STROKES OF GENIUS FELLOWS
Introducing our 2025 Cohort
We are so excited to share the 25 creative visionaries that have been awarded the Strokes of Genius Fellowship. This gifted and dynamic group of artists and arts professionals will be creating inventive new works and receiving professional development support from The Black Genius Foundation and Black Genius Brain Trust.
Amani Washington
Visual Artist
Amani Washington is a visual artist based in Los Angeles who is known for her Graffiti style and Abstract Art. She has collaborated on several projects, including 6 artwork paintings for Kamasi Washington's EP "Harmony of Difference" and a video piece created for the Whitney Biennial in 2017. She has created Album Art for Albums "Dinner Party" and "Enigmatic."for Music mogul Terrece Martin and supergroup (Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder and Kamasi). In her multi-disciplinary work, her mediums are oil and acrylic paint with oil pastel on large scale canvas. Her paintings often have written words, scriptures, symbols and numbers that represent connections to music and the black experience. Amani states, “Art can provoke people to feel and connect. I believe my artwork brings a universal energy that makes people feel the power, beauty and honesty it took to create it.”
André M. Zachery
Choreographer, Dancer & Artistic Director, Renegade Performance Group
André M. Zachery is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist, scholar, researcher, and technologist with a BFA from Ailey/Fordham University and MFA in Performance & Interactive Media Arts from CUNY/Brooklyn College. As the Artistic Director of Renegade Performance Group his practice, research, and community engagement artistically focused on merging choreography, technology, and Black cultural practices through multimedia work. André is a 2016 New York Foundation for the Arts Gregory Millard Fellow in Choreography and a 2019 Jerome Hill Foundation Fellow in Choreography. His works through RPG have been presented domestically and internationally, receiving support through several residencies, awards, and commissions. These have included the LMCC Arts Center on Governors Island, Dance/NYC Coronavirus Relief Fund, CUNY Dance Initiative, Performance Project Residency at University Settlement, ChoreoQuest Residency at Restoration Arts Brooklyn, 3LD Art & Technology Center, HarvestWorks and a Jerome-supported Movement Research AIR. Awarded grants have been from the Brooklyn Arts Council, Harlem Stage Fund for New Work, and a Slate Property SPACE Award. Commissions have come from the Brooklyn Museum, Five Myles/BRIC Biennial, and Danspace Project.
Arit Emmanuela Etukudo
Media Artist
Arit Emmanuela Etukudo (she/her) is a Nigerian-American artist whose practice deals with the fluidity and metamorphosis of Black identity through self-portraiture, moving image, installation, and performance art. Etukudo earned her BA in Cinematic Arts from University of Maryland, Baltimore County and her MFA in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University. Her accomplishments include the 2024 VCCA Fellowship, the 2023 MacDowell Fellowship, the 2020 Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant, the 2019 NAE Future Exhibition Prize, and the 2017 Indie Capitol Award for Best Experimental/Animated film. Her work has been exhibited globally at venues like The Peale Museum (Baltimore, MD), The Centrum Foundation (Port Townsend, WA), and Kultur Im Zentrum (Giesse, Germany).
Ben Williams
Bassist, Composer, Singer/Songwriter and Bandleader
Ben Williams is a magnetic force in the world of contemporary jazz, renowned for his soulful bass lines, innovative compositions, and dynamic stage presence. With a career spanning over two decades, Williams has solidified his position as one of the most sought-after bassists of his generation, earning critical acclaim and adoration from audiences worldwide.
