Samara Atkins
Choreographer
Oakland | USA
Samara Atkins is an Oakland native and has been dancing, performing, and teaching hip-hop since 1999. Her mission is to utilize dance as a somatic tool for expressing, celebrating, addressing, coping, connecting, translating, and healing from our lived experiences. Samara is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Mix'd Ingrdnts, with a mission to educate, inspire, and empower women, youth, and the community. She and her crew have been featured in various news articles, numerous dance festivals and awards, on the Harry Connick Jr. show, and KQED. She's also choreographer, member, and singer of the two-time GRAMMY-nominated children's music group, Alphabet Rockers.
Keena Azania Romano
Visual Artist/Muralist
Oakland/Richmond | USA
Keena Azania Romano exercises her creative mind through the exploration of diverse artistic mediums as a way to engage and understand individual and collective purpose. Romano received her BFA from Pomona College then returned to her native Bay Area to pursue a career in the Arts. Her Murals can be spotted from Sacramento, California to Oaxaca, Mexico.
Inspired by cultural practices, Romano combines spirituality with urban experience to produce work that draws upon the quest for a greater understanding of intersectional beauty in this world. She fuses traditional native arts with contemporary inner-city techniques to reflect a new language that encourages the healing and empowerment process between community members and their environments. Her style is described as “vibrant and insightful”.
She aspires to travel and create a colorful trail of art by exploring the modern Diaspora based on her multi-ethnic experience.
Tango Leadaz
Choreographer
Los Angeles | USA
Tango Leadaz is a Los Angeles based movement instructor, choreographer and actor that has quickly made a name for himself as one of the leading choreographers for authentic Dancehall in LA. With well over ten years of Dancehall experience, he uses his extensive Dancehall vocabulary and knowledge to spread joy and help bring awareness to the culture. He is the creator of globally popular Dancehall moves such as "Good Chemistry," which was used by major artists such as Chris Brown and Omarion, and "Get Use to It," which was globally performed by the one and only Beyoncé during Coachella and OTR2 tour. Described as being "animated" and "full of life" he is gaining notoriety for his high energy classes, flavorful choreography and creative skits. Tango Leadaz performs worldwide and has taught workshops in the United States, Asia, Canada, South America and Europe. Because of his ability to create amazing vibes and good energy, whether in a party or on set, he has been dubbed the Vibes Architect. Tango Leadaz’s credits include choreographing Omarion’s “Distance” and “W4W” and featuring in performance/music videos for Beyoncé, Janet Jackson, Black Eye Peas, and Gwen Stefani, to name a few.
Agyakomah
Music Artist
NYC | Ghana
Agyakomah is an artist-singer-songwriter that utilizes her cultural background and unique upbringing as a young first-generation woman to create music that reflects her story. What she categorizes as Afrofusion, not only represents her West African and R&B/Soul blend, but the outcome of a fusion of different lifestyles, languages, experiences and generational stories that is highlighted in her artistry. Agyakomah pushes boundaries of the African narrative by creating stories reflective of the everyday experiences of young Africans like herself who may reside on or off the continent.
She recently performed alongside artists across the world by participating in the The Great Lockdown Online Music Festival, and has released music consistently throughout the year. Her latest single, “Pay Me What You Owe” calls out employers by detailing the realities of post-grad life, for a young professional and the frustrations behind feeling undervalued. She aims to close out 2020 with the new collaboration and drop of her debut EP.
David SNIPES
Choreographer
Lagos | Nigeria
David Amaechina also known as SNIPES is a multifaceted performing artist based in Lagos, Nigeria. A dance artiste and choreographer whose major style is Afro fusion, which includes various African dance styles. He is one of the executives of popular dance revolution movement called Afrocan where thriving dancers perform in "Bázuté” jam sessions towards creating a community for dancers in an unrepresented environment.
His work revolves around situational dynamism in an African context. His performances are mined recreation from memory, contemporary folklore and appropriated global culture as experienced by him, his work intends to create nostalgia with the artistic devices of cultural landmarks. His work involves use of set design as an architectural sculpture where memory is relived with relating sound, lighting and slight drama.
Caroline Ngorobi
Theatre Producer/Performer
Mombasa | Kenya
Caroline Ngorobi is a theatre producer and performer from Mombasa Kenya. She joined the theatre scene in 2005 in Nairobi as an actor featuring in a number of stage plays, films and has been a voice artist with Deutsche Welle. She believes every experience is a story waiting to be told.
She moved to Mombasa where founded Jukwaa Arts Productions in 2015. Since then she has worked as a producer and performer. Her work fuses drama, movement and poetry. She uses applied theatre to tell contemporary stories. She has began experimenting with physical theatre to promote and preserve culture while exploring its intersection with emerging and popular culture. Her work involves using the transformative tool of theatre to evoke emotions and provoke thought on touchy subjects like sexual harassment, juvenile crime and taboos in the African Culture.
