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| 4:00 p.m. |
WESTAF welcome |
| 4:10 p.m. |
Open Dialogue #1: The process: "What do you want to talk about?" |
| 6:00 p.m. |
Opening Reception in the Magnolia Ballroom |
| 7:00 p.m. |
TAAC Welcome by Louis LeRoy, TAAC founder and board member |
| 7:10 p.m. |
Introduction by James Early, TAAC board member and TAAC board member and Director of Cultural Heritage Policy, Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution |
| 7:30 p.m. |
Keynote Address: Racial, Ethnic and Indigenous World Issues and Challenges: an Invitation to a Global Conversation by Doudou Diene, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance for the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights |
| 8:00 p.m. |
Managed Group discussion, facilitated by James Early |
| 8:30 p.m. |
Adjourn |
| 8:00 a.m. |
Open Dialogue #2 |
| 9:00 a.m. |
Symposium Session A: The History and Significance of TAAC and Other Organizations' Work on Racism and Cultural Democracy in our Nation A reflection on and analysis of the initial context for the establishment of organizations of color such as TAAC and an introduction to Global Connections to Cultural Democracy. Presenters: James Early, Sunya Ganbold Presenters: Louis LeRoy, Suzanne Benally, and A.B. Spellman |
| 9:45 a.m. |
Break |
| 10:00 a.m. |
Symposium Session B: Changing Culture-Scapes Perspectives on the developments that have occurred since the mid 1980s - demographics, technological advances, etc. - that have changed the national and transnational "culture-scape" for issues of interest to communities of color organized to work in the arts. Presenters: Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, Tabassum Haleem, and Roland Tanglao Respondents: Shani Jamila O'Neal, Arthur Jones, and Annette Evans Smith |
| 11:30 a.m. |
Break |
| 11:45 a.m. |
Lunch and Open Dialogue #3 |
| 1:15 p.m. |
Symposium Session C: Migration of Peoples, Cultural Flows and the Surrounding Political Debate A discussion of what we can learn from the U.S. immigration debate and the dialogue surrounding global migration. Analysis of how the arts fit into these issues. Presenters: Maria-Rosario Jackson, Ilona Kish, and Diana Molina. Respondent: Cristina King Miranda and Sangeeta Isvaran |
| 2:45 p.m. |
Break |
| 3:00 p.m. |
Session D: Building a Cultural Democracy Agenda for the Future A policy discussion about setting an agenda for TAAC and other organizations to make a meaningful contribution. Presenters: Rick Hernandez and Tatiana Reinoza Respondents: Justin Laing and Jennifer Armstrong |
| 4:15 p.m. |
Group Discussion |
| 5:15 p.m. |
Break |
| 5:30 p.m. |
Global Cultural Roundtable Discussion Young leaders in the arts from Europe, Mexico and Latin America will discuss next steps to continue a global cultural exchange, continue dialogue on funding, leadership, etc., and summarize their experiences at the conference. |
| 7:00 p.m. |
Symposium Concludes |
| 7:30 p.m. |
Reception at the Museo de las Americas |
| |
Dinner on your own, attend Denver cultural events, network with conference attendees. |
| 8:30 a.m. |
Open Dialogue #4 |
| 9:00 a.m. |
All-day Professional Development Seminar Succeeding in a World of Distractions: Ways to Advance the Performing Arts in a World of Increasing Options. |
| 9:30 a.m. |
Open Dialogue #5 |
| 10:30 a.m. |
Break |
| 10:45 a.m. |
Open Dialogue #6 |
| 11:45 a.m. |
Break |
| 12:00 noon |
Lunch on your own at one of Denver's exceptional downtown restaurants |
| 1:30 p.m. |
Professional Development Workshops (Faculty to be determined) Workshops :: Harnessing New Technologies for the Arts :: The Future of Arts Funding in the Public and Private Sectors :: Managing a Cultural Organization as a Segment of the Creative Economy. |
| 5:00 p.m. |
Adjourn Network of Cultural Centers of Color (NCCC) and The Association of American Cultures (TAAC) joint business meeting, Magnolia Conference Room |
| |
Dinner on your own, attend Denver cultural events, network with conference attendees. |
| 8:00 p.m. |
Performing Arts Showcase featuring: :: Rennie Harris Puremovement of Philadelphia :: Laura "Piece" Kelly of Seattle :: the Sprituals Project of Denver. |
| 7:00 p.m. |
Adjourn |
| 5:00 a.m. |
Spiritual Sunrise Event at Riverfront Park |
| 9:00 a.m. |
Final Open Dialogue Session |
| 11:00 a.m. |
Adjourn |
| James Early (return to top) |
