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Artists
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ABE ABRAHAM
Abe Abraham received his BFA in Dance from the Tisch School for the Arts at New York University. As the artistic director of Abanar, Mr. Abraham creates video-art works that feature dancers from some of the leading dance companies in the world, including New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Complexions, Shen Wei, Stephen Petronio, and Dutch National Ballet. Mr. Abraham's most recent work Salt Water, has been presented in over fifty exhibitions and festivals around the globe. Awards for Salt Water include Best Experimental Film at the Sydney World Film Festival and The Harlem International Film Festival, Best Film at the 31st Minimalen Short Film Festival, The Pearl 19 Award at Tanz International Film Festival in Berlin, Best Editing at ANSFF, the Nova Art Prize in New York City, the Malamegi Lab 12 Art Prize in Milan, and the Premia Della Giuria at the Cinematica Festival in Ancona, Italy. In November 2019, Salt Water was presented at the Oscar/Bafta qualifying Leeds International Film Festival.
Angela Abreu
Dominican Writers Association is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit literary arts organization founded in 2015 with the mission to amplify Dominican American stories. Since its inception DWA has provided support to emerging writers by offering access to the tools and resources required to become published authors. Via their programming they have fostered and mentored emerging writers through the process of developing their craft. Many of our alumna have gone on to self-publish, publish within the BIG FIVE, win awards and fulfill their literary dreams. DWA is a grassroots organization that creates engaging programming to inspire their audience to read and support Dominican writers.
Under DWA, the imprint of DWA Press has published 100+ of writers in the genres of poetry, creative non-fiction, comic, memoir, children's and speculative fiction.
DWA is also the creator of the Dominican Writers Conference EST. 2019, a conference created to showcase and empower future Dominican writers. DWA is devoted to sharing, promoting, supporting, and developing Dominican writers—and, in turn, creating community.
Under DWA, the imprint of DWA Press has published 100+ of writers in the genres of poetry, creative non-fiction, comic, memoir, children's and speculative fiction.
DWA is also the creator of the Dominican Writers Conference EST. 2019, a conference created to showcase and empower future Dominican writers. DWA is devoted to sharing, promoting, supporting, and developing Dominican writers—and, in turn, creating community.
Natalia Alonzo-Brillante
I am an ABT NTC certfied ballet teacher who has been teaching ballet to children in NYC for over 25 years.
Kiri Avelar
Kiri Avelar, MFA, is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, scholar, and activist who focuses her work around collaborative community expression. As a 2020 Jerome Robbins Dance Division Research Fellow for the NYPL for the Performing Arts, her scholarly research “Descubriendo Latinx: The Hidden Text in American Modern Dance”, looks at the absented presence of Latinx holding an integral role in shaping the foundation of modern dance in the United States.
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Mary Baird
Mary Baird, "Maria de los Angeles," began her Flamenco dance studies at Ballet Hispanico with Melinda Marquez in 1998. After apprenticing with the American Bolero Dance Company, at the invitation of founder, Gabriela Granados, she spent two summers at the Cristina Heeren program in Sevilla, studying with Carmen Ledesma, Rafael Campallo and Milagros Menjibar. She attended Jacob’s Pillow, studying with Soledad Barrio and had her tablao debut at Alegrias en La Nacional. She is currently a Flamenco Faculty Member at Ballet Hispanico, and a Teaching Artist with Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana. Chosen as the 2018 Artist in Residence with Flamenco Vivo's AiRe program, she choreographed her first solo piece, The Suffocating Breath. As the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Al Margen Flamenco Company, she conceptualizes, choreographs and performs in full length productions.
Anna Benoit
Anna Benoit is an NYC based actor originally from Springfield, IL. She graduated from the Lyric Theatre program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Nathan and Julie Gunn. In addition to performing, Anna is passionate about teaching and bringing the arts to children. She has worked closely since high school with youth groups and camps dedicated to giving artistic opportunities to children.
Roberta Berman
Roberta Berman (playwright, director, multi-media artist) Plays: (Inner Dialogue, Talking While Thinking About Writing, Dialogue at 3am, Love Child-A Family Saga); Art films: (Midnight to Midnight and Prehistoric Blues) with scores composed by Frank Ponzio; Co-founder, director, writer of Co-Motion Mime Company (Boston, 1978-79); Percussive Sculptures, inter-active art: (exhibits include Lincoln Center Gallery, Studio Gallery 88, NYC, Jazz clubs with guest artists, Marie Christine @Vivien Beaumont Theatre, Crowns @Arena Stage, Wash. DC; Haifa Univ., Israel, Fulbright-sponsored. Sculpture textbook (The Art of Shop) published by Bank Street College.
Gwendolyn Black
I am a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where I studied fashion illustration and general illustration. Over the past 25 plus years, I have been involved in presenting, promoting and producing cultural events in the Harlem community as well as other boroughs. This year marks my 33rd year of advocating for the visual side of jazz and my 19th Annual Arts and Jazzfest NYC™/Visual Arts and Jazzfest NYC™ music and arts festival. Aside from my producing, I currently work as a teaching artist and educator along with exhibiting my works of art dedicated to jazz music
Michael Blake
In a career spanning three decades, New York City saxophonist Michael Blake has created an impressive body of work in the field of contemporary music. As a leader he has over a dozen albums to his name, featuring the saxophonists riveting compositions and imaginative arrangements. His original music embraces sonic dimensions beyond the traditional structures that define the art form of jazz. A constant force on the New York music scene, Blake’s music has brought him widespread critical acclaim. On both the tenor and soprano saxophones, Michael continues to refine and develop a personal style that is immediately identifiable. His most recent projects include Blake & Brass XL, a modern brass quintet featuring tuba virtuosos Bob Stewart and Marcus Rojas and Chroma Nova, a group with Brazilian percussion and strings.
