» The Creative Community Leadership Institute

Past Fellows

Intermedia Arts is proud to celebrate 101 successful graduates of our Leadership Institute!

SPRING 2011 FELLOWS

Nan Baker is committed to community service with more than 10 years of experience, including fundraising, board appointments, planning and leading. While much of her professional experience has been with insurance companies, government entities, non-profits and fundraising, she has found herself attracted to the Arts given the value she places on making them part of our lives. She has been involved with The Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science, Sioux Falls SculptureWalk, 1999 Sioux Falls Cultural Plan, and several arts advocacy events. Recently, she became the executive director of the Sioux Falls Arts Council. She is convinced that the diversity of her background along with this fellowship opportunity will enhance her understanding of the emerging possibilities for arts and culturally based programs in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Sandra Ben-Haim graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a degree in Fine Art and received a Master of Liberal Arts degree from Minnesota State University, Moorhead. Ben-Haim has traveled extensively and taught art to people of all ages in the United States and abroad. As Director of Education at Plains Art Museum, Ben-Haim’s responsibilities include providing educational and creative learning experiences for people of all ages and abilities.

Conie Borchardt is a wandering minstrel. Propelled by a belief that singing and making music are powerful ways to weave stronger communities and heal ourselves, Ms. Borchardt organizes Sing Heavenly Harmony, a.k.a. SHH!, a contemplative community sing with occasional moments of dynamic sound. In December 2010 Conie was awarded a Community Arts Award through the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council to found and direct Grace Notes, a hospice choir of Points of Light Music, whose singers serenade the patients of AseraCare Hospice with soothing song. The healing properties of the arts have been a long time interest of Conie’s. Currently working toward certification in voice, flute and guitar as a music practitioner in the national Music for Healing and Transition Program (www.mhtp.org), Conie is also a member of the Midwest Arts in Healthcare Network (www.maihn.org). Once upon a time Conie spent over a decade serving the Twin Cities’ private academic community from the circulation desk of the library.

Amelia Brown’s passions create a crossroads of service, travel and photography. Amelia has worked with outstanding organizations such as AmeriCorps, Up with People, and Rotary International. From her educational leadership with the deaf community in Minnesota to her management practices with disaster-impacted communities in Louisiana to her volunteer and photography work in Uganda, service is the heart of the adventure. Amelia is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota pursuing a Master’s Degree specializing in Public Affairs and Photography. Interdisciplinary studies allow for critical examination of the relationship between art, public policy, communication, and media. An important part of her vision is to effectively serve international communities in front of and behind the lens. One way Amelia puts her vision to work is through managing a photography business, Amelia’s Adventures, which offers exclusive and customized photography including travel, documentary, event, portrait, children and other creative photography. | www.AmeliasAdventures.com.

Chanti Calabria is a Community Organizer, activist and photographer from Minnesota. She is a strong believer in the power of the arts to heal, engage, challenge, connect diverse groups of people, chronicle our histories, and envision and actively create a better future. Chanti's community work has focused on youth, food sovereignty, restorative justice, and peace education. Her artwork has focused on the documentation of several social movements, language as a tool to humanize and rename our world, and the empowerment of women. She is thrilled to be a part of the institute.

Deborah Carver is the founding editor and publisher of Twin Cities Runoff (http://twincitiesrunoff.com), an online magazine that creatively approaches narrative and explores the vibrant culture of Twin Cities communities. She has been publishing online since the late ’90s and has been weaving in and out of the professional publishing world since 2004. She has an MA in Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota, where she studied digital media and social movements, and a BA in English literature from New York University, and she is thrilled to be working with the Creative Community Leadership Institute.

Colleen Casey uses language and other arts to bring about positive transformation. As Morning Program Manager with the English Learning Center, in Minneapolis’s Phillips neighborhood, she leads a cadre of volunteer teachers to help adult immigrants build their voices in English and master other essential skills. She has worked with Adult Basic Education and ESL in the Twin Cities for over a decade and, before that, cut her teeth in community arts administration and arts in education with the History Theatre and In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater. She holds a BA in art history and is slowly completing an initial teacher license in English Language and Communication Arts. Colleen grew up in the Twin Cities area and is of European-American and Mdewakantan Dakota heritages. She is a member of the Loft-sponsored TGI Frybread.community writing group and was a mentee in the Loft’s Native Inroads writing mentorship in 2009.

Carrie Christensen: With a BA in Urban Studies from Stanford University and a Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota, my interests and experience synthesize community engagement and design. I have focused my efforts on projects that integrate the health of the built and natural environments as well as the economic and social welfare of communities. I have facilitated focus groups about local food security, written a cultural landscape management plan for the National Park Service, organized numerous community events, worked at a community land trust focused on affordable housing, conducted research on the effects of Bus Rapid Transit on North Minneapolis, and written articles for local and national publications on sustainable land management issues. My current work at Community Design Group and the U of M is a combination of design, community engagement, oral history and project management.