James Early is Director of Cultural Studies and Communication at the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Since 1984, Mr. Early has served in various positions at the Smithsonian Institution, including Assistant Provost for Educational and Cultural Programs, Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Service, and Executive Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Public Service. Prior to his work with the Smithsonian, Mr. Early was a humanist administrator at the National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C.; a producer, writer, and host of "Ten Minutes Left," a weekly radio segment of cultural, educational and political interviews and commentary at WHUR FM radio at Howard University; and a research associate for programs and documentation. As a long-time advocate and supporter of cultural diversity and equity issues in the nation's public cultural and educational institutions, Mr. Early began these pursuits at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, in 1969, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. In 1971, Mr. Early entered the Graduate Studies program at Howard University on a Ford Foundation Fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in Latin American and Caribbean History and a minor in African and Afro-American History. Over the course of a 25-year professional career, Mr. Early has consistently recognized the integrity of historically evolved values and cultures of African-American, Latino, Native-American, and Asian-Pacific American communities. He has taught high school Spanish, worked with the incarcerated, taught at the college level, lectured in the U.S. and internationally, and written extensively on the politics of culture. |
| Doudou Diène (return to top) |
Born in Senegal in 1941, Doudou Diène was a prizewinner in philosophy of Senegal's Concours Général, holds a law degree from the University of Caen, a doctorate in public law from the University of Paris and a diploma in political science from the Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris. Having joined the UNESCO Secretariat in 1977, in 1980 he was appointed Director of the Liaison Office with the United Nations, Permanent Missions and United Nations departments in New York. Prior to this he had served as deputy representative of Senegal to UNESCO (1972-77) and, in that capacity, as Vice-President and Secretary of the African Group and Group of 77. Between 1985 and 1987, he held the posts of Deputy Assistant Director-General for External Relations, spokesperson for the Director-General, and acting Director of the Bureau of Public Information. After a period as Project Manager of the 'Integral Study of the Silk Roads: Roads of Dialogue' aimed at revitalizing East-West dialogue, he was appointed Director of the Division of Intercultural Projects in 1993 (currently Division of Intercultural Dialogue). In this capacity, he is also responsible for intercultural dialogue projects concerning geo-cultural areas such as the Slave Route, Routes of Faith, Routes of al-Andalus, and Iron Roads in Africa. In 1998 he was placed in charge of activities pertaining to inter-religious dialogue. He has taken part in a number of radio and television programs: Neuf siècles de guerres saintes (May 1996), UNESCO/ARTE; Sur la piste des caravanes: L'endroit de toutes les rencontres (February 1998) and Sur la route des épices (March 2000), UNESCO/NDR/ARTE; and a programme in the Thalassa series on The Slave Route (FR3, April 1998). He is co-author of Patrimoine culturel et créations contemporaines and of Vol. 35, No. 2 of the Journal of International Affairs on the New World Information Order. He has also published many articles on the issue of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue in journals such as Archeologia, Historia, Sciences et Vie, Actualité des Religions, Diogenes, etc. Editorial director of From Chains to Bonds, (UNESCO, 1998), he wrote the preface to Tradition orale et archives de la traite négrière (UNESCO, 2001), as well as the editorial of Newsletter No. 2 of 'The Slave Route' (UNESCO, 2001). |
| Sunya Ganbold (return to top) |
Born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Sunya Ganbold was raised in Moscow. She studied at a Russian high school in the capital of Mongolia and at King's School in Worcester, United Kingdom, followed by a year as an exchange student in Grosse Pointe South High School in Michigan, United States. She later enrolled in the
International College at Beijing, where she studied economics and Chinese language. At the International College, she initiated and served as the editor-in-chief for the first grassroots student newspaper to be published in English on any Chinese college campus. She completed her final year of college at the University of Colorado at Denver (the