Jennifer Boissiere
Artistic Director & Choreographer, DanceBoissiere. Jenny has danced for Jessica Danser/Dansfolk, Kelly Donovan & Dancers, Alaine Handa & Dancers, Banana Peel Dance, and apprenticed for InSpirit: A Dance Company. Jenny's choreography has been shown at Gibney Dance Center, Movement Research, ModArts Dance's Collective Thread, and Brooklyn Ballet's First Look.
peter bulow
Visual artist who had previously shown at Nomaa and received grants from Nomaa
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Sindy Castro
Sindy Isabel Castro is an actress, educator, and theatre artist. She is co-founder of Jugando N Play, a multilingual theatre for young audiences, and is a 2022-23 LabWorks artist with the New Victory Theater. Sindy graduated with her MA in Applied Theatre from CUNY’s Schools of Professional Studies in 2019 and was awarded a Distinguished Thesis Honorable Mention from AATE for her thesis “¡BE PREBEARED! TEATRO EN EDUCACIÓN – THEATRE IN EDUCATION” in 2020.
Sindy is a teaching artist with Lincoln Center Theater, New York City Children's Theatre, and the People's Theatre Project in NYC. She strives to use theatre as a tool for creating multilingual and multicultural spaces where young people are empowered to embrace their home languages and cultures. Sindy was an invited member of Young IDEA at IDEA Congress in Paris in 2013, a member of the TAD (Teaching Artist Development) Studio Cohort at Columbia College in 2014, part of the Intermediate Teaching Artist Lab at Lincoln Center Education in 2016, and a U.S. Delegate at the International Teaching Artist Conference (ITAC) in 2018 & 2020. She was a recipient of a DCASE Theatre and Dance Residency in Chicago for her project Stories from my Mother in 2016.
Sindy is a teaching artist with Lincoln Center Theater, New York City Children's Theatre, and the People's Theatre Project in NYC. She strives to use theatre as a tool for creating multilingual and multicultural spaces where young people are empowered to embrace their home languages and cultures. Sindy was an invited member of Young IDEA at IDEA Congress in Paris in 2013, a member of the TAD (Teaching Artist Development) Studio Cohort at Columbia College in 2014, part of the Intermediate Teaching Artist Lab at Lincoln Center Education in 2016, and a U.S. Delegate at the International Teaching Artist Conference (ITAC) in 2018 & 2020. She was a recipient of a DCASE Theatre and Dance Residency in Chicago for her project Stories from my Mother in 2016.
Beth Crandall
Beth is a choreographer and dance educator based in NYC. Her experience ranges from Broadway, Off-Broadway and Broadway tours, to Tony Award-winning regional houses, to renowned fashion brand Gucci.
As a performer Beth was seen on Broadway in West Side Story, on national and international tours, at top regional theaters, in short films, on SNL and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Beth choreographed The Sound of Music and Matilda at The Muny. She was recently commissioned to choreograph the original work In the Pocket for Joffrey Ballet School in NYC. She also recently choreographed West Side Story for the Abilene Opera.
Additional choreographic work on Broadway/Off-Broadway: Gettin’ the Band Back Together, High Button Shoes, The New Yorkers, and 1776. Other highlights: Footloose and The Music Man at The Kennedy Center, The Drowsy Chaperone and Because of Winn Dixie at Goodspeed Opera House, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, My Fair Lady, West Side Story and Newsies at The Muny. She assisted the highly stylized Gucci Showtime campaign and Target’s 20 Years of Fashion for All for NY Fashion Week.
She earned her BFA from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. She is a year round faculty member at the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School in NYC and choreographs for The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in NYC.
As a performer Beth was seen on Broadway in West Side Story, on national and international tours, at top regional theaters, in short films, on SNL and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Beth choreographed The Sound of Music and Matilda at The Muny. She was recently commissioned to choreograph the original work In the Pocket for Joffrey Ballet School in NYC. She also recently choreographed West Side Story for the Abilene Opera.
Additional choreographic work on Broadway/Off-Broadway: Gettin’ the Band Back Together, High Button Shoes, The New Yorkers, and 1776. Other highlights: Footloose and The Music Man at The Kennedy Center, The Drowsy Chaperone and Because of Winn Dixie at Goodspeed Opera House, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, My Fair Lady, West Side Story and Newsies at The Muny. She assisted the highly stylized Gucci Showtime campaign and Target’s 20 Years of Fashion for All for NY Fashion Week.
She earned her BFA from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. She is a year round faculty member at the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School in NYC and choreographs for The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in NYC.
Alison Cuomo
For me, painting is a natural way to immerse myself in the beauty that is everywhere. I see these paintings as landscapes, because they are all places that I inhabit while I am painting them. I paint wet on wet on paper, working with layers of luminous color, which radiate through the paintings. The natural world is stunning. Its endless complexity and richness move me —and I want to share my explorations.
