American Festival Project
ART & DEMOCRACY National Gathering

Biographies & Contact Information

PANELISTS & PRESENTERS

Surpik Angelini is a Venezuelan-born artist and cultural researcher with formal training in architecture and urban planning. While training at Mills College in California, she participated in several John Cage performances. As an independent artist-curator in Houston, in 1989 Angelini organized the exhibition "Another Reality" together with artist Bert Long. Since 1997 Angelini is the founder and director of the Transart Foundation, a private non-profit organization that promotes and supports artists whose process involves social or anthropological research. Angelini lectures and publishes work on contemporary artists involved in anthropological issues. surnet@swbell.net

Nina Aragon njta@hotmail.com, Tim Belcher timothydbelcher@hotmail.com, Stephanie Richards richardsacts@earthlink.net and Peggy Sykes psykes@eastky.net are active in the Elkhorn City Area Heritage Council, which presented the Elkhorn City story in the “Community Change & Art in Eastern Kentucky” workshop. Council art projects include marking a heritage trail, creating riverbank benches, and developing a community drama. In addition, Stephanie and Peggy are involved in the Activists Collaborative Theatre, which presents theater works in and around Elkhorn City in Pike County, KY. Several of these projects were initiated by artists working with Appalshop’s American Festival Project. www.elkhorncity.org

Elia Arce (AFP) is an artist and cultural activist working in a variety of media including performance art, theater, film/video, writing, spoken word and installation. She is the recipient of the J. Paul Getty Individual Artist Award and was a 1999 nominee for the Herb Alpert/CalArts Award in Theater. Since 1986, she has been creating, directing and performing solo theatre works as well as collaborations with HIV positive immigrants in Houston, breast cancer workers in Washington DC, housekeeping staff in Banff, Canada, and the homeless of LA's Skid Row. A dual citizen of Costa Rica and the U.S., Elia is based in the California desert. eliaarce@aol.com

Caron Atlas is a Brooklyn NY-based consultant working to strengthen connections between arts and culture, policymaking, and social change. Caron was the founding director of the American Festival Project. Current consultancies include the Animating Democracy Initiative; National Voice; Alliance of Artists Communities; 651 Arts; and the Doris Duke and Ford Foundations. Caron is also teaching a course about art and elections this fall for NYU's University's Tisch School of the Arts. She has a master's degree from the University of Chicago and was a Warren Weaver fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation. Caron is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. caronatlas@aol.com

Martha Bowers, director/choreographer/producer, is the Executive Director of Dance Theatre Etcetera. A recipient of choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the NJ State Council for the Arts, and the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Art. Her commissions include: Dancing in the Streets, the 651/Kings Majestic-An Arts Center, the Taipei Theater, MASS MoCA, the Institute for Choreography and Dance/Ireland, the Brooklyn Arts Exchange and the Wagon Train Project. Dance Theatre Etcetera produces the annual Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival. Bowers teaches at NYU's Gallatin School and is the Education Director at The Kitchen. www.dancetheatreetcetera.org mbowers3@aol.com

Danielle Burke is a project organizer for Southeast Community College’s Appalachian Program. She is a photographer, archivist, summer leadership program participant, and a graduate of Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute. She was formerly a youth leader with Kentuckians For The Commonwealth www.kftc.org, a statewide grassroots action group.

Carmela Castrejon (AFP) is a visual artist whose work includes interdisciplinary installations and the use of mixed medias. Internationally her work has exhibited at the Sydney Biennial, Australia, and Venice, Italy. Her photographic essays have shown in Spain, South Africa and Australia. As a photographer Carmela collaborates with media and NGOs on both sides of the Mexico/USA border. She also works with Global Exchange, a human rights organization, coordinating educational tours in the Tijuana/San Diego area and serving as a translator. She is a founder and member of Factor X, a bi-national organization that works with women from the maquila industry. ccastrejon@yahoo.com

Jan Cohen-Cruz is a scholar/ practitioner of activist and community-based performance. An Associate Professor in the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department, she co-edited Playing Boal: Theatre, Therapy, Activism (1994) and edited Radical Street Performance: An International Anthology (1998). Her new book, Local Acts: Community Based Performance in the U.S., will be available in 2005. jan.cohen.cruz@nyu.edu