Throughout his career, Ben Williams has collaborated with an impressive roster of artists across various genres. He has performed and recorded with jazz luminaries such as Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, David Sanborn, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington, as well as acclaimed vocalists including Dianne Reeves and José James. Williams' versatility as a musician has allowed him to seamlessly navigate diverse musical landscapes, from traditional jazz to contemporary fusion and beyond. In 2009, Williams achieved a significant milestone by winning the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, earning him a deal with Concord Records through which he released his highly acclaimed debut “State of Art” (2011) and his sophomore effort, "Coming of Age" (2015). In 2013, Williams won a Grammy Award (as member of the Pat Metheny Unity Band) for Best Instrumental Jazz Album. He made his vocal debut with his 2020 release, “I AM A MAN,” showcasing his newfound talent as a singer/songwriter and his passion for social activism. As a bandleader, composer, and collaborator, Ben Williams continues to push the boundaries of jazz and explore new sonic territories. His latest projects showcase his evolution as an artist, incorporating electronic elements, spoken word, and social commentary into his music. Whether performing on stages around the world or engaging with audiences through his recordings, Williams remains dedicated to pushing the art form forward while staying true to his roots.
C.C. Young
Writer
CC Young is a writer (of fiction, screenplays, popular culture criticism & creative nonfiction) and a creative entrepreneur. She is the recipient of writing residencies from Willapa Bay Air, Vermont Studio Center (VSC), Faber, Hambidge, Hedgebrook, The Studios of Key West, the Key West Literary Seminar, Bainbridge & Chateau D’Orquevaux. She is the founder of Quitman Studios, an entertainment studio designed to curate exceptional storytelling experiences across space, technology & medium. She is completing her first narrative feature entitled Little & her first collection of short stories entitled Scar Tissue of the Extraordinary. A graduate of Spelman College & New York University, she received her B.A. in English and her M.A. from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, completing an interdisciplinary program combining Entertainment Business, Performance, & Africana studies. She was born and raised in Southwest Louisiana.
.CHISARAOKWU.
Transdisciplinary Poet, Writer, Visual/Performance Artist, Scholar and Health Futurist
.CHISARAOKWU. (she/her) is an Igbo American transdisciplinary poet artist and 2025 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow in Poetry. Her practice weaves archive, collage, and film together to explore memory and identity in the African diaspora. Her chapbook “This Wake Holding, Mmiri” received the 2023 Evaristo Poetry Prize’s Honorable Mention and recent poetry and visual art appear in ANMLY, Beloit Poetry Journal, Decolonial Passage, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Obsidian. She is grateful for fellowship support from organizations including the California Arts Council, Cave Canem, Anaphora Arts, Headlands Center for the Arts, MacDowell, Torch Literary Arts, and Ucross. She is an alum of the Brooklyn Poets Mentorship Program and Tin House Workshops. From 2010-2017, she served as a US Commissioner to UNESCO. A pediatrician and trauma specialist, she earned her MD from Duke University and BA from Stanford University. She is working on two poetry collections and a novel.
Christal Brown
Mother, Artist, Educator, Disciple, Coach & Founder of INSPIRIT, a dance company and Project: BECOMING
Christal Brown is the founder of INSPIRIT, a dance company, and Project: BECOMING; creator of the Liquid Strength dance training module; and CVO of Steps and Stages Coaching, Facilitation and Consulting. She serves as Full Professor of Dance and Twilight Artist in Residence at Middlebury College. A native of Kinston, NC, Brown accompanied her mother to NAACP meetings and Black Caucus rallies. Alongside her mother’s political path, Brown learned the mechanisms of cultural organizing and the organic synthesis of art and activism. This early training taught Brown to navigate segregated spaces and expand communication beyond words.
Brown earned a BFA in Dance and a minor in Business from UNC-Greensboro, and an MFA in New Media Art and technology from Long Island Univ. She performed with Chuck Davis’ African-American Dance Ensemble, Andrea E. Woods/Souloworks and Gesel Mason Performance Projects, and apprenticed with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. Upon moving to NYC, Brown apprenticed with The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. before joining Urban Bush Women as a principal performer, community specialist and apprentice program coordinator. In 2018, after performing with Bebe Miller Company, Brown achieved a personal and professional milestone of dancing her way through the African diaspora.
