Our Team
Clockwise from left: Masud Grant, Development Manager; Jourdan Ash, SKY LAB 2024; Deborah Cowell, General Manager; Aaron L. McKinney, Executive Director; Eleanor Kipping; Marketing Manager; MJ Martinez, Marketing Associate; Nikhil Mahapatra, Development Associate; Robyn Ayers, Program Associate. Image by Stephanie Morales
Just like our artists, Hi-ARTS takes pride in our team of passionate arts administrators who are excited to support the development of new work. And just like our artists - we know just how much work and dedication it takes to produce. The entirety of the Hi-ARTS team is professional working artists.
Leadership
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Executive Director
he/himBorn on Cherokee Land (Greenville, SC) and presently residing on the Land of the Lenape people (Brooklyn, NY), Aaron L. McKinney is an Arts Administrator and Producer. Grounded in two decades of experience in the field of theater, McKinney brings his wealth of knowledge, experience, and value-centered expertise as a collaborative innovator and producer as evidenced by previous positions at world-renowned institutions such as the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Sankofa.org, 651 ARTS, and Center Theatre Group.
Aaron obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance from Florida A&M University and Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Management from the prestigious California Institute of the Arts. McKinney’s professional leadership in performing arts and producing purposely centers the dialogue that has always existed between the arts and social justice activism, highlighting how the intersection of these worlds serves as a vessel for addressing some of our most pressing social issues.
aaron@hi-artsnyc.org
Image Credit: Josh Walker
General Management
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General Manager
Deborah Cowell is a product of the New York public school system, first grade through graduate school. She is an editor, writer, and digital artist. Working primarily with black and white photography, video, and film, Deborah has had recent work commissioned by the University of Michigan School of Musical Theater and Dance, Hi-ARTS, and the American Opera Project. Her work has been featured by the Weeksville Heritage Center, Judson Memorial Church, The Downtown Alliance in collaboration with en Garde Arts and The Tank. She has worked in Collaboration with Harlem's While We Are Still Here organization to assist in the preservation of the legacy of Harlem. She lives in Brooklyn.
deborah@hi-artsnyc.org
@deborah_bklyn
Image Credit: Ben Allen
Development
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Development Manager
he/himMasud Grant is the Development Manager at Hi-ARTS, where he supports the organization’s cultural activities with a multifaceted fundraising approach. He has also implemented fundraising and additional institutional support across a diverse array of areas including grants and special events at Queens Council on the Arts, where he served as the Development Manager for six years and successfully sustained capital, organizational and programmatic initiatives. As a performing artist, he has been featured in music and theater productions at art institutions such as HERE, Theater for the New City, and Joe’s Pub. Masud also holds a B.F.A. in drama from New York University.
masud@hi-artsnyc.org
Image courtesy of Masud Grant
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Development Associate
they/themNikhil Mahapatra is a South-by-Southeast-Asian multi-disciplinary writer based in Brooklyn. Their written work draws on queerness and race sometimes, power and love often, but most of all encircles the place where grief and joy meet together, which, as one audience member once said, had “mixed results, but I guess I liked it”.
They are an inaugural member of the Lit Council at the Tank, a 2018-2019 Gingold Theatre Speaker’s Corner writer, a 2019-2020 Dramatist’s Guild Fellow, 2021 SPACE at Ryder Farm Creative Resident, a finalist for the National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill, a finalist for Signature Theatre’s launchpad Residency, and many other things. Their work has been showcased at Living Room Playlab, Gingold Theatre Company, The Tank, Cherry Lane Theatre, and more. Latest theatrical works include SWEETFISH!, American Hunger, CARNAL, Lost in the Fire, The Fields and Bali Babes. Other media includes the short film SPF (New York Indie Theatre Film Festival 2019), and select short stories and poems published in America and Singapore.
nikhil@hi-artsnyc.org
Image credit: Thomas Dunn
Programming
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Program Manager
she/herBrandi Webb (she/her) boasts a rich background in both film and theater production and direction, earning acclaim under the moniker Director Brandi Webb. With 18 years of dedicated experience, she holds a Bachelor Degree in Theatre, graduating Summa Cum Laude from Clark Atlanta University. In 2015, Brandi founded and managed a dance studio aimed at empowering women through dance fitness. Her creative prowess has been celebrated, earning prestigious awards from the People's Film Festival for her Documentary Betrayal of A Nation, which can be streamed on Tubi. Notably, she developed the innovative 3E Program for Social Justice Change, derived from Betrayal of a Nation, seamlessly integrating Black history into a U.S. History curriculum for middle and high school students, utilizing clips from the documentary to shed light on critical issues such as mass incarceration and police brutality. Brandi fervently identifies as an activist for the liberation of Black communities.