Dee Davis, formerly executive produce of Appalshop Films, is the President of the Whitesburg-based Center for Rural Strategies. A native of Hazard, KY, he began his media career in 1973 as a trainee at Appalshop and while there oversaw the creation of more than 50 public TV documentaries, established a media training program for Appalachian youth, and launched a number of initiatives that use media as a strategic tool in organization and development. Dee has served as president and chairman of the board of the Independent Television Service, president of Kentucky Citizens for the Arts, and as a panelist and consultant to numerous private and public agencies. Dee is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. www.ruralstrategies.org dee@ruralstrategies.org

Angelyn Debord (banner artist) has a degree in Visual Art from Appalachian State University. Besides painting and creating assemblage pieces, she is also a storyteller, playwright, director and workshop leader throughout the United States. Angelyn is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. angelyn_debord@hotmail.com

Kathie deNobriga is a familiar face among community artists and foundations which support community-based art making. Formerly the director of Alternate ROOTS, she makes her home in north Georgia. kdenobriga@mindspring.com

Laura Doggett works with young people in eastern Kentucky through Appalshop’s youth media training program, the Appalachian Media Institute. She came to Whitesburg from Washington, DC, where she ran various youth radio programs for teens from the public schools and bilingual charter schools. She writes short stories in her free time and has worked on a number of radio documentaries. ldoggett@appalshop.org

Barbara Longsdon Grause (banner artist) is a graphic designer and illustrator of wide-ranging interest and creative inspirations, who trained at the University of Cincinnati and at the Cincinnati Academy of Design. She designed the Art & Democracy National Gathering logo. Selections from the Letcher County artist’s portfolio can be seen at www.nyt-studios.net nyt@nytkitchen.com

Robert Gipe is director of the Appalachian Program at Southeast Community College (SECC) in Cumberland, KY (Harlan County). SECC students/activists (Darlene Hall, Miranda “Snow” Moore, and Danielle Burke) presented the Harlan County story in the “Community Change & Art in Eastern Kentucky” workshop. The SECC Appalachian Program art projects include collecting stories, taking pictures, developing a community mural and a community drama. Robert is an artist and educator and formerly on the Appalshop staff. Robert.Gipe@kctcs.edu

Margaret Gregg (banner artist) is noted for creating poster art for social movements in the mountains beginning in the 1960s. She has worked as a studio artist, faculty member at the Lithuanian Institute of Art, Vilnius, and East Tennessee State University, graphic artist for the NCI Appalachia Leadership Initiative on Cancer, and in various capacities with the Federation of Communities in Service (FOCIS). Her awards include Best of Show at both the TACA Fall Fair in Nashville, TN, and the Azalea Festival, Juried Master Craft Show in Wilmington, NC. Ms. Gregg lives in Limestone, TN and is the director of Mill 'n Creek Art Place. mgregg@ecoisp.com

Lacy Hale (banner artist) is an emerging visual artist from eastern Kentucky. Originally from Knott County, KY, Hale has uses her organic surroundings as her muse, focusing her artwork upon Appalachian portraiture in the Realism style. Lacy lives in Mallie, KY lacy_hale@msn.com

Darlene Hall lives near Cumberland, KY. She is in the nursing program at Southeast Community College, is an excellent storyteller and has been involved in story gathering for the Appalachian Program’s play. She has taken pictures for the photography project, worked on site selection for tile mosaic public art this summer, and worked in the Rockefeller PACT summer leadership program.

