Irina Zadov is a mama, artist, educator, and cultural organizer. They are a queer post-Soviet Jewish immigrant and settler on the unceded territories of the Three Fires Confederacy: Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi. Their interdisciplinary practice explores themes of diasporism, state violence, community resistance, and healing.

Irina’s creative practice is rooted in collaboration and co-creation with Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and LGBTQIA+ communities. Their public programming, youth work, and cultural practice has been featured: Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago Art Department, Smart Museum of Art, National Museum of Mexican Art, DuSable Museum of African American History, South Side Community Art Center, Chicago Cultural Center, and TRANSITIONS Festival of Jewish Contemporary Arts in Berlin, Germany.

Learn more at irinazadov.com

Juarez Hawkins is an artist, educator and curator. She received her B.A. from Northwestern University, and her M.A. from Columbia College Chicago. As Co-Curator of Gallery Programs at Chicago State University, she organized exhibitions from CSU’s permanent collection, as well as work by students and established artists, including Richard Hunt and Marva Jolly.

Curatorial projects include Black Clay: A Survey of African American Ceramics, Luis De La Torre: Contemporary Codex, and Shirley Hudson: Vision Quest at CSU’s President’s Gallery; The Commons Project: Radical Futures at the Museum of Contemporary Art; Bill Walker: Urban Griot at the Hyde Park Art Center; and Patric McCoy: Take My Picture at Wrightwood 659.

Learn more at juarezhawkins.com

Jay is a Laos/Vietnamese queer artist and graphic designer that is based in Chicago’s Chinatown. They graduated with a BA in Graphic Design from Columbia College Chicago. They enjoy houseplants and have a deep love for music, art + production. By defying the historical notion that design is a "man's world", they aim to be part of a new generation that explores the expansiveness of identity and its influence on how each of us navigates the world. Their ultimate intention is to help their clients feel seen.

Learn more at j-sath.com

Najee-Zaid was born as a child of the African Diaspora through the lands of the Council of Three Fires (Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi) colonized and known today as Chicago.

Najee-Zaid is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on immersive performance and identity. Najee-Zaid focuses their background in music, facilitation, and informal arts learning to explore the intersection of space and identity throughout the context of healing modalities via his new body of work “Immersion” which received its performance debut in 2022 at Elastic Arts Foundation featuring songs later released in an eponymous EP spring of 2023. “Immersion” will return to the versatile Elastic Arts late 2023.

A 2018 Threewalls In-Session Artist, 2022 DCASE individual artist grant recipient, and 2023-24 Links Hall Co-Mission Fellow, Najee-Zaid continues their explorations with a community lens for diasporic audiences. Learn more at najeezaidsearcy.com

Rivka is a writer, event + cultural organizer, brand strategist and a Libra based in Chicago. They graduated from DePaul University with a double major in Media & Cinema Studies and Public Relations and a minor in Creative Writing. They spend a lot of time thinking, talking, and writing about intergenerational trauma + ancestral healing, community-building, sustainable and ethical branding, post-Soviet Jewish identity, queerness, transformative justice and media & cinema theory.

Learn more at rivkayeker.com