Shani Peters is a multidisciplinary artist based in New Orleans, LA. She holds a bachelor’s from Michigan State University and a Master’s of Fine Arts from the City College of New York. Peters has presented work in the US and abroad at the New Museum, NY; The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NY; Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, South Korea; The National Gallery of Zimbabwe; and Bauhaus-Building Dessau, Germany. Selected residencies include Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, MI; The Laundromat Project, NY; and Project Row Houses, TX.

Her work has been supported by Creative Capital, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Rema Hort Mann Foundation, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Peters was a faculty member at The City College of NY, Pratt Institute, and Parsons School of Design before shifting her teaching focus to The Black School which she co-directs with Joseph Cuillier.

Joseph Cuillier (1988, Marrero, LA) is a multidisciplinary artist who explores Black Social good pedagogies through social practice, installation, textile, and design. His practice at the intersections of education, visual art, and design centers on deconstructing histories to build counter-narratives. Currently based in New Orleans, LA, Cuillier received a master’s from Pratt Institute and previously held faculty positions at Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute in New York City. Cuillier’s work has been exhibited, collected, and presented internationally at the New Museum, The Museum of Modern Art Library, Bauhaus Dessau, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University, Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, The Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery at Pratt Institute, among others. Cuillier has been an artist-in-residence/fellow at Sweet Water Foundation via the Chicago Architecture Biennial, IdeasCity New Orleans, Spillways Antenna, the New Museum, The Laundromat Project, and A Blade of Grass. Cuillier is the co-director of The Black School and Black Love Fest with Shani Peters.

Lana Meyon
Program Manager

Works at the intersection of fashion, art and education. Born a fashion designer, Lana studied disciplines that complimented her passion like art, writing and education. She has a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from Southern University at New Orleans and a Master of Arts in Teaching and Special Education from Xavier University of Louisiana. Her curatorial projects include solo and collaborative work with the McKenna Museum of African American Art, Le Musee’ Free People of Color Museum, “Exhibit BE”, and “Studio BE”. Lana first began her work in education by writing and creating curriculum for her art exhibits.  Her passion for art, design and literacy led her  to designing curriculum for local and national Non-Profits organizations. She is currently The Program Manager with The Black School and Creative Educator of All About Love Education Studio.  Her fashion brand “Meyon” is limited experience pieces that are crafted in small quantities and with notes of exclusivity that are inspired by architecture, voice, classic luxury and the aesthetics of  black culture.

Ryan N. Dennis (she/her) is the Curator-at-Large for The Black Schoolhouse, and outgoing Chief Curator and Artistic Director of the Center for Art and Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) and incoming Senior Curator and Director of Public Initiatives at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH). Her recent projects at MMA include Leonardo Drew’s City in the Garden (2020), Betye Saar: Call & Response (2021), Dusti Bonge: Piercing the Inner Wall (2021) and organizing CAPE Artist in Resident Shani Peter’s Collective Care for Black Mothers and Caretakers with the local Jackson community. She is the co-curator of the critically acclaimed exhibition A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, currently on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art and traveling nation-wide through 2024. Prior to joining the MMA, she served as the Cura­tor and Programs Director at Project Row Houses (PRH) in Houston, where she worked with over 100 BIPOC artists to exhibit their work in the shot-gun houses, she led the creation of the 2:2:2 Exchange Residency Program with the Hyde Park Art Center in Chi­cago and established Project/Site, a temporary, site-specific, commission-based public art program. In 2017, she launched the PRH Fellowship with the Center for Art and Social Engagement at the University of Houston’s Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts. Dennis earned her master’s degree in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute with a focus in Curatorial Practice. Her writings have appeared in online and print catalogs, journals and publications nationally and internationally. She has been a visiting lecturer and critic at a number of art schools and institutions and has taught courses on community-based practices and contemporary art at the University of Houston. Most recently she was the co-curator of the 2021 TX Biennial titled A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon (2021) and the guest art editor for Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts.

Cake Douglas is a Marketing & Brand Curator and artist from Shreveport, LA. Her roots begin as a civic engagement organizer and culture bearer – advocating for equitable policy solutions with grassroots and grass-tops organizations locally, statewide, and nationally – across Louisiana and the Deep South. A Summa Cum Laude graduate of Dillard University’s Urban Studies and Public Policy Program, Cake is passionate about developing sustainable, culturally competent cities – in rural and urban landscapes – through intentional, culture-centered practices, policies, and design.

Cake uses her artistic prowess to inform her work–curating projects that challenge the status quo. Her first project, LinkFest, was curated for her hometown’s entrepreneurial artisans and makers to develop their skills while generating income for their respective businesses/artworks. Currently, Cake is developing a new project, Roots2Riches, an anthropological pop-up exhibit exploring the impact of Black hair culture as art, storytelling, & industry. These projects reflect her Black and Indigenous heritage and her dedication to preserving culture through ancestral modalities. Her life’s mission is to build sustainable spaces and communities for Black and Indigenous folks to live and thrive in ––without the threat of gentrification, colonization, or whitewashing.