Ciera Alyse McKissick
Curator, Writer & Founder of AMFM and cam.contemporarie
Ciera Alyse McKissick is an independent curator, event producer, writer, and the founder of AMFM, a media platform whose mission is to promote and uplift emerging interdisciplinary artists and creatives. Ciera created AMFM, originally a web magazine, as an independent study project in 2009 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studied Journalism and Mass Communications. Her work since then has involved supporting the work and practice of Black and brown artists through writing, exhibitions, partnerships, and activations in collaboration with local arts organizations and institutions. Ultimately, she seeks to stimulate community engagement that's driven by inclusivity, accessibility, intention, and care. She is also the founder of a contemporary art space, cam.contemporarie, that seeks to support the work of emerging artists from the global majority through solo exhibitions and projects. She was the Inaugural Curatorial Fellow with The Luminary in 2023, and was a participant in the Independent Curators International’s Chicago Curatorial Seminar in 2022. Formerly she was also the Public Programs Manager at the Hyde Park Art Center. Ciera’s projects and events have been featured on / with Elephant Mag, Artsy, Cultured, Terremoto MX, Afropunk, ABC 7 Chicago, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun Times, WGN, WTTW, and more. Art Fairs and programmatic partners include The Hoxton Hotel, Saatchi Art, EXPO Chicago, The Other Art Fair, Red Bull and more.
Dahlak Brathwaite
Playwright, Composer, Performer, Director and Filmmaker
Dahlak Brathwaite is an award-winning dramatic auteur: playwright, composer, performer, director, and filmmaker. His work has been presented at The Wallis, BAM, The Kennedy Center, REDCAT, MCA Chicago, The Public Theater, The Apollo, and on HBO’s Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. Dahlak’s trilogy of works - Spiritrials (solo play), Try/Step/Trip (musical), Adapting History (documentary film) have been developed through the support of CalArts, A.C.T., Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Montalvo Arts Center. Dahlak is a Princess Grace Awardee. He has received awards from NEFA, the Doris Duke Foundation, MAP Fund, California Arts Council, and Creative Capital. His musical adaptation of Jason Reynolds’ Long Way Down was hailed by the Washington Post as “bracing and moving and funny and even fun..." and won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical. Dahlak is a graduate of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, where he was awarded the Dean’s Full-Tuition Fellowship, and served as the Assistant Director for the national tour of the Tony-winning revival of Oklahoma. He has been a visiting professor at UC Davis, taught workshops internationally as a two-time fellow of the U.S. State Department, and is currently part-time faculty at Berklee College of Music.
INEZ
Producer, Singer-Songwriter and Audio Engineer
Proud Homewood resident, Pittsburgh native and self-proclaimed FireShorty™️, INEZ is a multi-hyphenate Renaissance woman utilizing singing, performance, music production, arranging, songwriting, drumming, and audio engineering to round out her creative practice. INEZ, a Carol R. Brown award-winning, Cum Laude Berklee College of Music alumna, has worked with the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame, Healthline.com, and is currently a Chapter Governor (Philadelphia) and voting member of The Recording Academy/GRAMMY’s.
Ivan Rome
Filmmaker
Hailing from Columbus, Georgia, Ivan is an award-winning filmmaker whose Southern roots run through everything he creates. Recently securing his MFA from Columbia University, he is the recipient of Columbia’s inaugural Bobby Kashif Cox Memorial Scholarship, an inaugural Diverso’s Black Writers in Focus Fellow, a Columbia Alumni Association Scholar, and an MTV Joel Schumacher & Sophia Cranshaw Scholar for the 2023 Gotham EDU Film & Media Career Development Program. Ivan was also selected for the SEEN Black Filmmakers Program sponsored by The Blackhouse Foundation, participated in New York Stage and Film’s 2024 Filmmakers’ Workshop, participated in the 2025 TIFF Writers’ Studio as the TIFF-Sloan Science & Technology Writers’ Fellow, and is currently developing a new pilot as a part of Mike Gauyo’s Black Boy Writes Mentorship Initiative. Ivan’s work has screened at several Academy Award-qualifying festivals, on American Airlines flights, and explores the complexities of our culture through humor, heart, and a lil’ Southern flavor.
