David Court is an artist and writer living in Brooklyn. He holds a Masters of Visual Studies degree from the University of Toronto, ON, and a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has exhibited solo and collaborative projects across Canada and in New York, with recent projects for Printed Matter (with Josh Thorpe), NY; Flux Factory, NY; and the Toronto Sculpture Garden.Toronto, ON. Court has also published widely.

Aisha Cousins is a writer of performance art scores. Her projects include public performance art scores focused on engaging black audiences from differing backgrounds. Her scores have been performed on the streets of historically black neighborhoods from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Brixton, as well as inside institutions such as the Museum Of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Project Row Houses, Houston, TX; The Kitchen, NY; and MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY.

Laurie Cumbo is the New York City Council woman for the 35th Council District. She received her MA in Visual Arts Administration from New York University in 1999. Cumbo is credited with developing the business plan for Brooklyn’s first Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), to assist in efforts to revitalize the Borough economically, socially and aesthetically. Cumbo has dedicated her life to community development and preserving the dynamic elements of diversity.

Matthew Deleget is an abstract painter, curator, and writer. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally, in both solo and group exhibitions. Deleget has received awards from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, Brooklyn Arts Council, and The Golden Rule Foundation. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Flash Art, and Artnet Magazine, among others. From 1998-2009, Matthew worked at the New York Foundation for the Arts, where he founded and directed NYFA’s Information & Research Department. In 2003, Matthew founded MINUS SPACE, a platform for reductive art on the international.

Karen Demavivas is an internationalist, culture worker, and change-maker currently residing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She served as Program Officer of the Immigrant Artist Project at the New York Foundation for the Arts. Prior to that, Karen was a two-time Fulbright Fellow, which led to specialist roles in culture and development at UNESCO and the UN Population Fund, NY. Her art and culture writing has been featured in the Brooklyn Rail, the Bangkok Post, and Art4D Magazine, among others.

Keith Gill is a film producer, co-founder of arts space FREECANDY. A graduate of Howard University, Washington DC, he has worked as a brand strategist in both the US and in Greece. In 2007, Gill helped form FREE DMC, a boutique influencer marketing, branding, and experimental events company. After assisting in the launch of InfluencerCon, Gill lent his efforts to the formation of FREECANDY a live music and arts gallery where he currently is General Manager and Gallery Director. He is the founder/editor of the digital magazine The Bubblegum Experience.

Malesha Jessie is a versatile artist of both the operatic and concert stages, an educator, and an arts advocate. She received her Masters of Music degree from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and her Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Fullerton. Jessie has sung throughout Europe and the United States, including performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, and the San Francisco and Los Angeles Operas. Jessie is the founder of Muse Salon Collaborative, a social enterprise that fosters cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration through an international arts network.

Hiroki Kobayashi is a Brooklyn-based photographer originally from Hiroshima, Japan. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Kokugakuin University, Tokyo. Kobayashi has produced varied bodies of work focusing on people and places in Brooklyn. He has had recent solo exhibitions of his images at FiveMyles Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts; and a group exhibition at Skylight Gallery, Brooklyn.

Thomas Leeser is an architect known internationally for design innovation and the integration of new technologies into physical spaces. He studied architecture at the University of Darmstadt, Germany and at The Cooper Union, NY under John Hejduk, Peter Eisenman, Raimund Abraham and Bernard Tschumi. He has taught at such institutions as Princeton, Columbia, and Harvard universities, and he is currently a professor at Pratt Institute. Leeser Architecture has won many international awards, including most recently the prestigious Red Dot Award for the design of the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. Current large scale projects are under construction in Abu Dhabi, Bangkok and New York.

Martin McCormack, is a Brooklyn-based mixed-media artist who hails from Northern Ireland and England. He has produced “exhibitions” on various trees, walls, and embankments throughout New York City and in Colorado, in addition to exhibiting in a number of galleries including Leo Kesting Gallery, NY, and Five Myles Gallery, NY.

Syreeta McFadden is a writer, poet, photographer and former urban planner. She is one of the founding editors of the online literary journal, Union Station and holds degrees from Columbia University in the City of New York and Sarah Lawrence College, NY. Her writing has appeared in the The New York Times, Feministing, The Huffington Post, Salon and others. She has been a featured reader at various New York area readings series and her photographic work has been featured in local galleries and online. McFadden is an adjunct professor of English and Literature and is currently working on collections of short stories and essays.

Ghanian-American designer Carla Nickerson shares her story about this fabric she designed just after President Obama’s election in 2008.

Mark Reigelman is a Brooklyn-based artist specializing in site-specific product design, installations, and public art. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Cleveland Institute of Art, OH, and an Advanced Product Design Certificate from the Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design, UK. Reigelman’s work has been exhibited in public spaces, galleries, and museums across the country including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Port Authority Bus Terminal, NY, and Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Hanne Tierney is Founder and Artistic Director for FiveMyles, a performance and exhibition space in Brooklyn. Since 1980, she has been performing at venues and festivals around the world, including The Kitchen, NY; Franklin Furnace, Brooklyn; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; Espace Kiron, Paris; Akademie der Kuenste, Berlin; MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY; Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn; and the Jim Henson Festival of International Puppet Theater, Long Island City, NY among others.