Shola Thompson is the founder of Community Revitalization Partnership, a non-profit aimed at creating therapeutic spaces within NYC schools. Over the last 10 years within private practice and public partnerships, Shola has worked collaboratively with clients to create lived-experiences that honor themselves, their relationships and the spaces that mean the most to them. Shola's work is centered in healing, resilience and equity. 

Kearra Amaya Gopee (they/them) is an anti-disciplinary visual artist from Carapichaima, Kairi (the larger of the twin-island nation known as Trinidad and Tobago), living on Lenape land (New York, NY). Using video, sculpture, sound, writing, and other media, they identify both violence and time as primary conditions that undergird the anti-Black world in which they work: a world that they are intent on working against through myriad collective interventions. 

Ragnhild Bruland (Ragz) grew up in Norway where she studied psychology  at the University of Oslo. She is the co-founder of the Flex Dance Program for youth in secure detention after being inspired by the art-form of flexing (flexn) and the work that was being done by artists in local communities. She strongly believes in the value of artistic expression and its positive effects on mental health. Her research interests include dance and music on resilience and coping mechanisms. 

Heather Robles (she/her/ella) is a nondisabled queer Latinx cis woman of indigenous Mexican descent who lives on the stolen land of the Lenape and Canarsie peoples in what is now called Brooklyn. She is a certified birth doula at Our Birth Doula, Artistic Director of Alma Dance Company, and Executive Director of the New York Dance & Performance Awards, The Bessies. Heather is also a dance educator, teaching artist, producer, and advocate for mental health in the dance field.

Ebony Nichols is an adjunct professor at Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY), where she teaches Cultural Competency and Social Justice in Creative Art Therapy; Lesley University (Cambridge, MA), where she teaches Power, Privilege, and Oppression in Clinical Practice and Psychopathology in the Expressive Therapies Program; and Cultural Humility through the Power of Storytelling at The Embodiment Education Institute of Chicago. In addition, Ebony is the Multicultural and Diversity Committee Chairperson of the American Dance Therapy Association. 

For over 10 years, Hadi Eldebek has been immersed in the sectors of Arts, Culture, and Education, working with prominent individuals and institutions like, Yo-Yo Ma's Silkroad Ensemble, Harvard Graduate School of Education, The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, TED, Disney World Imagineering, and more.  As an entrepreneur, he founded two cultural startups, GrantPA and Circle World Arts. The startups have attracted the support of Yo-Yo Ma, Alicia Adams (Kennedy Center), Nicholas Chbat (Philips Research North America), and Kristy Jung (Department Of Education). Both startups have been selected as breakthrough ideas to join the TED Residency Incubator. 

Dr. Durell Cooper is one the nation's leading cultural strategists and is the Founder and CEO of Cultural Innovation Group; a boutique consulting agency specializing in systems change and collaborative thought leadership. He is also the creator and host of the web series, Flow and the podcast Fluency w/ Dr. Durell Cooper; an adjunct instructor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, New York University, and The City College of New York. Durell completed the Impact Program for Arts Leaders (IPAL) at Stanford University in 2018. He is a member of the Diversity Scholars Network at the National Center for Institutional Diversity, University of Michigan. Durell earned a B.F.A from Southern Methodist University, and both a M.A & Doctorate of Education from New York University. 

Michael Aryee is an artist and administrator at Dance Flex Program Inc. He grew up in Ghana and studied Philosophy, Politics & Economics at Trinity College. Michael is a Strategist and Chess instructor at PS 264 Bay Ridge Elementary. Michael is an alumnus of the New School where he earned a Masters in Conflict and Security. Michael is a lifelong student and occasional teacher.

Sobha Kavanakudiyil is a Chair Emeritus for The New York City Arts in Education Roundtable and she is the Director of The Graduate Program in Educational Theatre at The City College of New York. She also works as an Arts Education Consultant and is part of the inaugural class of the Americans for the Arts Speaker’s Bureau and a Mentor for the Arthur Miller Foundation and Department of Education mentoring program. She is the recipient of the Fulbright Specialist Fellowship and has traveled to Seoul, Korea, and Puebla, Mexico to share her love of theatre with teachers and artists abroad.

Shola Thompson is the founder of Community Revitalization Partnership, a non-profit aimed at creating therapeutic spaces within NYC schools. Over the last 10 years within private practice and public partnerships, Shola has worked collaboratively with clients to create lived-experiences that honor themselves, their relationships and the spaces that mean the most to them. Shola's work is centered in healing, resilience and equity.