Greg Howard is the Director of Appalshop. Prior to becoming Director, he coordinated Appalshop’s Community Media Initiative (CMI) for six years--working with social justice groups to share information and increase their capacity through a variety of media
production and distribution activities focused on forestry, mining, economic development and labor. Before coming home to the mountains, Greg was a philosophy instructor, legal researcher, music criticizer and temp worker living in upstate New York, Denver, Nashville and Lexington, KY. ghoward@appalshop.org

Judi Jennings (AFP) was born in Lexington, KY. Her mother was an Appalachian and her father was a used car salesman, so her background was culturally mixed. She holds a PhD in 18th century British cultural history and authored a book on The Business of Abolishing the British Slave Trade, 1783-1807. She was co-producer and researcher for the Appalshop documentary film, Stranger with a Camera, directed by Elizabeth Barret. The film examines the murder of a Canadian filmmaker in Letcher County, KY in 1967. She is now the Director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women www.wfnet.org. Judi is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. Judi@Kfw.org

Uday Sharad Joshi just completed his fourth season developing and directing "Project 2050," New WORLD Theater's youth initiative exploring the intersection between political education and theater arts. Uday received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1994 and has since committed his career to theater and social justice education. Uday recently founded "A Call to Action" in Western, MA; an intergenerational coalition of over 15 youth arts and activism organizations dedicated to using the arts as a vehicle for social justice. Uday's recent directing credits include Peter Weiss's "Marat/Sade" and Sophie Treadwell's "Machinal," both at Amherst College. udayj@theater.umass.edu

Amelia Kirby is a member of the Holler to the Hood project at Appalshop. She is a community media artist from southwest Virginia. Amelia is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. www.appalshop.org/h2h akirby@appalshop.org

Suzanne Lacy is an artist, writer, and video producer of international reputation, whose work includes large-scale performances on urban themes. She is a theorist of public art and a pioneer in community development through art. She recently completed 10 years of performance and policy work in Oakland on how institutions fail California teenagers. Lacy has published over 60 articles and edited Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art. She was co-founder with Judy Baca of the Institute for Visual and Public Art, and the founder of the Center for Art and Public Life. She is currently chair of fine arts for Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. slacy@otis.edu

Bob Leonard teaches directing and performance skills at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. He is the founding artistic director of The Road Company, a theater ensemble based in Johnson City, Tennessee. Leonard is a founding member of Alternate ROOTS and the Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET). He is co-director of the Community Arts Network (CAN), an information resource for community artists. He is a trainer/consultant with the CAPP Resources for Social Change Institute, organized and implemented by Alternate ROOTS. Leonard is currently on the board of directors of Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization for professional, not-for-profit theater. robert.leonard@vt.edu

John Malpede (AFP) is a director, actor, and writer who in 1985 founded and continues to direct, the Los Angeles Poverty Department, a community theater for people living in LA’s inner city. He has received Dance Theater Workshop's (NYC) Bessie Creation Award; San Francisco Art Institute's Adeline Kent Award; and a Theater LA Ovation Award and he was featured in five video works by Bill Viola and as Antonin Artaud in Peter Sellars - Vienna Festival production of Artaud/Jordan. He has taught at UCLA Dept. Dance/World Arts and Cultures and NYU Tisch School of the Arts and has worked with Appalshop for three years in the research, development and production of RFK in EKY. JMALFOOT@aol.com

Pam Oldfield Meade (banner artist) is a visual artist and activist from White Oak, KY (Morgan County). She has helped present hundreds of artists in her local schools and community, has organized concerts, exhibitions, workshops, and arts residencies. Pam's art has been exhibited in ten shows this year, two of which were one-person shows. She in currently working on a series of mixed-media paintings that reflect the strengths, spirit, and intelligence of females growing up and working on or near the typical small farm in the foothills of Kentucky. Her work will hang at the Courthouse Café in Whitesburg, November - December 2004. pambob@mrtc.com

Dipankar Mukherjee is artistic director of Pangea World Theater, Minneapolis, MN. Born in Calcutta, India, he has directed multi-lingual works in the United States commissioned by Amnesty International, Centro Legale and the Minnesota Advocates of Human Rights. Trained in both classical literature and directing, he is the recipient of many research and study grants that have aided in his study of movement, martial arts and choreography techniques. Mukherjee is on several non-profit boards, including the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights and has worked extensively with dancers to create cross-cultural work and with visual artists to create performance pieces. www.pangeaworldtheater.org dipankar@pangeaworldtheater.org

Miranda “Snow” Moore has been involved in South East Community College’s Appalachian Program for two years, taking pictures, traveling to Washington and Cherokee, and traveling to Chapel Hill in 2004 to help edit the photo exhibit. She's gathered stories for the play, conducted community surveys about the public art, represented the college at an Appalachian Regional Commission strategic planning meeting, and participated in public art design workshops at Spalding University. She lives at Ages, KY.