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Rose Deler
I am an artist and maker who draws on the skills handed down to me by my ancestors. They were boat builders, carpenters, seamstresses, farmers, and homemakers. As an artist who takes pride in the artisanal quality of my work, I am interested in the labor of art making and craft. My work must bare the mark of my hand as well as my mind. This is a freedom to think and make to change direction or approach as I go along. It is instant and fluid from my head to my hands. There is no need for sketches, explanations or directions. It is private until it is not.
Carol Diamond
Carol Diamond has focused her studio practice in New York City, as a painter and multimedia artist with an emphasis on urban themes, translated through architectural subjects and abstract sculpture. She is an tenured adjunct associate professor in the Foundation Department of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, and teaches at CUNY City College of Technology.
Amara Dieter
Amara Dieter is a competitive Irish dancer and Irish dance teacher based in Washington Heights. When not dancing or teaching, Amara runs Amara's Home Bakery, a vegan bakery specializing in breads and custom treats.
Tiffany Dugan
Tiffany Dugan is a collage and book artist and writes creative non-fiction and poetry. Much of her visual art incorporates personal writing that she works into her collages, artist books, and paintings. Layering words and images, she explores the interplay of form and color until the original context is abstracted into new meaning, sometimes abandoning language altogether. She is currently working on a memoir about growing up as the daughter of an artist and, after her father's death, the struggles of preserving its legacy while embracing her own creative practice. Tiffany was the recipient of the 2019 Kathryn Gurfein Writing Fellowship for creative non-fiction and a 2020 Denis Diderot Grant recipient for the Artist-in-Residence at Chateau d’Orquevaux. Tiffany lives in upper Manhattan.
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Risa Hirsch Ehrlich
In a bow of gratitude to the American Abstract Expressionists and certain Japanese traditions, I have made works in various clay bodies (porcelain, earthenware, stoneware etc.), for three decades and been privileged to finish my pieces in electric, gas and wood-- and rarely -- raku firings. I am honored to do this work!
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Kirby Fields
Kirby Fields is the Artistic Director of UP Theater. UP Theater offers fully produced professional theater to its community in Northern Manhattan, and develops new plays – employing many theater artists who live here. Despite our parochial concerns, UP is no “community theater.” We eschew crowd-pleasing chestnuts in favor of daring new work that challenges its audience’s preconceived notions about what they think they think.
Edi Friedlander
Foyer is a multidisciplinary research-based artist who explores wrapping cultures, the materiality of wrapping and its cross-cultural rituals to tell ancestral stories and to examine forms of social injustice. In her painting, drawing and sculptural works, Foyer exposes the process of becoming, marking time with tireless gestural motions and micro repetitive layering.
Born and raised in Togo, West Africa, Foyer was first introduced to drawing and clothing design at age 8 by assisting her fashion designer and dressmaker mother in her Atelier. Foyer came to the United States in 1990 where she obtained her BS in Economics from Baruch College, CUNY and her MS in Urban Studies from The New School, Milano School of Policy, Management and Environment. Foyer maintained a studio practice in New York City since 2009 and in 2018, she went back to school to finish her M.F.A. Program at Lesley University, College of Art + Design in Cambridge, MA.
Foyer’s works have been shown internationally and nationally; and a few of her artworks are in private collections.
Born and raised in Togo, West Africa, Foyer was first introduced to drawing and clothing design at age 8 by assisting her fashion designer and dressmaker mother in her Atelier. Foyer came to the United States in 1990 where she obtained her BS in Economics from Baruch College, CUNY and her MS in Urban Studies from The New School, Milano School of Policy, Management and Environment. Foyer maintained a studio practice in New York City since 2009 and in 2018, she went back to school to finish her M.F.A. Program at Lesley University, College of Art + Design in Cambridge, MA.
Foyer’s works have been shown internationally and nationally; and a few of her artworks are in private collections.
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Lisbely Garcia
Lisbely Dezign is an artist who show her creativity in finding the beauty in a old broke furniture and converted in something special again. This type of passion developed a great connection between trash to treasure.
Aviva Geismar
Aviva Geismar is a choreographer, dancer, dance educator and artistic director of Drastic Action, a NYC-based contemporary dance company. Since 1989, she has been creating a body of thought-provoking works, grounded in a full-bodied physicality. Her dances have been performed in numerous national and international venues including The Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, Inside/Out at Jacob’s Pillow, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Symphony Space, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival and Studio 303 (Montreal). From 2006-2010 she led “Dancing to Connect,” an intercultural performance and education project, developed in collaboration with Battery Dance company which brought Drastic Action to numerous cities across Germany. In 2016 “Dis/Location (Fort Tryon)” explored the immigrant experience in Washington Heights through creation of a site-specific piece and creative dance workshops at a local school. Her current multi-phase project, “Dis Place,” explores our national legacy of cultural and geographic displacement in the form of “urban renewal.” Aviva is an Associate Professor in the dance program at Queensborough Community College/CUNY.
Alain Gr-Polanco
Alain Gr-Polanco believes that art opens dialogue and helps connect communities through shared emotions. They grew up in Washington Heights, eating platanos and discovering the blatant contradictions in society. Their work strives to present complex topics infused with a sense of child-like playfulness and an eye-catching color palette. Their creations infuse photo, film, and sometimes sculptural elements, to evoke the most potent emotional response possible. Their creations hold a place between reality and fantasy, giving room to expanding the ideas of what we can be. They create for the child that never felt they belonged in the world, like their reality must have been the grandest fairytale, because their existence was sparsely captured, and when it had been, it felt ethnographic and voyeuristic. Always one-dimensional and stereotypical. Alain aims to showcase the diversity and beauty of their people, while also giving them a voice and a place in history that belongs to them. They are building on those that came before them, adding to our shared artistic history, while also making way so those after can reach even further.
