DELITA MARTIN | ART
Delita Martin (b. 1972, Conroe, TX) is an artist and activist based in Huffman, Texas. A multidisciplinary creator who draws, sews, collages and paints on paper, Martin often depicts Black women whose stories have historically been omitted from Western art. Combining modern and traditional materials and imagery, Martin constructs images inspired by her personal history in order to generate new narratives and challenge societal norms.
Martin received a BFA in drawing from Texas Southern University and an MFA in printmaking from Purdue University, and previously taught drawing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In 2020, she launched the Black Box Press Foundation, dedicated to supporting artists whose work inspires activism and social change. Martin’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Bradbury Art Museum, Arkansas; Gorman Museum, California; Crystal Bridges Museum, Arkansas; David Driskell Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota; Minnesota Museum of American Art; and National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., among others.. Her work The Gathering, was commissioned for the Moody Center for the Art’s tent series in 2021 and is now part of the Rice Public Art collection.
BOBBY SANABRIA | MUSIC
A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, documentary film producer, activist, radio host, writer, and multi-Grammy nominated as a leader, Bobby Sanabria is a native Nuyorican son of the South Bronx. His versatility as both a drummer and percussionist from small group to big band has become legendary. He's performed and recorded with every major figure in the history of Latin jazz, jazz, and salsa, with such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D'Rivera, Candido, Charles McPherson, Larry Harlow, Ruben Blades, Celia Cruz, and the Father of Afro-Cuban jazz, Mario Bauzá as his drummer for 9 years touring and recording on his major Grammy nominated albums. He is the leader of Quarteto Aché, Sexteto Ibiano, Ascensión, and his Multiverse Big Band. His big band albums have all been nominated for Grammys for a total of nine, including Afro-Cuban Dream: Live & In Clave!!!, Big Band Urban FolkTales, Multiverse (double Grammy nominated), and West Side Story Reimagined which was awarded the Jazz Journalists Record of the Year Award for 2019 and hailed as a masterpiece by the Wall Street Journal, as well as Kenya Revisited Live!!! and Tito Puente Masterworks Live!!!, with Bobby conducting the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, including his most recent Grammy nomination for VOX HUMANA with his Multiverse Big Band for the 2024 Grammys. DRUM! Magazine named him Percussionist of the Year (2005); he was named Percussionist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2011 and 2013. He has been named one of the top ten percussionists in the world by the readers and critics of Downbeat magazine for the last 10 years and is a member of Max Roach's legendary percussion ensemble M'BOOM. Mr. Sanabria has composed the music for several award winning, critically acclaimed documentaries - From Mambo to Hip Hip: A South Bronx Tale (2006) where he was also a producer, consultant and on air personality, Some Girls (2017), and La Madrina: The Savage Life of Loraine Padilla (2020). Other documentaries he has been featured in on screen and acted as a consultant, producer are, The Palladium: Where Mambo Was King (2003), Latin Music U.S.A. (2006), We Like It Like That: The Story of Latin Boogaloo (2015), and Let's Get The Rhythm 2016). In 2012 Maestro Sanabria was selected by legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock to represent Latin jazz with his Quarteto Ache' as part of the first Annual UNESCO International Day of Jazz at the United Nations
Among his numerous awards include induction into the 2006 Bronx Walk of Fame, the 2018 Jazz Education Network's LeJENS of Latin Jazz Award and being honored by his name being read into the U.S. Congressional Record by Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio in 2008. In 2019 he was named Godfather/Padrino of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City. He was recently bestowed an Honorary Doctorate by Lehman College in New York. He is on the faculty of New School University (his 28th year), is the Co-Artistic Director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center/Bronx Music Hall, and is the host of the Latin Jazz Cruise on WBGO FM, America's leading jazz station. His lifetime dedication to spreading the history, culture, of jazz and Latin jazz to the general public as a performer, as well as educating a new generation of players, composers, arrangers, has no parallel. His latest critically acclaimed double CD with his Multiverse Big Band, VOX HUMANA, recorded live at Dizzy's, NYC features vocalists Janis Siegel, Antoinette Montague and Jennifer Jade Ledesna and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz recording (2024).
