Mikel Bresee
Director, Community Arts Partnership (CAP)
www.capdetroit.blogspot.com
Mikel Bresee has served as the Founding Director of the Community Arts Partnership (CAP) office of the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit since Jan. 2001, and is also the Founding Director of community+public arts: DETROIT. Mikel’s work in Arts and Education in Detroit was acknowledged in 2007 when he was selected one of three finalists for the Michigan Governor’s Award in Art and Culture in the Art Education category.
Beginning in the late 1980’s, Mikel worked as an artist, educator, and community arts organizer in the (then) emerging field of Community Arts in Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Fine Art, his personal art work has been exhibited in New York , Chicago, Detroit and Santa Fe. As a teaching artist, Mikel was an Illinois Arts Council, Arts in Education roster artist, and has presented to the National, Illinois, and Michigan Art Education Associations. As a public artist, Mikel has executed projects for CCS in Detroit; The Field Musuem, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planitarium, and Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; among many others. Mikel’s public and community art work was documented by The Chicago Historical Society in 1996 as part of the “Neighborhoods: Keepers of Culture” exhibition series.
Sioux Trujillo
Associate Director, community+public arts:DETROIT (C+PAD)
www.cpadetroit.org
Marta Lagos CLAVE
CLAVE facebook page
Gerri KelleyDirector of Programs, Pewabic Pottery
http://www.pewabic.org/
Jessica GuzmanDepartment Director, VSA Arts of Michigan
http://www.vsami.org/
Jessica Guzmán is the deputy director of VSA Michigan, a member of the extensive network of VSA-The International Organization on Arts and Disability. VSA Michigan is a statewide organization that strives to create an inclusive society where people with disabilities participate in, learn through, excel in, and enjoy the arts. Jessica received her undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from College for Creative Studies (CCS). She earned her graduate degree in Nonprofit Arts Management from American University and completed her final master’s thesis on the positive affect of learning in and through the arts on cognitive brain development. Jessica is a 2010-2011 Americans for the Arts(AFTA) Joyce Fellow through the AFTA Professional Development Fund for Emerging Arts Leaders of Color, supported by the Joyce Foundation. In addition to her professional and educational experiences, Jessica has regularly volunteered her time for cultural growth in the community by holding positions on the following committees: CCS Alumni Advisory Council, Community Public Arts: DETROIT (c+pad), and Michigan Youth Arts Programming Committee.
Kaity NicastriProgram Analyst, community+public arts:DETROIT (C+PAD)
www.cpadetroit.org
Larry Lundsford
Community Arts Partnership (CAP)
Vera Smith
Assistant Director, Community Arts Partnership (CAP)
www.capdetroit.blogspot.com
Oliver Ragsdale, JrPresident, Arts League of Michigan
http://artsleague.com/
Jeff Jones
Community Manager, Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative (NDNI)
http://www.next-detroit.org/
Lester Jorden
President, People Enriching People Services (PEEPS)
http://www.peepsimage.com/home/index.php
Lester Jordan was born September 09, 1951 in River Rouge Michigan, the fifth of seven children. He became interested in art at five years of age, noticing that his drawing assignments differed greatly from the others in his kindergarten class. During elementary school many of the other students would ask him to draw their assignments for them, such as the human skeletons, birds, fish, etc, in Science as well as other classes. At 8 years old Lester began sweeping floors in a local Body Repair Shop. There he learned the trade of Auto-Refinishing and painted well over two hundred cars before reaching fourteen years of age. Lester worked as resident artist for River Rouge High School while as a student at the school from 1965-1969. He painted a number of murals for various occasions around the school. He painted Christmas and Easter Themes even ghosts for Halloween. He sold paintings and drawings as well as painted signs and graphics for many businesses in his home town.
Lester’s greatest canvasses are the lives of the youth which are made complete as a result of the efforts of this dream come true.
Latitia McCreeExecutive Director of Education and Outreach, YMCA of Metro Detroit
http://site.y-artsdetroit.org/