Laurence Elle Groux
Laurence (Elle) Groux is an introspective self-taught artist working in stoneware ceramics and oil etching. The core inspiration of her work is the human psyche. Born and raised in a small village in Switzerland, Groux moved to the US in 1996 where she was immersed in the New York art scene.
Influenced by artistic practices and design motifs found in Pre-Colombian, Mesopotamian, Renaissance, Art Nouveau, Modernism and Outsider's arts, Groux’s ceramic works are tactile, curvilinear abstract sculptures accentuated by organic shapes and patterns. Her oil etchings further explore the possibilities of line and shape in intricate and delicate patterns of embellishment. Groux’s work inspires visual curiosity through the generous movement of material and coalesces as tangible objects of energy and beauty.
Elle’s work has been featured in group and solo exhibitions in New York, Switzerland, and Philadelphia and are housed in collections in Pennsylvania, New York, California, Switzerland, Canada and Mexico. Additionally, she is the recent recipient of Best in Show for Sculpture 2021 at the Ellarslie Museum in Trenton, NJ, juried by Dr. William R. Valerio, Director of the Woodmere Museum of Philadelphia, PA.
Influenced by artistic practices and design motifs found in Pre-Colombian, Mesopotamian, Renaissance, Art Nouveau, Modernism and Outsider's arts, Groux’s ceramic works are tactile, curvilinear abstract sculptures accentuated by organic shapes and patterns. Her oil etchings further explore the possibilities of line and shape in intricate and delicate patterns of embellishment. Groux’s work inspires visual curiosity through the generous movement of material and coalesces as tangible objects of energy and beauty.
Elle’s work has been featured in group and solo exhibitions in New York, Switzerland, and Philadelphia and are housed in collections in Pennsylvania, New York, California, Switzerland, Canada and Mexico. Additionally, she is the recent recipient of Best in Show for Sculpture 2021 at the Ellarslie Museum in Trenton, NJ, juried by Dr. William R. Valerio, Director of the Woodmere Museum of Philadelphia, PA.
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Takashi Harada
I believe the forms of cells of living things, including plants and animals, have similarities in structures. I propose those images (as in my paintings) are double micro and macro images of nature itself. By looking at the images, people fall into their memories of the past. Those senses provide people more calm feelings and common sense of each other, beyond the difference of cultures.
Garnet Henderson
Garnet Henderson is a dancer, choreographer, and journalist. Born and raised in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, she has lived in New York City since 2009. Her choreographic work has been presented at the Flea Theater, HERE Arts Center, the 92nd Street Y, the West End Theater, Arts on Site, Triskelion Arts, and Gibney Dance. She was a Women in Motion 2017-2018 Commissioned Artist. She has also performed in works by Mark Dendy, Jordan Morley, Faye Driscoll, Ori Flomin, Kyle Abraham, David Parker, Larry Keigwin, Reggie Wilson, Colleen Thomas, and Heidi Henderson, and appears in the feature film Shirley, directed by Josephine Decker and choreographed by Faye Driscoll. Garnet is a proud member of Dance Artists’ National Collective, where she has co-organized policy campaigns for the New York Health Act, the PRO Act, and a New York WPA.
Stephen Hill
Stephen Hill is a performer, choreographer, and dance scholar from Harlem, NYC. Hill has earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Dance at Lehman College. He has previously danced as a guest artist for ModArts Dance Collective under the direction of Leah Tubbs as well as an apprentice for Forces Of Nature Dance Theater under Abdel Salaam, and has toured with Cirque Du Soleil’s CORTEO.
As the founder of The Choreojoey Project, Hill has choreographed and produced ballets presented for community audiences in NY since 2014. the ChoreoJoey Project began as a challenge to create and present innovative narrative productions. It often invokes the creative efforts of a rotating team of artists to display integrated mixed media dance performance. founded in 2014, it is committed to the preservation and use of jazz and West African dance in harmony with narration, poetry, and storytelling to create new ballets with contemporary sociopolitical and historical contexts.
As the founder of The Choreojoey Project, Hill has choreographed and produced ballets presented for community audiences in NY since 2014. the ChoreoJoey Project began as a challenge to create and present innovative narrative productions. It often invokes the creative efforts of a rotating team of artists to display integrated mixed media dance performance. founded in 2014, it is committed to the preservation and use of jazz and West African dance in harmony with narration, poetry, and storytelling to create new ballets with contemporary sociopolitical and historical contexts.
Richard Hollis
Richard is an actor living and working in New York. He's been based in Washington Heights and Inwood since moving from the UK 13 years ago.
Kathleen Holloway
After graduating from the photography program at The Art
Institute in Seattle, Kathleen Holloway moved back East to pursue a
career as a photo editor for the entertainment industry. After 20
years of working with photographers, Kathleen is finally following
her dream of showing her own work. She employs a variety of
techniques, including the use of encaustic wax, to add depth to her
images and reveal the beauty of the photographic prints.
