Kateryna Alymova is a cultural and educational manager. Throughout her career, she has held various positions that have contributed to her professional growth, such as organising and overseeing international music projects in Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, and Portugal, working with EU programmes in the field of culture, and managing non-governmental organizations. Kateryna is a co-founder of the culture and educational platform Kyiv Contemporary Music Days and artistic director of the international music festival “Jauna Muzika”.

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Asia Bazdyrieva is an art historian and practitioner whose interests span across visual culture, (feminist) epistemology, and environmental humanities at large, with particular attention to the project of Soviet modernity with its ideological and material implications in spaces, bodies, and lands. She holds master’s degrees in art history from the City University of New York and analytical chemistry from the Kyiv National University.

Asia was a Fulbright scholar in 2015–17, Edmund S. Muskie fellow in 2017, and Digital Earth fellow in 2018-19. She also co-authored Geocinema (with designer and filmmaker Solveig Qu Suess)—a collaborative project that explores the possibilities of a “planetary” notion of cinema. Geocinema has been nominated for the Schering Stiftung Award for Artistic Research (2020), and the Golden Key prize at the Kassel film festival (2021).

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Rufina Bazlova is a Prague-based Belarusian artist who works in illustration, social artwork, scenography and performance. She gained an international profile for her series The History of Belarusian Vyzhyvanka, which uses traditional folk embroidery medium to depict the peaceful protests in Belarus. Rufina is also known as the author of the fully embroidered comic Zhenokol (Feminnature), which explores the theme of feminism present in folk traditions.

In 2021, together with Sofia Tocar, Rufina founded the Stitchit group and works on burning socio-political issues using the traditional technique of embroidery as a tool of resistance and dialogue. Stitchit involves different communities and individuals in the creation process and blurs the lines of authorship.

Rufina also has a Masters degree in illustration (FDU LS, ZČU. 2015) and a second bachelor’s degree in stage design (KALD, DAMU. 2020).

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Video: Rufina’s ArtsLink Fellowship at Hyde Park Art Center, 2023

Aleksei Borisionok is a curator, writer and organizer currently based in Minsk, Belarus, and Vienna, Austria. He is a member of the artistic-research group Problem Collective and the Work Hard! Play Hard! working group. Alexei focuses on art and politics in Eastern Europe during the socialist and post-socialist periods. His work has been published in various magazines, catalogues and online platforms including “L’Internationale Online”, “Partisan”, “Moscow Art Magazine”, “Springerin”, “Hjärnstorm”, “Paletten”, “syg.ma” among many others. Aleksei has written and curated exhibitions on education and unlearning, workers movements and strikes, the history of artistic practices, museum displays and social movements. His current research investigates the temporalities of post-socialism.

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Niketa Brar is a policy strategist and civic systems organizer working to grow the community-led policymaking movement in Chicago. In her role as co-founder and executive director of Chicago United for Equity, she works to transform civic systems to be designed by the communities they serve. Niketa organized Chicago’s first public Racial Equity Impact Assessment, a community process that set national precedent for stopping a school closure on the grounds of racial discrimination, designed the Vote Equity Project, an award-winning citywide voter guide built by thousands of residents. She co-created the People’s Budget Chicago, an inclusive, community-led process to define budget values and priorities for the City of Chicago that center the needs and priorities of its most impacted communities, create an accountability framework, and ultimately design a budget that works for all.

Antawan I. Byrd, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Art History at Northwestern University and an Associate Curator of Photography and Media at the Art Institute of Chicago. He is currently co-curating a survey exhibition on the art and culture of Pan-Africanism opening at the Art Institute of Chicago in December 2024. Antawan’s recent exhibitions include a solo show of work by Mimi Cherono Ng’ok (2021) and exhibition on the Medu Art Ensemble (2019). He co-curated the 2nd Lagos Biennial of Contemporary Art (2019), Kader Attia: Reflecting Memory (2017), and was an associate curator for the 10th Bamako Encounters, Biennale of African Photography (2015). Antawan received the Award for Curatorial Excellence from the Arts Council of the African Studies Association in 2017 and was a Fulbright fellow/curatorial assistant at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (2009-2011).

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Corey Chatman is the Deputy Directory of Operations at Experimental Station, a not-for-profit community organization dedicated to building independent cultural infrastructure on the South Side of Chicago by providing essential resources that respond to local needs.