Jamila Woods
Poet, Songwriter, and Performing Artist
Jamila Woods is a poet, songwriter, and performing artist from the south side of Chicago. Her three solo albums HEAVN (2017), LEGACY! LEGACY! (2019) and Water Made Us (2023) were released by JagJaguwar Records to critical acclaim. An internationally touring artist, Jamila has been featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk, CBS This Morning, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Jamila’s writing has been published in POETRY, Poets.org, and The Offing, and was featured in the 2023 anthology “Black Love Letters” published by John Legend's Get Lifted Books. She has been awarded writing residencies at Millay Arts, Hedgebrook, BLKSPACE on Ryder Farm, and Civitella Ranieri. In 2022 she served as artist-in-residence at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University, teaching workshops on poetry, songwriting and live performance. An award-winning poet, Jamila’s work often blurs boundaries between poem and song. As cultural critic Doreen St. Felix writes, “It makes you wish all singers were poets.”
Jeffrey L. Page
Director, Choreographer and Cultural Preservationist
Jeffrey L. Page is an Emmy-nominated, MTV VMA–winning director, choreographer, and cultural preservationist whose work treats Black performance as a living archive and choreography as a form of civic speech. The first African American to receive Juilliard’s Marcus Institute Opera Directing Fellowship, he co-directed and choreographed Broadway’s 1776(Douglas & Ethel Watt Critics’ Choice Award) and was named Director of the Year (2025) by the Young-Howze Theatre Awards for Cost of Living.
Page’s stage and screen work spans Ain’t Misbehavin’ (NYT Critic’s Pick), Choir Boy, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Memphis (Tokyo), and the documentary Blues People (AFRIFF, Dances With Films: NYC, Greensboro Dance Film Festival). A longtime collaborator with Beyoncé, his choreography for “Run the World (Girls)” earned the MTV VMA.
He is Founder & CEO of Movin’ Legacy, a Fulbright Specialist, Director of the Harvard Dance Project, and a Trustee of Jacob’s Pillow.
Juliette Jones
Violinist, Composer and Founder of Wondersmith Entertainment & Passing the Crown
Juliette Jones is a violinist, composer, and founder of Wondersmith Entertainment — a Black woman-led music agency where orchestral artistry meets cultural impact. Her work spans GRAMMY, Oscar, and Emmy-recognized projects, including Jesus Christ Superstar: Live, The Color Purple (2023), Mudbound, and campaigns for Apple and Samsung. Juliette has performed and recorded with artists such as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, John Legend, Janelle Monáe, and Jon Batiste, and has contracted for institutions including Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, the Kimmel Center, and Carnegie Hall. Through Wondersmith, she has employed over 2,500 musicians and collaborated with more than 100 artists, including Aretha Franklin, Babyface, H.E.R., Solange, and DJ D-Nice, on projects that center historically excluded voices and reimagine the orchestral experience. Her latest imagining, Passing the Crown, is a live orchestral mixtape celebrating the legacy and future of women in Hip-Hop. Commissioned by Lincoln Center, the work premiered in 2024 and returned as part of the 25–26 season featuring GRAMMY Award-winner Rapsody and hip hop icon MC Lyte. Juliette is a newly elected GRAMMY Voting Member, continuing to shape music’s future through vision, voice, and shared legacy.