Institute in Seattle, Kathleen Holloway moved back East to pursue a
career as a photo editor for the entertainment industry. After 20
years of working with photographers, Kathleen is finally following
her dream of showing her own work. She employs a variety of
techniques, including the use of encaustic wax, to add depth to her
images and reveal the beauty of the photographic prints.
Jeff Hoppa
Jeff Hoppa is a New York-based visual artist. His oil paintings on panel and works on paper celebrate the history of exploration, the natural world and the metamorphic potential of abstraction. His inspirations run the gamut from rock formations at Joshua Tree National Park to the inner ear bones of narwhals at The American Museum of Natural History. Hoppa was an adjunct Professor of drawing at New York Institute of Technology from 2004 to 2009, a member of EFA Studios at The Elizabeth Foundation from 2006 to 2013, and curated exhibitions at Indian Road Café in Inwood as "Indian Road Shows" from 2014 to 2019. In 2015, he created cornerstone STUDIOS, an artist's studio work space at 178 Bennett Avenue in Washington Heights.
Jiawen Hu
Jiawen Hu is a New York-based theater maker originally from Hangzhou, China. She has been working on community-based theatre projects with underrepresented groups including Chinese females, English Language Learners, immigrants, and LGBTQ communities in New York and Shanghai. Her credits as a performer, deviser, director, and stage manager take her to Whitney Museum, NBC New York, Judson Church, The Lark, Queens Museum, Dixon Place, and University Settlement.
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Stephanie Kallos
Stephanie Kallos spent twenty years in the theatre as an actor/teacher before turning her full-time attention to writing. She is the author of three published novels as well as several works of short fiction, plays, and essays. Her most recent novel, LANGUAGE ARTS, was adapted into a feature film by Kairos Productions.
Margaret Kelly
Maggie Kelly is a dance artist from Ontario, Canada. She is currently living in NYC, frequently performing, and pursuing her artist visa. Maggie loves nothing more than being onstage, and has competed both nationally and internationally in over 100 competitions across Canada and the United States.
Lola Koundakjian
Lola Koundakjian, a longtime resident of Washington Heights, is a poet who writes in Armenian and English, and a visual artist devoted to ceramics, watercolor and photography.
Lola has exhibited throughout New York City, and was invited to international poetry festivals in Quebec, South America and the Middle East. Since 2006 she has curated the Armenian Poetry Project.
A NOMAA double grantee for Literary Arts, Lola’s work has appeared in journals and anthologies. For more information visit www.lolakoundakjian.com
Lola has exhibited throughout New York City, and was invited to international poetry festivals in Quebec, South America and the Middle East. Since 2006 she has curated the Armenian Poetry Project.
A NOMAA double grantee for Literary Arts, Lola’s work has appeared in journals and anthologies. For more information visit www.lolakoundakjian.com
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Tafy LaPlanche
Just an Afro-Latina artist creating vibrant and dope portraits for vibrant and dope people. Born and raised in NYC, I was always surrounded by diversity. It made me curious about other cultures and people’s heritage. That upbringing prompted me to travel in order to meet all kinds of people. And made me passionate in showcasing that within my art.
Being both Puerto Rican and Haitian, throughout my life people always tried to place me in a box of one or the other. With my portraits, I showcase unique individuals who embrace both their culture and who they are. Despite the stereotypes, they face purely based on the color of their skin.
When people see my paintings, I want them to feel like they too can be their unapologetically beautiful selves.
Being both Puerto Rican and Haitian, throughout my life people always tried to place me in a box of one or the other. With my portraits, I showcase unique individuals who embrace both their culture and who they are. Despite the stereotypes, they face purely based on the color of their skin.
When people see my paintings, I want them to feel like they too can be their unapologetically beautiful selves.
Zara Lawler
Interdisciplinary flutist Zara Lawler’s recent highlights include interactive zoom music/spokenword performances during the pandemic and premieres featured in both the 2020 and 2021 Higher Ground Festival in NYC. Her collaborative music/dance/video project Symmetrical Lives, with violinist Maja Cerar and choreographer C. Neil Parsons debuted at the National Flute Association’s Annual Convention (virtual) in August 2021. Past projects include the US premiere of Il Cerchio Tagliato dei Suoni, Salvatore Sciarrino’s work for 104 flutists, directed by Lawler at the Guggenheim Museum and a Flute Jamboree directed by Lawler at the Kennedy Center. Lawler + Fadoul, her duo with percussionist Paul Fadoul, created a theatrical concert Clickable, featuring music and words of persuasion, that was incubated and premiered at nancy manocherian’s the cell theater in in November 2016, and was released as an album on Parma Recordings in 2020. Their debut album, Prelude Cocktail, featured world premieres by Katherine Hoover and Roshanne Etezady. Zara Lawler’s solo show, The Flute on its Feet, was featured at the Orlando Fringe Festival in May 2019. Lawler has a Master of Music from Juilliard, made her concerto debut with the Houston Symphony and her recital debut at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall.
Sarah Leñador
I’m Sarah Leñador, a Cypriot-Puerto Rican dance-artist based in NYC. My dance company, BABEL, launched in 2017 to a sold out evening-length performance. We now partner with social-justice organizations to translate stories of injustice into dance-films and facilitate embodiment workshops.