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Aymar Jean “AJ” Christian is an associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern University. His research focuses on the political economy of legacy and new media, cultural studies and community-based research. He published his first book, Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television (NYU Press, 2018), and is currently writing his second book, Reparative Media: Cultivating Stories and Platforms to Heal our Culture(MIT Press, forthcoming. Dr. Christian co-founded OTV | Open Television, a platform for intersectional television. OTV programs have received recognition from the Television Academy (Emmy Awards), Webby Awards, Streamy Awards, Gotham Awards, among others. Its programming partners have included the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Sundance Institute, and the city of Chicago, along with numerous galleries, community organizations, and universities.

Rusanda Curcă is a cultural worker, environmental and civic activist living in Hîrtop village, Republic of Moldova. She is a co-director of the Center for Cultural Projects Arta Azi, with a focus on developing the theatre sector in the country. Rusanda serves as a co-director of the Coalition of the Independent Cultural Sector of Moldova. This umbrella organization works to consolidate the independent cultural sector in the country with the goal of improve the legislation in the field of culture through advocacy activities.

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Erika Dudley is the President of the Board of Directors for Urban Growers Collective. She is with the Civic Leadership in the Office of Civic Engagement at the University of Chicago. An historian, artist, community organizer, and chef, her particular interest is the intersection of humanities, access, and food. Her academic focus is French History and Italian. She is a member of the Healthy Chicago 2025 Food Access Work Group, a member of the Chicago Food Policy Council, a trainer for Dismantling Racism in the Food Systems, and a board member of the Sunflower Project nonprofit. She also serves on the Faculty Advisory Board of the University Medical Center’s Comprehensive Care, Community, and Culture Program. She is the architect of the Museum Educators Program, a paid engagement program for Odyssey Project graduates and University of Chicago undergraduates at the university’s Smart Museum of Art begun in 2014.

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Oyindamola Fakeye is an Experiential Art Curator and Learning & Participation Producer working to facilitate contemporary art workshops, events and exhibitions. She is the current Executive & Artistic Director of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA, Lagos), where she previously co-founded the Video Art Network Lagos, alongside artist Jude Anogwih and Emeka Ogboh (2009). Oyindamola is a Board Director for Res Artis the worldwide professional body for artists residencies, and Arts in Medicine Projects and is the Director of Special Projects for the Arts in Medicine Fellowship, training art and healthcare practitioners on best practices within the field.

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Leah Feldman is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Theater and Performance Studies at University of Chicago working on the formation and collapse of the Soviet Empire. She is the author of On the Threshold of Eurasia: Orientalism and Revolutionary Aesthetics in the Caucasus, a forthcoming art book coauthored with the artist collective Slavs and Tatars, Azbuka Strikes Back: An Anticolonial ABCS, and is currently working on an anthology of anticolonial thought and a monograph, Feeling Collapse, which explores waning attachments to internationalist feelings amid the collapse of the Soviet empire and how performance art, film and theatre in the Caucasus and Central Asia shaped alternative politics and publics.

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Tetyana Filevska is the Creative Director of Ukrainian Institute Kyiv. An art manager, curator, writer and researcher of Ukrainian art of the 20th century, she has been working in the sphere of culture for over 20 years. Tetyana’s portfolio includes festivals, conferences, exhibitions, educational courses, books and films. She worked in various art institutions, particularly the EIDOS Arts Development Foundation, Contemporary Art Center, IZOLYATSIA. Platform for cultural initiatives, Mystetskyi Arsenal. She is a co-founder of the NGO Malevich Institute.

Teyana is the author of books “Kazimir Malevich. Kyiv period 1928-1930”, “Kazimir Malevich. Kyiv aspect”, and “Dmytro Gorbachev. Cases”. She is the creative producer of the films “Malevich. Born in Ukraine” and “Malevich”. She teaches at the Ukrainian Catholic University and the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine.

Tetyana is a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy at Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University; alumna of the FSA/FLEX program, the Aspen Institute Kyiv “Responsible Leadership” seminar, and the Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Network Ukraine mentoring program. Member of SHERA, ICOM, CAA.

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Leyli Gafarova was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, raised in The Netherlands, and is currently based in Baku. She is an independent filmmaker and co-creator of Salaam Cinema Baku, a community based cinema and art space. She has shot and directed “Once upon a Time in Shanghai” (2018), a documentary film about the production of a feature film in the eponymous neighborhood, itself located between Baku’s major railway lines. Her practice centers around processes, research and discoveries.

Leyli is interested in subjects such as gender, national identity, urbanism and (self)- censorship. When producing works she searches for ways to question what is natural and what is constructed. She has curated film programs, educational programs and exhibitions including Hometown Weather and co-curated Things We Sense About Each other.