Laila (b. 2001) is a Queens-Based Documentary Photographer and Social Media and Communications Director for The Black School. She manages The Black School’s Instagram, Twitter, and digital platforms including the execution of newsletters correspondence for The Black School’s network.

Prior to obtaining this role in June 2020, Stevens apprenticed for the 2018 Social Justice Artists in Residence at The New Museum, volunteered at Black Love Fest 2018 at the Sugar Hill Museum, and apprenticed with The Black School: Studio at The Bronx Museum of Arts in 2019.

Mónica Olivares (she/her) is a first generation immigrant from the Dominican Republic. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University with a concentration on Graphic Design. There she focused on studying natural burials for her Senior Show and designing book covers for the LSU Press. She also has a background in Student Affairs Administration from University of West Florida. While in Pensacola, Monica hosted panels on Black & LGBTQ+ history with the Office of Equity & Diversity for their residential communities. She’s currently creating a Professional Development Curriculum that will prepare our apprentices on how to prepare to be independent graphic designers after they’ve graduated from apprenticeship.

Nybria Acklin
Curatorial Fellow

Nybria has a multitude of experience in social justice, education, and the arts. Her interest in interdisciplinary-based work started with an archival research project in college, where she developed two City Council resolutions in Philadelphia to commemorate Black activist history of the 1960s. This experience helped her to unveil the intersections of history, activism, and art. 

Nybria has been involved in the arts growing up as a singer, and dancer. And, within the last few years, has become more involved in the sector as an administrator and builder, committed to supporting Black/PoC artists and culture bearers gain more access to resources and opportunities to grow and deepen their impact with their communities.

This comes after 6+ years of experience building and piloting new initiatives. She has supported nonprofit organizations piloting new programs; has managed multi-year, nation-wide education initiatives; and has helped establish and grow a new department at a start-up organization. 

Nybria is an alumni of Stanford Design School’s (UIF) program, and Civic Engagement CORO Fellowship program. She is currently a 2023-24 SouthArts Leaders of Color Fellow, and a Fellow with Friends of the Freedom House, a community space and house museum in New Orleans.

Ramona Graham
Life School Facilitator

A native of the Greater New Orleans area, Ramona has been proudly serving children for over 20 years. Currently, Ramona uses her skills to build and maintain new community collaborations to bring awareness of child abuse and the need for children in foster care. She has worked with the Department of Children and Family Services, National Adoption Association, AdoptUSkids and many business leaders. In 2014, Ramona was awarded the Louisiana CASA Program Staff Member of the Year for her commitment to children and volunteers. In 2020, she received the Adoption Excellence Award from the National Children’s Bureau. Ramona believes that each child deserves a safe, permanent home with parents that provide love and security. Ramona volunteers as the Community Advocate Artist Coordinator with the Seasons Center community organization. She works to help young adults thrive, appreciate their cultural heritage, and develop a healthy lifestyle. Ramona strives to find ways to build stronger communities by working alongside other dedicated agencies. Ramona’s experience with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, includes grassroots discussions, her podcast, Breaking Bread Infinity, LLC and Respect Thyself that she has created with her son and facilitating classes on Cultural Competency. Her solutions- based podcast includes discussions based on unity and community. She works with her son to bridge the generation gap and address issues that the community has neglected. They push the envelope on topics that are “swept under the rug.” Related to this, she has created gear that is rooted in Love with the messages: Respect Thyself and We are All Connected. “We need to understand diversity, inclusion and equity because we are all united in our humanity.” Ramona has been nicknamed the “Knitter” for bringing her community together.

Ayesha Williams (she/her)
Board President

Ayesha Williams is the executive director of The Laundromat Project (The LP), a New York City community-based arts organization dedicated to making sustained investments in growing a community of multiracial, multigenerational, and multidisciplinary artists and neighbors committed to societal change. She is an arts professional with almost two decades of experience working with visual artists, presenting programs, and generating funding for commercial galleries and nonprofit institutions. Prior to The LP, she managed Visual Arts at Lincoln Center and served as the Director of Kent Gallery, New York. In addition to her professional experience, Ayesha is on the board of The Black School, Rivers Institute for Contemporary Art & Thought and a member of Independent Curators International Independents. She also served as a Steering Committee member of the UN Women’s Conference. She received her Master’s degree in Visual Arts Administration from New York University and Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Dejha Carrington,
Board Vice President

Dejha Carrington is an arts worker and consultant dedicated to supporting artists and community.

