Kim Yantis has a background in visual art, cultural programs production, and management. Yantis holds an MFA from Florida International University and a BFA from Moore College of Art and Design for Women. Kim has attended specialized seminars from the Kennedy Center’s DeVos Institute on Capacity Building, Board Development, and Marketing for the Arts. Based in Miami, Florida for twenty years, she has worked as an Instructor at Florida International University and Miami Dade College, and served as Cultural Arts Curator for the Deering Estate from 2012-2018. In 2019, Yantis became a professional member of both the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Grant Professionals Association (GPA). Operating as “Kim Yantis Arts” since 2019, she advises organizations and individuals on programs and strategies. She is a grant writer who actively supports the creative community and serves annually as a volunteer panelist, reviewing and rating grants for the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs’ Grant Programs.

Rosie Gordon-Wallace is a recognized curator, arts advocate, community leader and pioneer in advancing contemporary Caribbean diaspora art. She founded the Diaspora Vibe Culture Arts Incubator (DVCAI) to serve as a local and global laboratory dedicated to promoting, nurturing and cultivating the vision and diverse talents of emerging artists from the Caribbean Diaspora, artists of color and immigrant artists. Twenty-six years later, DVCAI is recognized as a global resource and one of the region’s leading platforms dedicated to providing diaspora artists with a venue to explore and experiment with new forms and themes that challenge traditional definitions of the Caribbean and Latin American art. Her awards include the Knight Foundation Cultural Award, The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center Third Annual Calabash Amadlozi Visual Arts Award, International Businesswoman of the Year, One of South Florida’s 50 Most Powerful Black Professionals to name a few. In 2021, she was recognized by the Perez Art Museum Miami’s International Women’s Committee as International Woman of the Year. Her recent curations include Inter | Sectionality: Diaspora Art from The Creole City at The Miami Design District, and Illuminate Coral Gables: A City Looks to Light, city of Coral Gables, Florida, and more recently “Chromatic Cogitations” alumni artist in residence exhibition at Redline Contemporary Arts in Denver, Colorado, “I M(O)ther: Threads of the Maternal Figure” Katrina Coombs, at Sarasota Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, and “ORDER MY STEPS: There are no answers here, move on,”Roscoè B. Thické III at Oolite Arts, in Miami, Florida.

Alix Pierre, Ph.D. teaches at Spelman College in the departments of African Diaspora and the World and World Languages and Literature. His research interest is in the artistic response of people of African descent to the state of diglossia in a (neo) colonial context. He is on the editorial board of Caribbean Vistas Journal: Critiques of Caribbean Arts and Cultures and Negritud: Journal of Afro Caribbean Studies. His publications have appeared in several journals and he is the author of L’image de la femme résistante chez quatre romancières noires : vision diasporique de la femme en résistance chez Maryse Condé, Simone Schwarz-Bart, Toni Morrison et Alice Walker (PAF : 2014).

Deputy Director Hambidge Art Center Born in Atlanta, art has played a central role in her life since early childhood. Ife Williams began her formal training in sculpture at Interlochen Arts Academy in Northern Michigan, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture/Metalsmithing from the University of Michigan, pursued a Master’s degree in Museum Studies at Syracuse University, and received a certificate of nonprofit organizational management from the Georgia Center for Nonprofits. Over the last three decades Ife has worked actively as a maker in stone and ceramics while also serving in several administrative roles. She currently holds the position of Deputy Director at The Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences in Rabun Gap, Georgia. As an artist she was the inaugural Sculptor-in-Residence at the Paul Abrams Endowment Project in Miami, where she developed an apprenticeship program for teens, led workshops for Florida Arts Educators and created original artworks using traditional stone carving techniques. A 2014 residency at The Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences was pivotal in her transition from stone to clay. Over the last three years, she has worked to refine her voice and establish a visual dialogue with thrown and altered porcelain wall installations. Beyond her current position, her professional experience as an arts administrator includes the roles of executive director of the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning (Duluth, GA), museum curator at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (Miami); development consultant at the Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (Miami); assistant collections registrar for the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington (Seattle); and Director of Fulton County’s Department of Arts and Culture (Atlanta). Outside of work she is the mother of 18 year old fraternal twins and enjoys pursuing creative endeavors in clay, stone and paper; baking, hiking and rock climbing with her children; and exploring the rich array of arts and cultural activities available in our community. Ife loves working in the arts because she believes everyone should have art in their day-to-day life and being a part of this team allows her to have a hand in making that happen within her own community.