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Tracie D. Hall most recently served as the tenth Executive Director of the American Library Association (ALA). Hall’s work in library and arts administration has focused on advancing early and adult literacy, expanding broadband access, advocating for library and literacy services for people who are incarcerated. In 2022, Hall became only the second librarian to be honored with a National Book Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. Early in 2023, she was named the recipient of the Literacy Leader Award by scaleLIT. In April 2023, TIME Magazine named Hall to its annual TIME100 list of the most influential people in the world. In September 2023, Hall followed Rep. John Lewis and journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones in receiving the medal for Freedom of Speech and Free Expression from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Institute.

The first Black woman to helm ALA in its nearly 150-year history, Hall left that post in fall 2023 and is now devoting time to her writing and grassroots advocacy work. She has previously served in numerous library and arts leadership positions nationwide: Culture Program Director at The Joyce Foundation; Deputy Commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; Vice President of Strategy and Organizational Development at Queens Library in NYC; Community Investment Strategist and Community Investor for the Boeing Company’s Global Corporate Citizenship division; Assistant Dean of Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science; other library positions at the Hartford Public Library, New Haven Free Public Library, and Seattle Public Library and non-profit and public sector roles across the country.

In addition to her work in libraries, Hall is an artist, curator and was the founder of Rootwork Gallery (2015-2019) in Chicago.

“My practice is rooted in the continuum of generations before me, the urgency for Indigenous visibility in this moment and the dreaming of Indigenous futures.” – Cannupa Hanska Luger

Cannupa Hanska Luger is a New Mexico based multidisciplinary artist creating monumental installations, sculpture and performance to communicate urgent stories of 21st Century Indigeneity. Born on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, Luger is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold and is Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota. Luger’s bold visual storytelling presents new ways of seeing our collective humanity while foregrounding an Indigenous worldview. His work has been exhibited at The National Gallery of Art, DC, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gardiner Museum, Toronto and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Georgia. Luger has been awarded fellowships from Guggenheim, United States Artists, Creative Capital, Smithsonian and Joan Mitchell Foundation.

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Tempestt Hazel is a curator and writer from Peoria, Illinois and living in Chicago. She is also the co-founder of Sixty Inches From Center, a collective of editors, writers, artists, curators, librarians, and archivists who have published and produced collaborative projects about artists, archival practice, and culture in the Midwest since 2010. Across her practices and through Sixty, Tempestt has worked alongside artists, organizers, grantmakers, and cultural workers to explore solidarity economies, cooperative models, archival practice, future canon creation, and systems change in and through the arts, all while prioritizing Black, Latinx/e, Indigenous, diasporic, queer, and disability communities.

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Asad Ali Jafri is a cultural producer, community organizer and interdisciplinary artist. Using a grassroots approach and global perspective, Asad connects artists and communities across imagined boundaries to create meaningful engagements and experiences. Asad has more than two decades of experience honing an intentional and holistic practice that allows him to take on the role of artist and administrator, curator and producer, educator and organizer, mentor and strategist. Asad is a founding member of SpaceShift, a collective of artists and cultural workers rethinking the ways in which people work, live and create.

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Embracing ideas of consumption, gender, love, power, protest culture, experience of war, plants and dogs, Alevtina Kakhidze is co-founder of a residency program for international artists in the village of Muzychi, The Muzychi Expanded History Project.

To raise awareness of climate change and more sustainable living in the era of global shifts in society, especially in post-pandemic times, she has initiated the laboratory Adult Garden to observe coexistence and the dynamics of plants freed from the gardener’s intervention.

During her ArtsLink International Fellowship 2020 (virtual and in-person residencies), Alevtina and her US collaborators embarked on a garden-focused project that centers on critical observation of organized experimental gardens and natural conservation areas. The artists and scientists from University of Kansas studied the competition and collaboration observable among plants and between plants and living organisms such as insects and birds.  Studies focused on the interaction between native and non-native (including invasive) plants, and explored the cases when a plant native to the US became invasive in Ukraine and vice versa. Alevtina also studied traditional Native American practices of gardening and medicinal plant use.

In Alevtina’s third year of ArtsLink International Fellowship in 2022, she is planning a collaboration with the Kansas University School of Visual Art on the project ‘Fate of Plants’. She will continue to research stable systems – prairies in Kansas, a steppe in Ukraine and the restored plant systems on the edge of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – to generate new work, a series of texts for art and scientific publications and an online discussion. The project has been postponed until the end of war in Ukraine.