International College's sister campus), where she received a B.A. in economics with a minor in online information design. Currently a branding/marketing project manager at The Apartment Creative Agency, Sunya Ganbold possesses colorful professional and educational backgrounds garnered through her nomadic life. Educated in Russia, Mongolia, the U.K., China, and the U.S., Sunya is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Strategic Communication at Columbia University. Prior to joining The Apartment, she managed PR, marketing, and operations for an architectural boutique firm specializing in high end residential and hospitality projects. Sunya also oversaw PR and marketing at the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver where she increased museum attendance and raised community awareness and support through dynamic advertising campaigns, outreach programs, and guerilla marketing. Sunya also acted as the project manager for the filming of Radiotelevisione Italiana’s two-hour special on Chinggis Khan, led by Italy’s legendary TV personality Piero Angela. Her commitment to her cultural roots was put to the test during her highly involved, month-long stint as the Project Coordinator for a Mongolian Culture Festival in the U.S. where she led a crew of contortionists, musicians, dancers, and “long song” singers through the streets of New York City and Washington D.C. In addition to her jam-packed schedule, Sunya also acts as consultant and Artistic Director for an innovative non-profit poetry press, Apostrophe Books. |
| Suzanne Benally (return to top) |
Suzanne Benally is the chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She has extensive experience in higher education policy, assessment, and diversity. Formerly, she directed an Institute on Ethnic Diversity at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Ms. Benally has worked with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society as an interim executive director and director of education programs to address the concerns and needs of American Indian education in grades K-12 and post-secondary education. Her special interests and research have focused on the relationship between land and place as expressed through written and oral literature. In addition to her many activities, Ms. Benally has a consulting practice that has included work with foundations including the Ford Foundation, Packard Foundation, and James Irvine Foundation. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Western States Arts Federation. Ms. Benally is Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa. |
| A.B. Spellman (return to top) |
A.B. Spellman is an author, poet, critic, and lecturer. He was a poet-in-residence at Morehouse College, in Atlanta, Ga. He taught various courses in African-American culture; offered courses in modern poetry, creative writing, and jazz at Emory, Rutgers, and Harvard Universities. Spellman is an occasional television and radio commentator. He offered reviews and commentaries on National Public Radio's Jazz Riffs series, including the NPR Basic Jazz Record Library program. Mr. Spellman is a graduate of Howard University. He has published numerous books and articles on the arts, including Art Tatum: A Critical Biography (a chapbook), The Beautiful Days (poetry), and Four Lives in the Bebop Business, now available as Four Jazz Lives (University of Michigan Press). Mr. Spellman has served on numerous arts panels including the Rockefeller Panel on Arts, Education and Americans; the Awards Panel of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); the Africa Diaspora Advisory Group, the Jazz Advisory Group, and the Advisory Group on the African-American Museum for the Smithsonian Institution. Between 1975 and 2005, Mr. Spellman worked at the National Endowment for the Arts, first as the Director of the Expansion Arts Program and, for the last decade of his term at the NEA, as Deputy Chairman. In recognition of Mr. Spellman's commitment and service to jazz, the National Endowment for the Arts in 2005 named one of its prestigious Jazz Masters awards the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy. Also in 2005, the Jazz Journalists Association voted to honor Mr. Spellman with its "A Team" award. |
| Dr. Tomás Ybarra-Frausto (return to top) |
Dr. Tomás Ybarra-Frausto is the former Associate Director for Creativity & Culture at the Rockefeller Foundation. His work with the foundation includes the Humanities Residency Fellowship Program, The Recovering and Reinventing Cultures Through Museums Program, The U.S. Mexico Fund For Culture, and Partnerships Affirming Community Transformation (PACT). Prior to joining the Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Ybarra-Frausto was a tenured professor at Stanford University in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. He has served as the Chair of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco and the Smithsonian Council, and has written and published extensively, focusing-for the most part-on Latin American and U.S./Latino cultural issues. In 1998, Dr. Ybarra-Frausto was awarded the Henry Medal by the Smithsonian Institution. |
