Jana is a creative strategist with over 25 years of experience in arts, education, politics, community engagement and communications. A National Arts Strategies and CORO Leadership NY fellow, she connects ideas, action and people for positive change for clients and communities. Currently she is the Administrator for Historic Harlem Parks for NYC Parks where she curates public programming in addition to her executive management role. The former executive director of Urban Bush Women (UBW), she served as a staff field organizer for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and facilitated community conversations for Create NYC, the City of New York's first cultural planning initiative. A college professor and former TV host and producer, she serves frequently as a grants/award panelist and lectures on cultural policy, arts management, corporate social responsibility, communications and more. A passionate curator and innovator, Jana created and launched the Boss Girl Boot Camp, a social innovation course for 13-20 year-old girls; a weekly jazz series in Tribeca; an arts gallery; a culture and community series for UBW; and co-founded the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance. A veteran of brand and organizational launches, she advised and created partnerships for the launches of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Standard, SOPAC, Well-Read Black Girl Literary Festival, Harlem Derby Festival and others. In 2004 for IAJE, she created, produced and facilitated Ask the Experts, an industry platform to assist emerging and mid-career jazz artists that is still running as part of Jazz Congress. A proud Washington Heights resident in New York City, she has created and/or produced arts events for the neighborhood and organized a local jazz community network which resulted in a weekly jazz series and annual jazz festival. She has served on boards for AIR Serenbe, Dance/NYC, BEAT Brooklyn, United Palace of Cultural Arts and now serves on boards for Company SBB, Dance Project Washington Heights and the Dominican Women’s Development Center. She continues to work on her own art...slowly.

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Alison is an independent cultural organizer, arts administrator, educator and performer who works at the intersection of arts, community building, education and cross-cultural dialogue. Her background includes community organizing, program and curriculum development, social justice activism, qualitative and quantitative research, ethnography, and program evaluation. Based in New York City, she was raised in North Carolina and her research and work have taken her through Brazil, the Mississippi Delta, South Africa, and her mother’s home country Jamaica, exploring questions of art, identity, and social change. She has worked at arts consulting firms WolfBrown and Webb Management Services, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the White House - Office of the First Lady Michelle Obama, and Obama for America. Performance credits include two-hundred thirty-four, two-hundred thirty-four, two-hundred thirty-four choreographed by Ebony Noelle Golden (2014) and Death Made Love to my Feet choreographed by Audrey Hailes (2014). She was a 2014 Create Change Fellow with The Laundromat Project and received the Dance Writing Award, the Benenson Award in the Arts, and the Paul Farmer Award for Justice and Social Responsibility at Duke University, where she graduated cum laude with distinction in cultural anthropology and public policy. She was a participant in Urban Bush Women’s acclaimed Summer Leadership Institute and attended the American Dance Festival. More at www.alisonkibbe.com

Mary Mitchell is a brand designer who is passionate about cultivating joy through meaningful brand experiences. She has a knack for visual storytelling and illustration and dreams of one day illustrating her own children’s book. Her work is influenced by her love of poetry, botanicals, and whimsy.  Learn more at www.marymitchelldesign.com