The artist profile in the Burlington Contemporary magazine, July 27, 2022
“With the Russian invasion in February 2022, Kakhidze’s art became more radical. Her critique of the war continues to be enacted through a personal lens, however her anti-colonialist narratives are more explicit and her reference points are wider, articulating the violence and imminent danger that characterize life for so many in Ukraine.” (Svitlana Biedarieva, Burlington Contemporary, July 27, 2022)

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Andreea Lăcătuș is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural producer with a background in film, who works and lives in Bucharest, Romania. An alumni of Sarajevo Talents (Director’s Lab) 2018 and
Midpoint Training 2016, her graduation film, The Beast was selected for several festivals, including A List Shanghai IFF, Golden Goblet Award. Since 2018, her work has been directed to building connections between artists and vulnerable communities, leading a number of interdisciplinary cultural projects of co-creation, cultural education and access to culture, and a close collaborator of Replika Educational Theater Center.

Andreea’s work focuses on social justice and human rights; her artistic research explores topics such as feminism, mental health and socio-economic vulnerability in various forms including theatre, video and performative installations, films, and other multimedia products co-created with the communities she works with. At the moment she is in pre-production with Between the edges of the day, a short film financed by the Romanian Center of Cinematography and continues her work as a cultural producer through various projects.

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Barbara Lanciers is the Director of the Trust for Mutual Understanding (TMU), a private American foundation that funds professional exchanges in the arts and environment conducted in partnership with institutions and individuals in Central, East, and Southeast Europe; the Baltic States; Central Asia; Mongolia; and Russia. 

Barbara was a Fulbright Scholar with the Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute. She has written independent articles on American performance for Szinhaz Hungarian theater magazine and Didaskalia Polish theater magazine. She is the director and co-creator of Kaddish, a staging of Hungarian Nobel Prize-winning author Imre Kertész’s novel Kaddish for an Unborn Child. 

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Gurdeep Loyal  is an award-winning food and travel writer whose work spotlights diasporic food cultures around the world and the evolution of migrating cuisines. He has +18 years of experience in the food industry, building his career at pioneering British institutions such as Innocent Drinks, Harrods Food Halls and Marks & Spencer Food. His debut cookbook Mother Tongue – Flavours of a Second Generation explores British-Indian identity through food and was winner of the Jane Grigson Trust Award. He has a monthly column in Olive Magazine, has written for publications such as Suitcase, Courier, Delicious and The Independent – and contributed to features in The Times, The Guardian, Guardian Feast, New York Times, Daily Telegraph & Observer Food Monthly. He is a frequent guest on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen TV show and a curator of the online platform MotherTongueTV.com which celebrates food stories of migration, race and identity around the world. 

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Faheem Majeed is an artist, educator, curator, and community facilitator. He blends his unique experience as an artist, non-profit administrator, and curator to create works that focus on institutional critique and exhibitions that leverage collaboration to engage his immediate, and the broader community, in meaningful dialogue.

Majeed is a Co-Director and Founder of the Floating Museum, who are the artistic team for the Chicago Architecture Biennial opening in September 2023. He was a recipient of the The Field and MacArthur Foundation’s Leaders for a New Chicago Award (2020), Joyce Foundation Award (2020), the Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant (2015), and the Harpo Foundation Awardee (2016). In 2005-2011, Majeed served as executive director and curator for the South Side Community Art Center. Majeed’s solo exhibitions include MCA Chicago, Tufts University Art Galleries, and the Hyde Park Art Center. He received his BFA from Howard University and his MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

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Anastasiia Manuliak is the head of Visual Culture at the Ukrainian Institute, where she represents the Visual Arts sector and runs several programs, including the international exhibition support program Visualise. Prior to joining the Institute in 2019, she worked as a cultural manager and independent curator. In 2019, she co-curated the National Biennale for Young Art “Looks like I’m Entering Our Garden” in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Anastasiia is a graduate of the FLEX exchange program funded by the US government. She also graduated with honors from the Department of History and Theory of Arts at the Lviv National Academy of Arts and the Department of Economics and Management at the European University in Kyiv. She is one of the art experts who participated at the Ukrainian Culture Foundation in 2022.

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Augusta is the Program Director at Sidewalk Detroit, overseeing program management and strategic planning. Their background in Arts and Humanities and Arts Administration from Michigan State University has led them to work at the Broad Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Cranbrook Art Museum. In this capacity, Augusta collaborates closely with the Executive Director to ensure program efficiency and advancement.  They also lead efforts to organize community and artist-specific engagements and support curatorial work, influencing the organization’s artistic direction. Augusta is deeply committed to Detroit’s arts and culture community, promoting whole-hearted inclusivity in public spaces. In addition to their work at Sidewalk Detroit, they play violin and have toured nationally.

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