JANICE ARBER is an Artist and Designer, proud to share her alma mater with Lulu Fogarty as a graduate of Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts, fortunate and grateful to have had many ongoing and overlapping careers as a photo art director, graphic designer and fine artist since moving to NYC in 1978. In my non-designer life, I have been involved in movement and dance, and am a certified Pilates Instructor. My favorite gig has probably been as an arts mentor with NYC Public Schools, working with 8th grade students in developing their voices in performance, written and visual expression.
SARAH NELSON CRAFT, mezzo-soprano, is a versatile performer, equally at home with opera, oratorio, and art song from the Baroque to Contemporary. Most recently she sang the role of Ninetta in Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes as well as several other concerts of music from the bel canto repertoire at the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY. In the last two seasons she performed at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall as the alto soloist in both Bach's Mass in B minor and Handel's Messiah with the National Chorale. Other recent performances include the title role in Rossini's La cenerentola with Fargo-Moorhead Opera and her international debut in China at the Macau International Music Festival as Second Woman in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. A devotee of new music, Ms. Craft frequently works with living composers to premiere new works and has sung in many readings of new operas with American Opera Projects. A Brooklyn native with degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of North Texas College of Music, Ms. Craft has also trained with Marilyn Horne at the Music Academy of the West, been a Young Artist at Opera North and Opera New Jersey, and studied the Viewpoints acting technique with soprano Lauren Flanigan and members of the SITI company. In 2007 she was a district winner and regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions. sarahnelsoncraft.com
TED DAWSON moved to New York City to pursue a graduate degree in philosophy at the New School for Social Research after graduating from Marquette University with degrees in English and Philosophy. His love of painting and drawing soon led him to the Art Students League where he studied with Norman Lewis. He began studying graphic design and illustration at The School of Visual Arts and soon began working as an art director in advertising agencies, most notably for Braniff Airlines. With accounts in the not-for-profit world accumulating, he opened Ted Dawson Studio. Performing arts and public relations clients soon followed. Ted is a long-standing board member at Bailey House, which houses homeless people with HIV/AIDS, and is founding member of its annual auction. He also serves as moderator on the board of directors of historic Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. He considers himself fortunate to be able to combine a love of art and design with a strong commitment to public service. He lives with his partner of 28 years, Bart Boehlert, in New York City. www.tdawsonstudio.com
LESLIE DENNIS
PAT GROSS
KEN KIDD is Projects Director and Special Assistant to the Dean at NYU’s College of Arts and Science. Born and raised in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Ken studied Political Science and Theatre at Concord University in Athens, WV. After serving for two years as the first Director of Development for the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, from 1996 until 2004 Ken was Director of Conferencing and Special Events at NYU School of Law, where he organized multiple events for President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Prime Minister Tony Blair, all the sitting Supreme Court Justices, an International Conference on The Third Way in Florence, Italy (which included a day-long summit with seven heads of government), and ran the convenings of the International Commission on Kosovo. Passionate about the arts and a college/community theatre geek, TV bit player, and the NYU College of Arts and Science Theatre (CAST) adviser, Ken most recently took the stage as Parker in Thom Fogarty’s production of “Ten Tall Tales About the Men I Love,” in 2012. A current Board member of Judson Memorial Church and a vocal member of ACT UP from 1989 to 1992 and Queer Nation from its inception, Kidd is heavily involved in Queer Nation’s grassroots efforts to mobilize for LGBT rights using the opportunities provided by the International Olympics Committee’s unfortunate decision to hold the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
PAMELA SUSSMAN PATERNOSTER has worked as an educator, reformer, and community organizer for more than thirty years. Her professional commitment to social justice began in Cleveland, Ohio in 1975, during school desegregation. Pamela was the first white teacher in Cleveland assigned to a segregated African-American school. In 1982 she moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts and took a job at the King Open School where she met Bob Moses, an icon in the Civil Rights Movement. Passionate about mathematics, Moses asked teachers to pilot a curriculum he developed which would help middle school students transition from arithmetical to algebraic thinking. Those pilot lessons became the Algebra Project, a program that aims to help disadvantaged and minority students develop math skills that are vital for entering college. As the Program Manager for the Project in Cambridge, Paternoster’s work ranged from program design and implementation, to community organizing across the country. The Algebra Project has helped thousands of students from underserved communities develop skills that could open up the possibility of a college education. Pamela's work with the Algebra Project earned her a Mellon Teacher Fellowship. An art major in college, Pamela recently returned to the studio, working in silver and precious metals.
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