Speakers

• Leonardo Bravo

  Leonardo Bravo is an artist, educator, and curator. His work in the museum and non-profit arts field has exemplified building public and private partnerships that highlight the power of the arts to transform and catalyze vulnerable and underserved communities. Leonardo is currently the Director, Public Engagement within the Learning and Engagement Department at MoMA where he oversees adult and artist related programs and is shaping a civic engagement strategy to work with communities throughout the New York region. Some of his most recent positions have included, Director of Curatorial and Strategic Programs for Clockshop, an arts organization dedicated to using the arts as a lens to how we experience public green space in Los Angeles; Director of Education and Public Programs with the Palm Springs Art Museum where he oversaw partnership development and program implementation with school districts in the Coachella Valley and the development of new curatorial and social engagement projects with contemporary artists at the museum; Director of School of Programs for The Music Center where he oversaw arts education partnerships with school districts throughout Los Angeles County. He is the founder and organizer of Big City Forum, an interdisciplinary, social practice and curatorial research project that brings attention to emergent practices across design, architecture, and the arts. Big City Forum provides an ongoing exploration of the intersections between these creative disciplines and new ways of knowledge making within the context of public space and social change. As a programming and curatorial platform it has developed collaborations and partnerships with Art Center Media Design Practice program, the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Cal State University Dominguez Hills – College of Arts and Humanities, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, and Woodbury University School of Architecture among many others. Bravo has also been an adjunct professor with UCLA’s Department of World Arts Cultures/Dance within the School of the Arts and Architecture, and has served on the board of CREATE CA advising on arts education policy that impact students throughout the state of California. He holds a Master in Fine Arts from University of Southern California, Los Angeles with a focus in Fine Arts and Critical Theory and a BFA from the Otis School of Art and Design, Los Angeles.

• Wille James Jennings

  Dr. Willie James Jennings is currently Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University Divinity School. Dr. Jennings, who is a theologian, teaches in the areas of Christian thought, race theory, and decolonial and environmental studies. Dr. Jennings is the author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race published by Yale University Press. Dr. Jennings is also the recipient of the 2015 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for his groundbreaking work on race and Christianity. Dr. Jennings recently authored Commentary on the Book of Acts won the Reference Book of the Year Award, from The Academy of Parish Clergy. He is also the author of After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging, which was the inaugural book in the much-anticipated book series, Theological Education between the Times, winning the 2020 book of the year award from Publisher’s Weekly. It was also selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book of the Year in the Constructive- Reflective Studies category, and in 2023 won the Lilly Fellows Program Book Award. Dr. Jennings has been selected to give several prestigious lectures, including the Bampton Lectures at Oxford University, the Huslean Lectures at Cambridge University, the Cole Lecture at Vanderbilt University, the Parks-King Lecture at Yale University, the Ferguson Lecture at Manchester University, and the Hughes-Cheong Lecture at the University of Melbourne. And now Dr. Jennings is hard at work on a two-volume book on the doctrine of creation, tentatively entitled, “Reframing the World.” Volume two is on Race and the Built Environment.

• Bill T. Jones

  Bill T. Jones is recognized for his contributions as a dancer and choreographer. Renowned for provocative performances that blend an eclectic mix of modern and traditional dance, Mr. Jones creates works that challenge us to confront tough subjects and inspire us to greater heights. Artistic director of New York Live Arts and artistic director/co-founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Bill T. Jones has received major honors ranging from a 1994 MacArthur “Genius” Award to Kennedy Center Honors in 2010. Jones was honored with the 2014 Doris Duke Award, recognized as Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2010, inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2009, and named “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure” by the Dance Heritage Coalition in 2000. He is a two-time Tony Award recipient for Best Choreography for FELA! and Spring Awakening and received an Obie Award for Spring Awakening‘s off-Broadway run. His choreography for the off-Broadway production of The Seven earned him a 2006 Lucille Lortel Award.

• Cameron Russell

  Cameron Russell has spent the last twenty years working as a model for clients including Prada, Calvin Klein, Victoria’s Secret, H&M, Vogue, and Elle. With over forty million views, her TED talk on the power of image is one of the most popular of all time. She is the co-founder of Model Mafia, a collective of hundreds of fashion models striving for a more equitable, just, and sustainable industry. She continues to organize, consult, and speak to transform extractive supply chains and center climate justice. She lives in New York with her family.