In 2017, Dejha co-founded Commissioner, an art membership that helps people collect the work of contemporary artists in their cities. There, she serves as Executive Director, launching the program in Miami, Detroit, New York, Montreal, and, more recently, Mexico City. From 2015 to 2022, Dejha served as Vice President of Strategic Communications for YoungArts, the national foundation for the advancement of artists. Previously, she led public relations initiatives as a consultant with Kimball Art Museum, the Medellin Biennial in Colombia, and the National Film Board of Canada.

Dejha is a board member of national performance arts funder MAP Fund in New York, and The Black School, an experimental schoolhouse in New Orleans. She is also a professional advisory committee member of Miami-Dade Art In Public Places, New York University’s Center for Black Visual Culture, and University of Miami’s Center for Global Black Studies. Dejha teaches the Business of Art at New World School of the Arts at Miami-Dade College, and calls Miami her homebase.

Malik Bartholomew
Board Member

Malik Bartholomew is a seventh-generation New Orleans native who serves as a community griot, cultural curator, local historian, university archivist, photographer, researcher, and business owner of Know NOLA Tours. He is a proud graduate of John F. Kennedy Senior High School and Dillard University where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History. Post-graduation, he has spent countless hours in various city archives exploring and learning more about the unique traditions and history of New Orleans.

Currently, Malik is involved in several projects documenting the city of New Orleans through photography and supporting indigenous New Orleans culture. He is a board member of the Congo Square Preservation Society, serves on the board of One Book One New Orleans, and is a past member of the curatorial board of the Pass it On Poetry Open Mic Team one of the oldest spoken word and arts event in New Orleans.

Malik is also the proud owner of Know NOLA Tours a tour experience & historical consulting company in which he guides tourist, scholars, and native New Orleanians around the city sharing its unique African roots and culture. Malik additionally serves as the lead docent and resident historian at Studio BE, the solo exhibition of visual artist Brandan “Bmike” Odums. He is proud to work at his alma mater as the Dillard University archivist and historian at the Will W. Alexander Library.

Malik has an undying passion for all things “New Orleans” and remains committed to reading, exploring, researching, learning, and most importantly sharing the special history, rich culture, and distinctive qualities of the city of New Orleans.

Ameca Reali
Board Member

Ameca is a dedicated and entrepreneurial advocate for freedom and justice who is deeply inspired by the philosophies of women like Ella Baker and bell hooks. Ameca has been working with people in Louisiana to create sustainable, thriving communities that are safe for everyone for over 10 years. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, a non-profit civil rights organization established to eradicate housing discrimination.

In 2011, Ameca was awarded an Echoing Green Fellowship for her work as the co-founder and Executive Director of Justice and Accountability Center. Under her leadership, JAC developed a mobile expungement clinic model to address and eliminate some of the collateral consequences of arrest and conviction for thousands of people across Louisiana and advocated for and won lower fees and greater access for individuals filing pro-se.

For three years she served as the New Orleans Programs Officer and then Director of Economic Justice Programs at the Foundation for Louisiana. There she oversaw the creation of a funding strategy for statewide grant-making and programs with a focus on criminal justice reform, housing, public health, arts and culture. Her work included supporting the development and incubation of numerous coalitions advocating for a vision of safety that goes beyond policing, jails, and punitive systems.

Most recently, Ameca served as the Membership Director at Law for Black Lives, a Black femme-led national network of over 7,000 Social good lawyers and legal workers committed to transforming the law and building the power of organizing to defend, protect and advance Black Liberation across the globe.

Ameca graduated with honors from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2006 where she earned a B.A. in Communication. She earned a J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2011 and is licensed to practice law in Louisiana.

Stephen Daste
Board Treasurer

Born and raised in New Orleans, Steven Daste currently works as a Financial Advisor at Edward Jones. Stephen believes that inclusion and education are the keys to empowerment. He has worked for over 30 years in financial management where he focused on educating, mentoring, and empowering diverse individuals and business owners, nonprofits, and foundations that serve diverse communities on the ins and outs of investing and creating generational wealth in stock and bond markets.

Shani Peters
Secretary

Shani Peters is a multidisciplinary artist exploring collective Black histories, community building and wellness. She holds a bachelor’s from Michigan State University and a Master of Fine Arts from the City College of New York (CCNY). Peters has presented work at the New Museum, NY; The Schomburg Center , NY; Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, South Korea; The National Gallery of Zimbabwe; and Bauhaus-Building Dessau, Germany. Selected residencies include: Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, MI, The Laundromat Project, NY, Project Row Houses, TX, and the Center for Art & Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art. Her work has been supported by Creative Capital, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Rauschenberg Foundation, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Peters was a faculty member at CCNY, Pratt Institute, and Parsons School of Design before focusing her teaching at The Black School which she co-directs with Joseph Cuillier.