L. Renée
Poet, Story Collector and Non-Fiction Writer
L. Renée is a poet, story collector, and nonfiction writer. Winner of the 2024 Gerald E. And Corrine L. Parsons Fund Award for Ethnology at the Library of Congress and the National Association of Black Storytellers’ 2023 Black Appalachian Storyteller Fellowship, her work has been published in Obsidian, Tin House Online, Poetry Northwest, minnesota review, Callaloo, American Life in Poetry, and elsewhere. Her honors include The Arkansas International’s Editor’s Choice Poetry Prize, the international Rattle Poetry Prize, and Appalachian Review’s Denny C. Plattner Award. A recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem and the Watering Hole, she was a 2024-2025 Poetry Coalition Fellow at Mass Poetry, awarded by the Academy of American Poets, and a 2024-2025 Public Humanities Fellow, awarded by Virginia Humanities. L. Renée is an inaugural West Virginia Creative Network Literary Arts Fellow and at work on her debut hybrid collection of poetry, prose, artifacts and photography, forthcoming from University Press of Kentucky. The book documents the experiences of her maternal ancestors from the tobacco fields of Virginia to the coal mines of West Virginia, probing inheritance.
Latavia Young
Writer, Director, and Creative Producer
Latavia Young is a writer, director, and creative producer who's upbringing predisposes her toward the exploration of family, culture, love, and connection at the intersection of race, poverty, sexuality, immigration, and formative years. Her recent directed work includes “The Burden of Context", a documentary short revealing the legacy of slavery, segregation, and gentrification in Miami and its influence on her family narrative and “My Fierce Aunt Bianca” a documentary short centering the life and legacy of Bianca "Exotica" Maldonaldo, the trans-starlette featured on the cover of Blood Orange’s Coastal Grooves Album. She creative directed the visual album and release party for Lissett Denis' extended playlist "Apartment 105".
Latavia played a role in the development and production of series such as “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon”, “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street”, “Shadowland”, “Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich”, “A Black Lady Sketch Show”, and “Everyone Else Burns”. She produced music videos for Summer Salt, Breakup Shoes, and Ayelle, podcasts for former President Bill Clinton, Amazon Studios, and AppleTV+ as well as the 2024 Sundance premiered short film “Grace.”
Marjuan Canady
Writer, Director and Producer
Marjuan Canady is a Tony®-nominated Broadway producer and multi-hyphenated artist whose work amplifies Black Diaspora voices across theatre, film, children's media and education. A proud DC native and Caribbean-American writer, director, and producer, she is the Founder of Sepia Works and her non-profit, the Canady Foundation for the Arts, both dedicated to advancing inclusive storytelling and arts education for youth of color. Her Co-Producing Broadway credits include Purple Rain, Alicia Keys’ Hell’s Kitchen, The Wiz, and Death of a Salesman. Marjuan’s original work has been seen on Hoorae Media, Sesame Street, at The Kennedy Center, and Folger Shakespeare Library. She is also the Author and CEO of the beloved children’s brand Callaloo Kids, which promotes cultural literacy through books, animation, and live performance. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Eaton DC and a Docs In Progress Fellow. A passionate educator and advocate for creative equity, Marjuan was named a “Woman to Watch on Broadway” in 2023 and currently serves as Associate Professor of Theatre and Film at Montgomery College.
Mia Imani
Spiritual Technologist, Speculative Architect, Conceptual Artist and Sleep Advocate
Mia Imani is a spiritual technologist, speculative architect, conceptual artist, and sleep advocate. Her work explores how Black communities metabolize sleep, dreaming, and repair in the face of structural inequity—and how these practices can serve as blueprints for reparations and collective futures. She weaves together art, ritual, and science into a “third way” that merges ancestral knowledge and spiritual technologies with ethnography, geography, and psychoanalysis to create new modes of belonging.
Dreaming—both subconscious and aspirational—anchors her practice. She creates installations, performances, and tools that frame the dreamscape as a site of liberation. She is the founder of DreamTV, a project that maps emerging sleep science, technologies, and global dream cultures. She is currently directing a short film on sleep and the power of dreaming with Multitude Films and leading the first community-centered sleep survey in Los Angeles alongside UCLA neuroscientists. Her work has been presented internationally at Akademie Schloss, KVS, Kunsthalle Gent, PICA, Prater Galerie, Seattle Art Museum Lab, Savvy Contemporary, and Wa Na Wari. She continues to design immersive, speculative architectures of sleep and communal repair that return knowledge to communities and expand the futures of dreaming.
