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Summer 2024 Panel-Facil First Name Last Name BIO Vanessa Alvarado Flores Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, Vanessa AlvaradoFlores is a proud fronteriza. She is an actor, performing artist, dance theater producer and aspiring singer/songwriter. For the last five years, Vanessa has dedicated her 9-5 to building donor and community relations as well as planning and executing fundraising initiatives for nonprofits in the areas of social justice organizing and the performing arts. A proud alumna of the Atlantic Acting School Conservatory in NYC, Vanessa also earned a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Texas A&M University - College Station and a Master of Liberal Arts from St. Edward’s University. Role Review Panelist Willie Anderson Review Panelist Originating from Tennessee and firmly established in the Austin, Texas area for over three decades, my professional trajectory embodies a deep commitment to equity in education and communication. Drawing from a diverse array of experiences and continuous professional growth, I've cultivated a rich skill set tailored to fostering inclusive environments. As an educator, I've held various roles, including Special Education Department Chair and Adjunct Professor, dedicated to creating equitable learning environments. Within the Austin Independent School District and Austin Community College, I've championed diverse learners, led online instruction, and curated engaging Social and Emotional Learning activities. My passion for community outreach and empowerment is exemplified through my work with Portfolio Resident Services, where I've coordinated educational enrichment programs and forged partnerships with local organizations. Additionally, my tenure as an Educational Associate with Pflugerville ISD underscored my commitment to student support and collaborative instruction. In the realm of media and communication, I've contributed to various platforms, serving as a contributing writer, social media editor, and manager for organizations such as Soul Citi, Ballet Afrique, and Can I Live. Professional endeavors also include roles as a professional scorer with Evaluation Systems Pearson and as a Special Education Consultant for Texas Empowerment Academy. My academic journey, culminating in a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University, alongside certifications in ESL and Special Education, reflects a dedication to lifelong learning and equity. Rooted in my Tennessee origins and nurtured by Austin's dynamic cultural landscape, I am poised to continue championing equity and inclusivity across all facets of my professional endeavors. Ibiye Anga is the founder and CEO of Anga Haus, a leading creative technology agency. She brings artistic visions to life while simultaneously designing learning paths to bridge the digital divide. Ibiye is a sought-after speaker at conferences and events, where she discusses her experiences as a founder, champion for cultural awareness and climate change, and advocate for a sustainable planet. Her achievements include being recognized as a rising star by the Austin Business Journal's 2023 Women in Business Awards (People's Choice) and a Champion of Change by divinc. In addition to leading Anga Haus, Ibiye serves on the Board for Austin's community technology and telecommunications commission. She is also the owner of a foundation focused on girls' education. A passionate advocate for environmental sustainability, she champions this cause through educational initiatives. Ibiye is also a mixed-media artist herself.https://www.anga.haus Ibiye Anga Review Panelist Leila Ursula Anna Barber Barton Bauer https://www.heythereleila.com/about https://www.ursulabarton.com/about Personal Website/Biography: https://annabauerdance.com/#aboutme Review Panelist Review Panelist Review Panelist Page 1 of 24 Candace Bellamy Review Panelist Alexius (Lexi) Bruner Review Panelist Vanessa Burden Review Panelist Hector Campos Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Candace Bellamy, is a singer hailing from Knoxville, TN. She’s a dedicated physician by day, but in the evening, Bellamy transforms into a captivating jazz and soul vocalist. With years of experience under her belt, she has honed her craft in various settings - from cover bands and musical theater to her own one-woman show where she weaves stories of her life between soulful tunes. Having made her mark in the music scene, Bellamy eventually found her way to Austin, TX, where she collaborated with some of the best songwriters in the industry. Working alongside the likes of Ruth Carter, Jimi Calhoun, and Jake Langley, Bellamy has created a unique sound that seamlessly blends jazz and soul influences. In addition to her music career, Bellamy is also a filmmaker. She directed "Healer," a documentary that sheds light on the life of Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the first African American Surgeon General of the United States. The film has garnered attention at international film festivals, showcasing Bellamy's diverse talents behind the camera as well. Candace also hosts the podcast, Strong Women in Medicine. With a passion for empowering women in the medical field, Candace's podcast showcases inspiring stories and insights from women in the medical field. She is mom to three amazing kiddos and in her spare time, she loves to travel, with New York City holding a special place in her heart as one of her favorite cities in the world. Lexi Bruner is an author and poet who leverages her storytelling to amplify her mission to disrupt power structures, advocate for social justice, and amplify diverse stories. When she’s not exploring themes of identity, culture, and power in her writing, you can find her working with a nonprofit organization centered around equitable feedback practices, “hiking” around town, binding books, reading, or rewatching a comfort anime that has a 90% chance of making her cry. The Year I Was Everything is her second publication, following her debut poetry collection journey back to Me. Vanessa Burden is a composer, musician, DJ, songwriter, dancer and community leader that resides in Austin, TX since 2001. With a degree in Audio Engineering, Vanessa took to Austin airwaves in 2011 w/ her self produced program "Beats of Burden" shedding light on all Latinx genres from Cumbia to salsa to cumbiatronica, indigenous futurism. She also mentors the youth at Girls Rock Austin each summer, helping them build confidence and empowerment. You can catch Vanessa spinning vinyl at Flamingo, ABGB, or other venues that appreciate her ability to create a journey through space and time. You can also find her singing w/ Latin Psych Rock band Los Alcos, having co created their debut album "Dia de Los Alcos". Vanessa can be found on the Greenbelt, Barton Springs or cutting up the dancefloor wherever the vibe is right! Hector has delivered leadership and organizational effectiveness trainings and consulting to national, state, and local nonprofits for over two decades. Throughout his career, he has promoted, advanced and integrated social justice and an equity lens into all capacity-building activities to ensure that public sector agencies equitably thrive and achieve their goals. Most recently, Hector was the Training Director for a national nonprofit capacity-building organization that delivered trainings and consulting on leadership/management, individual and organizational development, effective communication, team building and diversity, equity, and inclusion to public health agencies. He was also the CEO and Founder of Campos Training and Consulting Group. In that capacity, he managed a successful training and consulting firm implementing cost-effective staff development training and coaching that resulted in increased employee job satisfaction, team trust/communication and organizational effectiveness. Outside the office, you will find Hector listening to music at various venues throughout Austin, taking landscape photos, riding his bike at local trails and/or kayaking on Lady Bird Lake. Jairus Carr is a local dancer, choreographer, and artist who has been in the Austin area since 2007. With a B.S. in Business Management from WGU which has served him very little, Jairus has trained and danced with many persons and companies in the Austin Area—to name a few: Early Era Collective, Blue Lapis Light, Jennifer Sherburn, and Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company. Jairus and his partner, Anna, make work together. These works have been showcased in many events across the US, festivals such as the Austin Dance Festival, Barnstorm Dance Festival, and RAD Fest. Jairus continues to explore movement, choreography, and every medium he can make time for, all in Austin, TX. Veronica Ceci is a Queer intermedia artist based in Austin, TX. She is known for portraiture and public artworks focusing on forgotten histories. The artist makes that which is deliberately omitted conspicuous through intense materiality, repetition, iconography and lived performance. Ceci’s pieces have been in exhibitions at prestigious institutions such as the Contemporary Art Center New Orleans and are held in many collections including the Library of Congress. You can see more of her work at www.veronicaceci.com Page 2 of 24 Jairus Carr Review Panelist Veronica Ceci Review Panelist Katie Chance Review Panelist Emily Clark Review Panelist Tiffany Coghill Review Panelist Melanie Cecilia Colclough Colome Review Panelist Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil KATIE CHANCE is an artist with a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. With a keen eye for detail and a love for watercolor, gouache, and ink, she has mastered a range of styles from bold and vibrant to soft and ethereal. Katie's artwork has been featured in solo and group exhibitions across the United States, including galleries in Provence, Atlanta, Austin and most recently New Orleans. Her work has also been recognized by respected publications such as Juxtapoz and Anthropologie, as well as the Austin Studio Tour. Beyond her 10-year career as an artist, Katie is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and passion with others. She has a genuine interest in helping aspiring artists develop their skills and explore their creativity. She is currently an art instructor at The Contemporary Museum Laguna Gloria and maintains a studio practice in South Austin. Dr. Emily Clark is Professor and of English at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English from Texas A&M University and her Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. Her specialties include Twentieth-Century British Literature, particularly Modernism and Virginia Woolf, Literary Theory, and Women’s and Gender Studies. She is the founder pf the UIW Women’s and Gender Studies program, and her publications include chapters on Virginia Woolf, Gender, and Space in The Power of the Word, and in Constructing the Literary Self: Race and Gender in Twentieth Century Literature. She is also co-editor of two editions of The Water and Culture Reader. She is currently working on a monograph entitled A Woman With No Country: Virginia Woolf, Nature and the Borderlands. Tiffany Coghill has over a decade of experience working with grants and the nonprofit sector. She currently serves as Senior Director of Grant Compliance for City Year. As a consultant, she provides grant writing and arts administration services to artists and arts organizations. Previously, she has also worked with CACTX, Big Medium, the Texas Early Music Project, La Follia Austin Baroque, the San Marcos Studio Tour, and Live Nation (HOB Chicago). She is an active multi-disciplinary artist, and her current primary endeavor is the Navasota Sering project which incorporates music, art, and writing. Tiffany holds a BA in English-Writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and has also formally studied studio art and music. https://tlltemple.foundation/melanie-colclough/ Education 1988 – 1995 PhD Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 1988 – 1994 Independent Studies in Printmaking (with professor Lee Chesney), The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 1984 – 1987 Independent Studies in Printmaking (with master printer Juan José Beltrán), Taller Los Tres Patios, Mexico City, Mexico 1981 – 1987 BSc Physics, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico 1973 – 1977 Independent Studies in Painting (with master painter Amalia Baquedano), Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico 1972 – 1974 Independent Studies in Drawing and Human Anatomy, Escuela de Bellas Artes, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico Solo exhibits: 2022 – “Learning From Light: Night and Day”, La Peña Gallery, Austin, TX 1982 – “De lo real a lo imaginario”, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico Group exhibits: 2005 – present Participating artist or curator of the annual exhibits in honor of International Women’s Day (March), Día de Los Muertos (early- November), and the West Austin Studio Tour (mid-November), La Peña Galley, Austin, TX 2019 – “No Me Olvides”, Big Medium Gallery, Austin TX 2008 – 2010 Collective exhibit, members of the Pump Project, Austin, TX 2002 – 2005 Collective exhibit, members of the Guadalupe Arts Center, Austin, TX (consumed by fire in 2005) 1994 – 1995 Collective exhibit, members of the Artists Coalition of Austin, ACA Gallery, Austin TX 990 “ d h i k” ll l ll Page 3 of 24 Jose Davila Review Panelist Michael De Whatley Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Born in New York City, and raised in Puerto Rico, I have been in the music business for the last 35 years. I have a bachelors in arts of communication with a minor in television production from the University of Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico worked as a radio host for Salsoul 98.5 fm and Z93 Radio stations in my early teens. Started a career as a singer at the age of 20 performing with artists such as Eddie Santiago, Willie Colón, Lalo, Rodríguez, and Tito Nieves, among many others. Moved to Miami in performed as a vocalist with Rey Ruiz and Mickey Taveras. Worked as a producer. For HBO Latino For about six years. Relocate it to Austin Texas and have lived here for the last 20 years. Period after a couple of years of singing with bands like The Brew and Shari, create it, Salero!, my own band for the last 16 year As Owner, manager, musical Director and sound guy aside from being the lead vocalist. Facebook.com/Saleros Instagram.com/mysalero Michael is a Ph.D. candidate in Performance as Public Practice at The University of Texas at Austin. A native of Asheville, N.C., he has a B.A. in Theatre with departmental honors from Wake Forest University and an M.A. in Theatre from UT-Austin. His research is focused on the role of community and locality in American regional theatres, as well as the governance of those theatres and related