Brandi’s activism journey has guided her filmmaking endeavors toward actively engaging with cinematography, capturing the essence of various social justice campaigns and protests. She has produced and created video content for esteemed social justice organizations including Justice League NYC, The Gathering for Justice, Life Camp Inc., Until Freedom, and Haven Media. Furthermore, Brandi has filmed and conducted on-camera interviews with notable figures such as Amy Goodman, Errol Louis, Ajamu Baraka, Akeem Browder, Ilyasah Shabazz, Korey Wise, Charles Barron, Mysonne, Gwen Carr, Tiffany Crutcher, and many others.
brandi@hi-artsnyc.org
Image credit: Courtesy
Marketing and Communications
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Marketing Manager
she/theyEleanor Kipping is a Brooklyn-based Artist, Educator, and non-profit Arts Administrator. In addition to her role at Hi-ARTS, she teaches at Parsons School of Design at The New School and is a Media Instructer at Brooklyn Free Speech (BRIC Media Labs). They also run Camp El, a Maine-based artist retreat. Her interdisciplinary creative practice explores the Black female experience in the United States through performance, photo, video, and installation.
Originally from Maine, they have a BS in Video and Entertainment Production from the New England School of Communications (2007), an MFA in Intermedia from the University of Maine (2018), and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2018. She was a participant in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Governors Island COVID-19 Response Residency, the 2019 Creative Practices Artist in Residence at the School of Visual Arts, was a Co-Curator for the 2020-21 Yellow Fish Durational Performance Festival and was a 2023 Artist in Residence the Center for Performance Research. They have shown work at the Portland Museum of Art, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Five Myles Gallery, The Shed, and more.
eleanor@hi-artsnyc.org
Image credit: DaeQuan Alexander Collier
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Marketing Associate
they/themMJ Martinez comes from the L.A. area and currently resides in Brooklyn. They received their BA in Communication Arts and Digital Media from St. Francis College.
MJ is a multimedia artist who works under the handle @thedeathoficarus. They are currently developing a digital zine (working title: reflections of someone’s past) composed of social media posts, poetry, screenshots, and photography that interconnects the themes of a queer latine and self-love for survival.
mj@hi-artsnyc.org
Image credit: Wil Pierce
Business Optimization Consultants, Lucille Lortel Theatre
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Program Associate
they/themRobyn Ayers (they/them) is a movement artist, facilitator, and writer living on occupied Lenape land (Harlem). They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Fordham University and The Ailey School, which they obtained summa Cum Laude with Majors in Dance and Philosophy. Robyn’s artistic career takes them through formal stage production, site-specific installation, and film production: wandering around the intersection between classical modern and gestural contemporary impulse. Prominent credits include Ben Stamper’s short film Stay With, Katherine Maxwell’s stage production Prism, and Jacolby Satterwhite’s film installation An Eclectic Dance to the Music of Time at Lincoln Center.
Beyond the stage, Robyn works in instructional design, writing and facilitation, and arts administration. Their professional ethos is grounded in the importance of honesty and empathy intertwined, with the challenge of actively decolonizing the production, consumption, and judgment of information. Outside of work, they can often be found hovering over a soup pot or sitting by the ocean with their nose in a book.
robyn@hi-artsnyc.org
Image credit: Josh Pacheco Photography
Our Board
As we expand our capacity and community, we are excited to grow our board. Are you or is someone you know looking for ways to be more involved in your community, support a vital Black-led organization, and amplify the creative work of artists and communities of color while contributing to the fight for social and racial justice? We welcome expertise and fresh ideas from all industries. If this is exciting to you, email masud@hi-artsnyc.org and our Board Development Committee will quickly be in touch.
As we expand our capacity and community, we are excited to grow our board. We welcome expertise and fresh ideas from all industries. If this is exciting to you, email masud@hi-artsnyc.org and our Board Development Committee will quickly be in touch.
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Board Treasurer
he/himReginald “Reggie” Booker is Director of Commercial / Multifamily Research at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). In this role, Reggie handles MBA’s research on the commercial and multifamily real estate markets. His work covers the macro-economy, commercial and multifamily property markets, commercial and multifamily real estate finance, servicing, mortgage banking benchmarking, and more. Reggie also oversees MBA’s commercial peer business roundtables including CFOs, CTOs, Marketing, and HR heads. He also leads special MBA projects, including its Commercial Real Estate Finance Careers and helps with MBA’s Diversity and Inclusion program.
His work on the commercial real estate finance markets is regularly cited in the media, on Capitol Hill, and in regulatory settings. Reggie received a BA in Business Administration and Information Technology from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA.
Image courtesy of Reginald Booker
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Regina Chan (she/her) is a Managing Director and Tech Fellow at Goldman Sachs in Core Engineering, responsible for driving the firm’s data strategy through building digital platforms.
She has a passion for technology and for life in general. She likes to geek out in everything she does, whether it is cooking, rock climbing, coding, or anything else she’s currently learning. At work, she is involved in advancing women in STEM by planning and organizing programs for Girls Who Code. Regina earned an MS and BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Image courtesy of Regina Chan
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Lauren DeGeorge is Executive Vice President, Head of Client Services, at Publicis Groupe. She has 15 years of advertising, marketing, and consulting experience leading experiential, commerce, campaign, and transformation work on behalf of clients such as Labcorp, Samsung, Cartier, Pfizer, Baccarat, Starwood Capital Group, Morgans Hotel Group, Marc Jacobs, Giant Eagle, and Godiva.