OlaRonke Akinmowo
Interdisciplinary Artist, Cultural Worker, and the Creator/Director of The Free Black Women’s Library
OlaRonke Akinmowo is a cultural worker, library steward and interdisciplinary artist who works in collage, papermaking, printmaking, book arts and stop motion animation. In addition to being a Set Decorator for Film/TV, she is also the Creator/Director of The Free Black Women’s Library, a social art project based in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. The library is a literary hub and community carespace that features a collection of over 5000 books written by Black women & Black nonbinary authors, a period pantry, free store, herb garden, reading club, weekly book swap and a wide array of free public programs. All ages, races, and genders are welcome to use this space to read, write, work, play, rest, and daydream. Free public programs include writing workshops, film screenings, political panels, game nights, art classes, book talks, and mental health circles.
Ola has received artist fellowships from multiple notable institutions such as the New York Foundation for the Arts, Women’s Studio Workshop, BRIC Arts, Robert Blackburn Printmaking Shop, and the Metropolitan Museum. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Hyperallergic, Teen Vogue, and BUST magazine. She is a proud mom, union member, busy body, book fairy, plant fiend, and dance machine.
Russell Taylor
Interdisciplinary Artist and Cultural Leader
Russell Taylor, M.A. is an acclaimed interdisciplinary artist and cultural leader whose work electrifies audiences and inspires communities. A VH1 You Oughta Know artist, Taylor has shared stages with Mary J. Blige, Lalah Hathaway, and Estelle, thrilling listeners from the Apollo Theater to Moscow with his soulful voice and charismatic presence. His music, praised for its depth and emotional power, has reached global audiences through placements on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Fosters, and other major platforms. As Executive Director of the SoulLife Foundation, Taylor leads bold programs that merge art, education, and community impact. He is the creator of The Vulnerability Project, an award-winning interdisciplinary activation that explores Black men, masculinity, and emotionality through music, visual art, soundscape, and dialogue. Anchored by his stirring song “Superman” featuring Lalah Hathaway, the project challenges stereotypes and reframes narratives of resilience, intimacy, and presence. Taylor is also the creator and host of Soulversations on SiriusXM Silk and serves as a Governor for the Recording Academy. On and off the stage, he is celebrated for uniting artistry, authenticity, and vision—shaping culture with a brilliance that is both deeply personal and universally felt.
Shamel Pitts
Performance Artist, Choreographer, Dancer, Teacher & Founder and Artistic Director of TRIBE
Shamel Pitts, a 2024 MacArthur Fellow, is a performance artist, choreographer, conceptual artist, dancer, spoken word artist, director, and teacher. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Pitts began his dance training at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and, simultaneously, at The Ailey School. He is a first prize winner in The National Arts Competition from YoungArts. Pitts went on to receive his BFA in dance from The Juilliard School and was awarded the Martha Hill Award for excellence in dance. He began his dance career in Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance and BJM_Danse Montreal. Pitts danced with Batsheva Dance Company for seven years under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin and is a certified teacher of Gaga movement language. Pitts has created a triptych of award-winning performances, with his multidisciplinary arts collective TRIBE, known as his “BLACK series,” as well as their newly emerging “RED series”, which has toured extensively to many festivals & performance spaces around the world since 2016. He is an adjunct professor at The Juilliard School, a guest faculty member at Princeton University, New York University, Wesleyan University and has been an artist in residence at Harvard University. He is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award in Choreography, a NYSCA/NYFA Fellow in Choreography, Doris Duke Artist Award Recipient, Knight Choreography Prize Winner, a Jacob’s Pillow artist-in-residence, and a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. Shamel Pitts | TRIBE has been artist in residence at 92Y Harkness Dance Center and at New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Creative Residency.