Our latest evening-length work, “United States, No Me Conoces,” personifies the BIPOC experience in the US by relating the two as ex-lovers. It expresses the heartbreak felt when the country you labor for, live in, and love pretends you’re not integral to its very identity. I was honored to perform an excerpt at Judson Memorial Church for immigrant workers on hunger strike, offering them affirmation that their stories are being seen and told, even as they protested the pandemic relief they were being denied.
It is my passion to choreograph and perform distinct body narratives that resonate culturally and connect us intimately. Body language and micro-expressions lead the way in the creation process, being uncovered through somatic practices that bring emotions naturally to the surface in the body, so they stand true with the audience. When the movement is fully embodied the audience is able to return home within themselves, where they can encounter the mysticism of our lived experience.
Our latest evening-length work, “United States, No Me Conoces,” personifies the BIPOC experience in the US by relating the two as ex-lovers. It expresses the heartbreak felt when the country you labor for, live in, and love pretends you’re not integral to its very identity. I was honored to perform an excerpt at Judson Memorial Church for immigrant workers on hunger strike, offering them affirmation that their stories are being seen and told, even as they protested the pandemic relief they were being denied.
It is my passion to choreograph and perform distinct body narratives that resonate culturally and connect us intimately. Body language and micro-expressions lead the way in the creation process, being uncovered through somatic practices that bring emotions naturally to the surface in the body, so they stand true with the audience. When the movement is fully embodied the audience is able to return home within themselves, where they can encounter the mysticism of our lived experience.
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Michelle Manzanales
Michelle Manzanales is a choreographer, dedicated dance educator of nearly 30 years, and co-founder of the Latinx Dance Educators Alliance. CriticalDance writes that Manzanales’ choreography “…isn’t just about one girl’s experience; it applies to everyone, of any gender, and of any culture.” Her choreography for Ballet Hispánico, Con Brazos Abiertos, described as a “savvy but deeply sincere meditation on her Mexican-American background” (-Marina Harss, New York Times), premiered in 2017, and has since toured worldwide to critical acclaim including an inclusion in New York City Center’s 2018 Fall for Dance Festival. Manzanales’ current commissions set to premiere in 2021 include a new work for the Paul Taylor Dance Company and a restaging for Ballet Hispánico of her 2010 homage to Frida Kahlo, Paloma Querida, which was hailed a "visual masterpiece" by the Chicago Tribune and described by the Chicago Sun-Times as a “gorgeously designed, richly hallucinatory, multi-faceted vision of the artist.”
Katherine McClintic
Katherine McClintic is a choreographer, poet, and founder of the online dance community Inbox Dance Party. She has lived in Uptown Manhattan for 10 years. She works in TV, Film, and Theater in NYC and LA. Most recently she published a book of poems "Ending The War on My Body". Ending the War on My Body is in production to become a multi-media performance event combining Katherine's choreography and poetry through film, dance, music, and visual art in collaboration with many amazing artists.
Chris McNiff
I an an actor, choreographer, and video editor based in New York City. Born in Manhattan, I grew up just outside the city in Westport, CT. I attended Elon University, where I received my BFA in Music Theatre. I have performed in multiple national tours and regional productions, and continue to work and live in New York City, pursuing a career in the arts.
Dunja Messer-Jourdain
I am a painter and fashion designer. I grew up designing fashion in my family's master tailor atelier in Germany. That’s when I developed my passion for art and design. Fabrics have always fascinated me – the textures, the colors and the making of fabrics. When I paint, I create my own fabrics on canvas - matte and glittery textures turn into my visual delights. It’s a very emotional process. I found myself in my art.
I attended the College for Design in Hanover, Germany and the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen, Germany where I graduated in international management with a focus on the textile industry in Fair Trade. I studied design, the making of textiles and coloring at Co-Optex International company in Chennai, India. Currently, I work from my studio in New York City.
I attended the College for Design in Hanover, Germany and the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen, Germany where I graduated in international management with a focus on the textile industry in Fair Trade. I studied design, the making of textiles and coloring at Co-Optex International company in Chennai, India. Currently, I work from my studio in New York City.
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Cathy O'Keefe
I paint what I feel. I paint with energy and fire. My works are filled with rhythm and movement. Improvisation is my method of creating art. I explore internally for long periods of time and then paint quickly, explosively. The result is abstract but often recognizable. I love to paint.
Gabriel Ortiz
A photographer since my youth, born and raised in Washington Heights. I'm focused on capturing the moment and mood. using the camera to freeze time for just a moment.
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Eh-den Perlove
Eh-den Perlove is an arts manager who has focused her career on organizations that support the works of oppressed groups. She has worked at The Public Theater, The Apollo Theater, and is currently on the executive staff of SheNYC Arts, a national nonprofit supporting the work of marginalized gender theater-makers. She has an M.A. in Business Design and Arts Leadership from Savannah College of Art and Design and a B.A. in Drama from Pace University. She is currently working on a Ph.D. in Arts and Cultural Management from the University of Manchester.
Christopher Priore
A pioneer of skywriting as an art medium, Christopher Priore is also an established contributor to innovative painting practices. His colorful dimensional paintings extend his career-long exploration of art that comes off the wall and out into the viewer’s physical space. The artist's solo exhibitions in galleries and museums in New York and nationally have been discussed in all forms of media. He holds an MFA in Painting from Savannah College of Art & Design, and a BFA in Art from Carnegie Mellon University. Born in Buffalo and raised in Pittsburgh, his home and art studio are in Washington Heights, in Upper Manhattan.
