DEEP in the Work DéLana Dameron

In this episode, we’re talking to Gina Duncan, who I met when she ran BAM Film in Fort Greene Brooklyn, and while there partnered with my husband’s film organization Luminal Theater. It always made me feel at home at BAM to walk in and know that a Black woman was behind the scenes and making me feel seen. I don’t know when we went from Black girl head nods across the room to sister-friends texting each other about the absurdities of the work, but I am so glad we have each other these days.



As Producing Director of Sundance Institute, Gina integrates the artistic vision of the Festival with its practical elements as well and managing year-round programming and engagement among the industry and artist communities. Duncan previously served as V.P. of Film and Strategic Programming at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and was Director of Industry Engagement and Special Programs at the Jacob Burns Film Center.



This episode was recorded on April 9, 2021

Produced by Lauren Francis

Music by audionautix.com

In this episode we’re talking to Toya Lillard, one of our faves over at Black Art Futures Fund, and champion of safe spaces and theater and strong voices for our young Black women and girls. We met when viBe Theater Experience was awarded our inaugural Shay Wafer Legacy Fund, then decided to continue to do good and deep work together through Red Olive. These days we enjoy sisterhood and laughter, and pointing towards the absurdities of what it means to be Black women in this work, in the fields where we find ourselves.

Toya Lillard is Executive Director of viBe Theater Experience. She has directed plays, developed curricula, led advocacy efforts and implemented innovative teaching artist training programs both in and out of New York City schools. Prior to joining viBe, Toya served as Director of School Programs at The New York Philharmonic, in the Education Department, where she helped to develop its nationally recognized School Partnership Program. In addition to leading viBe, Toya is a facilitator of “difficult" conversations” around racial equity and inclusion; most recently having served as a reflection facilitator for The National Guild for Community Arts Education’s Anti-Racism as Organizational Compass series. Toya part-time faculty at The New School, where she teaches Collaborative Theatre Practice, and serves on the Cultural Change Taskforce. Toya serves on the Board of the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable, where she is co-chair of the Roundtable’s TaskForce on Equity and Inclusion. Toya is also an Affiliate Representative on the Board of the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance. Toya holds a B.A. from Vassar College, and an M.A. from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

This episode was recorded on March 12, 2021

Produced by Lauren Francis

Music by audionautix.com

In this episode we’re talking to Novella Ford, super connected arts maven who read my unsolicited book of poetry Weary Kingdom then invited me to come and read my poems about Harlem at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture—a dream come true. Connecting over poetry and Black culture and Black art meant that we were destined to be fast friends, and I’m excited to be in conversation around what it means to care for Black culture, make way for others, and more.



Novella Ford is a cultural producer. She connects diverse audiences to the archives and engages history through dialogue, performance, literature, and visual arts. She serves as the Associate Director of Public Programs and Exhibitions at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research division of The New York Public Library.



This episode was recorded on January 8, 2021

Produced by Lauren Francis

Music by audionautix.com

In this episode we’re talking to Caitlin Crews, who I met through Fatima Jones at a Black Art Futures Fund friendraiser, and we became fast friends, and neighbors in Bedstuy Brooklyn. Then over the course of the interview, we learned — it turns out— Caitlin is related to one of my closest poetry friends from my days in college at UNC Chapel Hill! What a small world, and truly, we’re all connected. Caitlin has volunteered her time with Black Art Futures Fund and encouraged her colleagues at Adobe to support the work as well. Of course, we love that!

Caitlin Crews is originally from Uniontown, PA  and has called Brooklyn, NY home for the past 11 years. Currently, Caitlin is the Design Templates, Lead at Adobe. Her focus is on the advancement of creatives through design on the Adobe Stock Team. At Adobe, Caitlin is the lead for Black Employee Network in NYC for Adobe (BEN), served on the Community Grant Panel Decision Committee for Adobe New York, Adobe for All site lead and is a member of the Taking Action Task Force for Advocacy and Responsibility.

