LIZ LERMAN

Liz Lerman is the spark and inspiration for Podcasts on Process series. Along with being awarded a 2002 MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow and the 2011 United States Artists Ford Fellowship, Lerman founded the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in 1976. Over the course of her career, Lerman has been commissioned by the Lincoln Center, the American Dance Festival, Harvard Law School, and the Kennedy Center. Lerman is also the author of Critical Response Process: a method for getting useful feedback on anything you make, from dance to dessert, the critically acclaimed Hiking the Horizontal: Field Notes of a Choreographer, and Teaching Dance to Senior Adults.

JOE BASILE

Joe Basile has a BA in Archaeological Studies from Boston University (1987), and an AM and PhD from Brown University in Old World Archaeology and Art (1990 and 1992). He came to MICA in 1994 to join the faculty of the Department of Art History—now Art History, Theory and Criticism—to teach courses in his specialties of Classical and Near Eastern art, as well as introductory courses and courses in art historical method and theory. Early in his tenure at MICA, Joe volunteered to help with administrative work, including as co-coordinator of the original Division of Liberal Arts, chairman of the Art History department, and chairman of the Faculty Executive Committee. In 2012, he was appointed MICA’s first Associate Dean of Liberal Arts. As an archaeologist Joe has excavated in the US, Greece, and Italy, and most recently has been Associate Director of the Brown University excavations at the Great Temple in Petra, Jordan, from 1997 to 2006. As an art historian, his research focuses on “hybrid” and “synchretic” art in Classical antiquity, Greek vase painting, and the history of archaeology. 

HOLLY BASS

Holly Bass is a multidisciplinary performance and visual artist, writer and director. Her best known body of work explores the endless allure of the black female body—from Venus Hottentots to video vixens. Her work has been presented at spaces such as the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Museums, the Seattle Art Museum, and the South African State Theatre. A Cave Canem fellow, she has published poems in Callaloo, nocturnes (re)view, Beltway, Role Call (Third World Press) and The Ringing Ear, an anthology of Black Southern poetry. From 2008-2011, she was the Cullen Poet-in-Residence for Busboys & Poets, a popular cultural gathering space in DC.

A trained dancer and choreographer, she studied modern dance under Viola Farber, as well as creative writing, at Sarah Lawrence College before earning a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In 2011, she was named one of the “Top 30 Black Performance Poets” by The Root. She was voted 2012 Best Performance Artist in the Washington CityPaper. She has received numerous grants from the DC Arts Commission and was one of twenty artists nationwide to receive Future Aesthetics grant from the Ford Foundation/Hip Hop Theater Festival. In 2014, she will pilot a year-round creative writing and performance program for adjudicated youth in DC’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.  

JOHN BORSTEL

John Borstel’s role as the Humanities Senior Advisor with the Dance Exchange encompasses functions in documentation, dissemination, and dialogue. Co-author (with Liz Lerman) of the book Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process: A Method for Getting Useful Feedback on Anything You Make from Dance to Dessert, he has led training sessions in the this distinctive process throughout the U.S at conferences, universities, and arts organizations. Projects under his leadership, such as the Dance Exchange Toolbox, have disseminated the distinctive philosophy and art-making methods of the Dance Exchange, a leading force in the realm of contemporary dance and community arts. John’s writing on the arts has also appeared in Parterre Box: the Queer Opera ‘Zine, Generations: the Journal of the American Society on Aging, and Dialogue in Artistic Practice: Case Studies from Animating Democracy. He has served on numerous governing and advisory groups, currently including the board of Photoworks Glen Echo. An award-winning visual artist employing photography, mixed media, and the written word, John’s work has been seen in solo and group exhibitions in the US and abroad.

GEORGE CISCLE

George Ciscle has mounted groundbreaking exhibitions, created community arts programs, and taught courses in the fine arts and humanities for over 40 years. He is currently Curator-in-Residence at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where he consults on the development of community-based and public programming. He created the Exhibition Development Seminar, a course designed to provide artists with the opportunity to learn all aspects of the process of producing an exhibition. He was previously the founder and director of The Contemporary in Baltimore.

In his work at MICA, George Ciscle is continuing a career that has evolved to concentrate particularly on developing new models for connecting art, artists, and audiences. He trained as a sculptor, studying with Isamu Noguchi, and worked for seven years as a studio artist before turning to focus on balancing his interest in educating artists and on creating new models for exhibiting and experiencing art. Teaching art and theater at Baltimore's Cardinal Gibbons High School, Ciscle developed an interdisciplinary pilot program that brought together faculty from art, theater, religion, and other fields to teach a course that revealed the connections between art and culture at many levels. For ten years, he taught in a program in the Baltimore County schools for emotionally disadvantaged children, which combined classroom study with real-world work experiences

KELLY GORDON

Kelly Gordon is an associate curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. Her recent work includes the exhibitions Days of Endless Time and Peter Coffin: Here and There. "In 2005, the Hirshhorn inaugurated a space dedicated to moving-image artwork. Black Box has presented a diverse program of recent work by established and emerging artists from around the world, including Korea, Romania, Sweden, Malaysia, and Brazil. The artists’ working methods have been equally varied, ranging from exquisite films shot with a full cast and crew and employing considerable post-production resources to compelling sequences created using an array of digital animation techniques.  “Museum exhibitions typically involve years of planning, but Black Box is our quick-response venue, offering the latest from the international smorgasbord of strong new media work,” says Gordon.

PAUL HURLEY

Paul Hurley is a United States Navy veteran. He received his undergraduate degree from George Mason University in Geospatial Communications and is a current graduate student at Auburn University in Brewing Science + Operations. Hurley joined the cast of Healing Wars in May 2014 and toured with the show across the country. In addition to his new roles as performer, dancer and actor, Hurley won a bronze medal in mixed double sculls at the 2013 World Para-Rowing Championships.