arts organizations. He is particularly interested in large cast and large scale community oriented performances in American regional theatres and their larger impacts on institutional health and focus. Before coming to Austin, Michael served for six years as the associate production manager at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and had a variety of experiences in production and artistic management at Zilker Botanical Garden, Kentucky Shakespeare, Berkshire Theatre Group, Lexington Children's Theatre and the Austin Film Festival. His work has previously been published in American Theatre, Etudes, Howlround Theatre Commons, Theatre Design and Technology, and Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts. I was born and raised and attended Daycare, Pre-K, Elementary School, Middle School, High School in East Austin. I graduated from ACC Vocational Nursing Program in 1980 at the age of 20, and currently working fulltime on weekends. I have five grandchildren all living in Austin. My medical career expands to dedicated nursing roles in mental health, primary care, reproductive services, developmental disabilities, campus nurse Huston-Tillotson University (2002-2012), Seton Medical Center, Austin Public Health HIV/AIDS prevention educator. I volunteer as EMLK Neighborhood Plan Contact Team charter adopted in 2002. It has 3 areas MLK, MLK-183, Pecan Springs-Springdale. We represent a large region of Austin, experiencing rapid growth. We are a powerful way to make our issues heard at the City level. We are microphone for our neighborhoods that face housing issue, zoning changes, traffic, community development, safety issues and more. The above experiences and active involvement as a community organizer have opened doors of opportunity that allow me to place an equity focus to all that I serve. Dianna Dean Review Panelist John Dell Hayato DeSouza Brookes Ebetsch www.eltuleband.com www.elcombooscuro.com Hayato DeSouza is a writer, musician, and improvisor. He started his journey to the stage with drag and improv back in Atlanta in 2018 and has pursued the path since. Currently, he has been living in Austin since 2020 where he regularly teaches improv classes, plays keyboard accompaniment for musicals, and writes sketch. Outside of stage performance Hayato enjoys cycling, nature/foraging, and cooking. Brookes Ebetsch is the Executive Director of Chicago Artists Coalition. Prior to this role, she was Executive Director of Metropolis Performing Arts Centre and School of Performing Arts in suburban Chicago. In 2022, she was part of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Leadership Institute. Her early career at the Institute for Latino Studies focused on visual art exhibitions, documentation of Latinx art and artists, and collaborative arts projects with organizations across the US. Review Panelist Review Panelist Review Panelist Before returning to non-profit arts, she was Executive Director of SunstoneFIT in Dallas, TX for 12 years. She is an alumna of the Stagen Integral Leadership Program. She was awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studio (FLAS) fellowship to Brazil from the U.S. Department of Education and holds a B.F.A. in Studio Arts: photography and ceramics, a second major in Spanish, and a Masters in Nonprofit Administration from the University of Notre Dame | Mendoza School of Business. Page 4 of 24 Billy Fairley Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil I'm Billy, a versatile creative with a passion for using my craft to express my individuality. Growing up in a creative environment, I’ve always been drawn to unconventional design and innovative thinking. With a background in Video Game Art, I bring a unique perspective to fashion, blending elements of art and technology in my designs. Footwear design, in particular, fascinates me, as I find inspiration in the intersection of fashion and functionality. For me, fashion is more than just clothing; it's a form of self-expression and a way to make a statement. I love experimenting with different materials and techniques, always pushing the boundaries of traditional design. Through my work, I aim to challenge the status quo and redefine what it means to be a fashion designer. I believe fashion should be inclusive, empowering people to embrace their uniqueness and express themselves boldly. Currently, I’m pursuing a degree in Fashion Design and planning an internship at Nike to further my expertise in footwear design. I'm excited to continue my journey in the fashion industry, creating designs that are as unique and individual as I am. I'm a dedicated and perceptive individual, driven by my aspirations to excel in all my endeavors. Adaptable to any environment, I approach situations with an open mind and a non-judgmental attitude, welcoming diversity. My calm demeanor hides a fierce drive for success, and I actively seek out new knowledge, priding myself on meticulous attention to detail. My dedication to my craft and ability to fuse artistic vision with practical design make me stand out in the fashion world. My work showcases not only my technical skills but also my commitment to celebrating individuality and pushing the boundaries of conventional fashion. Sherri Fleming https://1drv.ms/w/c/d88cb06d27e40dff/EdcTXMmgsI1Cu4DCHhjwY_UBB8OKn73URcxJy82EbQe_ig Review Panelist Anna Franklin Anna Franklin (they/them) is a multifaceted artist hailing from San Antonio, TX, now thriving in Austin, TX. Their artistic journey spans across various mediums, from theater and ceramics to exhibit curation and dance. With a passion for equity and justice, Anna is committed to dismantling barriers that hinder individuals and communities from engaging with diverse art forms. They are a dedicated ballet instructor and the creative force behind a small handmade jewelry business. Review Panelist Jimena Gamboa Bonilla Hola, hola! I'm Jimena, a Colombiana living in Austin, Texas. I'm passionate about improving the Review Panelist experience of others by focusing on belonging initiatives in corporate, nonprofit, and public spaces. I help organizations prioritize employee education and learning to support their growth and success. Jessica Geiger Review Panelist Jessica Geiger is public policy professional with 6+ years of experience dedicated to advancing public policy to serve mission-oriented goals and create positive change in communities. She currently works as a Policy Coordinator at The University of Texas at Austin in the Office of Governmental Affairs and Initiatives. She recently completed her Master of Public Affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at UT. During her program, she worked with the Austin Economic Development Corporation to develop a strategic plan for the Austin Cultural Trust. This project built a foundation of understanding of locally supported and government funded cultural projects. Her lifelong love of culture and the arts, plus her policy background in economic development as it relates to creative ecosystems makes her eager to serve the vital Austin creative community however she can. Bryan Glick is just your typical cancer-surviving disabled non-binary gay agnostic Jewish film sales entrepreneur. Their company GQue Films focuses on films by, about and for under-represented demographics. They recently launched a first of its kind film sales/distribution initiative for films from self identified disabled filmmakers. Bryan has spoken about creative approaches to distribution, accessibility & inclusion at festivals/markets around the world such as Sundance, European Film Market, SXSW, Outfest, Hot Docs, Bogota Audiovisual Market, and Doc Edge NZ. They are Denver based and their work as an actor won them True West and On Stage Colorado Awards. They are one of just a few dozen regular wheelchair users to ever star in a show at a regional Broadway theater. Bryan Glick Review Panelist Page 5 of 24 Bianca Guerrero Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil My name is Bianca Guerrero. I am a product of an Immigrant and Native Texas lineage. I have been surrounded by a great village of family, motivated strongly by the women of my life! Artistically, I have drawn and painted since I can remember. I went to Texas Tech, majoring in Fine Arts: Painting/Drawing. Currently, I am rekindling my journey of immersion into my city! I have seen the many transformations and want to do my part to ensure as a hispanic female, I do what I can to represent and navigate the many opportunities our city has to offer. I am a young hispanic woman, daughter to a Mexican immigrant and 4th generation Texan. My dad, born in Mexico, immigrated with his parents to East Austin. My paternal grandparents still live in the same childhood home next to Montopolis Rec Center! My paternal grandmother showed immense strength with bearing and raising 7 amazing human beings all while navigating a new country. My maternal ancestral lineage goes back 5 generations in Texas and is believed to be linked to Apache Native. My mother showed me that women can be mothers, bosses, and breadwinners. All together I find myself with strong cultural ties not only to Texas but specifically to Austin. In high school, I participated in Art Shows and sold my first piece, however the majority of my artistic passions were completed from home. Junior Prom, I created a duct tape dress and submitted it for the Stuck At Prom scholarship! In college, as a studio art student I took Painting, Figure Drawing, Photography, Metals, Ceramics, and Carpentry classes. Due to a lack of finances, I entered the workforce. (I intend to complete 19 hours for my Bachelor's degree.) After college, I found myself in male dominating careers, pushing boundaries as the women in my life showed. 2 years postpartum I completed the fire academy, becoming a professional firefighter. Looking back, this was me showing men the typically unwitnessed strengths of a woman. As a Firefighter, I volunteered in schools and girl scout events. My goal, to show young ladies that a brown woman of color could be a norm in the fire service. When the youth were asked to draw first responders, the images were typically male oriented, I wanted to help show otherwise. As a firefighter I had plenty of free time to draw and paint. From college to current, I have completed many commission paintings. I want to be in the front line of our Hispanic community. In turn, I also want to make sure that our youth experience our culture. Given the opportunity to influence a significant change in the Greater i f i di i k f l l ld l h l i h h f ll i h Dr. Georgen Guerrero is a Professor and the Chair of the Criminal Justice Department at the University of the Incarnate Word. He currently teaches a class in Art Crime where students are challenged with a basic understanding of the different types of art genres (such as the Renaissance, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Modernism, Cubism, and Pop Art), artists (such as Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Munch, Rockwell, and Banksy) various types of art crimes (such as theft, looting, destruction, fraud, and creating fakes) and the various forgers throughout the art world. Lara Toner Haddock has worked as a professional arts administrator in Austin for over 20 years. She has served as the Producing Artistic Director of Austin Playhouse since 2020. For Austin Playhouse she has produced and directed over 20 productions including Emma, The Spitfire Grill, The Norwegians, Big Fish, Indecent, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Confessions of an English Danger Girl, Red Hot Patriot, The Book of Will, Monroe, The Explorers Club, She Stoops to Conquer, Roaring, Venus in Fur, And Then There Were None, Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Room With A View (which she also adapted for the stage), A Christmas Carol, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Turn of the Screw, Age of Arousal (Austin Critics' Table Best Comedy), Heroes, It’s a Wonderful Life, Dug Up (Austin Critics' Table Best New Play),Women Who Steal, Moonlight and Magnolias, and A Texas Romance. Other regional productions include directing These Shining Lives for St. Edward's University, the professional premiere of The Crossword Play for Theatre Silco, the 2021 and 2022 Angelina Eberly programs for the Austin History Center Association, and Age of Arousal for Southwestern University. Ms. Haddock recently led the Austin Playhouse negotiations with the Austin Economic Development Corporation to secure $4.5 million in city bond funds that will support a new, permanent facility for the veteran theatre group. She is also a professional actor and member of Actors' Equity Association. www.linkedin.com/in/kelsie-hart As a doctoral student in historical musicology at the University of Texas at Austin, I explore medieval music theory, pedagogy, and transmission, and global approaches to music studies. My masters thesis, “Regula cantus firmi: an Edition, Translation, and Commentary,” studies a short fifteenth century Latin treatise on plainchant preserved in Italian manuscripts that elucidates part of the oral tradition of the Middle Ages. I am also part of a project concerning Austin musicians and the challenges they face. While earning the Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance and the M.M. with a concentration in Musicology from the University of Alabama, I was a member and Junior Fellow of the Blount Scholars Program. I most recently held the office of Co-President, Musicology for the Association of Graduate Ethno/Musicology Students (AGEMS) at UT from 2022-2024 academic years and served as program committee officer (2023) and communications officer (2022) for the American Musicological Society’s Skills and Resources in Early Musics Study Group (SREM). I work as a Teaching Assistant at the Butler School of Music, a grant writer for Texas Performing Arts, and graduate student employee at Texas Exes. Page 6 of 24 Georgen Guerrero Review Panelist Lara Haddock Review Panelist Kelsie Catherine Hart Heemann Review Panelist Review Panelist Rebecca Herman Review Panelist Mike Henry Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Creative entrepreneur, event producer and arts advocate Mike Henry spent the past three decades working in two of the greatest live entertainment marketplaces in the world – Austin, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada. Mike moved to Austin the day he graduated from college, taking his first steps into the entertainment industry as co-owner, talent buyer, and promoter for iconic 90’s music and performing arts venue, the Electric Lounge. In 1994, Mike co-founded Austin Poetry Slam, serving as Creative Director and Slammaster for the first fifteen years of the organization's long history. During his time at APS, Henry produced the National Poetry Slam in Austin three times – 1998, 2006 and 2007 – resulting in four sold-out shows at the Paramount Theater. Henry also learned the ropes at South by