Rose Blouin has created documentary and fine art photography since 1980. Blouin’s work has been exhibited in a number of museums and galleries and solo exhibitions.  Her work has received awards in juried exhibitions including Tall Grass Arts “From Earth” exhibition, Black Creativity (Museum of Science and Industry), University of Chicago Logan Center for the Arts “Chicago Jazz: A Photographer’s View,” DuSable Museum Annual Art Fair, and the Milwaukee Inner City Art Fair. Her photographs have been published on the covers of South Side Stories (City Stoop Press), Columbia Poetry Review (Columbia College Chicago), and Blue Lyra Review. Her most recent solo exhibition, “To Washington Park, With Love: Photographs from the Summer of 1987, was mounted at University of Chicago Arts + Public Life Arts Incubator Galleries. Her collection of photographs from this series is published by Haymarket Books, 2024. Blouin is a founding member of Sapphire & Crystals, a collective of African-American women artists active since 1987, and a member of Black Women Photographers.

Harold Brown is the Lead Maintenance Engineer with Arts + Public Life, a role that reflects his deep-rooted connection to the Washington Park community. Born in 1961 to Laurine Brown and Walter Augusta Brown Jr., Harold grew up as one of 13 children at 4833 S. St. Lawrence—just steps from the great park. A watchful presence in the neighborhood since his youth, Harold often explored places he wasn’t supposed to be! The curiosity evolved into an entrepreneurial spirit. During the 2000s Harold noticed subtle activity in the long-shuttered buildings around him as signs of yet another change in the neighborhood. Recognizing an opportunity to work in the place he calls home, Harold started his journey at the Arts Block at 301 E. Garfield Blvd in 2012, when he worked as a laborer during its renovation and later became a carpenter through the construction process. Harold’s pride in place is unmistakable. His commitment to the Arts Block team and its spaces is a reflection of his lifelong dedication to Washington Park. Harold Brown is a true community steward.

Peter Gaona is a Chicago-based creative entrepreneur, arts administrator, and marketing strategist. He is the founder and creator of ReformedSchool, a brand specializing in handmade wearable art that blends fashion, education, and social awareness. Established in 2013, ReformedSchool creates unique accessories celebrating Black history and culture. In 2021, Peter expanded the brand by opening its first physical location as part of the L1 Creative Business Accelerator, an initiative by the University of Chicago’s Arts + Public Life supporting local entrepreneurs. In addition to his work with ReformedSchool, Peter is the Creative Director of Marketing at Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, where he crafts compelling brand narratives that elevate the organization’s impact. His career also includes roles in arts administration at The Chicago High School for the Arts, Columbia College Center for Community Arts Partnerships, and AileyCamp Chicago. With a background in dance and a passion for storytelling, Peter continues to merge creativity, culture, and community-driven initiatives in all his work.

Dr. april l. graham-jackson is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Sociology and a Research Fellow with the Mansueto Institute For Urban Innovation at the University of Chicago. She is also a Postdoctoral Research Affiliate with Chicago Studies, the Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization, and the Urban Theory Lab. A proud third-generation Black Chicagolander, april’s research and public humanities work centers how Black people shape Chicagoland and how they are shaped by it. Her first project examines Black suburban placemaking and the spatial imaginaries of Black people who built suburban settlements across Chicago Southland. Her second project explores the geographic practices of the Black house music and cultural community of Chicago and how they created house music, house culture, and what she termed “house geographies” to transform their identities, curate spaces for communal belonging, and develop Black travelways. april holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley. She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Mount Holyoke College as the first person with a bachelor’s degree in Black Geographies. You can find april musing at BlackChicagoland.com.

Candace Hunter (chlee), a Chicago based artist, creates collage, paintings, installations and performance art. She tells stories. Through the use of appropriated materials from magazines, vintage maps, cloth, various re-used materials, she offers a new landscape of materials back to the viewer with a glimpse of history and admira­tion of the beautiful. During the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, she began to do two things, offer free art classes on lnstagram and create what she now calls her "Brown Limbed Girls" - a growing series of whimsical brown girls enjoying their lives. A highly respected artist in the Midwest, chlee has most recently received the Elevate Climate Change Maker Award (2022), 3Arts Next Level Award (2021), the Tim and Helen Meier Family Foundation Award (2020), the 3Arts Award (2016) and honored by the Diasporal Rhythms Collective. In 2020, she served as a juror for the Kentucky Foundation for Women and was a featured speaker at the Midwest Women in Ecology Conference (2019).

Roderick E. Jackson is a second-generation Black Chicagolander and Ph.D. student in the African American Studies Department at UC Berkeley. His research explores race, class, and gender through an interrogation of the value of Black male labor in the post-industrial era within the Calumet Region. Focusing on Northwest Indiana, his work investigates how Black working-class men cultivate communities of care within competitive, hyper-masculine spaces marked by socioeconomic marginalization in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008. His Methodology draws from visual ethnographic practices challenging the narrow representations of Blackness in the Calumet Region within contemporary media discourse. Before Berkeley, Roderick graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with a bachelor's degree in anthropology. He is the principal photographer for Black Chicagoland Is..., a multi-modal project that utilizes photographic images and sound to thicken how we understand Black life across the Chicago metropolitan area. Beyond Academia, Roderick is a music producer, composer, and co-founder of Grammy-certified production duo Tensei and has collaborated with artists such as J Ivy, Bilal, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Brandee Younger, and Makaya McCraven.

Phaedra M. Leslie is a passionate advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion, with extensive experience in fostering positive and inclusive work environments. As the Vice President of Diversity, Workforce Development, and Community Engagement at ALL Construction Group, she develops business opportunities, drives diversity agendas, and ensures regulatory compliance while spearheading social impact initiatives in the construction industry. Previously, she served as the inaugural Director of Business Relations and Economic Development at the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, leading a team to implement equity-driven employment and training programs. Phaedra holds a B.A. in Mass Media Communications and English Literature and an M.A. in Organizational Management, with certifications in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace and Project Management. She is actively involved in various community and professional organizations, including the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources, Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy, One Family Illinois (formerly SOS Children's Villages of IL), South East Chicago Commission, and the Emerald South Community Economic Development Collaborative.

Sheila Nicholes is an active community member with a passion for photography and art. She is an avid traveler, and is currently developing a project to engage young people into programs with historical focus. Sheila’s community involvement includes positions as a member of the South Shore Cultural Center advisory committee, Hyde Park Historical Society Oral History Committee, Hyde Park Community advisory committee and she attends meetings with the Washington Park advisory committee and the BMRC to stay abreast of community issues and developments. Additionally, as Chairperson of the program committee of the 70-year-old Washington Park Camera Club camera club, Sheila is liaison with Arts & Public Life. Sheila is an advocate for senior health awareness as an ambassador for a SuperAger Research Program on Alzheimer and Dementia, and ministry facilitator on mental and emotional issues for personal breakthroughs. Sheila is retired from the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, as an Academic Administrator, Life Strategy Coach, Family Counselor, and an Educational Tour Consultant for the Chicago Bronzeville Community.