Martha Graham Dance Company. He interpreted many of the most prestigious roles in Graham repertory as a principal dancer. And in 1990, Ms. Graham created a central role (Death Figure) in her ballet Eye of the Goddess for him. Mr. Rioult preformed opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov and Joyce Herring in El Penitente and was featured in two television specials “Martha Graham in Japan” and “Five Dances by Martha Graham,” filmed at the Paris Opera. Since starting his own company, RIOULT Dance NY in 1994, Mr. Rioult has dedicated his energies to developing his own choreophraphic style and nurturing a robust ensemble of dancers. Of his work, Black Diamond, Anna Kisselgoff on The New York Times wrote, “…he has met the challenge of comparison with George Balanchine.” Mr. Rioult’s works have been commissioned by the American Dance Festival; Cal Artz Zellerbach Hallin Berkeley, CA; the Ballet du Nord in Roubaix, France; The Geneva Ballet, Switzerland; The Orchestra of ST. Luke’s; the Gordon and Harriet Greenfield Foundation the Grand Marnier Foundation; the Theatre de Saint Quentin en Yvelines France; Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA; and Marymount Manhattan College, among others. He is a two-time recipient of the Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography.

Esther Robinson: has worked on behalf of artists for over 15 years in many capacities. She is the founder of ArtHome, a non-profit that helps artists and their communities build assets and equity through financial literacy and home-ownership. From 1999 to 2006 Esther wad the Director of Film/Video and Performing Arts for the Creative Capital Foundation and one of the principal architects of its innovative grant-making system. Transforming the traditional role of grant-maker, Creative Capital pioneered a multi-faceted system of support for artists that includes advisory serves and professional development assistance as well as traditional financial support. Esther is also a producer and a filmmaker with a film-and-television degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She was one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2006. Her film “A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and The Warhol Factory” won top prized at the Berlin, Tribeca and Chicago Film festivals.

Jeffrey Rosenstock: is currently Assistant Vice President of External and Governmental Relations at Queens College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY). He also acts as the Executive Director of the Kupferberg Center for the Arts, an umbrella organization for the college’s cultural entities. Prior to coming to Queens College, Jeff served 22 years as the Founding/ Executive Director of Queens Theater in the Park. Jeff also served as Producing Director and General Manager respectively at Theatre by the Sea in Matunuck, Rhode Island. As a consultant, Jeff worked for many clients including Edward Villella, The Greek Theatre of New York, DanceEllington, and American Ballroom Theatre. Jeff has served as a panelist for the New York State Council of the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and as a Board Member of the Alliance of Resident Theatres (Art/NY), the Queens Chamber of Commerce and the Astoria Performing Arts Center. He currently is a board member of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation as well as the Louis Armstrong House Museum, and Houses on the Moon Theatre Company.

Lucy Sexton: is a choreographer, director and producer, who has worked in the field of dance, performance, and film for more than 25 years. Since 2009, she has served as Director of the NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies. With Anne Iobst, she created and performed the dance performance duo DANCENOISE for more than 20 years, as well as dancing in the work of many acclaimed choreographers. She also directed the off-Broadway plays Spalding Gray; Stories Left to Tell and Tom Murrin’s The Magical Ridiculous Journey of Alien Comic; and produced the Charles Atlas films The Legend of Leigh Bowery and TURNING with Antony and the Johnsons.

Linda Shelton: is presently the Executive Director and a Trustee of The Joyce Theater Foundation, a position she has held since 1993. Prior to her current position, she served as General Manager of the Joffrey Ballet. Before The Joffrey, she managed tours for the Bolshoi Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Moscow Virtuosi, Sankai Juku and several Philip Glass productions. From 1982-1988, she held management positions at the Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation. Ms. Shelton began her work in the dance field as an intern at the New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program. She holds a B.A. degree in Dance Education from New York University and has completed work towards her Masters in Arts Administration, also at New York University. A Dance/USA Board member for over ten years, Ms. Shelton served as Chair from 2000-2002 and was also Chair of their 1996 National Roundtable. In 1999, Ms. Shelton was appointed Chevalier of France’s Order of Arts and letters for her contribution to furthering the arts. With her leadership, The Joyce Theater received the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Liberty Award in 2011.
Ms. Shelton has taught at Marymount Manhattan College and is currently an adjunct professor in the graduate program of Arts Administration at New York University. She has also served on panels for the national Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts’ national Dance Project, American Masters: Dance, Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Toyota Choreography Award in Tokyo and the Benois de le danse in Moscow.

Sydney Skybetter: is a choreographer, technologist, and facilitator. After studying at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Columbia University, and New York University, Skybetter performed with Christopher Williams and the Anna Sokolow Foundation. His choreography has been performed extensively at such venues as The Joyce Theatre, the Dance Theatre Workshop and Jacob’s Pillow, and he has been commissioned by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Boston Center for the Arts and New York University, among others. He is a Producer with the DanceNOW [NYC] Festival, which presents nearly 60 dance artists every year across New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, and founded the DanceNOW [RAW] Studio Show, devoted to supporting choreographers at the earliest stages of their careers. He is a Founding Partner at the Edwards & Skybetter | Change Agency, where he consults on issues of creative sector change management for such clients as the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Kaufman School of Dance at the University of Southern California, and is frequent speaker and guest lecturer for Dance/USA, Dance/NYC, Julliard, NYU and Skidmore College. Skybetter serves as the Founding Chairman of the Technology Committee for the Board of Trustees of Dance/USA.

Lisa Sorin: is the Executive Director of 67th NYC BID located Westchester Square. She is also the Founder of LAS Consulting Services, Inc., which provided marketing, public relations and event planning services for non-profits and corporate entities. Prior to consulting, Lisa worked for several corporations as a company representative to government, school, and community. As a Director of a new BID, Lisa’s vision is to connect with merchants and property owners and enhance the marketing of the area in order to support revitalization of the business district. Lisa has succeeded in establishing cultural programing in the newly renovated Owen Dolen Park. Her prior partnership with organizations such as Dancing in the Streets and Casita Maria has allowed her to develop diverse programing to build foot traffic and showcase local artist. Ms. Sorin served as the first woman President of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce for two years and remains on the executive board to support the Chamber in working with small businesses in the borough.

Morgan Lindsey Tachco: is a creative administrator, actor and writer. She joined Brooklyn Arts Council in 2008 and filled several roles in the Grants and Arts in Education Departments prior to becoming the Grants Manager in 2013. As an administrator, she has also worked as a Producing Director for Horse Trade Theater Group, Outreach Manager for New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, and as a freelance publicist and event coordinator. Morgan holds a B.A. from Goddard College in Individualized Studies, with a concentration in Performance and Arts Administration.

Seth Taylor: is the Executive Director of the 82nd Street Partnership, a non-profit economic development group that works to revitalize commercial corridors in Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and Corona, Queens. Since joining the group in 2012, Seth and his team have led a neighborhood revitalization effort that focuses on public space development, cultural programming and placemaking. Prior to his appointment, Taylor worked with other business improvement districts across the city including the 34th Street Partnership, Bryant Park Corporation, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, and the Union Square Partnership. He received a B.A. from Lafayette College and a M.S. in City & Regional Planning from Pratt Institute. In 2012, Seth participated in the Neighborhood Leadership Program, a joint initiative of Coro New York and the City’s Department of Small Business Services.

Alexander Leslie Thompson: is a dancer, choreographer, musician, administrator, and recent transplant to New York City by way of his hometown in Kansas City, Missouri. Trained as a musician, he stumbled upon the movement arts at Bard College in upstate New York where he began his dance training under the tutelage of such dance educators as Leslie Arlette Boyce, Peggy Florin, Maria Simpson, Jean Churchill, Aileen Passloff, Lenore Latimer, and Amii LeGendre. Under the department’s partnership with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company he benefited from the insight and mentorship of Leah Cox, and studied with current and former members of the BTJ/AZ Company. He earned a B.A. in Music Composition and Dance in 2010, and went on to study at Bates Dance Festival as well as with members of Doug Varone and Dancers at their Winter and Summer workshops. He has performed in works by Amii LeGendre, Alex Springer and Xan Burley’s the Median Movement, and Olase Freeman, and has written the occasional piece of dance criticism. He currently works as the Associate Artist Program Manager at New York Live Arts striving to find ways to provide much needed services to dance artists in New York City.