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Barry Ritter
I do photography – my camera is my third eye and any image from a camera is only the start of the process of seeing.
MaryBeth Rodgers
MaryBeth Rodgers is a graduate of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program, where she double majored in Dance and Economics with a minor in Classical Civilization. She has worked with Matthew Westerby Company, Buglisi Dance Theater, Michael Mao Dance Company, People’s Theatre Project, Pied Piper Children’s Theater, and JUNTOSCollective, and has worked on Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She has studied at the Ailey School, the Graham School, Hubbard Street Chicago, and Movement Invention Project. She has received artistic grants from Fordham University’s Deans and the Martha Hill She is the co-founder of Artist After Hours, and currently teaches and choreographs for theatre and concert dance.
Rosana RODRIGUEZ
Rosana Rodriguez founded Yogiando NYC in 2017. She created the first fully bilingual Spanish/English yoga studio in a Washington Heights where she was born and raised. This Dominican yogi’s mission is to create wellness that is affordable & accessible to the LatinX community and people from EVERYwhere of all sHaPeS, shades and SizEs. Offering yin yoga and yoga nidra (yogic sleep) a deeply relaxing practice targeting the connective tissues while promoting a meditative state in dual language.
Darcy Rogers
Darcy Rogers was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. She obtained a Masters of Fine Art with an emphasis in photography from the Academy of Art in SF, CA. She currently resides in NYC where she works full time and pursues photographic projects in her spare time. Her work emphasizes portraiture and environments.
Lizzie Ross
I’m a children’s book author, writing fantasy and historical fiction. My novel, Kenning Magic (2013), is a fantasy for readers 9–14 years old.
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Jennifer Sanchez
I live and paint in NYC. During the pandemic, I’ve been making more collages out of necessity. In the beginning, supplies were limited. Plus, I needed a quick creation fix to deal with the anxiety of everything. Collaging is spontaneous, with patterns and ideas coming fast and plenty. I’m also painting even more color sketches. Playing with basic color theories to create dramatic spectrums
Both processes are easy going, playful and restorative; some much needed pandemic art therapy. But all my work is some sort of bright collage or mashup of ideas. All in the service of creating something that delights the eye.
I use colorful geometric patterns to create paintings that dazzle. Visual impact is what I’m after; the macro and the micro. They look precise from a distance, but get closer and you’ll see their looseness. Each mark reveals the rhythm and attention needed to craft the painting, and provides a sneak peak into the studio. Wobbly grids, sinuous blobs and transparent colors indicate little desire for perfection, but great care in organizing. That discord interests me.
Both processes are easy going, playful and restorative; some much needed pandemic art therapy. But all my work is some sort of bright collage or mashup of ideas. All in the service of creating something that delights the eye.
I use colorful geometric patterns to create paintings that dazzle. Visual impact is what I’m after; the macro and the micro. They look precise from a distance, but get closer and you’ll see their looseness. Each mark reveals the rhythm and attention needed to craft the painting, and provides a sneak peak into the studio. Wobbly grids, sinuous blobs and transparent colors indicate little desire for perfection, but great care in organizing. That discord interests me.
Tom Sanford
The American artist, Tom Sanford, was born in New York in 1975 and spent his formative years in the United Kingdom. He has lived in West Harlem since 1994. Sanford's work, primarily paintings and drawings, have been exhibited internationally in galleries, museums and art fairs over a career that spans the 21st century.
Uniqua ( Robin) Simmons
Uniqua Simmons
Uniqua Simmons born and raised in Harlem is a Certified Fitness Practitioner, Performance Artist, Self -Taught Jewelry Artist, Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary Artist. She writes and creates Art about her Culture, Muses, Wellness, Liberation, Community, Diversity, Healing & Peace, and empowerment work. Using Arts and Education for all abilities.
Creating personal and community quilts, fiber Art and decorative books are some of her favorite Arts to create and share.
She is an active Teaching Artist in diverse communities using Art, Fitness and Wellness to educate, heal, and create platforms to collaborate and exprees Arts and Culture.
She is the Creative Artistic Director of My Art M.A.D.N.E.S.S ( My Art, Making Art, Diverse, Necessary, Educational, Sustainable, Selfless) Unique Differences, DanceSense Wellness, Afya Afro Jazz, and Eclectic Butterfly Dance Theatre
Her Jewelry designs, Arts, Performance and Wellness have been shared, seen and exhibited in Essence Magazine, Essence Catalog, Brooklyn Museum Shop, Eileen Fisher, Gallery Vercon, The Brownstone Woman, Arsenal Gallery - Central Park, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, Buunni Coffee West Harlem Arts, Children’s Art Carnival, Emblem Health, Natural Awakenings , Daily News, The African Burial Ground National Monument, Dance Parade
Contact Information: myartmadness.com, dancesensewellness.com, afyaafrojazz.com, uniquedifferences.org, IG- myartmadness, afyaafrojazz, FB Uniqua Simmons
Uniqua Simmons born and raised in Harlem is a Certified Fitness Practitioner, Performance Artist, Self -Taught Jewelry Artist, Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary Artist. She writes and creates Art about her Culture, Muses, Wellness, Liberation, Community, Diversity, Healing & Peace, and empowerment work. Using Arts and Education for all abilities.
Creating personal and community quilts, fiber Art and decorative books are some of her favorite Arts to create and share.