ELIZABETH JOHNSON

Elizabeth Johnson is a choreographer, dancer, and educator with a particular focus on youth through embodied learning and leadership development in the arts. She graduated from Connecticut College with a B.A. in Dance and a minor in Theatre, has studied at London Contemporary Dance School, taught at Arizona State University and until September of 2010 was the Associate Artistic Director of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

Johnson connects communities through choreography. Through her work with Dance Exchange she has designed trans-disciplinary participatory performance projects in communities from Eastport, Maine, to Los Angeles, California; from Kyoto, Japan, to Vancouver, Canada. She has worked with executives and fishermen, children and teachers, beatboxers and ballet dancers, veterans and activists, fire-eaters, social workers, clergy, immigrants and athletes.Her work with young people has been featured across the country and internationally. Her choreographic work is driven by athleticism, physiology, and the desire to connect movement with meaning. She is a yoga practitioner, runner and rock climber.

CJAY PHILIP

Award winning Actress/Singer/Choreographer CJay Philip was in the Broadway productions of Big the Musical, Street Corner Symphony and Hairspray where she was Dance Captain for the Broadway and touring companies. CJay has toured as Lorrell in Dreamgirls and Paulette in Legally Blonde. CJay is also an accomplished songwriter and playwright with a sold out European run of her adaptation of Carmen. CJay was the program director of Wingspan Arts and HOPE for Kids School of the Arts in NYC. Since moving to Baltimore, CJay has directed productions at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Centerstage where she is a regular teaching artist. CJay was also director of Marvin’s Trial based on the life of Marvin Gaye presented at the DC Black Theatre Festival. As artistic director of Dance & Bmore, a professional dance company committed to family advocacy through art, CJay has launched a family dance program, FazaFam Family Jam, and is a family fitness spokesperson on a series of Baltimore PSA’s. CJay is also a b-grant winner of the 2013 Mary Sawyers Baker Awards.

DAVID ISRAEL REYNOSO

David Israel Reynoso is an acclaimed scenic and costume designer for theater, dance and film.  Born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, Reynoso is best known for his Obie-award winning work on the Off-Broadway hit: Sleep No More (Punchdrunk / Emursive). His designs can also be seen on tour in Liz Lerman’s ground-breaking production of Healing Wars for which Reynoso has received a Helen Hayes nomination. He was recently chosen to design the world-premieres of Kingdom City and The Darrell Hammond Project (the eponymous solo show for the Saturday Night Live alum) both at La Jolla Playhouse. He is recognized for his critically-acclaimed work on Time and the Conways (Craig Noel Award nomination), Water by the Spoonful, Double Indemnity, and Be a Good Little Widow all for the Old Globe Theater. He also has numerous design credits with The American Repertory Theater that include: Futurity, Cabaret, Sleep No More, Alice vs. Wonderland, Trojan Barbie, Copenhagen, No Man’s Land and The Keening . He has also designed for Commonwealth Shakespeare Co., Arena Stage, Lyric Stage, and Gloucester Stage. Reynoso is the recipient of an Elliot Norton Award and a multiple nominee for the IRNE and BroadwayWorld awards. His designs have been featured in publications such as: The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and have graced the covers of American Theater and Fashion Boston magazines. A graduate of Boston University's College of Fine Arts, David resides in southern California with his wife and daughter.

MAGGIE SCHNEIDER

Maggie Schneider explores the intersectional spaces between dance, painting, performance, and video. Her creative practice is rooted in process, intuitive exploration, and cross-disciplinary conversations. She earned her B.A. in Art from Luther College (2006) and graduated in 2014 from the Maryland Institute College of Art with an M.F.A. in multidisciplinary practice. Her work has been displayed in various venues across the country including Connersmith’s Academy 2014 exhibition. In January 2015, she was artist-in-residence and guest instructor at Luther College. Currently, she works in Baltimore as an artist’s assistant, nanny, art handler, and technician for Endless Options. 

Raised in Central Wisconsin by a music teacher and a yogi, Maggie was given access to the arts and body-centric thinking throughout her childhood. In 2006 she made a blind move to Seattle, WA and spent 6 years engaging street art and graffiti, an ongoing practice that continues to influence her subversive approach to life and art. She continues to expand and embody the idea that life is art and art is life.

KAREN STULTS

Karen Stults is the Director of Community Engagement at Maryland Institute College of Art and brings over twenty years of nonprofit management and program development experience to her commitment to the arts. Stults holds a M.Ed. in Policy Development and Program Evaluation from Vanderbilt University, a BA in Business and Communications from Mercer University, a certificate in Ceramics and Sculpture from the Corcoran College of Art + Design, and a certificate in Museum Exhibition Planning and Design from Georgetown University. Previous employers include the Center for Community Change, YouthAction, Inc., and McAuley Institute in Washington, DC. She is an alumna of the Windcall Residency Program for social change activists and serves on the board of Fluid Movement. Her work in Baltimore is rooted in the belief that individual artists and arts organizations play a vital role in energizing and transforming communities.

PAMELA TATGE

Pamela Tatge is the Director of the Center for the Arts (CFA) and is interested in the elevating the place of art in higher education in ways that innovatively strengthen teaching, student learning and artmaking. In 2003, she heard Liz Lerman speak about her interest in developing a new work about the repercussions of genetic research.  She invited Liz to meet with dance faculty and scientists at Wesleyan and over the next three years worked to produce a research and development/teaching residency for Liz Lerman, and team of Wesleyan faculty that assisted in the development of Ferocious Beauty: Genome (FBG). The CFA became the lead commissioner of the project and it premiered at Wesleyan in February of 2006.