Southwest, serving in numerous paid capacities over a decade-long period, as well as working as a touring musician as a member of the Asylum Street Spankers for two years. After working to build, program, and operate another of Austin’s most progressive and adventurous performance spaces -- The North Door -- Mike moved to Las Vegas in 2013 to join Downtown Project, the urban revitalization project created by Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh. His role focused on developing music / arts venues and advocacy for the creative community. Henry’s path as a curator and producer continued in Vegas as talent buyer for the Bunkhouse Saloon, co-director for Neon Reverb Music Festival, and music programmer for the inaugural Emerge Impact + Music festival. Upon returning to Austin in 2018, Mike undertook a four-year term as Project Manager for Mosaic Sound Collective as well as creating his own video production business. Currently, Mike serves as an independent entertainment consultant for a roster of amazing clients in the creative community. Current / recent clients include The Uvalde Love Project, SPIN, Hamell on Trial, Swan Dive, Adam Sultan, Giulia Millanta and many more. Rebecca Herman, Artistic Producer of Local Opera Local Artists (LOLA) in Austin, TX and opera stage director is a storyteller who thrives on surprising, exciting, and moving audiences large and small. She is the Associate Director for Tomer Zvulun’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, most recently seen at Calgary Opera and Utah Opera in 2023. She recently made her debut at The Glimmerglass Festival as the Associate Director for E. Loren Meeker’s production of La Boheme. In the 23-24 season, she joins Colorado Opera as assistant director for Don Giovanni, Opera Omaha as assistant director for La Traviata, Cincinnati Opera for Allison Moritz’s new production of Don Giovanni, and returns to Austin Opera to direct Carmen. As the Artistic Producer of LOLA, Rebecca has been instrumental in cultivating innovative approaches to traditional, well-known classics as well as developing new works with living composers and librettists. Notable LOLA productions include: La Femme Bohème (La Bohème cast with all treble voices); La Clemenza di Tito: a Retelling (told through the eyes of Berenice of Cilicia, Tito’s lover, with added monologues spoken between musical numbers instead of the traditional recitativo); We Might Be Struck By Lightning (a devised work using classical Art song to tell two interwoven stories performed by 2 singers and 4 dancers); Lardo Weeping (a chamber opera featuring Dinah LeFarge “a rather large, sexual, woman of independent means,” who invites the audience into her living room for an evening of stories, musings, ranting, and ultimately physical transformation) and most recently Un Cuento de Luces y Sombras (a new Spanish language operetta about the power of embracing, instead of fearing, our differences by Venezuelan Composer and Librettist team Carlos Cordero and Germàn Barboza). Rebecca loves to collaborate with living composers and librettists. In the last several years, she has been able to facilitate the development of many new works including: Lardo Weeping (Stopschinski, Galloway); Good Country (Allegretti, Raker); Undine Speaks (Allegretti, Herman) and Un Cuento des Luces y Sombras (Cordero, Barboza). She finds working with living composer/librettist teams exhilarating, challenging, and rewarding. Rebecca holds an M.M. in Opera Direction from The University of Texas at Austin as well as both a B.A. in English Literature and a self-designed B.M. in Opera/Vocal Studies from Lawrence University. Elizabeth Maria Hudson (b. Los Angeles, 1989) is a figurative watercolor painter currently living and working in Austin, TX. She studied studio art at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, and received a BA in history and art history at the University of Texas at Austin. She has participated in group exhibitions at Pencil on Paper Gallery (Dallas), Bisong Gallery (Houston) 500X Gallery (Dallas), Big Medium (Austin), and the George Washington Carver Museum (Austin). She was an artist in residence for Big Medium's Desert Door residency in April 2022, and The Small Black Museum Residency: Volume II at the George Washington Carver Museum in April 2023. Her work deals with the intersection of the unseen with the material world, and how that shapes the subconscious mind through the use of abstraction, landscape imagery, and figuration. Page 7 of 24 Elizabeth Hudson Review Panelist Adrienne Isom Review Panelist Natasha Jackson Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Adrienne Isom, of Austin, obtained a BA in Art from Texas Southern University, and an MLA in Humanities with 18 hours of art also, from Saint Edwards University. She has been a practicing studio / commercial Artist for at least 4 decades. She is one of few wax artists in the country, and specializes in all types of art, but focuses on the creation of bronze statues, and monuments view(www.waxtrackgallery.org, http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/galveston- dedicates-park-to-first-black-heavyweight-boxing-champ/article_537db96b-ccb1-5b11-84e8- 6b475a9fca43.html} She completed several of the Juneteenth statues that grace the Carver Grounds. Her pieces illuminate the beauty that is freedom! Isom, who has twice received a Texas Legislative Commendation for her work, heads Wax Track Gallery International, a nonprofit organization based in Austin and funded in part by the City of Austin Economic Development and Texas Commission for the Arts since 1995, as well as Isom Enterprises, and industrial design and contracting business. Ms. Isom is dedicated to preserving African American history through her sculpture work. She recently unveiled a commissioned sculpture of African American boxer Jack Johnson in Galveston, Texas. I am woman of mixed heritage with my own personal experiences related to a lack of access to equity and inclusion. I was born in Michigan and raised as a military brat which broadened my perspective and gave me a unique world view. I learned at an early age that all people from all places have the same basic needs and desires and are generally the same. Cultural practices were what distinguish people from one another and can be a source of division. My personal experience as product of two cultures and my nomadic upbringing created a strong sense of the need for justice and humanity. For seeing each person based on their unique qualities, skills and talents, not limiting or rejecting other based solely on differences. I spent the early years of my career working for non profit, purpose focused non profits and in the last 7 years began working as a public servant for both State and City governmental entities. My interests are focused on educating, empowering the public while proliferating art and culture. I believe art/music/culture to be a powerful, universally engaging and unifying force that brings people closer to one another. I have served as a community volunteer and mentor throughout my adult life in an effort to contribute and to inspire and be inspired by those who enjoy the beauty of art, community connection and support basic human respect for all. @peace_andabundance Born and raised in East Austin, Ms. Elaine James has always had a passion for fashion. What started off as sewing clothes for her kids turned into a well-known, respected, and loved business. The popularity of Ms. Elaine’s Simply Kute Designs not only boosted her brand, but more importantly, gave her a way to provide opportunities to the youth by starting a fashion group. This group was a great outlet for youth of all ages to come and build self-confidence, character, knowledge, and experience in a safe space with their peers. Ms. Elaine made this impact on the City of Austin and its youth by letting them participate as models, dancers, poets, musicians, artists, designers, stage managers, and many other things. These fashion shows brought together people of all walks of life from local neighbors to business owners, mayors, congressmen, entertainers, and many others. This helped connect youth in her group and the audience to people, places, and opportunities that weren't always seen in their community. In addition to these events, Ms. Elaine James also taught sewing classes for the youth and crochet classes at senior centers and online to share her knowledge and creative spirit with all.Today, Ms. Elaine continues to follow her passion and keep up her entrepreneurial spirit by providing services such as, alterations, participating in vendor markets, and personally selling custom Barbie and 18” doll clothes, crochet hats and scarves, scrunchies, and other items. Ms. Elaine’s aim for the near future is to get back to teaching Sewing classes, throwing fashion shows, and promoting her Simply Kute Barbie designs. Elaine James Review Panelist Ghislaine Jean Ghislaine " Qi Dada" Jean is a Haitian- American afro spiritualist storyteller. As a performing artist, she is one half of Riders Against the Storm, an award winning Hip Hop duo. As the founder of QD Life & Education, she has held sacred space, offering spiritual mentorship and education to facilitate community needs. Her hallmark is calling black women to dance on the bedrock of soul retrieval and liberation. Her 15yrs of art, education and production seeks to navigate us through inherited racial distortion by decolonizing the internal landscape. Review Panelist Page 8 of 24 Susan Johnson Review Panelist Margaret Keough Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Dr. Susan Johnson retired from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts as a Manager of Training and Professional Development. Her experience includes serving as Associate Commissioner for the Office of the Consumer Support and Workforce Services and Office, Director for the Ombudsman Office for the Health and Human Services Commission. She served as a Staff Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner of the Texas Department of Human Services, Training Manager for the Texas Department of Transportation and Director of Program Planning for the Health and Human Services Policy Council in the Office of the Governor. Dr. Johnson holds an undergraduate degree from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, a Master of Arts in Managing Human Resources Development Leadership from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Urban Higher Education from Jackson State University. Dr. Johnson is an engaged member of the Austin Chapter of Links, Inc., Executive Women in Texas Government, The National Association for Parliamentarians, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and has been a docent for the Governor’s Mansion since 1985. She currently serves on the Ann Richards School Foundation Board of Directors and the Dell Seton President’s Council. She also served on the Round Rock Preservation Board and last years City of Austin Economic Development Panel. Margaret A. Keough serves as Director of Advocacy for Mid-America Arts Alliance, the regional arts organization serving the arts and artists in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and beyond. Through her work, she seeks to connect community leaders with the transformative power of the arts. Keough joined M-AAA in 2014 as its director of marketing and communications and managed the organization’s branding, marketing, communications, and advocacy work. She has more than twenty years of museum marketing experience at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO. She earned an MBA from Rockhurst University and undergraduate degrees in art history and in journalism, with a concentration in advertising, from the University of Kansas. Keough has presented on advocacy, marketing, communications, and related topics at the meetings of the American Alliance of Museums, National Arts Action Summit, National Arts Marketing Project, Oklahoma Arts Council, and Arkansas Arts Council, among others. She is a member of the Cultural Advocacy Group and formerly the Legislative Planning Committee for Americans for the Arts. Selected for the Getty Leadership Institute’s Next Generation program, Keough has served as president of the Kansas City Attractions Association, publicity chair for the Kansas City convening for the Association of State and Local History, juror of Plaza Art Fair, and as a grant panelist for the Arkansas Arts Council and the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission. www.jieunbeth.com Jieun Beth received her Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art at the University of Texas at Austin (2013) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design (2009). She has exhibited regionally, nationally, and internationally, and notable recent exhibitions include the Korea Art Show in Suwon, South Korea (2022), a solo exhibit at CANVAS ATX in Austin, TX (2022), and at ARTIFACT Gallery, New York, NY (2021). She participated in the Desert Door Residency hosted by Big Medium and Desert Door Distillery in Drayden, TX (2022). Exploring themes ranging from the body to spirit, memory to personal truth, individual to collective, and singular to universal, Jieun Beth threaded concepts between body identity, the identity of memory, and the identity of impermanence. She investigated the influence of beliefs on perceptions and how we identify ourselves and others through perspectives. In her recent series, Regale, she uses Manhwa (manga) and Impressionism, primary inspirations of West and East that influenced her to become a visual artist. She depicts characteristics of her identity in archetypal representations and reclaims her love of painting through this series. Jieun Beth is a jack of all trades. She is an art educator with broad teaching experiences working with all ages through diverse educational programs, including private lessons, elementary afterschool art programs, higher education, and community art classes. From 2018 – 2022, Jieun Beth started and led the exhibition program at the award-winning Austin Central Library wearing many hats as the curator, art administrator, and art installer. She has been serving the local and international community through community outreach. She is also the purveyor, chef, and owner of Kimchi Rók, a small business dedicated to her mother’s craft of cooking. Page 9 of 24 Jieun Beth Kim Review Panelist Shannon Kors Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil I’ve spent my career in various facets of the arts, supplementing those experiences with nonprofit fundraising roles. Growing up in art-centric Houston, I attended performances and admired art, ingraining an early and lifelong appreciation for creativity and vision. With a Psychology degree from Vanderbilt University I headed west to pursue a wildly different life, one focused in numerous creative fields. In Los Angeles I immersed myself in my passion for film and entertainment, handpicking the companies