Verónica Santiago Moniello

Co-Founder

Curator, Dance

Verónica Santiago Moniello Verónica is a Venezuelan choreographer and dancer currently residing between the south of México and New York. She holds an M.F.A. Master of Fine Arts in the Theatre & Dance Program at UCSD, the University of California San Diego (U.S.) and a B.A. in Dance Making by the Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen (Germany), where she was part of Pina Bausch’s “Le Sacre Du Printemps” repertoire. Her practice is inspired by the spatial disorientation in dialogue with memory, notions like birth, antagonistic subjects of resistance and utopian bodies permeated with dreams. Her current approach expresses the relationship between absence versus alkaline practices: between beneficial acts, rituals and dances. Her projects have been presented in Mexico, Venezuela, Belize, Germany, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Spain, Korea and the U.S. Ongoing research “The Body that has Been Possessed” awarded by the Tinker Fellowship, CILAS (Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies) and The Friends of California, Teatro La Rendija, tumàka't Dance Company, Fonca and RedAlterna in Mérida-Yucatán, Mexico and Fundación Andrógino in Venezuela. For more: https://vimeo.com/veronicasantiagomoniello Habitual: https://www.facebook.com/Habitual-2010155915930716/ Earlyworks: www.veronicasantiagomoniello.com

Dassi Rosenkrantz

Co-Founder

Dassi Rosenkrantz is a bass player, composer, arranger, and producer. Born in Israel, she began her music career playing bass for numerou projects and shows encompassing a variety of music genres.

After moving to NYC, she studied with acclaimed teachers including Joel Thome, Philip Lasser, Mark Shapiro and Anthony Jackson. She participated in an European American Music Alliance (EAMA) composition program, based on the methods of Nadia Boulanger and based at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. She earned her BA and MM from SUNY Purchase, while working as a musician and a teaching artist.

She toured and recorded with the late renowned Debbie Friedman, while arranging and directing a variety of Latin Music projects. Some of her original music was licensed for films and TV. She teaches music at the Ramaz School, NYC, and records and produces original music with her family, The Cabo Project. She is currently participating in the Carnegie Hall Music Educators Workshop and is a fellow of The Academy for Teachers.

https://www.dassirosenkrantz.com   

Michael Amacio

Co-Founder

Michael Amacio Born in NYC, Michael Amacio is known as a composer, live audio engineer and event producer.He received his Bachelor's Degree in Audio Production at The State Univeristy of New York, Purchase College. While at Purchase, Michael studied composition under Pulitzer Prize Nominated Composer Joel Thome. As a composer, his piece “Field Manipulations” performed in 2016 at Fridman Gallery, utilized multi-channel field recordings and playback through an 8-channel audio system. Michael is currently expanding on this idea in Yucatan Mexico, researching different techniques of documenting sound with various microphones in different spatial formations. In 2017 he created the experimental music project, Omphalos, with fellow friend and musician Matthew Robinson. With modular synthesis, Michael manipulates the sounds of Matthews cello live, creating ambient and timbrel textures in aperiodic form. They’ve had the opportunity to share the same bill with artists such as experimental music heavyweights Lawrence English, and Alessandro Cortini.

Regina Miranda

Co-Founder

Curator, Theater and Dance

Choreographer, theater director, filmmaker, and cultural activist, Miranda has been living between NYC and Rio for the past 25 years. In Rio de Janeiro, she is the Founding Director of the LABAN-Rio and the Artistic Director/Choreographer of the Regina Miranda & ActorsDancers Company (www.reginamiranda.com), which is celebrating its 40the Anniversary in 2020. Since 2010, Miranda has also been the Chief Curator of the citywide Project “Rio Creative City”, which uses public performance and principles of sociochoreology for community building, and creative cluster’s development. Miranda was granted all the major dance awards in her native country, and is a reference in Brazilian Performing Arts. Miranda holds a MSc. in Cultural Leadership, from GCU/Ken Blanchard School of Business, a BA in Dance Theory, from SUNY, and is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute, LIMS®. In New York City, she served as LIMS’ Board Chair and was also the Institute’s Director of Arts & Culture (2001-2019) and Executive Director (2015-2019).