In 2018, she presented a performance at the Bagamoyo International Festival of Arts and Culture in Tanzania which was facilitated by a grant from the British Council. Through a grant from Art Moves Africa, she was able to be part of the Producers Academy in Belgium and the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in 2019.
Kelly Greenlight
Ritual Performance Artist/Organizer
Nairobi | USA
Currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, Kelly 'GreenLight' Thomas is a ritual performance artist, wellness worker and cultural organizer. A New Jersey girl with roots in Alabama and The Commonwealth of Dominica, Kelly is currently pulling from her diverse cultural background to build a body of children’s music that addresses positive self esteem, cultivating healthy relationships and embracing the natural world. For over a decade, Kelly has been creating music & performance around emotional health, women’s narratives, and nature. As a performance artist, Kelly conceives interactive & transcendent arts experiences that activate her background in gender studies, theater, group dynamics, Afro-Diasporic cultural practice, and holistic healing.
Kelly is the foundress of Black Arts Retreat, a community arts organization which focuses on exploring African diasporic art and culture, communing with nature and holistic wellness through retreats, workshops and affinity groups in the US, digitally and around the world. Through Black Arts Retreat, Kelly has facilitated groups in Bahia, Brazil Berlin, Germany and throughout Haiti since 2016. Kelly holds a Bachelor's Degree in Educational Theater from NYU's Steinhardt School and a Sound and Music Integrated Practitioner Credential from the New York Open Center
Tshepiso Mabula ka Ndongeni
Photography
Johannesburg | South Africa
Tshepiso Mabula is a photographer and writer born in the Lephalale district of Limpopo, South Africa. Mabula’s interest in photography sparked when visiting a family member she was introduced to photographer Santu Mofokeng’s work. This Led to her studying photojournalism and documentary photography at the Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg where she became a recipient of the Tierney fellowship in 2018./ where she received the 2018 Tierney fellowship.
Ifayomi Christine
Filmmaker/Multidisciplinary Artist
Detroit | USA
Ashley ‘Ifayomi’ Douglas is a Black Queer multidisciplinary artist, healer, and filmmaker currently based in Detroit, MI. Ifayomi’s work is centered around ritual, memory, self intimacy, and prayer. She finds inspiration in the layered stories and experiences of Black Femmes, African diasporic connections to water, ancestral magic, and finding “home.” Her objective is to synthesize the worlds of ancestral healing, art, and wellness with intention centered on accessibility. Her artistic credits include Allied Media Conference’s Ethics and Aesthetics Film screening, Detroit Narrative Agency’s Radical Remedies Film Series, Art Basel 2019 for N’Namdi Gallery, and Danny Brown’s “Flower Car” with Eightfold Collective Studios and Lisa Waud
Oganga Mangiti
Poet
Nairobi| Kenya
Oganga Mangiti, is a poet, born, raised and residing in Nairobi, Kenya. He has been writing poetry from 2010, with his debut poetry anthology, “Love and Pain,” coming out in 2019. The book contains poems which focus on the emotions of love and those of pain, with the belief that going through each emotion individually, leads to the process of healing and growth through acceptance.
His work has been described as poetry of emotion, as it mainly focuses on the emotions of love, pain and heartbreak. He initially started writing, to express the emotions he felt; but that has morphed into a constant search; using words to express different emotions and social issues. He draws a lot of his influence from African writers, such as Chinua Achebe, Francis Imbuga, Margaret Ogolla and Ijeoma Umbinyo; and poets such as R.H Sin and the oriental poet, Rumi.
Currently, Oganga Mangiti, is working on his second book, which will focus on the themes of blooming and coming of age. He is also constantly engaged in growing his art form and experimenting with various forms of expression. Furthermore, he has engaged in various campaigns, using poetry and prose in various digital and marketing campaigns.
Yvonne Shortt
Visual Artist
New York City| USA
Yvonne Shortt is a multidisciplinary artist who takes a question-based approach to understand and activate the community around her. Recent questions include, “How does one care for community spaces left to decay?”, “How does one respond to racism using art?”, and “How does one heal from trauma?”. Her areas of focus are equality, disability, race, and sustainability. Her mediums include sculpture, installation, mural, and social practice art.
Some of Ms. Shortt's projects include African American Marbleization-An Act of Civil Disobedience, The School Fence Project, Underpass Murals, and Woman Who Build.
Ms. Shortt's selected awards include NYC Parks Public Art Award, NYC Department of Education Art in Schools Award, Illumination Fund Award, Queens Council on the Arts New Works Grant, Elmhurst Sculpture Garden Public Art Award, and The Burning Man Educational Grant.
Trabolee
Rapper Artist
Nairobi | Kenya
Truth Reigns Above But Only Love Exists Eternally is coded in my rap name while Tra is Art is a mantra that mirrors my innermost reflections when I'm creating. I've always been amazed at how the mundane nothingness of life can be transformed into a canvas ,especially if one is in-tune enough to see the patterns and connections that are always presenting themselves in the now.