Kristy Clemons is a community organizer, facilitator, dancer and writer. In 2006 she co-founded Sustainable Progress through Engaging Active Citizens (SPEAC), a community organizing training program at Hope Community Inc. Throughout the past five years she’s worked with SPEAC as a lead trainer, facilitator, organizer and member of SPEAC’s advisory council. In 2008 she organized and facilitated Articulating Our Voices Now, an arts based girls leadership group. As a dancer she was a part of Hayor Bibimma West African Dance Company in 2009. Kristy is currently working as the neighborhood organizer for the Heritage Park Neighborhood Association. There she is working with a team of residents and artists to create a multicultural, intergenerational, arts based, storytelling project. Kristy has witnessed time and time again how art and culturally based programs are some of the most effective and authentic ways for people to recognize and build their power.

Christi Furnas is a Minneapolis based oil painter who has been showing and selling art in the Twin Cities for over fifteen years. At twenty-five Christi was diagnosed with schizophrenia. This did not stop her from creating and showing her art, although it may have influenced the subject matter of her drawings and paintings. Thirteen years later she uses her talents and skills to advocate for the mental health community, create and promote her own artwork and encourage others to do the same. Christi has been a member of The Spectrum ArtWorks Program for over seven years. She is the first member of Spectrum to be considered and hired as staff. As a Peer Support Specialist, she works directly with the artists in the program. Spectrum is a non-profit visual art organization in the heart of Minneapolis that provides studio space and community for artists living with a mental illness. In addition to producing amazing art, the artists work to educate the public and in doing so break down the stigma associated with mental illness.

Jean Greenwood: I am a freelance writer, consultant/coach, mediator, and facilitator of dialogue, educator, workshop/retreat leader, artist, and Presbyterian minister. Much of my work has focused on conflict transformation in nonprofit organizations and congregations, restorative justice, team/community building, diversity, leadership development, MBTI, career/lifework, and spirituality. The arts have become an integral part of my methodology, particularly storytelling, writing, collage, design, photography, poetry, drama. I am an Associate of the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking at the University of MN and recipient of a Bush Leadership Grant to study leadership in the context of conflict, change, and diversity.Recent work includes: mentoring a Humphrey Fellow from Zimbabwe who is starting an NGO; mediating special education cases for the MN Dep’t of Education; conflict management training in Cuba; writing text for choral music; facilitating a circle for E. African teens; and adjunct teaching at the University of MN, United Theological Seminary, Hamline Law School.

Andrea Jenkins is an Award winning poet and writer. In 2010, Andrea received the Verve Grant for Spoken Word Artists and The Naked Stages Grant for Emerging Performance Artists. She is a Givens Foundation Fellow, and worked with Amiri Baraka and J. Otis Powell! She has won the Loft Mentor Series in 2002 and the Napa Valley Writers Conference scholarship in 2003. Andrea earned herMasters of Science, Community Economic Development –Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, New Hampshire, a Certificate, University of St. Thomas, Community Leadership Institute, and Bachelors of Science, Human Services / Interpersonal Communications – Metropolitan State University and has a MFA in Creative Writing at Hamline University. Andrea has self-published a chapbook of poems called “tributaries: poems celebrating black history.” Her upcoming self-published collection will be called Pieces of a Scream: New and Selected Poems. She currently is co-curator of the Queer Voices Reading Series at Intermedia Arts. Andrea works as a Senior Policy Aide to City Councilmember Elizabeth Glidden and lives in Minneapolis.

Barry Kleider is fascinated by the ways we are influenced by the places we live. “The Earth is not simply an object we walk on, but a living, breathing, ever-evolving being that shares its vitality with us. How can we not be shaped by our experiences with the Earth? In Idaho, I’ve seen tracks left by the wagon trains on the Oregon Trail. It gave me a sense of permanence. In Puerto Rico, I watched the rainforest reclaim a farmer’s land. It gave me a sense of hope that the world can heal and so will we.” A photographer and teaching artist, Barry is amazed with the ways new media encourage connection and expression across time and space. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Barry lived in southern California and Boston before moving to the Twin Cities. He is married and has one son. He lives in Minneapolis.

Colin Kloecker is an artist, designer, and cultural producer living and working in Minneapolis. He is one of the co-founders and collaborative directors of Works Progress, a multi-disciplinary creative collective that produces exhibits, artworks and events at the intersection of art, design and public engagement. Works Progress' ongoing projects include the twice-yearly event Solutions Twin Cities, the roving public program Give & Take, and the live-action arts magazine Salon Saloon. In addition to these independently-designed Works Progress programs, Kloecker and collaborators regularly partner with cultural institutions large and small on a range of creative projects, with a focus on catalyzing community connections for environmental, social, and cultural sustainability.