Amanda Bradley is a Belizean American artist, curator and arts administrator based in Miami, Florida. She received a BFA in Photography from New World School of the Arts. Currently, she is the Programming Senior Manager at Oolite Arts, where she oversees The Ellies, Miami’s Visual Art Awards as well as Oolite’s Exhibitions Program. Her photographic work explores place and landscape as a means to connect and understand identity, belonging, histories, and relationships. Selected Solo exhibitions include The land remembers the flood at FAR Contemporary Gallery, Ft Lauderdale, Florida (2021), From One Sea at Mt Sinai Medical Center, Miami, Florida (2021), Further than Memory, Intimate Distances at Artmedia Gallery, Miami, Florida (2019). Selected group exhibitions include Work from Home at The Bass Museum of Art, Miami, Florida (2020), Notices in a Mutable Terrain at Fundacion Pablo Atchugarry, Miami, Florida (2019), It will never become quite familiar to you at Oolite Arts, Miami, Florida 2019, amongst others. Bradley was an artist in residence at Faena in 2020 and participated in the Home + Away residency at Atlantic Center for the Arts with Oolite Arts in 2019, she was a resident artist at Bakehouse Art Complex from 2018–2020 and is a 2022 Suncoast Regional Emmy award winner for her work on the film “Sasha Wortzel: Mining the Gaps.”

Eunice Bee, Esq. Born in Montreal, eunice bélidor is a curator, letter-writer, critic and researcher, and Affiliate Assistant professor in the Department of Art History at Concordia University. Her practice focusses on contemporary Haitian art, design, and correspondence; in her (little) free time, she’s interested in researching post-black studies, feminism, fashion and architecture. She questions everything, believing that asking the right questions are the best ways to come up with creative and thoughtful answers. She holds a B.A in Art History from Concordia University (Montreal), a M.A in Art History & Visual Culture, and a graduate diploma in Curatorial Studies from York University (Toronto). She has organized and curated various exhibitions nationally and internationally , and her writing has been published in esse, Canadian Art, Hyperallergic, the Journal of Curatorial Studies, Invitation, InCirculation, and Espace Art Actuel. She is the creator of #CuratorialTips, a research and help tool for emerging curators. She regularly takes part in various juries and committees, such as the Conseil des arts de Montréal, the Canada Council for the Arts and the City of Montreal. eunice bélidor is the 2018 recipient of the The TD Bank Group Awards for Emerging Curator from the Hnatyshyn Foundation. She has worked at BAND Gallery, The Power Plant (Toronto) articule and as Director of the FOFA Gallery at Concordia University (Montreal). She is currently Curator of Contemporary Canadian and Québécois art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Lise Ragbir From a Fellow at the Smithsonian, to a grant-maker with the private foundations, to the director of Black Studies’ art galleries at the University of Texas, Ragbir has dedicated her 20-year career to creating access to a range of art experiences. She has worked with corporate and public collections, non- and for-profit organizations, and has organized exhibitions featuring artists such Dawoud Bey, Genevieve Gaignard, Jacob Lawrence, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons and Deborah Roberts, among others. She is the co-editor of Collecting Black Studies: the art of Material Culture which was released in 2020 and her essays about race, identity, immigration and cultural representation have appeared in Hyperallergic, Frieze, Artnet, The Guardian, Time Magazine, USA Today, The Boston Globe and other publications. Ragbirwas born and raised on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka, after her parents emigrated from the Caribbean island Iëre or Kairi.

Jenni Lewin Turner is the founding director of socially-engaged arts agency Urbanflo Creative, and she has maintained a long portfolio career as an international creative producer, cultural broker, consultant, researcher and curator . Her qualifications include a Masters Degree in Cultural Leadership and also a Masters in Media Practice for Development and Social Change. She is also a PhD candidate at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Her past cultural programs include collaborations with partners based in the USA, Barbados, South Africa and the UK. This year she was commissioned to curate ‘Hope & Glory: Encountering Welcome”, a solo exhibition by award-winning multi-disciplinary artist Alberta Whittle, for the prestigious Brighton Festival.

Berette Macaulay is an interdisciplinary artist, photographer, curator, and writer with training and performance roots in theatre and contemporary dance. She was born in Sierra Leone of West African, French-Dominican, and German lineage, raised in Jamaica and the UK, before moving to the United States. Interrogating her im/migrant identity as both liminal and as a constancy, her interdisciplinary practices engage complex cultural negotiations of be/longing and il/legibility, trans*national personhood, coded identity-performance, memory, and mythmaking. Spaces of exhibition and sharing include, Melkweg Expo (Netherlands), Art Alive (India), SP-Arte (Brazil), Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Rutgers-Newark, and Annenberg Space for Photography (USA), with collected works in the National Gallery of Jamaica, and International Center for Photography (under her other practice moniker, ‘SeBiArt’). Her curatorial work includes the permanent exhibition Mystic of a Woman on Rita Marley’s life at the Bob Marley Museum, “HOME: Stories of be/LONGING” and “we geh fambul all ‘bout: …and this FOR/EVER” at Wa Na Wari Seattle, “SHAPESHIFTERS – a film program for Studio Museum of Harlem’s Black Refractions Exhibition” at Frye Art Museum, “Exploring Passages in the Black Diaspora” at PCNW, and “illusive self” at Taller Boricua Gallery, NY. Publications include MONDAY Arts Journal, Feminist Media Histories (UC Press), PublicDisplay.Art, UW College of Arts & Sciences Magazine, and UNESCO Courier.

