Mariela Acuña is an art administrator and curator from San José, Costa Rica currently based in Chicago. As Director of Exhibitions and Residency at Hyde Park Art Center, she oversees the Art Center’s exhibitions program, the Jackman Goldwasser Residency, and the micro-publishing platform Green Lantern Press. Together with a small team, Mariela manages the innovative regranting initiative Artists Run Chicago Fund which has distributed over one million dollars in unrestricted grants among artist-run platforms in the city since 2020. 

Mariela is a board member at Comfort Station, a micro-cultural center that activates a historical building in Logan Square with free programs at the intersection of art and life. Mariela has held positions at the Norton Museum of Art, the University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University, and Girls’ Club Collection, Fort Lauderdale. She holds a BA in Art History and a BFA in Sculpture from Florida Atlantic University and a dual MA in Art Administration and Public Policy and Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Photo by Tran Tran

Areej Ashhab is a Palestinian artist, architect and researcher engaging in community land practices and material ecologies. She’s a co-founder of Al-Block collective, documenting lost narratives of the Palestinian landscape through collective walking, and Al-Wah’at, a translocal collective countering anthropocentric and colonial narratives around arid lands and futures. Ashhab has contributed to projects Between Lime and Clay (2023-2024), The Absent Map (Riwaq Centre, 2021-2022), Souq Stories (Palestine, 2021), and Jerusalem Show IX (Al-Ma’mal Foundation, 2018). She has also taught at the Royal College of Art (London, UK) and the Arab American University (Ramallah, Palestine).

Instagram
Portfolio

Rashad brings over 15 years of experience as a strategic development executive and producer, dedicated to building the creative infrastructure essential for artists. His work merges revenue growth, stakeholder engagement, and economic justice—an approach rooted in early advocacy for equitable economic policy and community change.

Before ACA, Rashad led advancement for cultural institutions including Asia Society, The New Press, PlayCo, and The Drama League, building sustainable funding models and institutional partnerships.

A multidisciplinary creator and filmmaker, he co-founded the film collective Fine Print and founded the experimental agency Operation CTRL. His production credits include the award-winning documentary BEBA (NEON), La ENA, and the Broadway production of Slave Play.

Johanna Bankston is a Senior Officer on AFI’s Global Policy & Advocacy team, where she serves as a lead researcher and author on AFI’s regional and thematic reports and projects on artistic freedom, and manages several of the program’s advocacy initiatives in international fora. Ms. Bankston co-authored AFI’s reports on Hungary, Poland, Afghanistan, Iran, and Nicaragua, and serves as the lead researcher for AFI’s newest project, the Artistic Freedom Monitor: USA.

Prior to joining AFI, Ms. Bankston worked as a researcher on human rights policy issues for the Oxford Department of International Development, Terre Des Hommes in Hungary, and the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center’s Digital Investigations Lab. Her writing has been published in the 2022 book Digital Identity, Virtual Borders, and Social Media, and her op-eds have been featured by the Atlantic Council, the EU Observer, and Euronews. She also worked as a paralegal for several years, specializing in LGBTQ+ and gender based asylum and humanitarian relief claims.

Ms. Bankston holds a Masters Degree (MSc) in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from the University of California, Berkeley.”

Patrick Bond is the U.S. Program Officer for the Artists at Risk Connection. He has built a career in social and cultural non-profits, focusing on cultural rights, equity, and democracy. At Open Society Foundations, he managed major grantmaking initiatives on the Narrative and Culture Change team and led the Soros Equality Fellowship, supporting leaders advancing racial justice and democratic renewal. At New York University, he developed approaches to qualitative research, digital security, and data-driven collaboration. Earlier, he worked with cultural institutions to create public programs engaging diverse communities in dialogue on history and justice. He holds a Master’s in Experimental Humanities and Social Engagement from New York University and a Bachelor’s in History and Russian & Eastern European Studies from the University of Virginia.