| Roland Tanglao (return to top) |
Roland Tanglao is a technologist, blogger, and founder of Bryght--a purveyor of community sites powered by Drupal. He is the co-founder of VanEats, Vancouver's first food blog, works for individual blogs powered by Blogware, and blogs for a living at many blogs, including UrbanVancouver, StreamLine, and the Peer 1 Network blog. Roland grew up shoveling snow in Ontario, and currently resides in Vancouver, B.C. |
| Dr. Maria-Rosario Jackson (return to top) |
Maria-Rosario Jackson is a senior research associate and director of the Urban Institute's Culture, Creativity and Communities Program. Dr. Jackson's research focuses on urban policy; urban poverty; community planning; and the role of arts and culture in community building processes and the politics of race, ethnicity, and gender in urban settings. Dr. Jackson earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Southern California and a doctorate in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. |
| Ilona Kish (return to top) |
IIona Kish is the Secretary General of the European Forum for Arts and Heritage (EFAH). EFAH is a platform organization of cultural networks and associations, which represents the interests of the cultural sector at European Union level. EFAH aims to create a forum for civil dialogue within the cultural sector. EFAH has over 85 members at local, regional, national and European level, which in turn represent over 8000 cultural organizations. Ms. Kish trained in Literature and modern languages, before working in the European Commission culture directorate. She worked in the private and corporate sector as an international project manager for 8 years before joining EFAH as Secretary General in April 2003. She speaks four languages and hails from the United Kingdom. |
| Diana Molina (return to top) |
Diana Molina was born in El Paso, Texas, and attended the University of Texas at Austin-where she earned a degree in Computer Science. She then worked at IBM as a Software Engineer for several years. After a year of travel throughout Europe, she changed career paths to become a writer and photographer and moved to Amsterdam, where she lived for almost a decade. She collaborated with Ben Deiman, a Dutch photographer, in producing collections of photographs for the Netherlands Bureau of Tourism, The Amsterdam Bureau of Tourism, Greenpeace Netherlands and a book published by Scriptum Press titled: Amsterdam, Small Town Big City. Focusing on cultural and environmental reportage Ms. Molina has published feature articles for various international magazines including Elle, Esquire, GEO, GQ, Marie Claire, National Geographic Traveler and Vogue. A series of her essays have been distributed throughout the world by GAMMA Photo Agency in Paris. Her photography has been features in exhibits at several venues, including: The World Museum of Art in Rotterdam, Holland; The Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C.; The Houston Museum of Natural Science; The Institute of Texan Cultures at The University of Texas at San Antonio; and The Albuquerque Museum of Natural History and Science. Ms. Molina currently lives near the New Mexico/Texas border, across from Chihuahua, Mexico. Drawing upon her experience as a journalist, she initiated the development of CARAS-an interactive curriculum model for high school students that integrates the arts and sciences into an investigative, journalistic approach to learning. She also directed a prize-winning documentary, La Mujer Obrera, about the struggles of women employed in the El Paso garment industry. At present, three collections of her work are touring museums nationally: Raramuri; The Tarahumara of the Sierra Madre; Morena Moderna; a modern depiction of the Virgin of Guadalupe; and Entre Fronteras-a series of images presenting Indigenous, Mestizo, and Hispanic Culture on both sides of the border. Ms. Molina is currently working on a collection titled: Seven String Barbed-Wire Fence. The collection focuses on the many faces of Latino Immigration in the United States. In addition to creating a profile of migrants in various regions across the country, the collection includes two national events: The 2003 Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, and The Minutemen Project along the Arizona Border in April 2005. To see Molina's work, please visit dianamolina.com. |
| Cristina King Miranda (return to top) |