Previously, she worked as a Curatorial Assistant at the Brooklyn Museum. At Nautica she was a still life photographer and retoucher.  She was also a design and photo coordinator at Lord & Taylor and Victoria’s Secret. Her curatorial and community projects include Art 4 World Trade Center (2017) Northside Festival Block Party (2013-2018), Brooklyn Public at World Trade Center Gallery (2015), and Curatorial Assistant for Art in Odd Places RECALLed (2015). Caitlin has written for Got a Girl Crush Magazine, as well as a current member of the ISCP Young Patrons Committee. She received her M.P.S in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute and her B.S. in Photography from Kent State University.

This episode was recorded on February 5, 2021

Produced by Lauren Francis

Music by audionautix.com

In this episode we’re talking to Hallie Hobson, who I first met at the Cave Canem summer poetry retreat in 2007, which was also the year I graduated from undergraduate school at UNC Chapel Hill. I knew I was moving to NYC and so meeting a Black woman who lived and worked there—and especially Harlem—was exciting, and I had NO IDEA at the time what development meant, but I was jealous Hallie got to work at a museum—then I think the Museum of Modern Art. When it became time for me to understand the idea of fundraising for culture, and doing that work as a Black woman, I turned to Hallie as a possibility model and way maker. I’m super honored to call her colleague today, and to think about what it means for us to be poets and creatives doing the work of institutional cultural storytelling in order to do the work of fundraising--what I define as moving people and resources towards a mission.

As the founder of HSH Consulting LLC, Hallie S. Hobson contributes to the vitality and health of philanthropic and nonprofit institutions by developing and implementing innovative planning, fundraising and patron engagement strategies including: philanthropic strategy development and implementation; capital campaign and strategic planning; individual giving program design; major gift pipeline development; department buildout and optimization-staffing and systems; CDO coaching; board development.

Current clients include Destination Crenshaw, The Ford Foundation, Junebug Productions, and The Laundromat Project. Prior to launching her consultancy, Hallie served as the Director of Institutional Advancement for the Studio Museum in Harlem and led that organization’s Capital Campaign. Prior to that she was at The Metropolitan Museum of Art where she served as Deputy Chief Development Officer for Individual Giving and the Senior Development Officer at The Museum of Modern Art. She has also held roles at a number of other cultural institutions including the New York Foundation for the Arts and The House Foundation for the Arts/Meredith Monk and has lectured about her profession at New York University, the Yale World Fellows Program, and Sotheby's Institute of Art.

In addition, Hallie is an accomplished poet and playwright. She holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from UCLA and a B.A. in African-American and Theater Studies from Yale University.

This episode was recorded on January 15, 2021.

Produced by Lauren Francis

Music by audionautix.com

Note: In the interview, Hobson refers to Kinshasha Holman Conwill and it sounds like "is the director of AAMHC...". Ms. Holman Conwill is the Deputy Director of AAMHC.

In this episode we’re talking to Fatima Jones, who I check in with almost weekly, getting a read on everything from the Black cultural landscape and how to keep my proverbial wig on straight when folks try us (you know how that goes), to understanding how to make the marketing and communications of our Black arts spaces sing, and whose family I love love love. We met through a mutual sister-friend Jessica Lynne, and continue to be sisters in this space and beyond. Fatima has joined hands with the Red Olive Universe and hosted one of the last in-person events known to man: a brunch in her house in Bed Stuy Brooklyn before we all retreated into our homes. That communal connection—around Black art, Black culture, small and community-based Black arts organizations, and the new and old friends who love them—has continued to inspire me through the past year.
Fatima Jones is a cultural strategist, marketing, public relations and reputation management leader. She currently serves as Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at the Apollo Theater, a nonprofit arts and cultural anchor committed to Black artists and audiences, located in Harlem, NY. She is the former Director of P.R. for the Brooklyn Museum (BKM) where she led the media relations and social media campaigns for all of its exhibitions, including the critically acclaimed David Bowie Is and the transformative We Wanted A Revolution: Black Radical Women. Prior to Brooklyn Museum, she spent almost a decade at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Her consultancy experience includes work with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence Dance Company, Weeksville Heritage Center and 651 ARTS.
She is a former voting member of the Bessies Dance and Performance Awards and has served on many granting panels, including NYSCA and Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation. She is a mother
and wife, currently living in Brooklyn, NY.
Connect with Fatima:
LinkedIn: @FatimaJones
Instagram: @LovejonesPR
This episode was recorded on December 6, 2020
Produced by Lauren Francis
Music by audionautix.com