Luis Cancel

Co-Founder

Luis R. Cancel – artist, arts administrator, and distinguished public servant – is the only person in the country to serve as the head of Cultural Affairs for two major cities: New York (1991-1994) and San Francisco (2008-2011). He is an international Curator of Latino and Latin American art and has served as a consultant to foundations, private corporations and non-profit groups in the areas of strategic planning, institutional development and cultural facilities planning.

In 2009 Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Mr. Cancel to the federal National Museum of the American Latino Commission (2009-2011), established by Congress and the President to study the potential creation of such a museum as part of the Smithsonian Institution. He continues to champion the creation of the museum.

For fourteen years he was the Director of The Bronx Museum of the Arts, completed a major capital campaign and secured and renovated a 56,000 sq. ft. permanent home for the Museum on the famous Grand Concourse.

He has advanced degrees from Harvard University (MPA), New York University (MA) and Pratt Institute (BFA) and is a native son of the South Bronx.

Eleni Mylonas

Co-Founder

A visual artist and world traveler with a background in journalism Eleni Mylonas has produced works of photography, video, painting, sculpture, digital media, installation and performance. She was born in Greece and came to NY on a Fulbright Grant and a scholarship from Columbia University. Her multidisciplinary work has been widely exhibited in Europe and the United States and is in many public and private collections. She has taught at Parson's school for Design /The New School in NY and given many talks on her work. She has been represented by major art galleries in Athens and her works have been exhibited at MoMA/PS1, the Queens Museum, Cooper Union, and Ellis Island Museum in New York, MoMUS/MMCA museums in Thessaloniki, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, EMST in Athens, and the first Athens Biennale "Destroy Athens." She had a major solo show at the BENAKI Museum in Athens and has participated in shows in Germany, Belgium, and the Imago Mundi collection in Italy among many others.  Mylonas maintains a Studio in New York and on the island of Aegina, Greece. Circumstances permitting she intends to continue to travel to new destinations and looks forward to collaborating with artists across different disciplines and platforms.

http://www.elenimylonasArt.com

Eric Galm

Co-Founder

Eric Galm is Associate Professor of music, chair of the music department, and co-director of the Center for Caribbean Studies at Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut. He founded the Trinity Samba Ensemble and the Samba Fest, a regional music festival that has presented the United States debut performances of Brazilian artists including Berimbrown, Dinho Nascimento and the Orquestra de Berimbaus do Morro do Querosene, Ivan Vilela, the Meninos de Minas, and Adrianna, among others. He has conducted research, presented and performed in Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad, the United States and Canada. He was invited to serve as a featured participant at the “International Seminar on Education Research: Theory and Practice” at the Universidade Estadual de Piauí/Teresina, and “Música em Debate” at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. In September 2018, he was awarded Honorary Citizenship from the City of Itabira, Minas Gerais, Brazil. In addition to currently serving as a selection committee member for the national Fulbright Fellowship Program and the Southern New England Apprenticeship Program, he has received awards from the Fulbright Fellowship Program, Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, Trinity College (Trustee Award for Excellence and Hughes Teaching Achievement), the Community Music Center of Boston’s prize for teaching excellence, and the 2020 Steve Balcanoff Award for community engagement from the Hartford-based Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance. He has performed with icon Pete Seeger, and has recorded several CDs including traditional Renaissance music and Brazilian Jazz. His publications include The Berimbau: Soul of Brazilian Music (Mississippi) and “Baianas, Malandros and Samba: Listening to Brazil Through Donald Duck’s Ears” (Global Soundracks: Wesleyan). He holds degrees from Wesleyan University, Tufts University and the University of Michigan, and performance certificates from Escola Brasileira de Música and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