JoAnn Moran is a muralist, public arts advocate and activist. During her career as a professional artist she has developed and implemented public art programs to address social concerns and community development. She brought together her ideas of environmentally and socially sound projects to manifest the We the People lamppost banner and public mural projects. From her base in New Haven, CT, her project rePublicArt.org has inspired 40,000 participants to create over three million square feet of public art. Moran conducts workshops, lectures and consults for public participatory projects throughout the U.S. and Europe. www.republicart.org jmoran@billboardproject.org

Maureen Mullinax directs the Appalachian Media Institute (AMI) and the Learning Center at Appalshop. AMI is a nationally-recognized youth media project, which includes an intensive summer documentary institute and a year round after school project for youth ages 14-21, that supports the community-based media work of young people and intergenerational dialog with teachers and community members in eastern Kentucky. Through the Appalshop Learning Center, she is exploring how to expand, strengthen and document the breadth of Appalshop’s community learning projects. Maureen is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. maureen@appalshop.org

Meena Natarajan (AFP) is a playwright from India whose scripts have been produced professionally in India and the United States. She is one of the founders and the Executive and Literary Director of Pangea World Theater, a theater committed to bringing people together from different backgrounds and ethnicities from around the world. In 2001 she received a TCG Observership grant, a Jerome Foundation Grant and the Twin Cities International Citizen’s Award from the Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul for work in the international arena. Meena is the President of Women Playwrights International, which promotes the work of women playwrights all over the world. www.pangeaworldtheater.org meena@pangeaworldtheater.org

Cynthia L. Norton’s most recently completed kinetic sculpture entitled “Dancing Squared” is featured in the window of Appalshop’s Annex during the 2004 Art & Democracy conference. This sculpture is comprised of four square dancing dresses spinning in unison while the entire sculpture revolves. Norton, who now resides in Lexington, attended undergraduate school in Lexington, KY, and received a Masters of Time Arts Degree from The Art Institute of Chicago in 1995. Her work transforms homespun ideas and socio-political concepts of form and content into an accessible art form. www.nicojorcino.com (and link to the Adorno studio) cynthia_norton@hotmail.com

Chrissie Orr (AFP) was born in Scotland, attended Edinburgh College of Art and then proceeded to develop her skills as an artist in unconventional places and ways. She was a circus performer throughout Europe, a muralist in Corsica and she created community- based projects in Australia, Iran, Turkey, Europe, Mexico and America. As founder of the nationally acclaimed Teen Project www.warehouse21.org in Santa Fe, NM, her vision and skills are recognized by both Congress and NEA and she has been nominated for numerous awards for her work with youth. She lectures internationally on her work and process, especially the Bridge Project that addresses issues on the border between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. www.metamorfosis.com/chrissie/chrissieintro.html chrissie@metamorfosis.com

Linda Parris-Bailey is the Executive and Artistic Director of Carpetbag Theatre www.korrnet.org/carpetbg. She works extensively in the field of Arts in Education and Community and conducts workshops nationally for teachers and community organizers focusing on the intersection of arts, community, and education. Linda is on the national roster of Wolf Trap Headstart artists and conducts workshops at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She is presently working with Adult Literacy Through the Arts (ALTA) Project in conjunction with the Jubilee Community Arts and the regional Wolf Trap Project. She has served as Associate Professor of Theater at the University of Tennessee. lindapb1@aol.com

Marty Pottenger’s (AFP) most recent multi-media theatre work, Abundance, focuses on money and America. Written from in-depth interviews with minimum wage working and multi-millionaire parents throughout the U.S., it was chosen as one of Seattle's Ten Best Plays in 2004. Abundance with a five actor cast toured seven cities to sold-out audiences, with the New Yorker writing "a clear-eyed, barrier-breaking, unsettling and ultimately optimistic new play that lives on in the mind days after you see it." She is currently working on Just War- a tragic comedy with original songs about forgiveness, penance and reconciliation written from interviews with veteran soldiers and their families. www.abundanceproject.net mpott@evhouse.com