Website
Instagram
Bluesky

Chiwoniso Kaitano has spent her career at the intersection of art, storytelling, and social change. A passionate advocate for artists and creative communities, she believes that art is one of the most powerful forces for shaping how societies understand themselves and imagine new futures. Originally from Zimbabwe, she has lived on three continents and built a career grounded in the belief that art and culture is central to thriving communities and social transformation.

In 2023, Kaitano became Executive Director of MacDowell, the nation’s preeminent multidisciplinary artists residency program. In the role, she stewards both the organization’s creative vision and its long-term sustainability, supporting generations of artists who come to MacDowell to develop bold new work across disciplines. 

Kaitano’s path to arts leadership has been shaped by a global perspective. Before joining MacDowell, she served as Executive Director of Girl Be Heard, an international nonprofit that empowers young people to speak out about issues affecting their lives through theater and storytelling. During her four years leading the organization, she helped expand its reach and deepen its commitment to youth-driven advocacy and artistic expression around the world. Her academic training reflects the same global outlook that defines her work: Kaitano holds a law degree from the London School of Economics and a Master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Tamara Khasanova is an independent curator, researcher, and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. She was a 2024–25 Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellow in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program (ISP) and holds an MA in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts. Her research and curatorial work center emergent aesthetics, pedagogical and discursive practices, and forms of collective knowledge production.

Tamara has curated exhibitions and performances, organized screenings, lectured, and contributed to projects across cultural, publishing, and educational institutions including e-flux, gmtc – golden monkey trading company 金猿商社, AHL Foundation, Protocinema, White Columns, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, The Clark Art Institute, the Queens Museum, and TransitoryWhite, among others.

Website
Instagram

Mai Khôi is a Vietnamese singer, composer, and activist known for her work at the intersection of art and activism. She rose to fame as a pop star, winning Vietnam’s Television Song and Album of the Year awards in 2010. Over time, she became a vocal critic of government censorship, culminating in a pro-democracy campaign for the National Assembly and a meeting with Barack Obama. This activism came at a high cost, leading to her exile in the U.S.

In exile, Khôi has continued her artistic and activist work through projects like her genre-splicing trio, Mai Khôi Chém Gió, and her current project, Mai Khôi and the Dissidents. She has also been an artist in residence and was awarded the 2018 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent and the 2022 Four Freedoms Award for Freedom of Speech.

Website

Laura Kraftowitz is the founding executive director of City of Asylum/Detroit, a nonprofit that provides safe-haven fellowships to exiled writers and artists. Her essays have appeared or are forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Lit Hub, Fence, Protean, Poetry, and elsewhere. Previously, she was an on-the-ground reporter in Gaza for The Electronic Intifada.

Website

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. 

Website
Facebook
Instagram

Zumrad Mirzalieva is a visual artist, researcher and cultural programmer working with photography and moving image. Her research explores themes of agency, solidarity, ecology and extraction. She is one of the Directors of the Davra research group founded by artist and filmmaker Saodat Ismailova, a recent resident at Fabrica Research Centre, Delfina Foundation and a Magnum Foundations Fellow. Zumrad’s debut short film “Autonomy” was screened at documenta fifteen and the GoEast film festival symposium in Wiesbaden. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Innovation from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she focused on exploring the transformative potential of art in driving positive social change.

Instagram
Sartaroshxona series by Zumrad Mirzalieva

Lila Nazemian (she/her) is an independent curator and the Programs Director at ArteEast in New York. In 2022, she joined the Brooklyn-based Transmitter gallery as a co-director.