Joanna Kohler began making documentaries in 1998 and continues to produce media focused on community storytelling, Kohler is a Jerome Foundation grant recipient in 2005 and 2007, been trained in a one-year facilitation training with the Institute for Cultural Affairs, been trained as a media literacy educator with the New Mexico Media Literacy Institute, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Social Documentary from the University of Minnesota and taken graduate level courses in Public Affairs with the Humphrey Institute. Kohler’s filmmaking experience informs her work as the owner of Kohler Productions, a media production company intent on community storytelling with community. Kohler also works as a youth media educator. Kohler is dedicated to the development of the Twin Cities media community and volunteers on St. Paul Neighborhood Network Board of Directors, is a Communications Committee Member with Minnesota Women in Film and Television, produces and hosts Butter City and television show highlighting Minnesota filmmaking, and facilitates conversations developing community empowerment with media.

Bob Lunning has over thirty years experience in community planning, building design, and urban design. Combining an intuitive vision for place-making with a pragmatic interest in the details of building, Bob is involved in all scales of environmental design. His building designs include numerous single and multi-family residential projects, a range of educational and cultural facilities, and historic building renovations. Bob has participated in community planning for the Elliot Park, Whittier and Phillips neighborhoods in Minneapolis and Payne-Phalen and District del Sol neighborhoods in Saint Paul. He led the predesign planning efforts for a city-state partnership that resulted in the $250,000,000 State of Minnesota offices and laboratories project. His designs have been recognized in local and national competitions and have received awards from AIA/Minnesota, Committee on the Urban Environment, Minnesota Preservation Alliance, and New York Home Best in Green Building.

Shanai Matteson is an artist, writer, and cultural producer living and working in Minneapolis. She is one of the co-founders and collaborative directors of Works Progress, a multi-disciplinary creative collective that produces exhibits, artworks and events at the intersection of art, design and public engagement. Works Progress' ongoing projects include the twice-yearly event Solutions Twin Cities, the roving public program Give & Take, and the live-action arts magazine Salon Saloon. In addition to these independently-designed Works Progress programs, Matteson and collaborators regularly partner with cultural institutions large and small on a range of creative projects, with a focus on catalyzing community connections for environmental, social, and cultural sustainability.

Rush Merchant, III is a writer, composer, musician, and visual artist. He grew up in south Minneapolis and spent his summers with his grandmother in Fairmont, West Virginia as a child and adolescent. He is a fourth generation artist from his father’s side. His poem These Voices was published in Voices of Resistance: Anti-War Art and WordsbyThe Women’s Student Activist Collective in 2003. He was among the first recipients of the Givens Black Writers Collaborative Retreat fellowship in 2008 from the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, and he has performed and exhibited his work in poetry, music and art since the mid 1990s in the Twin Cities, New York City, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Rush has been a mentor to younger writers and visual artists and donates his time and talents to many causes close to his heart. He is happily married and a proud uncle to countless nieces and nephews.

Sheronda Orridge is owner & President of Loving Spirit Life Coach Academy as well as a writer; community organizer, spoken word artist, rapper, after school advisor, and doula. Sheronda is the host a radio show for the internet radio station WDEP Radio, she writes articles for various internet magazine and newsletters, she is also the creator of her own monthly newsletter, the author of several blogs, a partner in Grabbing Our Dreams (G.O.D) Multimedia Collaboration, the host of public access television talk show (Loving Our Life), co-host of Conscious Monday at Arnellia’s in Saint Paul , and is one of the founders of the writing and spoken word group Healing through Words. Sheronda has received recognition from many of her peers as an innovative writer with plenty to say. Sheronda also develops assessment tools, fun quizzes and curriculum that will empower the African Community.

Twin Cities resident K. Flo Razowsky combines art and community organizing through documentary photography, writing and political activism. Flo has photographed and participated in political activism campaigns across the globe including in occupied Palestine, at the Spanish/Moroccan border and in the United States. As a community organizer, Razowsky has spent more then 22 months living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between 2002 and 2008 splitting time between documenting life on the ground and participating in Palestinian organized non-violent resistance to Israel’s occupation. That coupled with grassroots organizing in Minnesota led Razowsky to found MN Break the Bonds, a statewide, grassroots campaign focused on divesting Minnesota investments in Israel Bonds based on legal and moral reasons. Flo is also a national organizer with the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network.