AIDAN MEANY | FASHION
SUSAN RICH | VCD
Susan Hazel Rich is a business owner, designer and illustrator. In 2014, she transitioned from a graphic design career to developing her own brand, Hazelmade, a stationery and home goods line of small-batch, USA / Midwest-made products that are both quality and beautiful works of art made to last. Hazelmade has thousands of retail customers and is carried in more than 600 stores worldwide. Susan has been recognized as a top designer within her field by local and national organizations, received the prestigious “40 Under 40” award for leadership, and remains committed to her community through mentoring, teaching and volunteering her professional skills.
JARRYD HUNTLEY | GAME DESIGN
Jarryd Huntley is a Sr. Lead Optimization Engineer at Owlchemy Labs working on Dimensional Double Shift. As a leader in Cleveland's game dev scene he's taught classes and workshops, organized numerous events, and also co-author of the 2017 book Game Programming for Artists. Jarryd was lead programmer on the 2023 Peabody Award-winning game We are OFK, he was also inducted into the Video Game Awards Future Class 2021. With talks worldwide, he brings a unique perspective by drawing on his experiences from enterprise software engineering to playing as a professional musician. His studio, Polytundra, has ported games to consoles and released its own title Art Club Challenge which was featured in the 2017 Smithsonian American Art Museum Arcade.
LARRY HEYMAN | THEATRE
Larry Heyman is an internationally recognized and award-winning freelance designer based in Cleveland. He is a USA Local 829 Scenic Designer, with over thirty years’ experience in set design as well as properties design, fabrication, and supervision, across theatre, film, television, commercial projects, and higher education.
He is also an author and has created classes, completed research, and worked extensively in higher education classrooms and performance spaces. He has lectured and written extensively about all aspects of design and production, encompassing script analysis, paperwork, organization, research, sourcing, procurement, and fabrication. Larry thrives on creative problem-solving, budgeting, and design and fabrication.
His design method is director-focused and searches for terms, metaphors, and visual motifs that may often seem remote, but create a unique outside-the-box perspective for actors and audiences alike.
He has a diverse portfolio of design work, ranging from opera, theatre, film, commercial work, and trade events.
Larry is also known for developing a new, low-cost, non-staining, non-fiber reactive stage blood recipe used in theaters nationwide. His recipe was included in Jennifer McClure’s book, Bloody Brilliant: How to Develop, Execute, and Clean Up Blood Effects for Live Performance, as well as an article in a professional publication.
Affiliated companies: The Goodman Theatre, The Huntington Theatre, the LaJolla Playhouse, Prague Shakespeare Company, The Cleveland Playhouse, Kaleidoscope Productions, Paramount Pictures Corp., Twentieth Century Fox, MTV, and Touchstone Pictures.
LESLIE SHAMPAINE | DANCE
Leslie Shampaine is an award-winning filmmaker and teaching artist. After a 13-year career as a professional ballet dancer, she transitioned into documentary film, producing content for PBS, CBS, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic. She was part of the production team for the Emmy-winning Kennedy Center Honors, creating over 30 biographical films about American artists.
Her PBS feature documentary, Call Me Dancer, has won 24 prestigious awards, including China’s top documentary prize. The film was shown in over 90 film festivals, on airlines, in cinemas, and screened at U.S. consulates in India and Nepal.
As a 2024 Fulbright Scholar to India, she led workshops and screenings, using the universal language of art to foster cross-cultural dialogue. Her dedication to the arts continues to inspire global connections, bridging cultures and fostering understanding through storytelling and mentorship.
Selected credits include the PBS programs: One World: India, Avoiding Armageddon, and Closer To Truth; Who Betrayed Anne Frank (Discovery Channel) – winner of a Telly, a Cine Golden Eagle, and a Gold Remi at the Houston WorldFest; DC Cupcakes (TLC); Smithsonian Networks series’ Seriously Amazing Objects; and Fireworks, with George Plimpton (A&E), which was nominated for an Emmy and an ACE.
LYNETTE SHY | MARKETING AND BRANDING
Lynette Shy is the founder of Confluence Arts Solutions, a marketing agency built specifically for small and midsized arts organizations. With over two decades of experience in arts marketing, Lynette specializes in helping artists and arts administrators grow their audiences, increase revenue, and build systems that actually work. She’s known for her practical, people-first approach to strategy and has worked with organizations across the country on everything from ticket sales to digital campaigns. Lynette is also a frequent speaker on the future of arts.