and people with whom I worked, choosing to elevate my experiences and career by learning from those more knowledgeable. There are so many different elements to filmmaking and I was able to successfully learn many of them including development, the agency world, budgeting, and production/post production while understanding many behind-the-scenes secrets of the business. My focus and inspiration thrived most when supporting filmmakers and artists in their endeavors and goals. After various other roles in Austin I was thrilled to work at the Austin Film Society, embracing my love of philanthropy while simultaneously supporting Texas filmmakers. I thrive when inspiring those to contribute to a mutual passion. I feel lucky to have worked with many respected nonprofits in Austin including PEAS, Bike Austin and AFSSA. And now as a successful sales team member at SXSW for three seasons I have first-hand experience with how Austin and its highly creative community can affect and change the world. I've surrounded myself with different creative types and groups, from the Creative Mornings talks to volunteering for different arts-focused groups -- Austin Film Festival, Big Medium, Landmarks and others. I've had the pleasure of watching Austin grow over the last 12 years of living here. I remain extremely passionate about and committed to supporting the arts in Austin and I'm constantly looking for opportunities to give back and support my community. Anshika is a development practitioner with a proven track record of designing, managing, and executing transformative workforce development programs. With eight years of experience, she is passionate about creating sustainable social impact. Previously, Anshika spearheaded the Prime Minister's Skill Development Program in India, the largest skill development training initiative globally, impacting the lives of 10 million young individuals. Her expertise extends beyond program management to encompass policy advocacy, research, and philanthropy. Anshika is also proficient in entrepreneurship development and SME capacity-building programs. She holds a master’s degree in economics from University of Warwick, England. Currently, Anshika is working as the Program Manager at Toronto’s Workforce Funder Collaborative. Here, her work sits at the intersection of systems change, philanthropy and workforce development. She collaborates closely with grantees, building their capacity and providing technical assistance to grassroot organizations, in advancing their mission driven work. Anshika Kushwaha Review Panelist Anita Krystelle Lakshman Lastierre https://www.textpowertelling.org/about Born in Philippines and living and creating in San Marcos, Texas, Intel Lastierre is a multimedia artist whose work challenges the selective malleability of justice through oil painting, installations, and photography. Lastierre interprets folklore, mythology, and the dynamic between predator and prey to chronicle human rights issues from the perspective of a Filipino woman who has lived under government censorship and imperial exploitation. By twisting biomorphic forms and juxtaposing the grotesque with the beautiful, Lastierre strives to subvert structures of power, mirroring depictions of a dystopian present with the potential of a utopian future. Lastierre has studied architecture, engineering, and art history and graduated in photography from De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde in Manila. She is the co-founder of the House of Frida Gallery in the Philippines and has exhibited work in Manila, Bacolod, Cebu, San Marcos, and Austin. https://www.intel-lastierre.art/about Review Panelist Review Panelist Aranzazu Lattanzio www.linkedin.com/in/arancha-lattanzio-2a10291b9 Review Panelist Page 10 of 24 Katrin Ludwig Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Katrin has served as an artistic director, stage manager, co-producer of award winning one-acts, stage tech, and performer from Ohio to California. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Theater from Northwestern University, a Masters in NonProfit Administration from North Park University, and a Graduate Certificate in acting from the Drama Studio London-Berkeley. In Illinois, she co-founded a touring puppet theater company: Walkabout Puppets.  This company used creative drama and audience participation with their K-8 audience.  They provided custom residencies to underserved communities in the Midwest and incorporated visual arts, music, drama, writing and the class curriculum designed to support State Standards. In San Antonio, she is a Wolf Trap Early Learning Teaching Artist (6+ years) using puppetry, movement and creative drama for grades preK-2nd. Recent acting roles include Hildegaard in We Sail on in Darkness (an original devised theatre piece), Provost in Measure for Measure at the Classic Theatre and Bloodbottler in The BFG (Theatre for Young Audiences) at Magik Theatre. Katrin is the Cultural Vibrancy Committee Chair at the San Antonio Area Foundation and Board Member for Puppeteers of America. She has also served in grant panel review for the City of San Antonio, Texas Commission on the Arts and New Jersey Department of Arts & Culture. Martha Lujan Martha Lujan’s journey as an advocate for equity and inclusion, combined with her expertise in mental health and community health work, highlights her unwavering dedication to making a positive impact. She remains a beacon of hope and a catalyst for change in her community. Regina Lysaught I am an experience creator. I connect people and places and art/brands. I activate spaces both public and private. I bring those spaces to life and market them to locals, residents, students, city workers, tourists and visitors. I help provide platforms for artists to be seen and discovered, promote those said artists as part of the event or activation and help raise the profile of that artists/performer. I love driving economic development for councils and tourism boards by creating an event or activation and bringing people to that area. This ripple effect not only supports the artist but the local businesses, creates a vibe for residents and something to do in their neighbourhood, draws visitors and puts an area onto a map. My background is in arts, experiential marketing, business consulting, hospitality, HR, events and advertising. Pallavi (Livvie) Malviya https://www.livviestar.com/ourcompany Mariana Cherie Mariana Maduell Martin Irwin https://marianamaduell.wordpress.com/my-resume/ Review Panelist Review Panelist Review Panelist Review Panelist Review Panelist Cherie Martin Irwin is a visual artist and current Studio Arts undergrad at the University of New Mexico. Her first undergraduate and graduate degrees are in Film. Retired from three careers, she started as a Hollywood talent manager, was a festival producer, adjunct film professor, and arts administrator before a 20-year career as a digital product manager and department lead. She is currently Vice Chair of the Arts Commission for the City of Rio Rancho, has served on many Arts juries and panels, including grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and arts councils in Oregon, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina, New Mexico, and the Mid- America Arts Alliance. Much of her work in arts and culture has been to facilitate the work of others, including administering NEA funding; showcasing filmmakers, musicians, poets, and visual artists at festivals and events; and creating avenues for artists to teach others. Cherie’s work is exhibited in the Roswell Museum gift shop (Roswell NM), Fuller Lodge Art Center (Los Alamos, NM), Home on the Range (Bernalillo, NM), and Lyle’s Creations (Taos, NM). She is a juried artist in Recycle Santa Fe and Taos Folk. She has been part of juried group shows in California, Florida, New Mexico, and Maryland. Eduardo Martinez I am an elementary teacher of 11 years. I've taught art education for 7 years in the elementary setting Prek through 5th grade. I am also a visual artist running a small art business. I've done projects that include but are not limited to children book illustrations, murals, solo art exhibitions, and more. You can find more information and my work at www.artbyeddiemartinez.com Review Panelist Timothy (T.J.) Masters Review Panelist T.J. Masters is a writer, musician, photographer, filmmaker, and radio host in Austin TX. His multidisciplinary, multimedia approach to art is unified by the simple belief that self expression = self emancipation. In addition to hosting KOOP Radio's Small Cool World for the last 8 years, Masters has a deep catalogue of commercially released music and has been covered by the New York Times, NPR, and other national media outlets. Masters is a technician at heart, and an interest in vintage camera repair has recently led to work shooting album covers, music videos, and promos for other artists on analog film. Page 11 of 24 Melanie Maxwell Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Melanie Rose Maxwell- Biography 1997-1999- Yoniverse with Tammy Melody Gomez music and poetry performances in schools, local venues, radio, local television City of Austin Arts Partially funded 2004-2006- Troupe Eshta _middle eastern music and dance (percussion) 2005-2007- Ararat House Band- Ararat Restaraunt owner Kelly Abshire (percussion) 2004-2006- Infinite Partials, The music of Grant Hudson (percussion) 2007-2008- Righteous Tidings (percussion) 2008-present- Muse Oasis- Middle eastern fusion music (percussion) facebook.com/museoasis 2005-2018- Daniel llanes, Earth Culture Dancer (percussion)- www.earthculturedancer.com shows at colleges, local venues, Doherty Arts, and the Mexican American Cultural Center **CURRENT PROJECTS/EMPLOYMENT** 2023-2024- Poetry, Drumming and Dance presentations and workshops through the Live Music Fund Grant, working with Caminos group at the Mexican American Cultural Center 2018-2023- Strawbitty Yops , kid’s music (percussion)- www.strawbittyyops.com 1999- Present- MC Mellorose – HipHop/Rap www.bandcamp.com/mellorose, soundcloud.com/mellorose Musical Director Employment History 2001-2016- Camp Indigo/Amala Foundation overseeing music programs and food donations 2001-2012- Director of Ruta Maya Kids Show weekly kid show on sunday mornings. Booker, host, performer 2007-2012- Open Mic Host- Ruta Maya Cafe host/performer 2012-2014- Open Mic Host- Hot Mamas Cafe Ashlee McKinnon serves as the Director of Education Development and Partnership at the DC Collaborative. Ashlee has always connected her passion for arts enrichment and education with the school system, serving as a K-12 Dance Educator and Teaching Artist in the DMV for 10 years, and working with prominent arts organizations such as Dance Place, Story Tapestries, and Imagination Stage, as a champion for equitable youth development and enriching arts programming. Ashlee is an alumnus of the University of Maryland at College Park and Princeton Theological Seminary. Her membership in the Arts Administrators of Color Network and as an ambassador with Arts Education in Maryland Schools shape her perspective on equitable and diverse arts and humanities programming for our future generations. In addition to her professional work, Ashlee is still a performer at heart and continues to hone her craft with AftaShock DC. She has been blessed to dance on the stages of and create artistic works for Bowie State University, Sitar Arts Center, The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in 2020 and be featured on CBS This Morning in 2017. Dylan Goldberg Blackthorn (They/IT) is a singer-songwriter, composer, writer, performer, and part- time goblin based in Austin TX. Dylan has been performing, creating, and making - collaboratively - with a multicultural array of comrade artists from vagarious constituencies in Austin such as: LGBTQ+, Jewish, Disability, Persian, Romany, African-American, Mixed-race, LatinX, Islamic, and Mystic folks since 2005 in such productions as: Mazel Tov Kocktail Hour, 999 EYES FREAKSHOW, Bereket Middle Eastern Ensemble of UT, THAT Damned Band, Dylan Blackthorn & the Rambling Mystics, Gary Lindsey & the Pleasure Tide, La Fenice, Zach Scott Theatre, Art Outside, Flipside, and most recently in Mr. Colin Hancock's band: the Joymakers. A native of the Rio Grande Valley, Melinda Mejia received her PhD in Comparative Literature from SUNY Buffalo. Since 2004, she has been teaching in colleges with diverse student populations, fostering inclusive and dynamic learning environments. At Houston Community College, she leads the Personalized Corequisite Action Plan, a pathway designed to enhance student success in corequisite courses. She's published articles on literature and psychoanalysis, and on the digital humanities. As the Chair of World Languages, Humanities, and Library Science, Melinda is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration and academic excellence. Her passion for education and the arts drives her to continually connect with and inspire her students and colleagues. Page 12 of 24 Paula Sam Maya Mayer http://www.paulamaya.com/bio Sam Mayer is a playwright and performance maker. Full length works include POOLBOY00 (Museum of Human Achievement; Beaubourg; Co-Lab Projects; UT Austin), THE CUCK (Intramural Theater), and CHET'S SUMMER VACATION (Kennedy Center; Intramural Theater; Rec Room Arts). His work has been developed with IRL @ MoHA, The Orchard Project, Salvage Vanguard, The Workshop Theater, The Mastheads, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. He is the recipient of the Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation Prize, a grant from the City of Austin Economic Development Fund, and a fellowship from the Michener Center for Writers. MFA: UT Austin. Review Panelist Review Panelist Ashlee McKinnon Review Panelist Dylan McNeill Review Panelist Melinda Mejia Review Panelist Susan Mihalik Review Panelist Carli Miller Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Susan Mihalik is the Director of Grants at Caritas of Austin, a local non-profit organization that works to end homelessness in Austin. She recently earned her PhD in Cultural Policy and Arts Management from UCD in Dublin, Ireland and was a resident scholar at the university's Humanities Institute as well as a tutor in the School of Art History & Cultural Policy. Her PhD research investigated interpretations of equity and social justice policies within municipal arts sectors. She is interested in the role and responsibility of local arts agencies and their relationship with underserved and underrepresented communities. Susan earned her MA in Art Education from the University of Texas in Austin with an emphasis on community arts education. She has 10 years of experience in the government and non- profit sectors where she’s managed federal, state, and municipal grants and programs in Texas. She currently serves on ECHO's Equity Task Force and has also served as a member of the Board of Directors for Art from the Streets, a highly visible and