Stacie Sexton is a young poet and activist and one of the producers of Banjo Pickin’ Girl. She has worked with a number of Appalshop projects, including AMI’s Summer Documentary Institute and Holler to the Hood, and co-hosts a weekly radio show Ska, Punk and Other Junk on WMMT. She plans to go to art school this year and in the future hopes to create artwork that promotes social change in her community here. parisisenough@yahoo.com

Rose B. Simpson is a young artist with a mixed cultural upbringing. She was raised traditionally on the Santa Clara Pueblo Reservation, New Mexico, and spent time with her white father’s family in nearby Santa Fe. Her artwork reflects the struggle to break free from the confines of artistic racism, yet still understanding the importance of cultural preservation and evolution. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she majors in Studio Art and Creative Writing at the University of New Mexico. She spends her time painting, (aerosol muralism), drawing, sculpting, writing, and singing among the local underground Hip-Hop community. indinrose@hotmail.com

Herb E. Smith was born in Letcher County and he has been making films about the region where he was raised for 35 years. His father, both grandfathers, and both brothers worked in the region's coalmines. In 1969, Smith was one of the first young people who learned filmmaking and formed Appalshop. Herb E. is chairman of Appalshop's board of directors. hsmith@appalshop.org

Louise Smith teaches in the Antioch College Theater Department in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She is a veteran of New York theater, where she worked with Ping Chong for eleven years and last year won an Obie award for her work with The Talking Band. She has worked in her own community to create plays about history and in 2002 facilitated a performance in Elkhorn City, KY, about the cemetery. louises@antioch-college.edu

Nick Szuberla is a multi-media artist at Appalshop who produces media arts trainings, documentary films, digital media events, and cultural exchanges. Nick is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. www.appalshop.org/h2h nick@appalshop.org

Vanessa Whang is a consultant with interest areas in interculturalism and cultural equity, arts philanthropy, multidisciplinary arts production, community cultural development, and cross-sector partnerships. Her current clients include the Ford Foundation (NY), Community Foundation of the National Capital Region (DC), Asia Society (NY), and Jacob’s Pillow (MA). From 1999-2003, she served as Director of Multidisciplinary Arts and Presenting at the National Endowment for the Art. As a multi-instrumentalist and composer/arranger, Ms. Whang toured nationally with the Latin American music ensemble Altazor and produced their two recordings for the Redwood Records label. vmwhang@yahoo.com

SOME PARTICIPANTS & GUESTS

Emanuel Bailey is currently the Interim Director of Engineering Diversity Programs at UT Knoxville. He is retired from TVA and has been active in community cable radio and television since the 1970s. He is married to Linda Parris-Bailey ebailey9@utk.edu

Raynard and Betsy Bailey are visiting their daughter, Linda Parris-Bailey in Knoxville, TN. Originally from Long Island, N.Y., they now reside in Florida. AFP welcomes you to the Art & Democracy National Gathering!

Machlyn Blair is a senior at Whitesburg High School and one of the producers of Banjo Pickin’ Girl. He has created media as a participant in AMI's after-school Media Labs and Summer Documentary Institute, and will work this coming year as a peer trainer with the program. Mac is a force to be reckoned with in the Magic tournament circuit, which he travels any chance he can. He’s planning to study video game design and media in college and hopes to one day design his own games. Death_or_Glory5000@yahoo.com

Douglas Borwick is a Professor of Arts Management and Music at Salem College, Winston-Salem, NC. borwick@salem.edu

Steve Brooks is the founder and director of Virginia Forest Watch www.virginiaforestwatch.org/home.html whose mission is to protect both public and private forestlands. Virginia Forest Watch supports several grassroots citizens’groups, including the Clinch Coalition www.clinchcoalition.org which is struggling to end commercial logging in southwest Virginia Jefferson National Forest. Steve came to eastern Kentucky as a VISTA Volunteer in 1969 and now lives in Scott County, VA. shbrooks@mounet.com