Alice Limoges

Co-Founder

Alice Limoges bio (composer): Born and raised on a mountain by the sea in coastal Maine, Alice Limoges was singing before she could walk. After 7 years of living, touring, and recording in NYC, the COVID pandemic brought Alice back to her hometown, where she is joyfully creating music, teaching music lessons online, and hiking every week.  Alice has released three independent albums to date. Her song “No One Underneath” was was a semi-finalist in the 2019 International Songwriting Competition. She played on the Grammy Award winning album "Ageless: Songs For The Child Archetype" by Jon Samson. Alice's concerts are intimate and vulnerable. She instantly pulls the audience into her world with personal stories and even invites them to sing with her, hoping to share a little magic with them. She has performed extensively across NYC and the northeast, including festivals (Make Music Harlem, NYC; Keene Music Festival, Keene, NH; The Campfire Festival, Cambridge, MA; Belfast Free Range Festival, Belfast, ME), colleges (Columbia University, Hamilton College, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Purchase), and other legendary venues such as The Cutting Room (NYC), Rockwood Music Hall (NYC), PIANOS (NYC), Arlene’s Grocery (NYC), Club Passim (Boston), and Blue (Portland) as well as countless intimate concerts with Sofar Sounds.

Mariko Endo

Co-Founder

Curator, Dance

Mariko Endo concurrently studied Butoh under Akira Kasai, one of the co-founders of the Butoh movement. From 2000 to 2004, she toured throughout Japan and the U.S. with Dairakudakan, Japan's national Butoh company, under the direction of the legendary Akaji Maro. More recently, Ms. Endo has collaborated with international artists to produce multimedia performance art. At the garden of the American Museum of Natural History, Mariko performed to Dary John Mizelle's music, "Metal Song". At the New York Butoh Institute Festival at Theater for the New City, 
Mariko performed to Joel Thome’s music, “Adoration of The Divine Mother”, a canto from SAVITRI TRAVELER OF THE WORLDS (Pulitzer Prize Nomination). At the American Dance Guild Festival at Ailey Citigroup Theater, Ms. Endo performed "Heavy Water" by Gloria McLean, a recognized founder of the American modern dance tradition.
 Both of them traveled to Japan, performed “Heavy Water” in Tokyo Daigo Fukuryū Maru Memorial Peace Park. Her website is

https://www.marikoendo.com/

Sarah Lisette Chiesa

Co-Founder

Curator, Dance

Sarah Lisette Chiesa is an interdisciplinary performance based artist originally from upstate New York. Sarah attained her artistic voice and education from having lived in four countries throughout her life and collaborating with over one hundred artists internationally. She received her high school diploma from the North Carolina School of the Arts, a BFA from SUNY Purchase College, a post graduate certificate in Experimental Choreography from SEAD, and an MFA from the University of Washington. She was a full time company member of Shen Wei Dance Arts in New York from 2008-2013. As a freelance dancer, Sarah has worked with Ayako Kirakake, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Sidra Bell, Chirs Elam, Naomie La France, Elisabeth Motley, Tania Perez-Salas, Dai Jain, Stefan Dreher, Hubert Lepka, Franca Ferrari, and Yang Jiang. Her independent artwork has been shown in Museums, Galleries, Festivals, Site-Specific Locations, and Theaters in Venezuela, Montreal, United States, Italy, and Austria. Sarah has taught as a freelance artist and in several institutions such as University of Washington, University of California Santa Barbara, Velocity Dance Center, Balletto Toscana, Nuovo Balletto Classico, C.I.M.D. Milan, Ipilates, and Camelot various movement approaches to Modern Dance, Ballet, Feminist Performance Art, Composing Performance, and Pilates.

Todd D. Goldfinger

Co-Founder

Todd David Goldfinger is a bass player, performer, composer, comedian, and Public TV personality from upstate NY who has traveled the world with his bass guitar and has an incredible life story. I hope you'll enjoy his music and feel inspired to add something to the pieces.

Dary John Mizelle

Co-Founder

Dary John Mizelle has been pursuing an infinite vision of music since the 1960’s. He earned a B. A. an M. A. and a PhD in California universities with the mentors: Larry Austin, Richard Swift, Jerome Rosen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, David Tudor, Roger Reynolds, Robert Erickson, Pauline Oliveros and Kenneth Gaburo. He has composed more than 600 compositions, and 40 jazz tunes. He is currently working on the SPANDA project, 320 hours of music. He makes his home in Westchester County, NY and studies yoga and meditation.

https://daryjohn.wixsite.com/daryjohnmizelle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ml6ge5Rvw&t=18s

Melissa Erin

Co-Founder

Melissa Erin is a singer/songwriter born and raised in New York. She recently relocated to Nashville, TN to immerse herself in writing, performing, and getting a fresh perspective on new surroundings. Her songwriting style is a blend of all things americana, and often delivers her lyric in an honest and unapologetic way. Rootsy, gutsy and simplistic are the things she does best. Vocal clarity. Old-school spirit. Musical sincerity. Solid sounds.