Suné Woods Zomhlaba
Multidisciplinary Artist
Suné Woods Zomhlaba work takes the form of immersive video installations, movement, and collages that explore holistic healing practices and the wisdom that emerges through interspecies relations, ancestral, water and plant spirit led healing practices. Woods' work often uses waterscapes to reflect on existence, intimacy, and aquatic ecologies. Woods is contending with what it means to be present with the infiniteness of energies in a human vessel experience and to create utterances of the heart through visual languages.
Woods' work has been a way to process and understand sensuality, power, and spirituality within violent oppressive systems. Woods utilizes ancient ways of communication such as dreams, prayer, ritual, and meditation and is in practice with earth based modalities. Woods' video work is currently in Weather and the Whale on view at the Institute of Arts and Sciences in Santa Cruz until March 8, 2026 and was recently in Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Woods has also been a recipient of the 2022 California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists and the 2020 Los Angeles Artadia Award.
Taja Lindley
Memory Worker, and Spirit-led Interdisciplinary Generative Artist
Taja Lindley is a memory worker, and spirit-led interdisciplinary generative artist creating dynamic and iterative works designed to transform audiences and to shift narratives, culture and consciousness. She is most known for her performances, installations, and podcasting addressing state sanctioned violence, reproductive freedom, economic sovereignty, bodily autonomy, and our relationship with the past.
In 2019 she was the inaugural Public Artist in Residence with the NYC Health Department and a 2020 A Blade of Grass Fellow working on a socially-engaged project to address the Black maternal health crisis in New York City. This work, alongside her longstanding and unwavering commitment to reproductive justice, led to the development of the Black Women’s Dept. of Labor: a project and podcast about race, gender, and the double entendre of labor – to work and to give birth.
In addition to being an artist, Lindley has been actively engaged in social movements as a cultural worker, healer, consultant, facilitator and full-spectrum doula. She currently works as the Executive Director of All-Options.
Tyree Boyd-Pates
Multidisciplinary Historian & Cultural Archaeologist
Tyree Boyd-Pates is a multidisciplinary historian and cultural archaeologist specializing in Black narratives through an African-centered lens. An alumnus of Temple University with a master's in Africology, he’s lectured at Harvard, USC, UCLA, Spelman, and Morehouse, sharing expertise in Black studies, American history, and museum studies. His engagement with the African Diaspora began in South Africa, shaping his curatorial work. Tyree explores race, liberation, and archives through sociology, psychology, visual arts, and community activism, redefining museum spaces as platforms for marginalized communities. Recognized by TIME, New York Times, LA Times, NPR, CNN, The Atlantic, Vogue, and major newspapers, he’s a thought leader inspiring global audiences. He founded the Freedom School Online and NOMMO Cultural Strategies to promote Black and Diasporic education, art, and culture.
Umi IMAN
Dance Artist, Educator, Indigenous Art Curator and Co-Director of Al Taw’am & Sequoia Ascension
Umi IMAN is an Emmy-nominated dance artist, educator, and Indigenous art curator dually based in Atlanta and New York. Of Black American, Caribbean, and Tsalagi (Cherokee) lineage, she centers tradition, joy, and liberation in her work as an archivist of African diasporic dance and Jingle Dress dancer. IMAN is co-artistic director of Al Taw’am, a renowned Muslim hijabi dance duo with her sister Khadijah Siferllah, amplifying Black and Indigenous storytelling through global residencies and cultural dialogue.
She has collaborated with global organizations like Each One Teach ONE (Berlin), Volcano Arts Center (Hawai‘i), SE.S.TA (Prague), and has taught at Harvard, Yale, and the University of Minnesota. Formerly on faculty at Emory and Spelman College, she brings artistic excellence and ancestral knowledge into academic spaces.
Currently, IMAN co-directs Sequoia Ascension, a community organization supporting Black and Native people in Atlanta through dance, healing, and housing initiatives. As a dark-skinned, Black, Native, Muslim woman, IMAN is an essential force in various movements for liberation. She leverages her platform to artistically amplify the voices and stories of the communities she represents, advocating not just for their survival but for their flourishing.