Jeff Chapman-Crane, an artist from Eolia, KY, whose work depicts life in Appalachia from the perspective of a native of the mountains, specializes in egg tempera portraits of Appalachian people. He and his wife, Sharman Chapman-Crane, and son, Evan, operate the Valley of the Winds Art Gallery in Eolia and he is represented by Closson's Phylllis Weston Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio and by the J.N. Bartfield Gallery in New York City. www.fineartstrader.com/jeff_chapmancrane.htm chapmancrane@peoplepc.com

Marie Cirillo is an artist and a community activist working on issues of land reform in the mountains of east Tennessee. She contributes her skills in writing, photography, graphic arts, landscape architecture and interior design – all in the interest of building community in a coal mining area. In an area where over 40,000 acres has changed hands at least twice in the past few years, she and neighbors have started a Community Land Trust “in an effort to discover what citizens can do within an unincorporated, unzoned community if they had land to manage.” marie@jellico.com

Norman Frisch teaches at NYU and is documenting the Art & Democracy National Gathering for the American Festival Project. NFrisch@aol.com

Catherine Graham and her research assistant, Jen Taylor, are visiting from Hamilton, Ontario. Graham is an associate professor of Theatre & Film Studies in the School of Fine Arts at McMaster University. grahamca@mcmaster.ca

Gwylene Gallimard and Jean-Marie Mauclet are multi-media artists, often working in
collaborations with communities. Their last project "My Journey Yours" in Atlanta involved an organization of refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq, Kurdistan and Vietnam.They live in Charleston, SC. jemagwga@knology.net

Tom Hansell is a documentary filmmaker based at Appalshop. He is currently producing a documentary about energy policy titled “The Electricity Fairy.” Previously, he produced and directed “Coal Bucket Outlaw,” verite view of Kentucky coal truck drivers and the underpinnings of an economy based on extraction of natural resources. Hansell is currently incorporating material from “Coal Bucket Outlaw” into a mobile multi media installation. Tom is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. thansell@appalshop.org

Jack Herranen is a poet and folk musician. His art is filtered through his experience of living and working in Latin America. He is now a Rockefeller Humanities Fellow at the Appalachian Center at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. jherr2@uky.edu

Bryce B. Hudson is a young post minimalist painter from Louisvillle, KY. His work is abstract and geometric in nature and deal with issues of race, class, and stereotypes in American society. Hudson works with shapes and colors, where the colors represent races and their relationship to one another in a specific work expresses the specific issue he chooses to work with. www.brycehudson.com (and link to the Adorno studio) brycehudson@aol.com

Sherry P. Hurley is Hopscotch House Manager for the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Hopscotch House is used for artist residencies and retreats and respite for activists.
Sherry@Kfw.org

Nico Jorcino, a native Argentinean, is a painter who expresses his experience as an architect and urban planner as well as an immigrant as he explores the perception of cities and buildings and the relationships between professions and painting. He works on large canvases with acrylics and oils in the border between geometric abstraction and conceptual figurative works. www.nicojorcino.com (and link to the Adorno studio) nicojorcino@aol.com

Maxine Kenny began working at Appalshop in 1978 and has worked in documentary film projects and with Appalshop’s public radio station WMMT as director of Public Affairs and as a producer of national documentaries. She directed Appalshop’s 30th anniversary Voices from Home Tour, which collaborated with local communities around the country, to produce art/culture exchange festivals. Most recently she worked with the American Festival Project to produce the Art & Democracy National Gathering. She lives in Scott County, VA. Maxine is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. mkenny@appalshop.org

Christina Lovin is a published poet who has just completed a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She is currently working on two manuscripts, one about growing up in Coal Country of central Illinois, the other exploring the immigration of Scot-Irish people into Central Kentucky (one of whom was her great-great-grandfather). She just finished a tour as a VISTA Volunteer in Central Kentucky. c.lovin@worldnet.att.net

Amy Marshall is an instructor in the occupational therapy department at Eastern Kentucky University. She is developing an interdisciplinary student training to provide services to youth with mental health needs in 16 southeastern Kentucky counties. She wants to provide the youth being served with the chance to evaluate and improve the project and hopes to find out more about community arts projects that are going on. kzusu@msn.com