Cristina King Miranda is a Fulbright Garcia Robles scholar who has been living and working in Mexico since 1998. A native of Washington, D.C., of Puerto Rican and Scotch Irish parents, Cristina has lived and worked in the United States, Spain, and Mexico for the past 12 years. A bicultural and bilingual ombudsperson and arts activist, Cristina has specialized in strategic planning for U.S. and international cultural organizations to diversify programs, expand their audiences and markets, and build multiple constituencies in the performing arts. Her areas of interest include: forging creative linkages and alliances among non-traditional sectors and partners; identifying and producing programs, special events, and performances, as well as audience development, fundraising and marketing strategies for U.S. and Latin American presenters, with a special focus on Latino communities in the U.S. Cristina also specializes in proposal and project development and intercultural public relations and consensus building. Cristina has conducted seminars, conferences and professional development training sessions for artists, managers, festival directors and other cultural representatives in Mexico, the United States, Puerto Rico, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Honduras, Colombia, and Cuba. In Mexico, Cristina has served as development director and director of international alliances for the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Culture, and the Mexico, Gateway to the Americas Performing Arts Market. Until December 2006, Cristina was the co-artistic director of performing arts for the Universal Forum of Cultures, the second edition of the Barcelona Forum, which will be held in Monterrey, Mexico in the fall of 2007. In Washington, prior to moving to Mexico, Cristina was the artistic director and the director of Latino Programming for the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS), and developed and curated one of the first series of its kind at a national level, the ArteAmerica series, dedicated to Latino and Iberoamerican artists and ensembles. She has been a panelist and advisor on numerous national and international panels including the National Dance Project, the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Fideicomiso para la Cultura Mexico-Estados Unidos, among others. She currently serves on the boards of the Tambuco and Onix musical ensembles in Mexico, the North American World Music Coalition, the RES ARTIS International Network of Artist Residency Centres, and Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya, an indigenous womens' theater collective in Chiapas. |
| Tatiana Reinoza (return to top) |
Tatiana Reinoza, of Austin, Texas, is an artist and independent curator. Born
in El Salvador, a country ravaged by a 12-year civil war, Ms. Reinoza became aware-at an
early age-of the human cost of war. She migrated to the United States with her mother at
the age of six. Her life has always been in constant motion, as she has lived in New York,
San Salvador, San Francisco, and Sacramento. Ms. Reinoza is very interested in the migrant/immigrant experience as well as in the advocacy of social responsibility in art. She has worked with the Chicano art community in Sacramento through La Raza Galeria Posada, and also interned for two years with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission under the mentorship of local Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) muralist, Juanishi V. Orosco. In 2004, Ms. Reinoza received her Bachelor of Arts in Art Studio from California State University Sacramento, where she co-founded the Women's Art Forum. Through her leadership and initiative, she has coordinated visiting artist lectures, curated art exhibits, and organized workshops for youth. The current focus of her curatorial work is to promote, exhibit, and document the contributions of contemporary Latino artists in the U.S. She has exhibited and served as a guest curator at several local art galleries in Sacramento. |
| Jennifer Armstrong (return to top) |
Jennifer Armstrong is the Director of Community Arts Development for the Illinois Arts Council. Prior to moving to
Chicago, Jennifer served as the Executive Director of 40 North | 88 West - Champaign County's Arts, Culture &
Entertainment Council (Illinois) - for three years. At the national level, Jennifer is a co-founder and past Chair of
Americans for the Arts Emerging Leader Council, and is on the board of The Association of American Cultures. She
recently served as a co-chair for the 2007 Illinois statewide arts conference, and as a member of the Illinois Arts
Council strategic planning task force. Ms. Armstrong also participated in the Leadership Succession Project produced
by the Illinois Arts Alliance. Locally, Jennifer served as Co- Chair for Big. Small. All. Champaign County (county
wide visioning initiative), and was a co-founder of the Young Professionals Network formed by the Chamber of Commerce.
Jennifer is the recipient of the Americans for the Arts inaugural Emerging Leader award. She moved to Champaign County in 2004 from Phoenix, Arizona, where she served as the program coordinator for the Herberger College Department of Dance at Arizona State University. Jennifer studied arts and business administration, theatre, and dance at Millikin University in Decatur, IL. She has a passion for bringing together diverse ideas, individuals and institutions to ignite social change. Jennifer also works to ensure all generations of leaders are actively engaged, inspired, empowered, supported, connected, financially secure, and have an active role in shaping the future of our global communities. |
| Rick Hernandez (return to top) |
Rick Hernandez currently serves as the Executive Director of the Texas Commission on the Arts, where he has been employed for 22 years. He began working with the commission in the mid-seventies as an artist-in-residence and held various positions, including Deputy Director, until 2002 when he moved into his current position. |
| Dr. Arthur Jones (return to top) |
Arthur Jones is the founder, Co-Chair and Artistic Program Director of The Spirituals Project, which is concerned with the preservation and revitalization of the music and teaching of the spirituals, which are the sacred songs created and first sung by enslaved Africans in North America. He is also a Senior Clinical Professor of Psychology at the University of Denver and the Chair of the Denver (Mayor's) Commission on Cultural Affairs. Since earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology as a Danforth Fellow at the University of Iowa in 1974, Dr. Jones has focused much of his scholarship, teaching and consultative work on issues of intercultural and multicultural psychology. In the early 1990s, his additional training as a professional singer led him into an interest in the psychological and cultural functions of African American music, and particularly the spirituals. He has sought to raise consciousness about the rich gold mine of material contained in the music, rhythm and lyrics of a body of songs that originated in a circumscribed community of disenfranchised people but yet has remained in the air for more than two centuries to provide continuing relevance to issues of human connection and social justice that affect women, men and children in multiple cultural contexts around the world. The winner of many awards for his teaching, scholarship and community service, Dr. Jones is also the author of the award-winning book Wade in the Water: The Wisdom of the Spirituals, and the co-editor (with his brother, Brown University Professor Ferdinand Jones) of The Triumph of the Soul: Cultural and Psychological Aspects of African American Music. He has presented lecture-concert and workshop programs around the country and currently coordinates the educational and artistic work of The Spirituals Project, including three multi-ethnic, multi-generational performance ensembles, a program of workshops presented in schools, an adult education series, and a comprehensive multimedia educational website (http://ctl.du.edu/spirituals) developed in collaboration with the University of Denver. Recently Dr. Jones has begun a research program that seeks to elucidate some of the ways in which the spirituals (and the arts, broadly conceived) can both empower disenfranchised communities and also bring diverse communities together through fresh understandings of the perennial barriers of race, class, gender and the necessary but sometimes limiting processes of strong ethnic identification. |
| Annette Evans Smith (return to top) |
Annette Evans Smith is the Vice President of Community Relations and Development for
the Alaska Native Heritage Center. She is of Athabascan, Yup'ik and Alutiiq descent.