Lila’s research and curatorial practice are focused on reimagining approaches to histories from the Middle East/Southwest Asia North Africa (SWANA) and Central Asia regions in an effort to counter narrative revisionism and collective amnesia. Central to her investigations are examining artist and community based approaches to subverting institutional forms of knowledge production and dissemination. Recent curatorial projects include: “The Bride Has Gone To Pick Flowers,” Cue Art, New York, (2025); “Conjuring Flames,” Arsenal Contemporary, New York, (2023); and “Now That We Have Established A Common Ground” within Protocinema’s Emerging Curator Series, (2022). Nazemian teaches part-time at NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Art & Art Professions. She received a B.A. in History from Scripps College, California; and an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from N.Y.U., New York. She was a QAYYEM 2019 Curatorial Fellow, was among the inaugural participants of the 2018-2019 Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program in New York and participated in ICI’s 2018 Curatorial Intensive in Bangkok.

Kseniia Opria, a Razom ArtsLink Fellow, is a curator, editor, and filmmaker specializing in documentary and experimental cinema. She explores communities, institutions, and the intersection of civilian and military realities during wartime. Based in Zaporizhzhia, Kseniia is currently completing her debut short documentary, The Right to Expression.

Kseniia is a co-founder and co-curator of PKHE! – Experimental Film Workshop, a not-for-profit collective that operates as a curatorial and research platform for artistic experimentation with moving images.

Kseniia serves as Editor-in-Chief at the NGO Docudays UA. Docudays focuses on human rights documentary cinema and includes several initiatives such as the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA, the Ukrainian War Archive, and a network of film clubs.

Kseniia is also the editor of the 7th Edition of the Electronic Catalogue of Ukrainian Documentary Films (2023–2025), a project presenting Ukrainian documentary cinema to global audiences. Published after the full-scale Russian invasion, the edition supports Ukrainian cultural diplomacy and professional exchange.

Kseniia studied sociology at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Kseniia Opria’s Razom ArtsLink Fellowship is supported by Razom for Ukraine.

Instagram
Facebook
Instagram PHKE! – Experimental Film Workshop

Altynai Osmo is a multimedia artist working across graphic art, textiles, artwear, jewelry, photography, video and installations. Altynai draws inspiration from the mythologies, traditions, philosophy and aesthetics of Central Asian nomadic cultures. She explores intergenerational connections, matriarchy, memories of ancestors, themes of identity and women’s empowerment. Altynai’s work delves into the intersection of traditional and contemporary societies and cultural norms, navigating the clash between the two, challenging preconceptions and fostering dialogue to provoke thoughtful reflection and contribute to positive social changes. Altynai Osmo’s artistic practice strives to be a catalyst for societal awareness and transformation, promoting empowerment, resilience, and a reevaluation of cultural and gender dynamics.

Having engaged in numerous international exhibitions, Altynai has been the recipient of prestigious awards, including recognitions like Vogue Young Talents (Italy, 2014), International Contemporary Crafts Biennale (China, 2014), Saga Furs (Netherlands, 2013, 2015), Creative Spark (UK, 2020, 2021), Felt, Fat and Fictions / Joseph Beuys at Goethe Institute Tokyo (Japan, 2021), Soros Foundation Stipend in Art (Kyrgyzstan, 2020, 2023), Arte Laguna Prize (Italy, 2023), Berlin x Bishkek Art Weeks (Germany, 2023), Larking Dawn fellow at Art Omi (USA, 2023), ArtsLink Fellowship (USA, 2026), and multiple UNESCO Award of Excellence Certificates. Altynai Osmoeva is a member of the World Crafts Council, ArtCity e.V. and the Artists Union of the Kyrgyz Republic. Her works are in the collections of the Brown University, Francis Greenberger Foundation, Alkanov Foundation and Center of Contemporary Arts and Heritage Felt.

Instagram

(she/her): Afro-Taína descendant

Decolonization Rider Analyst & Strategist, Emily Johnson / Catalyst

Leomary Rodriguez [LAY-oh-mah-ree = Leomary] is an Afro-Taína descendent, a data analyst, storyteller, and strategist who uses data to support decolonial frameworks. Rooted in kinship, care, and accountability, her work centers Indigenous sovereignty and Land Back. With a background in storytelling through various mediums, she uses data to illuminate patterns, uplift truth, and advance Catalyst’s mission for collective liberation.

