Randall Packer works at the intersection of electronic music, interactive media, live performance, and networked art. He has received critical acclaim for his socially and politically infused critique of media culture, and has performed and exhibited at museums, theaters, and festivals internationally. As a writer and scholar, he is the co-editor of Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality. He has taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art, American University, and most recently at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore where he was an Associate Professor of Networked Art. Currently he is the founding creative director of the Third Space Network in Washington, DC and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Brighton, UK.
Ian Callender has led the creative arts scene for over 15 years improving neighborhoods across the city by building communities from the ground up through his dynamic cultural lens. He has launched creative non-traditional spaces in partnership with real estate developers and landlords, reclaiming vacant and dilapidated spaces for the benefit of the community. Ian is the owner of Suite Nation, a CBE certified event design & redevelopment firm, the Co-Founder of Culture House (formerly Blind Whino SW Arts Club) and he co-owns Sandlot Southeast, a cultural arts event space.
John Chisolm is director of Providing Artists with Inspiration in Non-Traditional Settings (P.A.I.N.T.S. Institute), which operates out of Washington, DC. Through its network to serve as an ARTrepreneurship Incubator for artists, P.A.I.N.T.S. provides STEM+Arts based programs, resources and activities to our most vulnerable people. In response to the events of 2020 (People è Pandemic è Protests è Politics), we’ve pivoted our services and offerings to support the Community, celebrate the Arts and provide experientially based education and training. We are walking into 2021 resilient, unified and hopeful.
Laura Cohen is a community artist, ceramicist, organizer, advocate, arts educator and Director of Education at Open Works, a nonprofit makerspace in Baltimore, MD. She has her B.S in Art Education from the University of Vermont, holds a Master of Arts in Community Arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art, is a licensed arts educator and has been creating, managing, facilitating and collaborating on projects and programs that bring the joy, skill development, increased self-esteem and community building of high-quality arts and making programming to communities in Baltimore City since 2007.
Nehemiah Dixon is Director of Community Engagement, The Phillips Collection/ARC, as well as an active artist. He is a native Washingtonian, who graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a bachelor’s degree in General Fine Arts. In 2016, Nehmiah started a company called Nonstop Art where he worked with a team of artists and developers to create and manage a makerspace in an affordable housing complex. No matter what form it takes, making art and working in the arts has been and a fulfilling and rewarding career.
Carol Rhodes Dyson serves as Curator for all seven locations of Busboys and Poets, a progressive restaurant and alternative arts space. Exhibitions are organized around social justice and equity issues along with aesthetic explorations. She has held that position since 2013. Currently she is part time Interim Curator at the Reginald Lewis Museum in Baltimore, MD and was recently appointed as a Public Art Commissioner for Prince George’s County, MD thru 2023 and a Board Member for Artomatic thru 2023.
Layne Garrett is an improvising musician and instrument builder based in Washington DC. He works with prepared guitars, found objects, and self-built instruments, collaborating with a spectrum of players from across the DC/Baltimore sound universe. He has led instrument building and sound exploration workshops and camps for kids, as well as constructing participatory installations for the Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music and the DC Listening Lounge’s annual Sound Scene event at the Hirshhorn Museum. Layne is a founding member, curator, and now Program Director of Rhizome DC.
Jeff Gates is an artist and writer, interested in the intersection of art and American culture. He is the founder of the Chamomile Tea Party where he’s created over 200 posters on the sorry state of American political discourse. In 2020, Google Arts & Culture published a seven-part online exhibition of his work allowing Gates to create a visual history of American politics from the rise of the Tea Party to the impeachment of Donald Trump. His writing and art have appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The Nation.
Keyonna Jones was born and raised in Washington, D.C. She has received two Edward Murrow Awards for her work as a news producer with News Radio WNEW, 99.1. In 2015, Keyonna founded Congress Heights Arts and Culture Center (CHACC) home of #soufsidecreative located on MLK Ave, SE, with a mission to expose, educate and inspire her East of the River community through art and culture. Keyonna is a tattoo artist, graphic designer, published fashion stylist, photographer, avid gardener and above all, a proud mother of two.
Nancee Lyons is a public affairs specialist for the District of Columbia’s Department of Public Works (DPW) In this role, she is responsible for the dissemination of information about Department of Public Works programs and services to District citizens and members of the media. She also manages MuralsDC, Washington DC’s largest public mural program. In this role, she has coordinated the installation of more than 120 original murals on buildings throughout the nation’s capital by identifying walls, bringing in local, national and international artists and coordinating community.
Monica Montgomery, Director of Welcoming & Belonging or the Third Space Network, is an arts and culture innovator using creativity and narrative as a means of bridging the gap between people and movements. As an independent curator, museum consultant and keynote speaker, she uses her platforms to be in service to society. As a museum activist, Monica advocates globally for social justice and relevance embedded in museum practice. She is an adjunct professor who’s taught in Museum Studies graduate programs including Harvard University, Pratt Institute, and NYU and, Johns Hopkins University.
Levi Robinson’s paintings and murals offer a visual perspective on what it is to be human living inside brown skin. Levi’s work is represented in several galleries in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and in government facilities in Connecticut. He is a leading member of DMV League of Artists art collective, and has participated in several major art fairs including Spectrum at Art Basel in Miami Beach. Through his partnership with PAINTS Institute a local non-profit organization, Levi has developed a burgeoning mural practice that has landed him media coverage from Reuters, New York Times, USA Today, and ABC News.
Sherri Williams works at the intersection of social media, social justice, reality television, mass media and how people of color use and are represented by these mediums. Williams has a particular interest in how black people’s use of social media is changing social justice and the entertainment industry, especially television. She is also interested in and studies how marginalized people, especially black women, are represented in the media. Sherri is an Assistant Professor at American University where she teaches journalism and storytelling classes as well as courses that examine the ways in which race, gender, class, and sexual identity are portrayed in the media.
David “DEZ” Zambrano draws influence from everything he sees and experiences in his life. His first true love of art began with graffiti when he saw ‘Beat Street’ as a young kid. DEZ has been ‘self-schooled’ in his craft. While he has garnered wide notoriety with his custom artwork on footwear, DEZ encapsulates an artist with versatility. DEZ is a multi-disciplinary artist who has developed a body of original artwork over the span of his career. Most recently he collaborated with the P.A.I.N.T.S. Institute to create works of mural art for Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC.