Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Matthew Fields is an emerging African American laborer, Artist and Arts Educator. Matthew began his undergraduate career at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB). It was here that he was instilled with the rich history of African American Culture and the under-recognized history of the African American art world. In 2019, Matthew received his bachelor's degree from UAPB and was accepted on a partial Scholarship into the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) low residency MFA program. Upon completing his Graduate studies and developing his thesis framework in the summer of 2021, he officially emerged as a professional artist and an arts educator. He currently is Faculty at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Erin I. Falker-Obichigha is a practicing visual artist, accomplished curator, and arts administrator. After receiving her undergraduate degrees from Stanford University in Art History and Art Practice, Falker-Obichigha went on to receive her M.F.A. from the Sam Fox School at Washington University in St. Louis and M.A. in Art History from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. She has curated several highly regarded exhibitions and has worked on projects such as 30 Americans,Say It Loud: Art, History, Rebellion, Oh,You Fancy!, and Beyond Space, a compendium and exhibition curated by Carrie Mae Weems.

Terrence Phearse is a lens based artist and independent curator. He is the Chief of Staff at The Studio Museum in Harlem and Editor at Large at Musée Photo Magazine. Formerly, he served at Fotografiska New York as Exhibition Manager. He earned an M.A. in Culture, Criticism and Curation from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London with Distinction. Terrence’s M.A. thesis, On The Color Line: Early African American Photographic Portraiture (1839—1900) examined W.E.B. Du Bois’s 1900 Paris Exposition and Fredrick Douglass’s photographs using critical auto ethnography.

Milián is an educator who seeks to innovate the classroom with the ambition to change the way art history is taught. He earned an M.A. in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism from Azusa Pacific University and a B.A. of Art History from the University of California Riverside. He is also an author and contributor to Art Radio Trending, a public art blog that examines the role of art in contemporary culture.

Alleyne is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who merges his love of drums and healing through music, fine arts, technology, and digital media. He uses ancient infusions of art & craft, Caribbean music, Hip-hop, dub poetry, DJ practice, soundscapes, and virtual environments to create authentic representations of Rastafari culture & beyond.

Wade is a photographer and former US Army Broadcast Journalist. She received her BA from CUNY Brooklyn College, her MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from Bard College at the International Center of Photography, and has studied at the Corcoran College of Art & Design.

Carolyn Jean Martin is an educator and artist. She earned an M.F.A. in painting and an M.A. in the History and Theory of Contemporary Art from San Francisco Art Institute. Carolyn’s writing practice interrogates the impact of philosophic and aesthetic traditions on the construction of race and identity, with an emphasis on articulations of Blackness in the Western visual field. Her mixed media art practice examines narratives of ‘Americanness’ in contemporary culture. Carolyn has presented her work in exhibitions and conferences in the United States, Canada, South Africa, and China. She is currently the Chair, Arts and Cultural Studies Department at Berkeley City College.

Brewster-Cotton is a graduate of Fiorello H.LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, and has degrees in English Literature and Dance Performance from Southern Methodist University. Julius holds an M.F.A in Dance Studies from Hollins University and is currently a full time professor of classical ballet, contemporary dance, dance composition, pedagogy, and performance studies at the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico.

Trinidad & Tobago native Natalya Mills (Chief Èrèlu Awo Ifáfunmilayo Eégúnniwura) was crowned and appointed as the Chief Èrèlu Awo of Iwaro Àkókó, Ondo State, Nigeria. She is an Ìyánifa, Ìyá Agan, Yoruba philosopher, art philosopher, Caribbean culture & costume historian whose scholarly writings integrate aspects of Yoruba & Caribbean philosophy, Carnival arts & Caribbean history. She is also the Spiritual Head of Ilẹ Ìjósìn Ifá Otito Ilẹ Ayé NYC. This multidisciplinary scholarly artists groundwork is centered on Yoruba & art philosophy, Carnival arts & culture, dress, identity, body politics & creolization. Domestically she has worked with museums & cultural institutions such as the Brooklyn Historical Society, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Spelman Museum of Fine Arts, Wyckoff House Museum, Brooklyn Arts Council & Weeksville Heritage Center.

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Bess has spent his life studying the traditional methodologies of making art in the hopes of using his art to raise awareness about the persecution of Falun Dafa of China.

Wallace is an independent curator and art writer. Wallace was selected as one of five presenters to participate in the 2018 Nasher Prize Graduate Symposium honoring Theaster Gates at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, TX.

yaTande Whitney V. Hunter, Chicago-born, is a Philadelphia-based artist committed to #cultureascatalyst. With his co-created, NEA supported Denizen Arts Project, his work centers around cultivating individual and communal spirit through dance-performance, education and curation for which he has received several grants and commissions. yaTande has worked in the companies of Martha Graham, Rod Rodgers, Reggie Wilson, Martha Clarke, Kankouran West African Dance Company, and others. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Dance and Coordinator of the African Diaspora Dance Series at Temple University where his research centers on the AfrOist aesthetic and perspective in contemporary dance and performance.

Brooks Nelson is a New York based curator, consultant, educator, and arts administrator. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department at Columbia University. She is co-editor of Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History published in 2019 by Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK. She has served as a consulting curator with the City of New York through the Department of Cultural Affairs and Gracie Mansion Conservancy. Brooks Nelson is also currently an ex-officio trustee on the Board of the Museum of the City of New York.