I'm a recording and performing artist who conveys his creativity through the genres of Hip Hop and spoken word poetry but not necessarily limited by them. My art stretches the imagination through varied subject matter that ranges extensively from the sacred to the profane, from the profound to the mundane.
Nzilani Simu
Visual Artist
Nairobi | Kenya
Nzilani Simu is an illustrator and graphic designer born, raised and based in Nairobi, Kenya. She specialises in illustration, hand lettering, infographics, identity design and is passionate about design for social impact - particularly when it comes to an African lens and projects focused on women's rights. She has over ten years of experience working as a freelancer and for creative agencies. She has a BA in Sociology from the University of Western Ontario, and a BA in Graphic Design from Curtin University in Malaysia. In the last few years, she has been working on her art brand Kulula; Kulula comes from the Kikamba word meaning 'to draw' and is an outlet for more creative ideas and personal expression using illustration and mixed media. In addition to this, Nzilani works as a graphic design teacher in a Nairobi college.
Afatasi The Artist
Fine Art Textile Artist
San Francisco, CA | USA
Afatasi The Artist, is a cultural curator of Afro-Polynesia. Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Afatasi is a multidisciplinary creative, whose mediums include, and are not limited to: textile artist, designer, writer, poet, photographer, and singer/songwriter. She creates fashion, art, prose, and music, all through her unique Afro-Polynesian lens and perspective. A few of her personal values include: honoring ancestors, the DECOLONIZATION of spaces, Black Lives Matter, self-love and Afros.
Tayleur Crenshaw
Spoken Word Artist/Writer
Oakland, CA | USA
Though Tayleur wrote stories and poetry her whole life, she never considered herself to be a writer. What she did know was that she loved seeing her people thrive and being in spaces that inspired her. As fate would have it, those two things became what eventually developed her career as a writer and poet and co-founder of @Gold.Beams. Through @Gold.Beams, Tayleur curates amazing events, programming and productions for black creatives and her black community at large. As a writer and poet Tayleur shares her art and teaches art in schools and youth programs.
Tayleur is also a New York native, Howard University alumna. Her ultimate goal is to love on black people and to support their wildest dreams.
Vanessa Mwingira
Photographer
Dar es Salaam | Tanzania
Vanessa Mwingira is a photographer based in Tanzania. "Punkandblack" is the artistry name used by Vanessa and it explores her photography foundation which is rooted in portraying black and brown individuals as her main subject matter. The photographer aims to amplify the presentation of black people in mainstream media visually through usage of complementary tones and colors which provide a perspective of richness and beauty.
Valerie Fab-uche
Visual Artist
Lagos | Nigeria
FAB-UCHE Nnenne Valerie (b.1996) has spent most of her life and work in Lagos, Nigeria. Danfo as she is fondly called due to her “never stop, never settle” attitude and insatiable love for Lagos metropolitan life and street culture is constantly using her art practice whether in form of painting, drawing, installation, photography or performances, to document, mirror and question everyday life and challenges as a human being first and a female millennial. Valerie is a fellow of the art in medicine fellowship an initiative of tender arts Nigeria and holds a national Diploma in General arts from Yaba College of Technology Lagos, Nigeria.
WEB | IG
Kiazi Malonga
Performer/Instructor
Oakland | Congo Brazzaville
Kiazi Malonga was initiated in Congolese dance/drum culture at two years old by my late father Malonga Casquelourd. Casquelourd, former principal dancer with the National Congolese Dance Company, and Tanawa, co-founder (first US based central African dance company) was instrumental in helping build the African diaspora artistic community in the Bay Area and beyond. Organizations within this community include Mandeleo Institute, Worlds Arts West, University of California and Cal State campuses, and Everybody’s Creative Arts. Kiazi has been deeply steeped in this community my entire life, and feel fortunate to be a leading educator, advocate, and performer in the African music community.
Nico Phooko, The Music Painter
Visual Artist
Johannesburg | South Africa
Nico Phooko is one of Africa's most gifted visual artists who has embraced and popularised the unique concept of LIVE PAINTING, through which he captures the essence of special events live on canvas!
This novel entertainment genre becomes a truly unforgettable part of the event, which is captured and memorialized as an artwork. Guests love watching how the event unfolds on canvas, representing the mood, the sounds and rhythms, and the highlights of the evening in a most unique and colourful way. The final product is the perfect memento of the event, for the client to keep.
Nico has been invited to artistically capture events such as A Tribute to Samora Machel, painting alongside world renowned musicians and politicians who had come to honour the life of the late Samora Machel. The painting was presented to Mrs Graca Machel, her husband Dr Nelson Mandela, and the Machel’s Family.
He has also painted live on stage with Africa's great musicians, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Sibongile Khumalo, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Ringo Mandlingozi, Joyous Celebration, Joe Nina, Bongo Maffin, Voice and a host of Traditional and Jazz Musicians throughout South Africa and abroad.
Nico's live painting cv includes many award ceremonies, private and corporate gala dinners, conferences, weddings, children’s celebrations, music launches, and many more prominent events.