Omaid Sharifi is an artivist and Co-Founder and President of ArtLords. Established in Kabul in 2014, ArtLords uses public art and community engagement to advance social justice and peacebuilding. Now based in Virginia, Omaid supports artists in Afghanistan and across the diaspora. He is a Global Pluralism Award laureate and a recipient of the Vital Voices Solidarity Award.

Website
ArtLords

Rachel Switlick is the current Artist Liaison & Advocate for SHIM: NYC. She holds her MA in Performance & Culture from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her graduate work culminated in an examination of the impact of US Immigration policies and procedures on the creative culture of New York City. Her undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University (BA in English and BFA in Dance) were focused on interdisciplinary collaboration and a study of methods of communication amongst artists. Before joining the SHIM: NYC team, Rachel worked in theatre production for various performances, including Insight International’s tour of Uniform Justice and the TÉA Creative and Private Theatre’s co-production of Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana, Sean, Claudia, Gianna, Alex. As an advocate for social justice encouraged by the belief that artistic freedom is essential to a fair and just society, Rachel focuses her efforts on finding ways to support artists of all backgrounds. Outside of this work, Rachel currently spends her time empowering others as a Krav Maga instructor and debate coach.

Tamizdat

Mátyás Tóth is a is a puppeteer and interdisciplinary artist who received his master’s degree in puppetry in Budapest. His practice combines puppet experiments, new-media installations, and performances. His research focuses on digital manipulation and propaganda, and on how these shape reality and mindsets in society, especially within autocratic systems. Mátyás has developed art projects in Japan and Taiwan, and recently lived in Berlin for a year to create multiple works addressing anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda. Committed to social impact, Mátyás leads participatory theatre projects and workshops for underprivileged youth.

Instagram

Photo Credit: Forgacs Bea

Ashley Tucker is the Co-Executive Director of the Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI), where she leads the planning and implementation of programs and legal services for at-risk artists. With a career dedicated to international human rights and social justice, Ms. Tucker brings extensive experience from her work with organizations such as the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights. She has a unique background that combines art and law, holding a BA in Studio Art and a JD from CUNY School of Law. Ms. Tucker has worked on strategic litigation and conducted human rights trainings abroad, using her dual expertise to advocate for creative freedom.

Website
Facebook

Amita Vempati serves as AFI’s Development Manager. Prior to joining AFI, Amita worked at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, the East European Folklife Center, Brooklyn Raga Massive, the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center, and American Councils for International Education. She has led data gathering efforts for monitoring and evaluation initiatives on multilateral legal reform in the Balkans, labor protections in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry, and cultural exchange in youth education programs in Tajikistan. Amita completed her B.A. in Government, History, and Russian Studies at the University of Texas and her M.A. in Central Eurasian Studies (focusing on digital censorship and nation-building in post-Soviet Central Asia) at Indiana University.

Website

Kyaw Moe Khine (b.1996), professionally known as Bart Was Not Here, is a Burmese artist in exile based in New York. Rooted in graffiti and raised on imported subcultures, his visual language employs subversion, fiction, and narrative investment. Working across large-scale canvases, sculptural installations, and drawings, Bart constructs sprawling worlds inhabited by recurring characters and shapeshifting motifs.

Growing up under a military dictatorship in Burma, he used graffiti as a tool of agency, adopting the pseudonym at age 13. With limited access to global culture, he absorbed foreign films, literature, and subcultures through dial-up internet and bootleg markets.

Bart’s practice blends cinematic composition with gallows humor, internet semiotics with folklore, and conventional beauty with disobedience, engaging themes of violence, voyage, worship, and myth-making. A graduate of LASALLE College of the Arts, he has exhibited internationally. Following his involvement in the resistance against Myanmar’s 2021 coup, he went into exile, completing residencies at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York.

Website
Instagram