Miguel Keerveld Taking inspiration from the land that originally belonged to, among others, Kariña natives and inspired by their knowledge, Miguel E. Keerveld (Suriname, 1982) performs as an interdisciplinary artist. Currently involved as curator-in-residence at Readytex Art Gallery in Paramaribo, Suriname, he explores his curatorial focus through art manifestations sustained by writing and intuitive coaching. Miguel uses theory to inform his process and social practice to strengthen relations within communities, while also challenging problems of power scale and local knowledge. While questioning race and gender with a critical perspective, he frequently pushes the boundaries to confront generalized ideas about the processes of identification and engages in artistic research and production that challenge colonization and representation. Miguel has a background in Civil Engineering and has also worked on several projects related to leadership and quality management control. He has participated in various art projects and residencies in Brazil and Mexico, amongst others.

Ilona Smiling is a Belizean abstract artist and curator. She holds a BA degree in Criminology from the University of South Florida and an MFA in Cultural Creative Industries & Art Management from Taipei National University of the Arts. Currently, she is the curator at the Museum of Belize and Houses of Culture where she develops and designs exhibitions such as “The Future is Female” Artist Series, which promotes female artistry in Belize as well as “Belize: A Collective Exposition” (2019), which explores the genres of visual arts through various Belizean art-works held in trust from NICH’s National Art Collection. Ms. Smiling is also an independent curator developing and designing content for site-specific organizations.

Luisa Múnera Born in Colombia and raised in Miami, Florida Luisa Múnera joined YoungArts in 2014 as an artistic programs coordinator. She is currently Associate Curator and works with curators and YoungArts’ winners in design, photography and visual arts on the production of national and regional exhibitions. Additionally, Múnera works on identifying and selecting YoungArts’ alumni for various career-enhancing and professional development opportunities. Most recently, Múnera co-curated with Derrick Adams Sunshine, Mark Fleuridor’s first solo exhibition in Miami. Previously, Múnera was the exhibitions and collections assistant at the Cisneros-Fontanals Art Foundation where she worked closely with commissioned artists to produce new work to be exhibited at the CIFO Art Space in Miami. While studying in New York City, she interned with organizations like The Elizabeth Foundation, Independent Curators International and Space works. Múnera has a B.F.A. in interior architecture from Pratt University and an M.S. in design and urban ecologies from Parsons, The New School for Design.

Marie Vickles Born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She currently lives and works in Miami, Florida. Marie completed her studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, and Florida State University, which includes degrees in both Visual Arts and Public Administration. Marie Vickles is the Director of Education at the Pérez Art Museum Miami and Curator-in- Residence at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex (LHCC). She has organized arts educational programs, workshops and exhibitions across the United States and the Caribbean for over 15 years and maintains an active practice as an independent curator producing over 30 exhibitions and curatorial projects. Her curatorial work includes the co-curation of Prizm Art Fair, Miami, FL (2013), Visionary Aponte: Art and Black Freedom, Little Haiti Cultural Complex, Miami, FL (2017), walls turned sideways are bridges: narratives of resistance at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Tallahassee, FL (2019), and Dust Specks on the Sea, Little Haiti Cultural Complex, Miami, FL (2019). In her work as an arts educator and cultural practitioner, she is concerned with the development of new ways to bridge the connections between creativity and community engagement – with the goal of supporting equity, sustainability and access for all, through the arts. Marie Vickles is the Director of Education at the Pérez Art Museum Miami and Curator-in Residence at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex (LHCC)

Grace Ali Guyanese-born Grace Aneiza Ali is a Curator and Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and in the Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies Program, Department of Art History at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee. Prior to joining FSU, she taught in the M.A. in Arts Politics program as a Provost Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Art & Public Policy at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University (NYU), and also served as affiliated faculty with the Asian/Pacific/American Institute. Her curatorial, research, and teaching practices center on curatorial activism, arts activism, art and social justice, art and migration, global contemporary art, and art of the Caribbean Diaspora with a focus on her homeland Guyana. She serves as Curator-at-Large for the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) in New York. In her tenure, she developed the organization’s first Curatorial Fellowship in Afro-Caribbean Art and launched a thriving public program series, Curators in Conversation, gathering global curators and artists to discuss urgent issues of equity and inclusion affecting museums and the curatorial field. For her work with CCCADI, she was selected for ARTNews ‘The 2022 Deciders’ recognizing those “contributing to the cultural conversation in a pointed way—and moving the conversation forward.”

Roy Wallace is a Miami-based photographer whose works range across categories such as documentary portraiture and environmental. His works have appeared in many national and international publications and artists’ catalogs. Roy has been traveling and documenting the artistic engagements of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (DVCAI) artists in residence programs and International Cultural Exchange projects, documenting the creations of the participating artists for the past twenty years. “Photography allows me to be a storyteller, it’s a visual representation of my perspective as I strive to maintain authenticity.”