Tim Tompkins: has been the President of the Times Square Alliance since 2002. He is currently the Co-Chair of the NYC BID Association and a member of the IDA Board. Prior to joining the Alliance, he was the Founder and Director of Partnerships for Parks, which works to support New York City’s neighborhood parks and which won an Innovations in Government Award from the JFK School of Government at Harvard for its work to restore the Bronx River. He has also worked at New York City’s Economic Development Corporation, The New York City Charter Revision Commission, and was briefly the Nationals Editor at the Mexico City News, an English Language newspaper in Mexico. He has an undergraduate degree from Yale and an M.B.A. from Wharton, and currently teaches “Transforming the Urban Economy” and “The Arts and Artist in Urban Revitalization” at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. When not in the most urban and unnatural place on the planet, he enjoys being in New York’s natural areas, ideally sailing or practicing yoga.

Monica Valenzuela: is a multi-tasker, grant writer, arts advocate, and freelance photographer. She works closely with the diverse cultural ecosystem of Staten Island through the variety of services and programs that she oversees as Director of Development and Community Programming at the local arts council, Staten Island Arts. She is heavily involved in identifying and using alternative spaces for art, is interested in the collective power of the creative workforce, and serves as the Project Manager for Staten Island Art’s annual LUMEN Festival (lumenfest.org), a video and performance art festival on Staten Island’s waterfront, which drew 8,000+ people over the past four years. While most of her experience is in project management, she had her initial experience conducting “arts research” this past year, as she oversaw and is currently combing through results from Staten Island Arts’ Count Yourself In project, a community-based survey seeking to tell the story of cultural production on Staten Island.

Anusha Venkataraman: is the Director of the Green Light District initiative in El Puente. Anusha is a hybrid urban planner, community organizer, writer, and artist. She moved to Brooklyn five years ago to pursue her Masters in City and Regional Planning at Pratt, which she completed in 2010 with a focus on community development and the arts; she also holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Brown University. Prior to her work in NYC, Anusha grew the youth programs at the Steel yard, an industrial arts community center in Providence, Rhode Island. Her independent create work spans public art and audio-visual documentary installations. Anusha is an avid writer and editor; she edited the books Intractable Democracy: Fifty Years of Community-Based Planning (2010) and Beyond Zuccotti Park: Freedom of Assembly and the Occupation of Public Space (2012, with colleagues), and is a contributing editor of Outpost Journal, an annual publication that features art and activism in small and medium sized cities.

Lakai Worrell: A New York native, Lakai began his dance career as a Hip Hop artist, straight from the streets of East New York, Brooklyn. Years later, he has evolved into a much more versatile performer, choreographer, educator, and businessman. Over the years he has developed a distinct style of dance which is a reflection of his innate aptitude for movement and a continued exploration in Modern, Jazz, African, Hip Hop and Ballet. He has had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of artists including: Savion Glover, Abdel Salaam, Michael Kahn, Kevin “Iega” Jeff, Phyllicia Rashaad, Max Roach, Justin Emeka, Crystal Waters, Lauryn Hill, Cassandra Wilson, Avery Brooks, Harold Scott, Marlies Yearby. Today Mr. Worrell is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Artistic Director of Purelements: An Evolution in Dance. Purelements is a Brooklyn based 501c3 that is intent on using the multiple facets of the professional arts as education tools to transform and evolve participants and entire communities. A specific focus is to develop a professional Arts facility in East Brooklyn to run our programs. Programs: The Professional Company, C.O.A.R. (Pre-professional classes), A.I.R.E. (Arts and Educations), S.D.I (Summer Dance Intensive), Rhythm Stories (Original Music). For more visit: www.Purelements.org

Nehemoyia Young: is a Brooklyn based performing artist and choreographer. She received her BA from Spelman College where she began dancing professionally for T. Lang Dance, an urban contemporary company in Atlanta, GA. She is currently project based and has had the opportunity to perform with Liberation Dance Theatre, Love Making Dances, Tendayi Kuumba, DecaDance Theatre, Tremor Collective, and Denae Dance Theatre. With a strong belief in the unifying power of artistic expression, Nehemoyia demonstrates a commitment to creative collaboration across disciplines, combining her talents with poets, actors, and various musicians in and around NYC. Her work was most recently presented at the Tank and The Irondale Theatre in Brooklyn. Nehemoyia is an employee at New York Live Arts and serves on the 2013-2014 Dance NYC Junior Committee.