very successful program designed to provide artmaking and income opportunities for people experiencing homelessness. Carli Miller is an inclusive designer leader, social practitioner, grant writer, and neighbor based in East Austin, working to build nourished, connected communities through design, food, creative expression, advocacy, and storytelling. Her projects are rooted in a strong commitment to driving meaningful change through creative conception and participatory design. As a designer, she encourages design partners to consider people's interactions with complex systems, software, services, and each other by spearheading vision projects, crafting story narratives, and creating the future state of product experiences, creative processes, and spaces. She works and learns quickly and independently and feels most at home collaborating with a group— both in- person and digitally. As an emerging grant writer and researcher, she cultivates resources and funding for artists and art-based projects through her insightful approach to research, generative questions, and storytelling. Most recently, securing funding for "I Need Space Documentary." As a social practice artist and neighbor, she's deeply engaged in work that advances positive social impact and community connection through creative expression and direct community service. Carli thrives on creating spaces of belonging, building purposeful cultures, and elevating social good. Her exploration of community food systems and alternative community infrastructure catalyzed a deep investment in farming for a sustainable future. Her storytelling toolbox threads interdependence through qualitative studies, teaming, dynamic interfaces, workshops, mapping, mediations, design systems, celebrations, breaking bread, sustainability, and organic conversations. She has served as a delegate at the Out & Equal Conference in 2021, a co-chair and board member of Publicis Groupe's business resource group dedicated to LGBTQAI+ advocacy, education, and programming, where she curated and produced the 2020 Virtual Global Trans Awareness Week running 22 events across 32 countries, as well as a volunteer and food distributor for Austin Voices for Education & Youth and Casa Marianella. Currently, she's involved as a Community Ambassador at Urban Roots, Austin's only farm-based youth leadership organization. For this reason, she is often invited to work with a range of collaborators. Recent partners include Community by Design x Schmidt Futures, Presidential Innovation Fellows, and the United States General Services Administration. Carli holds certificates in Grant Writing from Austin Community d Dominique brings over 10 years of equitable community development and creative placemaking experience to her role as the Director of Consulting Strategy at ThirdSpace Action Lab where she led the Storied Communities, Community Stories project and co-led the development and launch of The People's Practice. She was the Creative Strategies Producer at Little Tokyo Service Center where she played an integral role in developing “+LAB”, an initiative integrating arts and creativity into community development work. She supported and managed all +LAB projects including Takachizu and the +LAB Artist Residency program and facilitated workshops at the Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit and ArtPlace America Summit several times. During that time she was invited to speak on a panel at the national Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit in 2018 and was featured in the Community Development Innovation Review: Transforming Community Development through Arts and Culture issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in 2019. She was Director of Community Education at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College where she managed the Certificate in Creative Placemaking program in partnership with the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, was co-chair of the New Hampshire Creative Communities Network, and participated in the New Hampshire Urban/Rural Exchange. bl O G d ll f f i i i l Page 13 of 24 Dominique Miller Review Panelist Emily Miller Review Panelist Kelly Montana Review Panelist Barbara Morgan Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Emily Miller moved to Austin in 2014 with the sole intention of surrounding herself with a vibrant live music scene. Since then, she has explored nearly every aspect of the music industry, from digital marketing and artist management to event production and talent buying. Finding her home in a place she considers to be “industry-adjacent,” Emily is now a small business owner who works with independent artists, venues, and community partners to curate fun, unique experiences meant to create new opportunities for connection. A self-proclaimed Protector Of The Vibe, Emily’s ethos as a business owner is based in collaboration and creative freedom. She favors inclusive, genre-expansive lineups that incorporate a variety of artistic mediums - music, dance, visual art and more - calling you in with one to introduce you to another. Emily has a deep love for Austin and is dedicated to fostering a thriving creative community here. She has consistently advocated for equity to ensure that all artists have a platform to reach wider audiences. Kelly Montana is Assistant Curator at the Menil Drawing Institute, where she began as a Curatorial Assistant in 2015. She has curated exhibitions on modern and contemporary drawings for the museum, including of Hanne Darboven: Writing Time and Brice Marden: Think of Them as Spaces, among others, and co-curated the group exhibition Dream Monuments: Drawing in the 1960s and 1970s with guest curator Erica DiBenedetto. She has commissioned three site-specific projects for the Menil’s Wall Drawing Series, working with the artists Marcia Kure, Marc Bauer, and a forthcoming work by Ronny Quevedo. Prior to the Menil, she held positions at the Dallas Museum of Art and the Fabric Workshop and Museum. She received her MA from the University College, London. Austin Film Festival’s (AFF) Executive Director & On Story Executive Producer Barbara Morgan co- founded AFF in 1993 & is actively involved in all facets of the organization including the annual Writers Conference. AFF had over 37,000 attendees at all events in 2023. Additionally, she developed and executive produces the On Story Project, overseeing the full scope of its pre- production through post as well as serving as On Story’s primary interviewer/moderator. The On Story project consists of television shows available on 86% of PBS affiliated markets nationwide; a radio show broadcast on NPR and PRX affiliated stations; and a podcast distributed through Libsyn to all major platforms including Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Stitcher as well as a book series through UT Press. Morgan has received two Lone Star Emmys for the On Story television show. Morgan, a board member for The Wittliff Collections, at Texas State University, chairs the Acquisitions Committee. She is responsible for the organization’s partnership with TSU & the archival preservation efforts of the On Story Archive. Morgan manages the Festival, Conference, & On Story budgets, migrating a diverse revenue stream to ensure their sustainability. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, & has served as producer of the documentaries Antones: Home of the Blues & Portrait of Wally, as well as the narrative feature films Natural Selection, Spring Eddy &, most recently, I’ll Be There. Co-Artistic Director, Ground Floor Theatre Patti grew up in San Antonio, TX and the performing arts came naturally. Her parents would refer to her as “Sarah Bernhardt” whenever she threw a dramatic temper tantrum as a child. Patti graduated with a BA in theatre from St. Edward's University where she first discovered the technical world of production. At SEU, she was hired as the department Props Manager, worked in the box office and stage managed several productions. After SEU, she went to the Dallas area to be an intern and then full-time Production Manager for Plano Repertory Theatre. At PRT, her duties included creating and adhering to production budgets, grant writing, hiring and assisting designers and stage managing at least 4 of 6 shows a year. After 3 years in the Metroplex, she returned to Austin and for the last 20+ years she has worked in many areas of production for a variety of Austin performing arts groups. Most recent credits include Venue Manager for Fusebox Festival at the Long Center, Long Fringe and Short Fringe Coordinator for FronteraFest. She has countless credits as a stage manager, designer, box office manager and more for many Austin theatre and dance companies including the Blue Theatre, State Theatre, Rude Mechs, Hyde Park Theatre, City Theatre, Tutto Theatre Co, Scottish Rite Children's Theatre, ScriptWorks, SVT and Natalie George Productions. Directing credits include "Charlotte’s Web", "Señora Tortuga", and "The Legend of the Poinsettia" (PRT); "Night of the Living Dead", "The Servant Girl Annihilator", "A Teenager's Guide to Love", "Sherlock Holmes", and "Grotesque & Arabesque: Poe Retold" (WCT); and "There and Back" and "rain falls special on me" (GFT). As Managing Director for Weird City Theatre, she co-wrote and adapted several productions including "Night of the Living Dead", "Servant Girl Annihilator", and "Teenager's Guide to Love". As a performer she was most recently seen onstage in "Dot" at Ground Floor Theatre and "My HEB" for Marfa Live Arts. Page 14 of 24 Cynthia Munoz Cynthia Muñoz (she/her) was born and raised in Austin, TX. She has a professional and personal passion for gender and racial equity, community engagement, and creative collaboration. Review Panelist Patti Neff Review Panelist Ceci Norman Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Nancy Ng https://www.linkedin.com/in/ngoedeke. My BA is in education and the fine arts. I did this last year. I am basically retired and have been pursuing Full creative, self expression with painting, mixed media, Interior Design and other artistic expressions. As an artist and former educator, I bring a unique blend of practical experience and artistic passion to this role. My qualifications align closely with the requirements for this position, and I’m confident that I can provide what’s needed Review Panelist Yeu Nguyen Review Panelist Yeu Q Nguyen is Vietnamese American artist and curator based in Los Angeles. She is best known for her interdisciplinary interactive installations, intricate objects, and ritualistic engagement art projects. Exploring themes such as immigrant identity, womanhood, and resilience, her expansive repertoire of works have appeared at notable venues such as the Autry's SouthWest Museum, the Geffen Playhouse, and the Armory Center for the Arts. Her traveling public art project "Weaving Hope" has been featured in The Collective Wellbeing Systems Map, which provides a snapshot of the wellbeing movement in the US and globally. In 2021 she received a commission from city of Santa Monica to create a semi-permanent fiber art installation at Tongva Park facing the famous Santa Monica pier. In 2022 her series on food and empathy "The Empathy Table” was featured in the Los Angeles Times’ August Sunday Edition. Q was one of the lead artists in "Reimagining Horizons" the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center’s 26th annual United States of Asian America Festival in San Francisco. Beyond her artistic and curatorial practice, Q is a published poet, a certified coach at Intersections for the Arts, and a public speaker on the power of art to create a more juste and empathic society. Ceci is an artist and educator focused on play, image making, wellness and storytelling. She has an She has a MA in Arts Leadership and a certificate in Art in Health from the University of Houston. She has had animation and photo residencies at Texas Children’s Hospital, taught contemplative photography at Houston Methodist, and worked as a teaching artist with Aurora Picture Show, Fotofest, Houston Center for Photography, Culture of Health Advancing Together (CHAT). She has been involved in the intersection of food culture and art with Alief Art House and Finca Tres Robles. She uses creativity to inspire and visual language to heal while having fun with storytelling. Currently she’s in the Ozarks connecting with family roots through nature based art and quilt making. Stephanie is a non-profit and arts professional that has 10+ years of experience in programming, development, marketing, and the arts. Her unique skill set that was developed from pivoting from a variety of roles in the non-profit and arts field allows her to approach projects through a multidisciplinary lens. Currently, she took a step back from museum life to focus on various community projects, her family, and personal art practice. Sam has spent the last eleven years as a K-12 educator in Austin and Seguin, as well as nine years as the Artistic Director for the Austin Children's Choir. Sam has served as the Head Choir Director and Music Appreciation Teacher for Seguin High School for two years, Head Choir Director/Technical Theatre teacher/Head Cheerleading Coach at AJ Briesemeister Middle School in Seguin ISD for six years, and Music Specialist for Brooke Elementary School in Austin ISD for three years. As a conductor, Sam has led many choirs in elementary, middle, and high school, as well as at Texas State University. Outside of the school setting, Sam served as an Assistant Director for the performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” in collaboration with Conspirare, Chorus Austin, Panoramic Voices, Texas State University, Ballet Austin, and The Austin Symphony Orchestra. Sam received a Bachelor’s degree in Music Studies with an emphasis in Choral Music, a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting, and a PhD in School Improvement all from Texas State University in 2011, 2015, and 2021. Sam’s research topics surround the student's lived experience in the public school system and his dissertation is entitled, “Teacher-Student Interpersonal Relationships: A Narrative Inquiry Study of the Characteristics of Educational Relationships in a Secondary School in Rural Texas.” Stephanie O'Barr Garcia Samuel Parrott Review Panelist Review Panelist Jasmin Patel Jasmin Patel is a Georgia native and has lived in Texas for a decade, eight of those years and counting in Austin, TX. She has been part of local organizations in roles like member/volunteer, paid staff, and board member since 2016. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, listening to music, and reading. Review Panelist Lauren Rocio Peña Peña Martinez Linkedin.com/in/laurenpenaatx I'm a lifelong arts advocate with experience as a dancer and writer in Mexico and the U.S. I was brought to Austin by the arts scene and have worked to ensure this city remains liveable for creatives. My professional career has been in public service, specializing in creating public good programs that are community-informed and measurable. These have included affordable housing and food sovereignty initiatives, as well as support for service industry professionals and artists. I've been an early advocate for technology and data in public service programming to improve outcomes and accountability. Review Panelist Review Panelist Page 15 of 24 Meaghan Perry Review Panelist Julia Plume Review Panelist Amruta Ponkshe Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Meaghan Perry (she/her/hers) is the owner and principal conservator of Momentum Art Conservation in Austin, Texas. Meaghan holds a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of Texas and an M.A., C.A.S. from the State University of New York College at Buffalo. She completed her year of advanced study in time-based media conservation at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, focused on the conservation of video, audio, and performance-based artworks. Meaghan was previously the Assistant Objects Conservator at The Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, where she worked extensively with living artists and the Artists Documentation Program. She has contributed to projects at SFMOMA, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Archaeological Institute Стоби in Macedonia, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Kimbell Museum. She served as a member on the American Institute for Conservation Education and Training Committee, and the Electronic Media Group Publication Committee as a co-editor for the Electronic Media Group Review. She is presently the consulting objects and variable media conservator for the special collections at the University of Texas. As Grants Manager for the Climate and Land Use Alliance, Julia supports grantmaking operations across the alliance, advocating for more inclusive and equitable grantmaking practices. Julia is committed to leading and supporting organizations to embrace diverse practices and alternative ways of working, to reduce the power gap between funders and grantees, and to continually work towards a trust-based, human-centered approach to grant-making. Julia has a background in dance and fashion design, designing an eponymous fashion line based in Austin in the early 2000’s, as well as teaching classes at the Austin School of Fashion Design for several years. Master of Global Policy Studies May 2016 LBJ School of Public Affairs The University of Texas at Austin Master of Habitat Policy and Practice May 2012 pecialization: Urban Development Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India Bachelor of Engineering July 2008 Specialization: Information Tech Mumbai University, India Educational and Professional Experience Founder October 2023- Ongoing Badami Bags ● Provide sustainable gear solu(cid:415)ons for climbing and apparel industry by designingandcrea(cid:415)ng handmade, small batch products ● Lead sewing and mending workshops for kids and adults to increase self sufficiency and encourage low-waste, sustainable lifestyles Writer April 2021 – Sept 2023 Connect the Dots, Urban ● Documented rapid urban expansion and its effects in India’s 2 and 3-(cid:415)er ci(cid:415)es like Leh, Ujjain, Badami, Nagpur, Indore, Bhubaneshwar Senior Associate Oct 2020 - April 2021 MSCI Inc ● Analysed MNC and fortune 500 company profiles based on environment, social and governance metrics from point of view of investors. ● Wrote company profiles for publica(cid:415)on to annual ESG reports curated by MSCI Associate Fellow Aug 2019 - Sept 2020 Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai Focus: Mobility in Urban India i i bili i bi i f d h ‘ i Page 16 of 24 Jennifer Price Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Jennifer Price is an equity-trained poet, visual artist, and librarian rooted in Georgia. With a Master's degree in Library Science, she’s an information generalist who’s taught dozens of change-makers in her community on topics ranging from grant proposal writing to entrepreneurship. Having completed the core hours of the Community Word Project's Teaching Artist training program, Jennifer possesses the skills to write and assess arts-based curriculum focused on accessibility and social justice. She has also studied Book Arts at the Penland School of Crafts and she has a Bachelor's degree in Studio Art from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. Therefore, Jennifer is experienced at working in various mediums, including oil paint, clay, and paper. In 2024, Jennifer joined the roster of teaching artists at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, where she uses virtual instruction to bring collage and poetry related topics to creative adult learners. Jennifer's teaching experience is precipitated by her 2022 acceptance to Obsidian Literature & Arts' inaugural Black Listening fellowship, a collective of writers and makers of African descent selected to interpret Obsidian's vision of what it means to divine art from the world while inhabiting the Black body. Jennifer's poetry writing merited the support of a Brooklyn Poets Summer Fellowship in 2023, she is a two-time recipient of the Altman Writers of Color Scholarship from the Hudson Valley Writers' Center (2023, 2024), and her creative writing and collage art can be found published by Torch Literary Arts and the up//root collective, and in the Kolaj Institute’s illustrated edition of The Awakening and Obsidian Literature & Arts' virtual Black Listening exhibit. This coming fall, Jennifer will join the next cohort of online MFA candidates at the University of Texas-El Paso and she will also begin earning a Master of Arts in Art & Design (with a concentration in Museum Studies) at Georgia's Kennesaw State University. Savita Raj serves as the CEO of BootUp Professional Development, a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing access to computer science. She has lived in the Austin area for 25 years, and has served in various volunteer, community-serving roles during this time. Fashion Design & Direction Consultant, Cascabeia Studio LEAH RAMA is an ambitious fashion design consultant and collaborator with over a decade of experience in art & design. She holds degrees in both fashion and fine art, a certificate in Sustainable Design, and a certificate in Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence. She is currently working with a womenswear design team at Banana Republic, is a PT professor of fashion at SCAD, loves Austin and enjoys volunteering with local nonprofits. “As a seasoned design professional, I value the vital role of local nonprofits and arts in our community. My expertise in synthesizing information and maximizing budgets, I'm well-equipped to evaluate grant applications effectively to maximize impact. I'm eager to contribute to Austin's creative community as a Review Panelist and guide investments that will benefit our city!” Connect and see more at: LeahRama.com William F. Reed is an Independent Filmmaker living in Austin, Texas. He began his career in Los Angeles working on studio film projects like, J.J. Abrams Star Trek, Tenacious D and the Pick Of Destiny and Live Network TV presentations including the Emmys, the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. In 2010, William was one of the handful of cinephiles who helped establish the Hill Country Film Festival in Fredericksburg, Texas, where he serves as Technical Director and Film Programmer. His previous film festival work also includes Lead Programmer at the Lone Star Film Festival in Fort Worth, TX and lead programmer for U.S. films at the international Victoria Film Festival in British Columbia, Canada. William discovered his passion for education when the Hill Country Film Festival’s Film Society expanded its offerings to include summer film camps to local high school students. From there he joined the faculty at The Austin School for the Performing and Visual Arts as well as William at the Austin School of Film and continues to teach the art of the Cinema to young and old alike. William maintains an award winning boutique production company which has produced many short films, music videos, and commercials, and recently wrapped its first Feature Film. In his spare time, he enjoys collecting, preserving and showing 16mm films, playing and designing board games with his wife and friends and eating tacos while enjoying the Austin lifestyle. Savita Raj Leah Rama Review Panelist Review Panelist William Reed Review Panelist Lyra Reign Review Panelist LYRA REIGN, Writer/Director/Actor: I am Lyra Reign, an emerging artist-filmmaker of color based in Austin, passionately dedicated to storytelling. As a trained actor, I have worked on numerous short films and on-screen productions, while also contributing to major commercial campaigns for brands like NVIDIA and OnePlus. In the realm of storytelling, I wrote a screenplay that earned recognized at several festivals, including Austin Under the Stars. As an artist, I am driven to bring emotionally diverse narratives to the forefront, and just wrapped a short film project that represents a pivotal step in that journey. Page 17 of 24 Jo Reyes Review Panelist Cynthia Rivarde Review Panelist Anita Roberts Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil jo reyes-boitel is a queer, mixed Latinx poet and playwright, editor and scholar. jo is also an amateur hand percussionist. As an MFA graduate in creative writing from the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley, jo was a Presidential Research Fellow and served as an undergraduate creative writing instructor. As of Fall 2024 jo will start the PhD program at Texas Tech University in English with an emphasis on literature, social action, and the environment. jo’s scholarly work centers on decoloniality, and the role of longing and mourning in reclaiming culture inheritance and their creative work centers on themes of home, migration, femme identity and disability/the body. Publications include Michael + Josephine (FlowerSong Press, 2019), mouth (Neon Hemlock, 2021), and the matchstick litanies (Next Page Press, 2023). Her forthcoming book, the impracticality of silk: poems, will be released in July 2024. Recent publications include Zócalo Public Square, Huizache Magazine, and Acentos Review. jo has also written and produced “she wears bells”, a hybrid opera, which was a finalist in Guerilla Opera’s 2022 virtual festival. jo is a fellow of Macondo and VoNA/Voices of Our Nations. Cindy Rivarde serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI) in Rockville, Maryland. With her 20+ year background in commercial real estate law and development, she leads REDI in new and inventive ways to create economic growth, attract and retain businesses, and highlight Rockville as a premier community for businesses, workers, visitors and residents. She has previously served as a Deputy City Manager for Coral Springs, Florida, the Community and Economic Development Director for Modesto, California (which included oversight of the City’s Tourism and Convention Center), and the Economic and Cultural Development Director for Coral Gables, Florida. She obtained her law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law, a Master of Fine Art in painting from Towson University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in dramatic art/studio art from the University of North Carolina. She is also a working painter - see website: www.cindyrivarde.com Anita Roberts is a distinguished combat veteran and retired Lieutenant Colonel who has seamlessly transitioned from military leadership to entrepreneurship, leaving an indelible mark in the realms of media, public relations, and community advocacy. With a rich background in media and PR, HR, and journalism, Anita leveraged their expertise to found a media and public relations firm, which quickly gained recognition for its innovative approaches and strategic insights. Their dedication and vision culminated in the successful acquisition of the company by a larger entity, further solidifying their reputation as a trailblazer in the industry. Driven by a commitment to social impact and equity, [Name] extended their entrepreneurial endeavors beyond the corporate world. Recognizing the need for greater representation and opportunity, they founded a nonprofit organization aimed at empowering Black business owners to gain market share and fostering cultural events to promote equity within the community. With over two decades of entrepreneurial experience under their belt, Anita has demonstrated a steadfast dedication to supporting underrepresented groups. They have invested in numerous companies founded by women, LGBTQ+ individuals, veterans, and people of color, recognizing the immense talent and potential within these communities. In addition to their entrepreneurial ventures, Anita is the visionary behind FundHe, a groundbreaking crowdfunding platform dedicated to teaching and funding female-led and Black-led businesses. Through FundHe, they are catalyzing change and empowering aspiring entrepreneurs to turn their dreams into reality while simultaneously addressing systemic inequalities in access to capital. Anita's unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation, and equity continues to inspire and uplift communities, leaving a lasting legacy of positive change and empowerment wherever they go. Anna Rock Review Panelist Through provocative immersive installation, sculpture, and photography, artist-scientist Anna Rock dissects their curiosity for aesthetics in physiology, biohacking, existentialism, and to change how we interact with spaces. Many art experiments challenge ideas about body integrity and mortality, as in stress-sensing wearables, microscope images of glowing brains reminiscent of galaxies, doll surgical suites, and staged murder scenes; some have been on display at MIT, Harvard, NY Hall of Science, and night venues. Focusing on process narrative, she employs multidisiciplinary tools to reveal the aesthetics in biology and waste produced. Their preferred mediums are photography (especially histology), installations regarding secret creative spaces, silicone, biological tissues and fluids, trash couture, feminist performance art, and wearable technology. They allude to their perpetual feeling of "otherness" and alienation using reflective, glowing, or visually appealing elements to provoke the public to consider new perspectives and definitions of oddity. Page 18 of 24 Nataly Rock Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil I am Nataly Rock, an artist and advocate for cultural diversity with over 20 years of experience in the arts. Born and raised in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, my journey began with a deep appreciation for my rich cultural heritage. I pursued a Master’s Degree in Performing Arts from the Institute of Culture in Ashgabat, which laid the foundation for my lifelong commitment to the arts. My life has been