Deanna Rae“Getabiikwe” StandingCloud is a member of the Red Lake Nation of the Anishinaabe people. As a student at a Tribal College, she was inspired to learn more about Indigenous issues and philosophies. Since that time, she has been active by taking leadership roles in the Minneapolis American Indian community and has been involved with many organizations that advocate activism, policy work, grant writing, and community organizing. On an International level, Deanna was a participant with a delegation who traveled to La Paz, Bolivia and was a developer of an agreement with the Bolivian government and the Phillips Indian Educators of Minneapolis that illustrates a partnership to share ideologies, resources, and projects. Deanna is currently is a youth mentor and culture teacher for both the Division of Indian Work and Migizi Communications Inc. She is pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree of Arts with a major in Native American Leadership and a minor in Community Organizing at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Michael Strand is an Associate Professor and Department Head at North Dakota State University. After receiving his MA in painting from St. Cloud State University, Minnesota in 1996 and his MFA in ceramics from the University of Nebraska in 1999, Strand completed an artist's residency at the Artigas-Miro Foundation in Barcelona, Spain. Michael is the former Chair of the Department of Art at Concordia University-Nebraska where he also served as the Director of the Center for Liturgical Arts. In Nebraska, Michael received the PRISM award from the Nebraska Art Teacher's Association for excellence in Art Administration. Recently Michael's work has been featured in a solo exhibition at the Museum of Nebraska Art that included over forty works completed during 2010 at his NDSU studio. Currently Michael is challenging traditional methods of deployment of art and craft, these projects can be found at www.artstimulus.org and www.cuplomacy.org.

FALL 2010 FELLOWS

Alyssa Banks is a creative and adventurous spirit who is eager to explore and research the intersections between health, the arts, and community development. Through her studies in music and dance at the Perpich Center for Arts Education she gained a strong foundation in performance and interdisciplinary arts education that has served as a catalyst for her many professional endeavors. Her travels have taken her on adventures to work, study, and perform in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Cuba, Mexico and The Bahamas. Alyssa has years of community based experience working as a Research Associate at local non-profit Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER) as well as in program development through her experience organizing youth arts and cultural education programs in community centers with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Currently Alyssa works as a Research Associate for the Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support, where she supports research and evaluation activities for the State Health Improvement Program (SHIP). She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication Studies, with Minors in Spanish and Women’s Studies, from the University of Minnesota and is currently pursuing her Master's in Public and Non-Profit Administration at Metropolitan State University.

Autumn Brown is a mother, organizer, artist, and facilitator. She is a founding member of the Rock Dove Collective, a radical community health exchange, and a member of the Board of Directors of the *smart*Meme Strategy and Training Project. Trained in Consensus Process and Facilitation by the U.K.-based collective, Seeds for Change, Autumn facilitates various forms of group process and trains community organizers in Consensus Decision-making and Resisting Racism, with an emphasis on storytelling and social transformation. She has taught and presented in New York, Philadelphia, and Tokyo. She has facilitated with the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, Bard College and WE ACT for Environmental Justice, among many others. Autumn was a recipient of the 2009 Next Generation of Leadership Fellowship through the Center for Whole Communities.

John Francis Bueche is a multifaceted theater maker and a member of Minneapolis’ Bedlam Theatre since 1993. Whether engaging as a director, designer, performer or playwright on a specific project, his approach is to sort promising tidbits to create odd juxtapositions that variably make sense, make non-sense and make new sense. Bueche has created new work in divergent ways with Bedlam and other companies. Bedlam scripts include “Attic of Whim”(2000), “To Shining Sea”(2002), “West Bank Story “(2006) and “Come to Dada”(2009). He’s performed on stage with Theatre de la Jeune Lune and since 2001 has been the lead scenic designer of Frank Theatre’s roaming warehouse installations. John founded Bedlam’s Annual Ten Minute Play Festival in 2002 as a turning point in Bedlam’s community access to the creative process and led Bedlam’s venue shift and strategic evolution in 2007 to theater-restaurant-nightclub-outdoor stage-community center. Bueche holds a BA in Philosophy and Dramatic Arts from Macalester College with additional study at the Eugene O’Neill National Theater Institute and Ersnt Busch Hochscule East Berlin. He currently serves as Executive Artistic Director of Bedlam Theatre as well as the chair of the Cedar Riverside Neighborhood Revitalization Board.

Marisa Carr is a musician, writer, performer, visual artist, and community activist. She grew up in Milwaukee, WI, but currently lives and works in Minneapolis. Marisa believes in the arts as powerful tools to both engage, and create meaningful change in, her community, and uses various art forms to explore topics such as historical trauma, violence against Indigenous women, colonization, and how privilege functions on both individual and societal levels. She is 23 years old.

Rudy Guglielmo Jr. served as a program officer at the Bush Foundation from 2006 to 2010. He was responsible for grant making that supports the mission and goals of the foundation. From 2004 to 2006 he was a Program Officer for the Arizona Community Foundation where he was responsible for competitive grant cycles and initiative programs. From 2001 to 2003, he served as a Program Officer for the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations at the Arizona State University Foundation where he was responsible for developing strategies to maximize corporate and foundation gifts. From 1989 to 2001, he served as the Expansion Arts Director for the Arizona Commission on the Arts and provided technical assistance to arts organizations and managed exchange programs. From 1987 to 1989, he served as the Executive Director of MARS, Inc. (Movimiento Artistico del Rio Salado), a contemporary artist-run nonprofit organization.   He received from Partners of the Americas the Kellogg International Fellowship in Community Development in 1997; and was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1994. Guglielmo received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Arizona State University in 1983.