Robert Martin is a young actor from Kentucky who now lives in NYC. As an activist, he is involved in issues of worker rights, education, and personal empowerment. bobbyb10@kentucky.usa.com

Marin Mitchell is a young painter and mixed-media artist living in Asheville, NC. She specializes in functional art and art dolls. She is part of a Worker-Owned bakery where they attempt to practice true democracy in the workplace, challenge institutionalized racism, sexism, and homophobia, and encourage community-building. comrademarin@hotmail.com

Lydia Moyer is a young artist who now works with video, having been involved in documentary work before that. Before returning to studies in the graduate school of fine arts at the University of North Carolina, she worked with young people in Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute. Her day jobs include organic food production and cooperative business. ljanemoyer@hotmail.com

John Nolt works with the New Orleans-based National Performance Network (NPN), a partnership organization serving independent artists and cultural organizers throughout the U.S. NPN provides a centralized source of national funds for the presentation of work and extended artists’ residencies in communities. mkw@npnweb.org

Joyce Ogden is Associate Professor of Art and Director of the Huff Gallery at Spalding University in Louisville, KY. She has been involved in helping the Appalachian Program at Southeast Community College students design their public art project for Harlan County. JOgden@spalding.edu

Mitty Owens is Economic Development Program Officer with the Ford Foundation in NYC. He is interested in the intersection of economic development and economic justice, and in culture as an engine for social change. He has traveled extensively and lived in southern Africa and has served as a board member for various social justice organizations including the Funding Exchange, Grassroots Leadership, and Global Exchange. m.owens@fordfound.org

Steven Rahe is a freelance theater artist living in Louisville, KY. stevenrahe@earthlink.net

Patricia Raun is Head of the Department of Theatre Arts, A University Exemplary Department, at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. praun@vt.edu

Lauren Rosenthal is a visual art graduate student at University of North Carolina. She is the coordinator of the Haw River Festival, a three-week long environmental education and community-based public arts project in North Carolina. Her passion is environmental protection and she works with a river advocacy and actively participates in dialogue about nuclear power and waste. lrrosent@earthlink.net

Laura Sohn is the Director of Individual Giving at Appalshop and she curates the Appalshop Gallery as an act of love. From Pikeville, KY, she began at Appalshop four years ago as an administrative assistant on the Voices from Home 30th AnniversaryTour. She is currently managing a challenge campaign from the Ford Foundation. She graduated from Colorado College in 1999 with a degree in art history and printmaking. Laura is a member of Appalshop's board of directors. lsohn@appalshop.org

Ashley Sparks is a young theater artist who has just begun working on her MFA in Directing and Public Dialogue at Virginia Tech. She has worked with youth in public housing creating short performances piece that address the issues in their lives. She also has worked with an all-female performance ensemble creating original new works related to women's issues. Her activist life includes fundraising for her local rape crisis and domestic violence shelter. ashleysparkles@yahoo.com

Nathan Salsburg works with the Alan Lomax Collection and lives in Long Island City, NY. nathan.salsburg@alan-lomax.com

Charles Sommer works with the St. Anthony’s Foundation in San Francisco where he is starting an oral history project among the large homeless population served by the foundation. yerbluescs@yahoo.com

Kathy Shearer publishes books at Clinch Mountain Press in Emory, VA. Her press specializes in narrative and photographic histories of Southwest Virginia www.clinchmountainpress.net shearer@clinchmountainpress.net

Shannon Turner is a young artist who recently entered grad school at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. She is involved in AIDS work, mentors high schoolers with mental retardation, and works in after school programs for children in government subsidized housing. smturner@vt.edu

Susan Williams works at the Highlander Center in New Market, TN, as a popular educator and researcher, and has spent time as an organizer in Tennessee working on environmental and economic justice issues with Save Our Cumberland Mountains and the Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network. Highlander is known worldwide for its work around issues of popular education, labor and civil rights. Martin Luther King studied civil disobedience at Highlander. swilliams@highlandercenter.org

Randy Wilson is an artist-in-the-schools in Leslie County, KY, and plays the banjo in the old time clawhammer style. He is particularly interested in introducing mountain children to other cultures. He produces “Kids Radio” a weekly show for WMMT at Appalshop. wildance@kih.net