a journey through various cultural landscapes, including studying at the Shepkina Theater School in Moscow and the School of Graphics Design in Toronto. These experiences have enriched my understanding of diverse artistic traditions and equipped me with the skills to promote cultural inclusivity. In Austin, I founded the Slavic Mardi Gras Festival, a vibrant annual event celebrating cultural diversity and drawing thousands of attendees. This festival has been a cornerstone of my efforts to create inclusive spaces where underrepresented voices can be heard and celebrated. My personal journey as a first-generation immigrant has deeply influenced my understanding of the challenges faced by marginalized communities. This experience has reinforced my commitment to fostering accessibility and inclusivity in the arts. I am passionate about creating opportunities for underrepresented artists and promoting a vibrant, diverse cultural community. Living in Austin, I have immersed myself in the local cultural scene, collaborating with artists and organizations to support equity initiatives. My life's work is dedicated to bridging cultural divides and bringing people together through the power of art. I strive to contribute to a more equitable cultural landscape, leveraging my cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity to different cultural values. In summary, my journey is one of embracing new experiences and cultures, always with the aim of fostering understanding and unity through the arts. I am dedicated to promoting equity and creating inclusive spaces for all artists in Austin. Jake Rosenberg Jake Rosenberg is a Marketing Producer at Ion Art, Austin's premier neon sign and fabrication shop. With a Master's in Branding and over eight years of experience in government grant processes across five states, Jake is adept at fiscal planning and public policy development. Before moving to Austin, he successfully worked on Broadway and in live entertainment in NYC, gaining expertise in immersive production and working with clients like Meow Wolf. Review Panelist In Austin, Jake has made a significant impact by leveraging his knowledge of government processes to secure public art commissions. His technical skills in Adobe Creative Suite, CAD software, and 3D modeling, combined with hands-on construction expertise, make him a versatile producer. Jake's commitment to equity is evident through his participation in multiple equity training sessions and his active involvement in community organizations advocating for social justice. In 2023, Jake made a memorable splash at the Waterloo Creek Show with his innovative installation, the Creek Keeper. His political savvy, customer-focused approach, and ability to present complex strategies have consistently delivered high-quality results. Jake continues to drive equity and inclusivity in Austin's cultural landscape. Jess Emma Ross Schmidt Christina Neil Steele Tanner Review Panelist Review Panelist https://www.jessrossboss.com/ As a native Texan artist with a deep love for nature, I draw inspiration from the world around me to create hand drawn designs that tell meaningful stories. With a background in painting from Savannah College of Art & Design, I have grown my art practice through a range of mediums, including intricate inked maps, watercolors, illustration and large-scale painted murals. My primary medium is cartography, creating maps that tell stories, give direction and chart memories. In recent years, my maps have taken a nature focus with a range of subjects from bird migration flyways, Texas’ aquifers and springs, native species illustrations and hiking trail experience maps. I approach my work as a cartographer, amateur botanist and storyteller to create artwork that uplifts a landscape in hand drawn inked lines. I have created maps for clients, including Great Springs Project, Faherty, lululemon, Deep in the Heart, project managed multiple mural installations for The Contemporary Austin and painted over 20 murals in collaboration with local artists. www.steelechristina.com I received my undergraduate degree in Business Management with a minor in African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and a Master's degree in Cultural Studies in the School of Education from the University of Texas at Austin. As a graduate assistant and program coordinator for the Division of Diversity & Community Engagement I had the privilege to work with the Vice President of the division in creating programs that served underrepresented students across the university. I have 10 years of leadership experience in the event management space working with SXSW Conference & Festival, The University of Texas at Austin, and independent productions across the city of Austin. Review Panelist Review Panelist Page 19 of 24 Summer 2024 Panel-Facil MacKenzie Tollas Mackenzie Tollas is an accomplished Communications and Development Manager with a robust background in marketing, grant writing, and community leadership. With a Bachelor of Arts in Community Leadership from Aquinas College, where she graduated Cum Laude and was named Community Leadership Senior of the Year, Mackenzie has demonstrated a consistent commitment to driving positive community impact through strategic communication and development efforts. Review Panelist Her professional journey began as a Communications and Development Manager at the Fulton Street Farmers Market in Grand Rapids, MI, where she played a pivotal role from January 2020 to April 2022. During her tenure, she successfully managed marketing initiatives, designed annual reports, and developed comprehensive marketing plans. Mackenzie's efforts led to a significant increase in social media followers and secured substantial funding through a USDA grant. Following this, Mackenzie took on roles at Rising Grinds Cafe and Last Mile Cafe, where she honed her skills in front-of-house operations, staff training, and business model development. Her leadership in these positions included reopening strategies post-COVID and establishing operational procedures for new ventures. Currently, Mackenzie works with local businesses where she leverages her expertise in grant writing and operational development to support diverse clients across various sectors. In the realm of operational development, Mackenzie is adept at streamlining processes, enhancing organizational efficiency, and implementing strategic initiatives that drive growth and sustainability. She excels in conducting thorough needs assessments to identify areas for improvement and in designing customized operational strategies that align with each client's unique goals. She is currently employed by Shag Noir Salon as the salon coordinator. Her proficiency extends to developing robust operational plans, establishing performance metrics, and instituting best practices that optimize resource allocation and workflow management. Mackenzie is skilled at fostering cross-functional collaboration, ensuring that all departments are bj i h i d d ki d Patrick Torres, Executive Director, has been an artist, educator, and leader for 20+ years. Patrick joined the Creative Action team in 2011 as the Middle and High School Program Director where he developed and oversaw a number of youth focused programs, including an LGBTQ+ youth theater ensemble and a theater ensemble for formerly incarcerated youth. Patrick served as the Artistic Director of the Raleigh Little Theatre (RLT) in North Carolina from 2014 - 2022. During his tenure at RLT, he developed programming in playwriting, directing, and stage management aimed at preparing BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists for employment in those positions. Throughout his career, he has recieved several awards including the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from First Lady Michelle Obama for developing the Afterschool Playwriting Program at Young Playwrights' Theater in Washington, DC and The Raleigh Medal of Arts for his work at RLT. Patrick Torres has BFA from Texas State University and an MFA in Directing for the Stage from the University of Southern Mississippi. Liz Unaeze has 13+ years of experience with Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) work in educational equity, facilitation, training, development, and crisis management. Liz obtained a B.A.in Sociology from LSU with a concentration in psychology and a Master’s in Leadership from Grand Canyon University. She has served on Junior League Baltimore’s board as VP of Communications and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Chair for 2 years, was a freedom defense school teacher, voluntarily taught overseas in a refugee camp in Biscke, Hungary, and is currently the founder and CEO of Simple Little Publishings LLC a content creation company that focuses on mental health through the arts and education. Liz has written original works and has performed on the mainstage for the Baltimore Rock Opera Society, is an active-duty military spouse, a mother of 4, a Teaching Artist, for the Ensemble Theater in Houston, TX, and an advocate for those with disabilities and alternative abilities due to her diagnosis of an autoimmune illness in 2016. Liz believes everyone should have access to mental and emotional health support inside and outside of learning environments through a community support model of people-centered care, intentional experiences, and creative outlets. Patrick Torres Review Panelist Elizabeth Unaeze Review Panelist Manuel Velazquez III Manny Velazquez is a Puerto Rican American Country artist from Austin, TX and plays regularly around town at the Broken Spoke, White Horse, and Little Longhorn Saloon. His last album "Smiley Velazquez - Keep Smiling" was made possible by a grant from the City of Austin Live Music Fund from the Economic Department of Development. His album release was at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in East Austin. https://www.triovelazquez.com/about Review Panelist Page 20 of 24 Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Ngoc-Tran Vu Ngoc-Tran Vu (she/her) is a 1.5-generation Vietnamese-American multimedia artist whose socially engaged practice draws from her experience as an organizer, educator, and lightworker. Tran threads her social practice through painting, photography, sculpture, and audio so that her art can resonate and engage audiences with intentionality. Her work evokes discourse of familial ties, memories and rituals amongst themes of social justice, healing and intersectionality. Tran works across borders and is based in Boston's Dorchester community. www.tranvuarts.com Review Panelist Gayle Waden Review Panelist Gayle Waden is a nonprofit administrator with 30+ years’ experience in small to mid-sized community-based arts and cultural organizations gaining knowledge and skills in the areas of non- profit management, including accounting/finance, human resources, grant writing and compliance, file management and organizational development. Ms. Waden is currently the co-founder of Alkebulan Arts Institute, an organization designed to present African-centered traditional and contemporary cultural dance, theatre and music, and to foster relationships among African/African American centered cultural groups by providing space and opportunity for dialogue and interchange. Recently, Ms. Waden served on the BIPOC Arts Network Fund Design Team in Houston and reviewed applications for the first round of funding for individual artists. Her performing arts background includes ensemble work with African dance companies as a dancer and singer. Irma Washington Carolyn Weaver I’m ambitious mother, wife and business owner. I strive for equal opportunities for ALL. I’m a advocate for change and real big on building my community Carolyn Weaver is a passionate ecologist and nonprofit executive currently serving as the Deputy Director of TreeFolks, Austin’s urban forestry nonprofit. Her professional experience in grant writing, contract management, empathetic leadership, and environmental justice aligns with her personal interests in photography, songwriting, camping, and getting lost in the woods. Review Panelist Review Panelist Bailey Weiss Alexis West Review Panelist Review Panelist Bailey Weiss is an artist and educator from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She holds a BA from Southeastern Louisiana University and is currently attending the University of North Texas for her MFA. Weiss has exhibited her work in notable galleries across South Louisiana and in Dallas and its surrounding areas. She served on the grant review committee for the BIPOC Arts Network and Fund in Houston in 2023. As an arts educator, Weiss has taught in the foundational art program and as a painting instructor at UNT since 2022. I am a multidisciplinary visual artist, conceptual designer, and social entrepreneur based in Austin, Texas. My artistic practice is rooted in my multicultural background as an Afro-Latina. My work is characterized as a stylized projection and personal exploration of (re)defining racial identity, ancestral connections, and womanhood as a visibly intersectional Black woman. I capture and reimagine Black Latine presence through my signature art style of irregular floral forms and experimental use of hyper-saturated colors, exhibiting an individualized perspective on the power and influence of cultural representation within everyday life. My conceptual projection of Black Latinidad reinforces the exigency to empower new forms of diverse imagery and visualization in contemporary art. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Studio Art (B.A) with a self- acclaimed focus on fashion design, minors in Educational Psychology and Entrepreneurship, and a BDP certification in Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship. I currently reside in Downtown Austin where I work as the founder and artistic director of the first Afro-Latine-owned fashion house and design studio, FLORAL SEA. Through the experiential fashion brand, I am revolutionizing a new point-of-view in sustainable fashion by cultivating a dedicated space to empower the role and presence of Black-Latine beauty, style, and culture at the forefront of today’s eco-movement. As a BIPOC creative, artistic expression has always served as an entryway to disrupting barriers and igniting conversations about cultural representation and historical transparency in today’s fashion industry. To advance diverse inclusivity in Austin’s fashion community, I founded Austin’s Black Fashion Council (ABFC) an arts and entertainment agency dedicated to counteracting the city’s long historical exclusion of multicultural designers, brands, and consumers. Through ABFC, I am building a platform to support underrepresented and underserved talent and creation to thrive in Austin’s entrepreneurial landscape. Personal Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/flora-tenille-west Page 21 of 24 Kheli Willetts Review Panelist Cluren Williams Review Panelist Karen Wong Review Panelist Meredith Yanchak Review Panelist Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Dr. Kheli Willetts is Principal and Founder of Dira Professional Development, LLC. Dira provides tailored consulting services offering proven experience in the following areas, Individual and Cohort Coaching, Governance and Operations and Programming and Community Engagement. Prior to starting her own firm, Dr. Willetts was Director of Professional Development at Mid-America Arts Alliance where she provided cohort coaching and programming for small to midsize arts and cultural organizations, as well as practicing artists. Before relocating to Texas Dr. Willetts spent almost 15 years as the Executive Director of Community Folk Art Center and Professor of Practice of African American Art History and Film in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University, in Syracuse, New York. Dr. Willetts has consulted with several organizations including, The Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, The Ensemble Theatre, Black Box Press Foundation, The Bullock Texas State History Museum, Jazz Houston, and WolfBrown Consulting. Dr. Willetts currently serves as the Vice President of IDEA for Texas Association of Museum’s Council, founding board member of The Oakley Collective and a member of the Steering Committee for Houston’s BIPOC Arts Network and Fund. Her previous board service included, Association of African American Museums, New York Consortium of Museums and Art Centers, and Houston Center for Photography. Her experience as a grant panelist includes several arts and culture organizations including, Institute of Museum and Library Services, New York State Council on the Arts, City of Austin, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Houston Arts Alliance. Cluren Williams is a 4th Generation Austinite, Author, Motivational Speaker, and Revolutionary Activist that has gotten the attention of many as the "Voice of The People" in Central Texas. He has a taste in Design and fashion and also owns his own Music Label called K.K.M.G (Killa Klick Music Group Inc.). As a Revolutionary Activist, Mr. Williams became a key component in defunding the Austin Police Department and stands side by side with citizens who experience injustice. His voice is requested to bring reason to the streets by government officials and citizens all over the nation. Mr. Williams is also a humanitarian at heart and helps many communities with resources for crisis prevention, homelessness, and starvation. As an author and motivational speaker, he draws from his life story and endeavors to give his audience a sense of hope to help change their thoughts towards each other, giving them confidence for a better future. The books “Oscar the Ostrich Wants to Fly “and “Music Money & Murder” are now available on Amazon Karen is a film scholar and cultural critic who writes about visual and literary arts. She is the author of _Arresting Cinema: Surveillance in Hong Kong Film_, a juror and commentator for museums and film programs around the globe, and a contributor to the nationally broadcast public radio series _Engines of Our Ingenuity_. Her latest book is _Background Artist_, a forthcoming biography of _Bambi_ artist and Disney Legend Tyrus Wong. see also https://www.karenfang.net/bio Meredith Yanchak attended Duquesne University where she received her Bachelors of Arts in Theatre Arts. At Duquesne, she served as the president of the Duquesne University Red Masquers and participated in a myriad of productions as an actor, director, technician, and playwright. She was also a member of the Duquesne University Chamber Singers. She received her Masters of Arts in Theatre Education from Emerson College in 2008. (Go Lions.) She has toured as an actor with CLIMB Theatre, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN and has worked in various roles with PrimeStage Theatre, Little Lake Theatre, The Summer Company, Temple Civic Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre's Young Company, Montclair State University's TheatreFest, Sam Bass Theatre Association, and The Hideout Theatre. Her original plays have been produced at the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, the Future Ten Festival, the JL Smith New Play Festival, Theatre Off the Square New Works Festival, TEXTA PlayFest, Parish Players, and published with Next Stage Press. She is a member of the Texas Educational Theatre Association and the Dramatists Guild. If you ask around, you'll also discover that she loves improvisational comedy, Converse sneakers, Doc Martens, ridiculous earrings, cats, Pittsburgh, the original Star Wars trilogy, artichokes, Mel Brooks movies, pumpkin cheesecake, traveling with her husband, and making long lists of seemingly unrelated things while writing in the third person. She also dislikes bananas. Page 22 of 24 Summer 2024 Panel-Facil Aaron Yeats My resume can be found at www.hireaaron.com. Aaron has worked with boards of non-profits making impacts across Austin's LGBTQIA community, including the Austin Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and the Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (Prism Festival). Having served as the Executive Director of the film festival and festival Treasurer Aaron has unique insights into the CoA grants and support programs. Review Panelist Salwa Yordi Review Panelist Dr. Erica Young-Reevey Review Panelist Salwa Yordi, a Venezuelan immigrant of Middle Eastern descent, has carved a remarkable path in the vibrant cultural landscape of Austin, Texas. Best known for her engaging presence on Telemundo Austin's entertainment segments and as the founder of Farandula Texas, a media platform highlighting Austin's dynamic cultural and community events, Salwa stands out as one of the first Spanish-speaking entertainment reporters in the city. Her journalistic prowess extends to covering prestigious national industry events like the Latin Grammy Awards, People en Español, and the Latin Billboards through Farandula Texas. Beyond her media contributions, Salwa currently serves as the Director of Communications at Latinitas, Austin's only 100% bilingual STEM education nonprofit, where she continues to make a lasting impact. Her journey in the United States began in 2001 at the age of 15, when she, along with her single mother and sister, moved to Killeen, TX. Faced with the challenge of not knowing the English language, Salwa embarked on her American journey at Ellison High School, where she supported her family by working as a cashier and cleaning attendant at a car wash. Despite the obstacles, she graduated with honors from Ellison and went on to attend The University of Texas at San Antonio. Salwa's commitment to community outreach extends beyond her professional roles. Before her current position, she played key roles at Glimmer Austin, handling resource development, communications, and administration, and at HomeAid Austin, where she served as the Development and Outreach Manager. In this role, Salwa spearheaded initiatives for the homeless and indigent, addressed supply shortages for families, and forged alliances to create opportunities and safe spaces for Austin's homeless population. Salwa Yordi's journey is a testament to her resilience, dedication, and unwavering commitment to making a positive impact on her community. Dr. Erica Reevey is a trailblazer in the field of mental health, known for her transformative work as a therapist, advocate, and educator. As the co-founder and CEO of Essential Embrace Healing, Dr. Reevey holds Clinical Social Work licenses in multiple states, including Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, and Texas, positioning herself as a leader in providing accessible mental health services. Dr. Reevey's journey is marked by over a decade of dedicated service to the mental health community, supported by a robust educational foundation. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies from Berea College, setting the stage for her impactful career. Continuing her academic pursuit, she obtained a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Louisville, followed by a Doctoral Degree in Social Work from the same esteemed institution. Dr. Reevey's academic journey also includes a Master of Arts in Spirituality from Bellarmine University, reflecting her interdisciplinary approach to mental health and well-being. Beyond her role as a therapist, Dr. Reevey is deeply invested in supporting the well-being of her peers in the mental health profession. Recognizing the significance of authentic therapeutic support, she actively cultivates environments where she can engage as both a therapist and a client in need. Drawing from her personal experiences as both a provider and recipient of mental health care, Dr. Reevey embodies her professional mantra, "KEEP GOING," advocating for resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity. In addition to her leadership at Essential Embrace, Dr. Reevey wears many hats, including serving as the Co-Founder of The Black Counseling & Consulting Collective and as the Founder & CEO of Therapists Need Therapy Too. She also serves as a Clinical Supervisor across multiple states, utilizing her expertise to mentor and support mental health providers. Dr. Reevey's involvement extends to various community advisory boards focused on mental health and wellness, where she actively advocates for positive change and equitable access to care. Dr. Reevey's clinical specialties encompass a wide range of areas, including youth and adolescent therapy, trauma therapy, Black mental health, clinical social work, and mental health program development. As an Adjunct Professor at the University of Louisville, she contributes to shaping the future of mental health professionals, inspiring and mentoring the next generation of practitioners. i O t id if & D R b h t d i t d f h th d d f i l Bio requested, recommended by EDD Staff. Participant of Cultural Funding Review BIO: Priscilla A. Hale, MSW, (she/her), is an organizational development consultant supporting nonprofits focused on arts & culture, and social justice. She is a former Executive Director of allgo, a queer people of color organization based in Austin, TX. She was with the organization for 24 years. Hale has extensive experience in the areas of community organizing, health and wellness programming, cultural arts/work production, and nonprofit administration. She is a Black, queer, lover and producer of the arts. She earned a Master's of Social Work Degree from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, TX, and a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. Page 23 of 24 Kameko Priscilla Branchaud Hale Equity Facilitator Equity Facilitator Surabhi Kukke Equity Facilitator DeJuana Lozada Equity Facilitator Summer 2024 Panel-Facil BIO: Surabhi Kukke has worked in the field of women’s health and human rights for over 25 years. Currently, she is a consultant, focusing on capacity building and resource development for health care workers on assessment and response to intimate partner violence (IPV) and the intersections between IPV, reproductive health and HIV. She is based in Austin, Texas, prior to which she worked in the international development sector providing operational and evaluation support to community- based HIV/AIDS and reproductive health programs in southern Africa and South Asia. She is deeply committed to racial equity work through her leadership with Communities of Color United for Racial Justice and more recently engaging in arts-based interventions with INCITE! PaliForce ATX to amplify the struggle to end violence, imperialism and war. Kukke has a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University. BIO: De Juana “De J.” Lozada is a serial entrepreneur, avid Arts supporter and a vocal advocate for creating more opportunities for underrepresented communities in the consumer packaged goods industry. A true multi-hyphenate, De J. began her career as a professional journalist at the tender age of 15 when she began writing a weekly high school sports column for the local newspaper. After college, she moved to Europe to begin a 10-year stint in Civilian Public Affairs for the Department of Defense. Her military family returned to the U.S. in 2001 where De J. worked first in local government before starting a full-service communications consultancy and events planning agency. It was the military that eventually brought her to Texas where she has remained since 2006. Since then, De J. has held positions in state government in both higher education and transportation as well as continued her endeavors in entrepreneurship, to include the production of a full-color monthly city magazine that spanned three counties. EXPERIENCE: Civilian Public Affairs, DoD/ Dept of State, 11 years. American YouthWorks, Board member, 3 years. Youth Launch, board member, 2 years. Division Director of Travel/Information, TXDOT. Founding Sr. Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, TX Higher Ed Coord. Board, 4 years. Business Owner, 15 years. Jen Margulies Equity Facilitator BIO: Jen Margulies supports organizations and leaders to be more effective, joyful, and liberatory in their work for transformation and justice. For nearly three decades, Jen has worked to strengthen social justice organizations through facilitation, strategic planning, content writing, project management, and grant research and development. She has deep roots in antiracist education and in the movement to end domestic violence, where her focus has been on community organizing, popular education, and prevention and social and economic justice. Jen has worked in support of LGBTQIA+ rights, racial equity in arts funding, cultural preservation in historically Black neighborhoods, public Montessori education, and reimagining public safety beyond policing, prisons, and punishment. More info: jenmargulies.com Bio requested, recommended by EDD Staff. Participant of Cultural Funding Review bio requested, recommended by COA Equity Office Rebecca Sanchez is an artist, educator, community advocate and organizer with a passion for building and facilitating collaborative learning spaces. Her knowledge is derived from her teaching experience, organizing locally around immigration and criminal justice issues, and community- focused leadership development. She does work at the intersection of social justice and art/creativity with a focus demystifying (and dismantling) systems of oppression by building community power. As an artist, her mission is to transform communities through creativity, to build healing spaces filled with art, and facilitate the vessels for intergenerational joy and play. Equity Facilitator Equity Facilitator Equity Facilitator Sehila Jasmin Rebecca Mota-Casper Patel Sanchez Andre Solomon Bio requested, recommended by Mia Hooper of Pittsburgh Arts Council and former Thrive panelist: "Andre Solomon is an excellent facilitator and is committed to equity." Equity Facilitator Page 24 of 24