Ashley Hanson received her Master of Arts degree in Applied Theatre at the University of Manchester, UK, where she focused on the role of community-based theatre in the sustainable development of rural communities. After her studies, she returned to her Midwest roots to work towards her goal of starting a rural community-based arts center. She spends her time honing her skills in non-profit management and community engagement, and researching rural community theatres. She has spent the past five years facilitating drama and arts-based programs with community members from many diverse backgrounds. She has directed community theatre productions, facilitated workshops, and created lesson plans surrounding issues facing communities. She is currently the Project Coordinator for the non-profit arts organization, Public Art Saint Paul, a Performance Director for Homeward Bound Theatre Company, and in a female bluegrass band, The Dusty Porch Sisters.

Cynthia Hilmoe designs public services centered on user and community needs. Her focus has been children, nature and environmental stewardship. Featured on the US Environmental Protection Agency's and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s websites, Green Practices for Business, Site Development and Site Cleanups: A Toolkitprovides online tools to help make informed decisions regarding sustainable best practices at Brownfield and Superfund sites. Pockets-Full-of-Wonderexplores how informal play and well-designed digital devices and their integration into children's nature programming can help rather than hinder the connection between children and nature. Her current work reframes public involvement in state watershed protection and restoration projects.   An environmental scientist with 30 years of experience in public and private sectors, Cynthia recently graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts' Interactive Telecommunications Program. She intends to use the emerging field of service design, interactive media and the principles of play and game design to help people and organizations express themselves, get things done in satisfying ways, to see the world with fresh eyes, and to engage in conversations about complex, ambiguous and potentially divisive issues while working creatively to achieve challenging goals.

Justin Kii Heunemann, a member of the Navajo Nation, was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. He attended the University of Minnesota, earning a BA in Architecture and a MA in Higher Education Administration (he is a proud Gopher). He is the founding president and CEO of the Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI), a community development intermediary organization. Mr. Huenemann has worked extensively in the areas of public policy, government affairs, higher education, youth development and community development. He has spent his entire professional career working to advance American Indian self-determination and improve the quality of live for American Indian people. Mr. Huenemann believes strongly in community service. For his community work he has received a number of awards, including the Minneapolis Mayor’s “Healthy City Award” from the Abbott Northwestern Hospital Foundation. He currently serves on the following board of directors: Woodlands National Bank, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, American Indian Community Development Corporation, Tiwahe Foundation, Indian Health Board and the Neighborhood Development Corporation. Mr. Huenemann is a husband, father of four children, small business owner, men’s traditional dancer and artist.

Teresa Konechne is a filmmaker, installation/performance artist, educator and activist living in St. Paul. Her award-winning films have screened in festivals and conferences in 10 countries. She has been producing independent documentaries for over a decade, and commissioned to make films for the Bush Foundation about their Enduring Vision Award recipients and Artist Fellows, about the Chicano student-lead hunger strike at SCSU, for individual artists, as well as an advocacy piece for the White Earth Land Recovery Project. She grew up on a South Dakota farm, got her BS from the University of Texas at Austin and received her MFA from The University of Iowa. She served as an Assistant Professor of video, sound and media theory at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2003, Teresa moved back to the Midwest to continue with her first film that she had begun a decade earlier. She’s a 2005 Bush Artist Fellow and Jerome Foundation Media Grant recipient. Currently, Teresa is completing her now 17 year film Woven from the Land about South Dakota, women and land; writing a book on finding sacred; and constructing 13 small elaborate houses for an installation called: Circle 13: Houses of Mischievous Grace.

Amoké Kubat is a constantly evolving woman. She is a writer, artist, healer, and teacher. She cherishes her best role and work as being "IYA" (mother) to daughters and grandchildren. She continues to "mother" Northside Minneapolis Families with young children as an Early Childhood Parent Educator and curriculum writer. As a writer, she pursues the idea that African Americans have internalized grief as intrinsically as they have internalized racism. She sees and hears the songs of loss and sorrow as she works with diverse groups of mothers. Her book in progress is Missing Mama: A Trilogy of Loss, Sorrow and Healing. She has read excerpts at Patrick's cabaret, Flava Flav and Amazon Books. The first chapter, "Her Name is Ernestine" was published in The Journal of Self and Recovery (1/2010). She will continue this exploration of grief, ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief of African Americans through a variety of art forms.

Celia Kutz is a dynamic, holistic, enthusiastic facilitator, trainer, community organizer and activist. Her work emphasizes experiential, participatory led learning that utilizes movement, theatre, and storytelling, all from an anti-oppression framework. She currently works with Training for Change, a nation-wide group of trainers that provide activists with skills to stand up for justice, peace and the environment. Most recently she has worked as a community organizer in South Minneapolis, rallying for residents and locally owned, minority led institutions. She is a queer, Ashkenazi Jew and, with IJAN (the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network), challenges the ways in which her religious tradition is intimately tied to a colonial project in Israel. She is committed to the Palestinian Solidarity and Indigenous Sovereignty. She has her undergraduate degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada where she focused on Indigenous Rights of Native People's, particularly those of the Cree and in Nunavut. Since graduating she has lived in various places throughout the United States and for the past three years, Minneapolis, MN.