She is an active Teaching Artist in diverse communities using Art, Fitness and Wellness to educate, heal, and create platforms to collaborate and exprees Arts and Culture.
She is the Creative Artistic Director of My Art M.A.D.N.E.S.S ( My Art, Making Art, Diverse, Necessary, Educational, Sustainable, Selfless) Unique Differences, DanceSense Wellness, Afya Afro Jazz, and Eclectic Butterfly Dance Theatre
Her Jewelry designs, Arts, Performance and Wellness have been shared, seen and exhibited in Essence Magazine, Essence Catalog, Brooklyn Museum Shop, Eileen Fisher, Gallery Vercon, The Brownstone Woman, Arsenal Gallery - Central Park, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, Buunni Coffee West Harlem Arts, Children’s Art Carnival, Emblem Health, Natural Awakenings , Daily News, The African Burial Ground National Monument, Dance Parade
Contact Information: myartmadness.com, dancesensewellness.com, afyaafrojazz.com, uniquedifferences.org, IG- myartmadness, afyaafrojazz, FB Uniqua Simmons
Blakely Slaybaugh
Blakely (he/him) is a NYC-based performing artist whose work has been seen globally with NBC, Target, French fashion brand Hermés, Cirque du Soleil, on Broadway and on Broadway Tours. Blakely won the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for his portrayal of Prez in The Pajama Game at the two-time Tony Award winning Arena Stage in Washington DC. His Broadway and tour credits include: Paramour, Pinocchio in SHREK: The Musical, and Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. He performed in High Button Shoes with Michael Urie for New York City Center's Encores! series, with Norm Lewis, Jessie Mueller and Rosie O'Donnell in The Music Man at The Kennedy Center, as Robertson Aye in Mary Poppins at Paper Mill Playhouse, plus featured performances at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Goodspeed Opera House, The Muny, among many others. Most recently he made his Tribeca Film Festival debut portraying Rudy Giuliani in Rudy! A Documusical directed by Oscar nominee Jed Rothstein.
Blakely also enjoys sharing the arts with younger generations by teaching masterclasses around the country. He held the position of Associate Faculty for Northwestern University’s CHERUBS Intensive and taught acting at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. BFA: CCM (College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati). @BSlaybs
Blakely also enjoys sharing the arts with younger generations by teaching masterclasses around the country. He held the position of Associate Faculty for Northwestern University’s CHERUBS Intensive and taught acting at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. BFA: CCM (College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati). @BSlaybs
Vicky Stein
I am a mixed media collage artist living and working in Northern Manhattan.
I draw inspiration from the dense woods and majestic waters I see on my walks and from my windows. Manhattan is not all skyscrapers and subways!
In this city I love – a city that is never still – I create work that draws you close. It is work without noise and distractions. This is my refuge. My meditation.
I draw inspiration from the dense woods and majestic waters I see on my walks and from my windows. Manhattan is not all skyscrapers and subways!
In this city I love – a city that is never still – I create work that draws you close. It is work without noise and distractions. This is my refuge. My meditation.
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Anna Tonna
A native of New York City, mezzo soprano Anna has bowed at the Casals Festival of Puerto Rico,Festival Ibero Americano de las Artes, Música de Cámara of New York, Festival de Segovia, Fundación Juan March and Auditorio Nacional de Música in Spain. She has been heard in such title opera roles as Carmen, as well as Dorabella in Cosí fan tute, and as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. She performs music by composers from the Hispanic World, and is active as an arts educator in the Tri State area.
Tami Tyree
Tami Tyree is a singer/actress/ playwright/ writer/historian of African American history and culture and graduate of Howard University's Theater and Communications department(s). Ms. Tyree is the recipient of numerous artistic and cultural awards and citations for her concerts, workshops, literature, and theatrical endeavors. Known as 'the echo of our ancestors.' the mission of her productions is to educate, enlighten, and entertain.
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Junius Vazquez-Rodriguez
I am an unpublished writer, who has managed to develop a continuous collection of writing. The writing that I have developed, is better known, as the (Permission to Speak©) Collections. My inspiration for writing comes from the relationship that I have with my mother, as her primary caregiver. Writing has been my outlet for self-care and never-ending support to my mother (Irma).
Christian von Howard
Christian von Howard is the Artistic Director of the VON HOWARD PROJECT, a contemporary dance company based in New York City. As an international artist, he has worked with many dance artists such as Fred Benjamin, Fernando Bujones, Daniel Gwirtzman and his choreography has been produced in venues across the globe including Europe, South America, Asia, and throughout the US. Christian is an Associate Professor at Montclair State University, on faculty at the Alvin Ailey School, and serves as the Northeast Regional Director of the American College Dance Association. He holds advanced degrees from the School of Classical and Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University and Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and as a Fulbright Specialist (2019-2021) for the United States.
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Bernard Winter
I have been a painter, and an art teacher with the New York City Department of Education since 1986. I retired from full time teaching in 2021, and currently am teaching my own art afterschool program at the Manhattan School for Children on the Upper West Side. I am married to Sandra Winter, a singer-songwriter and ordained minister. We live in the Washington Heights area of New York City.
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Deborah Ziffer
Deborah Ziffer, the creator of Zeffa Designs, grew up in France, receiving her initial Art training in Montpellier and Paris, before continuing her studies in the United States. She lives and works in New York City.