David Picton

Co-Founder

David Picton is a drummer/percussionist, composer, and pianist. He is primarily a jazz musician, but has a strong classical background, especially as a composer. He lives and performs in New York City and the area, and has also performed in California, Japan, England, and Ghana, Africa. He has performed in such NYC clubs as Birdland, the Zinc Bar, the Jackson Room, and Cleopatra's Needle, and has performed with such notable musicians as pianist John Hicks, guitarists Jack Wilkens, Larry Coryell, and Randy Johnson, trumpeter Don Hahn,  bassist Leonard Gaskin, and many others.

Mr Picton appears on several CD's, as drummer/percussionist, with artists such as Art Lillard, Miki Hayama, Bob Gallo,Yoshiki Miura, Linda Ipanema, and he has also released two jazz CD's of his own, in addition to a more recent double CD entitled Sun and Moon, released in collaboration with pianist/composer Emiko Hayashi.

In the 1970's Mr. Picton studied with the great Joe Morello, famous drummer of the original Dave Brubeck Quartet. Mr. Picton has also studied drums with Kenny Washington, Victor Lewis, and Steve Davis. Besides being a drummer, Mr. Picton is also an accomplished jazz pianist, and he has been working as such for several years. As composer, Mr. Picton works in contemporary classical genres as well as contemporary jazz. He has a bachelors degree in music composition from Mannes College of Music, and is a composer member of New York Composers Circle. Besides numerous performances of his work in New York City, Mr. Picton has also had his work performed numerous times in Canada, and Russia as well.

Andrew Todd

Co-Founder

Andrew Todd is a photographer currently residing in Midcoast Maine, where he is pursuing a life as visual artist. He began capturing images in the 7th grade through the use of a self-made pinhole camera and darkroom techniques and now applies his fresh and insightful view of the world with a passion for detail into both his film and digital work. Andrew’s objective in his work is to focus on creating alluring and unusual perspectives from the typical banana subject matter

Scarlett Sorell

Scarlett’s art, “waves” is featured as part of the home page design.



Miles Merritt

Co-Founder

Miles Merritt: Director – Executive Producer. Miles was writer/producer with New Century Images, a video production studio based in Los Angeles that specialized in the development of videos for private industry and various city departments.  He later moved to NY to work with the cable news network in White Plains.  In 1998, Miles moved to New Mexico to work on an arts and education program at Taos Pueblo.  His directorial debut – the short film El Cochero (The Carriage Driver- 2004) – was produced in Mexico and was an official selection in 15 film festivals internationally.  It was chosen as one of the opening night films at the prestigious Expresion En Corto Film Festival in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and won four awards. His subsequent short film, Una Causa Noble (A Noble Cause - 2007) was an official selection at 24 film festivals internationally and earned three awards. Miles was also Contributing Editor for the documentary “The Second Cooler” (2012) – a film about immigration issues in the U.S. and Central America that was narrated by Martin Sheen.  The film won five awards.  His latest project is a feature documentary, “Just A Mortal Man – The Jerry Lawson Story.”

Gail Kempler

Co-Founder

Gail Kempler: Co-Director – Producer – Legal.  Gail received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and law degree from Fordham University.  She co-produced and edited the two award-winning short films El Cochero (The Carriage Driver) (www.elcochero.com) and Una Causa Noble (A Noble Cause) (www.unacausanoble.com.  In addition to being co-director and producer for “Just A Mortal Man – The Jerry Lawson Story,” Gail handled all the music licensing - which included over 30 songs.  Gail also serves as Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property, and Director, Corporate Communications for a biotech company based in Pittsburgh, PA.