Irna Landrum. Born in New Orleans, Irna attended Xavier University Preparatory, where was a member of the marching band and the drama club. Irna spent so much time in Hampton University’s Little Theater that people mistook her for a theater major. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hampton, and a Master’s of Advocacy and Political Leadership from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Growing up, Irna witnessed a primarily African-American city in which blacks held little power. Deeply ingrained notions of “haves” and “have-nots” went unchallenged. This realization led her to pursuits in education and organizing. In 2002, Irna moved to Minneapolis to serve as site director for Kids Dominion Preschool. In 2006 Irna was an organizing apprentice with Service Employees International Union’s Kids First campaign to unionize family childcare workers. In 2007 she was hired as the community organizer for Summit-University Planning Council where she has been the executive director since 2008. At SUPC, Irna works in the historic Rondo community, translating planning jargon to residents, as they articulate a vision for the future of the neighborhood when the Central Corridor light rail line is complete. Her goal is to engage residents whose voices are overpowered in community development discussions.

Tou SaiKo Lee is a spoken word artist, mentor, hip-hop emcee and community organizer residing in St. Paul, Minnesota. He teams up with his grandmother Youa Chang who does the traditional Hmong art of kwv txiaj (Hmong Poetry Chanting) to form the group "Fresh Traditions." He has a passion for working with and mentoring youth at schools and community centers across the country. His speaks about the issues he address in his music that include, human rights violations, diversity in America, Racism in the Media, Gang Violence and Arts for Social Change. He is also the co-founder of "The H Project" an Arts for Social Change effort of a national music compilation CD to raise awareness about the Human Rights Violations of Hmong people in the jungles of Laos. Along with emerging Hmong teen he created the Blackbird Elements music project for In Progress to give opportunities for upcoming Hip Hop artists to represent their stories and struggles through songs. Lee received the Jerome Foundation Travel Grant in 2008 and is a 2009 Intermedia Arts VERVE grant recipient. He organizes an annual Hip Hop event that includes a huge b-boy jam in July called Boom Bap Village to coincide with the Hmong Sports tournaments. In 2008 he was featured in an online video documentary in the New York Times called "Hmong Hip Hop Heritage."

Greta McLain is a dynamic community muralist and mosaic artist. Having worked collaboratively with many artists both locally and internationally she has gathered a broad base of techniques and experiences, which allow her to facilitate and create works that are widely accessible and serve to define a place, creating and nurturing community. She has painted and mosaicked murals in several Twin Cities locations and is internationally known with murals in Argentina, and work in Mexico, California and Philadelphia. McLain was the featured “Artist We Love” in March 2009 Metro Magazine and was awarded 'El Fuerte de Barragan' for Artistic and Community Excellence for the mural Construyendo el Futuro with artist Melina Slobodian in December 2009, Ensenada, Argentina. She is earned her BA from the University of California Davis and is currently enrolled in the MFA program at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Barb Nei is an interdisciplinary artist working on projects that explore representation and identity through media, installation and community based public artworks. She has been the recipient of fellowships for her work from Intermedia Arts, Forecast Public Artworks, the Jerome Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the MN State Arts Board and the NEA. Her artworks have been featured in national and international exhibitions and her media work has been screened in national film festivals and on public television. The mother of a Chinese adoptive child, her current projects investigate the subject of immigration and international adoption. She is on the faculty of the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, a board member at Minneapolis Television Network, and currently working on the launch of D-i-a-logz (www.dialogz.org), an interactive public art project that introduces recently arrived international teens to the Twin Cities community via mobile phone technology.

Thomas Proehl joined the University of Minnesota’s Theatre Arts and Dance Department as Producing Director in August 2010. Proehl returns to Minnesota after having served as Director of Administration and Operations at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, CA. He previously served as executive director of the Minnesota State Arts Board (2006-2008). During his tenure, the Arts Board received a 19% increase in funding supporting artists, arts organization and art educators. Proehl served as general manager (1999-2002) then managing director (2002-2006) of the Guthrie Theater. His most visible accomplishment in the latter position was overseeing the construction of the new $125 million Guthrie Theater complex on the Mississippi River. During the 1990’s Proehl lived and worked in New York City. He was a founding member and the managing director of the Signature Theatre Company. Proehl is a native of Moorhead, Minnesota. He holds a BA degree from Minnesota State University Moorhead, and a MFA degree from Brooklyn College. He has served as a guest lecturer in the Guthrie Theater/University of Minnesota bachelors of fine arts acting program, the performing arts management program at Brooklyn College, and the arts and cultural management program at Saint Mary’s University in Minneapolis. He has served on NEA review panels; as an executive committee member of the League of Resident Theatres, and as a consultant and/or board member for numerous arts organizations across the country.