Annette was born in Fairbanks, Alaska and was raised mainly in the rural community of
Dillingham. Annette attended Stanford University where she majored in International
Relations and minored in Native American Studies. After graduating, Annette returned to Alaska and moved to Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, and has worked in international relations, public relations, and development for several nonprofit organizations. Annette is a trustee for WESTAF and is working on her MBA. She is also married and the mother of a one-year-old son, Daniel. |
| Shani Jamila O'Neal (return to top) |
Shani Jamila's work is rooted in a commitment to the African diaspora, and fueled by a passion for social justice. As the host and producer of Blackademics, a Washington DC based program on the Pacifica Radio network that features provocative discussions on news and contemporary affairs as they impact the hip hop generation, she has interviewed a wide array of leading artists, authors, and activists. She also co-hosts WPFW's Black Soul Mondays, a hip hop show designed to provide an outlet for the music underplayed on commercial radio. During her travels throughout thirty plus countries Shani has spoken at global gatherings such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Switzerland, and led workshops at conferences like the World Social Forum in India. An incisive essayist and editor, her writings on race, gender, and culture are regularly taught in university curricula. Her varied accomplishments also include studying human rights in France, co-founding a library in Gabon, and performing with a women's poetry collective in Trinidad. In addition, she designed and directed the Howard University based Art of Activism seminar series- an initiative that combined cultural work and political education to inform young people about organizing for progressive social change. Shani is a Fulbright Fellow and Spelman graduate who has a Masters degree in Africana Cultural Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. Having taught or researched at institutions in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States, she possesses a truly cosmopolitan perspective. Her work has received international recognition in publications such as the Trinidad Guardian newspaper, the London based literary magazine Sable, and ESSENCE--as "One of the 35 Most Remarkable Women in the World." |
| Tabassum Haleem (return to top) |
Tabassum Haleem is the Executive Director of Organization of Islamic Speakers Midwest, Inc., and member of the House of Representatives of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. Ms. Haleem is currently working toward a dual Masters of Islamic Studies and Masters of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. She is a certified public accountant, speaks three languages, and is currently studying Arabic. |
| Justin Laing (return to top) |
Justin Laing is the program manager for the Heinz Endowments' grant-making program, which is dedicated to promoting the vitality of Pittsburgh's cultural sector and its relevance to civic life. Mr. Laing works with small-arts organizations, assisting in financial analysis of all grantees, and helps to develop the Endowments' arts education and community-based arts programs. Mr. Laing previously served as the manager and assistant artistic director of Nego Gato, an African-Brazilian arts organization that introduced many in Pittsburgh to Capoeira Angola, a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, fighting, play, music, ritual and mimicry. During his tenure at Nego Gato, he managed the national touring schedule, negotiated contracts, performed and taught with the group, and led its local ensemble. Mr. Laing played a central role when Nego Gato was recognized as the "Gateway to the Arts 2005 Hardie Artist of the Year." An active member of the local and national arts community, Laing is currently on the boards of the Multicultural Arts Initiative, The Kelly Strayhorn Theater, and Macedonia F.A.C.E. and serves on the Emerging Leader Council of Americans for the Arts as well as a number of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grants panels. He was one of 25 arts managers from around the country selected in 2003 to be an "emerging leader" by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. Also in 2003, the Pittsburgh Council on Public Education gave him the Gold Star Award for Leadership in Public Education, recognizing special achievement in volunteering and in engaging students, teens and parents. A 1992 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, with bachelor's degrees in black studies and political science, Laing is now enrolled in Carnegie Mellon University's Masters of Arts Management program. Laing's work history also includes positions as an Allegheny County probation officer and a case manager for Youth Fair Chance, building a mentoring program for youth in the Hill District. |
| Sangeeta Isvaran (return to top) |
Sangeeta Isvaran is a dancer, choreographer, activist, and researcher from India. A passionate believer in the power of art as a dynamic and exciting medium to foster empowerment and social change, she has worked with many different underprivileged groups such as street children and refugees. Using a combination of arts—classical, popular, martial, circus, Bollywood—from the different domains of dance, music, visual arts, poetry and literature, her work focuses on helping individuals express how they perceive their lives. Isvaran is currently teaching at a university in Merida, Mexico, and has traveled extensively as an expert in Bharatanatyam, a traditional Indian dance. |
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