Deborah Ramos I am a multi-media artist that explores ancestral Mexicah oral tradition, dance, and art. I fuse these forms into my own creative expression that furthers my understanding of the Universe. My artistic path is emerging and evolving into a vision that unifies my creative interests: painting, papermaking, sculpture, and Mexicah dance, and sets them into motion on stage. My goal is to share Mexicah creation stories with children and their families by combining contemporary and traditional art forms that honor the original creators and stories. Currently, I am developing a puppet and masked-dance performance, Zenteotl First Corn Energy—based on Mexicah and Mayan creation stories of corn. The performance, to premiere in 2011, will explore the relationship and mutual survival of humans, insects, and corn with the earth. The performance will focus on the need for humans to reestablish environmental harmony in order to promote the healing of corn for the health of future generations.

Eleanor Savage is a Program Officer at the Jerome Foundation, an independent foundation that supports emerging artists in the creation and development of new work. She previously was the Associate Director of Event and Media Production at the Walker Art Center for sixteen years. In addition to her professional work, Savage founded and was Program Director of the Naked Stages program for nine years; this program supports the creative development of emerging performance artists. Savage also produced and curated many community-focused events through Intermedia Arts, Walker Art Center and KFAI radio. She is a civic-minded media artist and has produced video work with many Minneapolis and New York performers and choreographers, including Cheryl Dunye, Christian Marclay, Bill T. Jones, Morgan Thorson, Hijack, Shawn McConneloug, Pauline Oliveros, Holly Hughes, and Split Britches. Savage has also taught Women in the Arts and Queer Visual Culture classes at the University of Minnesota.

Nicole Smith is an artist, educator, community activist, youth advocate….. A native of Saint Paul, Nicole attributes her love of all things creative (theatre, writing, spoken word – just the ability to “express yo self!”) to her experience at Central High School. “I went into this building as a 14 year old traveling through the labyrinth of hallways, feeling like a car driving aimlessly along the educational system resembling tangled highways and byways. It wasn’t until I found myself parked in the classroom of Jan Mandell, when I realized that I had a voice that mattered…a voice that had power…a voice worth hearing…I walked out of that building 4 years later realizing that I was traveling a road that I didn’t want to get off of…” Nicole went on to study theatre at the University of Minnesota; she now works at Pillsbury House Theatre, serves on various Youth Serving and Arts Based Advisory Boards and teaches theatre arts, creative writing/poetry and arts literacy at Elementary, Middle and Senior level schools throughout the Metro Area.

Sherry Wagner-Henry is Director of Graduate Programs in the College of Continuing Education at the University of Minnesota, charged with developing and leading the new Master of Professional Studies (MPS) program in Arts and Cultural Leadership. Previous leadership work includes almost 15 years as the Managing Director of University Theatre and Dance and the Minnesota Centennial Showboat production programs at the University of Minnesota, as well as work at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, the Illinois Arts Alliance, 4-H Youth Development in Bureau County, Illinois, ART at Harvard University and Crown Presentations in London, England. Community and volunteer work has included panel service to the Minnesota State Arts Board and Metro Regional Arts Council; board service with the United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT) and the Arts and Cultural Partnership of St. Paul; program service as the first vice-commissioner for Arts Management in USITT’s Management Commission; and co-founder of the Padelford Education Fund of the Saint Paul Foundation--that awards scholarship money to college employees of the Centennial Showboat, Padelford Riverboats and Mintahoe Catering. Sherry feels that education and arts access are at the core of her personal drive to help people see the range of possibilities within arts-based community development.

Peter Haakon Thompson is an artist based in Minneapolis, MN whose primary mediums are participation, interaction and conversation. He believes in expanding the idea of what art can be through the blurring of art and life. Some of his works include: The A Project, an effort to create solidarity among artists in their neighborhoods with the use of window signs with a large red ‘A’ indicating a household of artists/artist supporters. In 2004, he co-founded a participatory, temporary community called The Art Shanty Projects, existing every winter for five weeks on frozen Medicine Lake in suburban Minneapolis. Teach Me Your Language, isa work designed to ask passers-by to teach the artist their language with the aid of a chalkboard-sidewalk sign. His current projectTent Services, a free service providing Expeditionary Conversation Tentsfor use outside the museum, is showing at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis until October 2010. He earned a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts and completed his MFA from the University of Minnesota in 2010. In his spare time he ties knots, sails and plays table tennis.

Darlene Walser is a community organizer and developer committed to the idea that people should not have to leave their neighborhoods to create or find the opportunities they need to thrive. She has worked within the non-profit, for profit and government sectors for 20 years on both small and large scale neighborhood revitalization efforts that link physical change with community and social change. As an organizer in North Minneapolis she helped the neighborhood develop and implement a $15 million comprehensive plan. As a HUD Community Renaissance Fellow she worked for the Seattle Housing Authority on NewHolly, a $180 million HOPE VI redevelopment which included 1200 public housing, affordable and market rate homes, a community center, and an $8 million community services plan. Darlene is currently Vice President of McCormack Baron Salazar (MBS) and led their efforts as lead developer for Heritage Park, the $250 million mixed-income, public housing development on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. Since receiving her MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, Darlene has been working at a national level to strengthen MBS’s comprehensive community development approach. Locally she is volunteering to support the Heritage Park Neighborhood Association, its community garden, and their Youth Leadership Group.

Missy Whiteman (Arapho and Kickapoo Nations) resides in Minneapolis, MN. Missy has a diverse background in filmmaking, visual art and photography. Her work has been exhibited locally as well as over seas. The primary objective of her work is to be a voice for her ancestors and for those who have no one to speak for them.   Missy has been given the ability to communicate in many different mediums. This allows her to express her personal views concerning the effects of assimilation, colonialism, loss if identity and the rebuilding of her people. There are many levels and dimensions to Whiteman's work that are based on both traditional ways and current events. Use of historical and family photographs in her artwork give personal connection to history and its affects on the current social climate. She believes that educating through art can create a better understanding of Native communities and act as a bridge for positive interactions.

Keegan Xavi has lived half her life In Los Angeles and half in Minneapolis but considers the Twin Cities her hometown. Life as an artist has led her to collage making, photography and writing as forms of expression with social commentary and change being the inspiration for most of her work. As Program Manager at Juxtaposition Arts in North Minneapolis, Xaví is able to engage and learn from creative Twin Cities' youth via social enterprise programs. “I want to be a resource to motivated youth who may not have much family support as they try to learn about this beautiful crazy world of ours and figure out what role they want to play in the community. Kids are smart, but they still could use a sounding board, connections to resources they may not know about and someone to be proud of them when they get out there and start achieving their goals”. Xaví is currently working on a new body of large-scale collage.

Benjamin Adjei | AssaseYaa Carving
Michael Agnew | GTC Dramatic Dialogues
Louis Alemayehu | Ancestor-Energy/ Multicultural Crossroads
Heba Amin | independent Artist
Margo Ashmore |
Eduardo Barrera | Community Housing/Wilder Foundation
Perry Bellow-Handelman | Jewish Community Action
Mary Bergs | Children's Hospital
Jill Bernard | Comedy Sportz
Susy Bielak | Walker Art Center
Jacque Bilyeu | Hubert H. Humphrey Institute
Mary Burnison | Youth Development
Yolanda Cotteral | Latino Economic Development Center
William Cottman | Northside Arts Collective
Roger Cummings | Juxtaposition Arts
Deanna Cummings | Juxtaposition Arts
Laura Dammer Hess | U of MN, YMCA, CLUES
Camille Gage | Humphrey Institute and Center for Democracy & Citizenship
Catherine Geisen-Kisch | Minneapolis City Council
Gerry Girouard | independent
Bethany Gladhill | Nautilus Music Theater
Lori Greene | Mosaic on a Stick
Sarah Greenfield | Independent
Marcus Harcus | Worldview
Reggie Harris | In the Belly
Alison Heimstead | Barebones Productions
Susan Jacobsen | Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Waid Johnson | Northwest Youth & Family Services
Carolyn Kolovitz | Girl Scout Council of Greater Minneapolis
Louann Lanning | Women in Transition/ RESOURCE, Inc
Boa Lee | Thomas-Dale District 7 Planning Council
Tonya Leholm | Humphrey Institute and Center for Democracy & Citizenship
Melinda Ludwiczak | Minneapolis Public Library
Barry Madore | Intermedia Arts
Gail Merriam | Neighborhood Development Alliance
Chaka M'Kali | Hope Community, Inc.
Carol Mork | Edina Community Lutheran Church
Satoko Muratake | Juxtaposition Arts
Mankwe Ndosi | Center for Independent Artists
Leah Nelson | Nubia
Juliet Patterson | Independent
Cyril Paul | independent
Kathryn Paulson | Two Rivers Community Land Trust
Natasha Pestich | Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Karen Phelps | Volunteers of America
Reggie Prim | Walker Art Center
Scott Reynolds | Interact Center for Visual & Performing Arts
Maria Ricke | Volunteers of America
Antonio Rossell | Community Design Group
Mona Smith | Allies Media Art/ Dakota Media Art Fund
Michele Spaise | Independent
Joan Vanhala | Family and Children's Services
Jun-Li Wang | Hamline Midway Coalition/ Farm in the City
Josie Winship | Seward Neighborhood Group
Alison Quito Zeigler | Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride
Nothando Zulu | Black Storytellers Alliance