Most recently, she was Sr. Vice President, Client Services at Edelman Digital; prior to that, she was a Client Partner at Publicis Sapient, where she was on the NY Office Leadership Team as well as the Steering Committee for the Women’s Leadership Network. She has also held account leadership roles at POSSIBLE (now Wunderman Thompson), HeBS Digital (now NextGuest), and French Connection Films in Paris, among others.
Lauren has spoken at marketing and women’s leadership conferences and is a published author on a range of topics such as luxury brand websites, digital inventory distribution, and culture. She speaks French and is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Lauren holds a BS cum laude in Advertising from Boston University’s College of Communication, where she was the commencement speaker. She lives in Harlem and loves HIIT and yoga, theater and poetry, coffee, Converse, and culture.
Image credit: Emmanuel André
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Board Co-Chair, 2023-Present
she/herSarah Keech is Vice President and Senior Counsel at American Express, where she leads commercial product and brand strategy legal teams. Sarah has extensive experience advising on payment systems and complex cross-border transactions, with a particular interest in Japanese investments in Latin America.
Sarah earned both her BA in Japanese and her law degree from the University of Michigan. She earned her Master’s in Epidemiology and Global Health from Columbia University and spent time with Fiocruz in Rio de Janeiro focusing on access to healthcare among marginalized populations. Sarah also serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Manhattan Legal Services, one of the largest providers of free civil legal services in the United States.
Image credit: Brenda Yoo
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Farrah Holder has over 16 years of marketing, business development, and financial experience, and she is Director at IMB Development Corporation. Most recently, Ms. Holder co-founded and is the President of ThinkNXT Marketing, a boutique marketing firm focused on developing and executing marketing and business development strategies for small to medium-sized businesses.
Ms. Holder began her career as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley in the Investment Banking division, then moved to the Strategic Ventures and Investment group where she focused on providing operational and financial due diligence for venture investments in the online space. After pursuing her MBA, Ms. Holder joined Time Inc. as a Marketing Manager for Sports Illustrated. Ms. Holder then joined Rodale as the Director of Strategy and Business Development where she structured and negotiated seven partnership agreements with Fortune 500 and startup companies.
In addition to Hi-ARTS, Ms. Holder serves on the board of the Animal Protection League. Ms. Holder has a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia in Finance and Marketing and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management.
Image credit: Farrah Holder
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Board Secretary
she/herZenobia Lockhart is originally from Oakland, CA. She earned her BS from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009. She successfully completed a dual degree program in 2013 at UCLA School of Law earning her MA and JD.
Immediately after law school, she found work as a volunteer attorney. At the National Center for Youth Law, she primarily researched and wrote a literature review on implicit bias in the juvenile justice system. She then was a volunteer attorney representing minors in delinquency court with the East Bay Children’s Law Office. She moved back to Los Angeles, where she worked at Children’s Law Center, representing children in the dependency court system. After two years, she moved on to work at Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers. As a staff attorney she managed an average caseload of 180 cases with daily court hearings, and as a Senior I Attorney she covered or substituted for one or more staff attorneys and first-chaired more complex cases.
In April 2019 she moved to Germany with her husband, who serves in the U.S. Air Force. In September 2021, she started as an inaugural Overseas Military Spouse Fellow with the Veterans Legal Advocacy Group (VetLAG) representing veterans in benefits appeals.
Zenobia continues to be an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. since 2007. She also is a board member of the National Black Women’s Creative Cooperative, which launched in March 2022.
Image credit: Simeon Lockhart
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Board Co-Chair, 2023-Present
she/herLenise Logan is committed to living in a world where all children and adults know their self-worth. An art advisor and exhibitions producer, Lenise has been immersed in the art world for 20 years. The New York Native has worked with some of the world’s most successful auctioneer operations and logistics departments at companies such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips. Lenise has built a career as an entrusted gatekeeper for some of the most valuable works of art in the world via traveling exhibitions and shipping — to the tune of over three billion dollars.
As President of Kalpa Art Advisory Lenise consults and supports public and private institutions with a community-driven art collection and institutional DEIA responsibility. Before this, Lenise served on the White House’s Act Art Advisory Board for Justice and Contemporary Art and was an executive at Christie’s Auction House. When she’s not advising artists on their businesses, collectors on how to manage and brand their collections, or non-profits on how to interact with both, you can find Lenise creating and facilitating mindfulness programs for young people and adults.
Image courtesy of Lenise Logan
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David G. Luther, Jr. is Of Counsel at the global law firm of K & L Gates LLP, where he has practiced in the corporate and securities areas since 1976. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance, and he also works with emerging growth and venture capital companies.
David graduated summa cum laude from Duke University and received his law degree cum laude from Stanford Law School, where he was the Book Review Editor of the Stanford Law Review and an Editor of the Stanford Journal of International Studies. He has repeatedly been recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer by Law and Politics Magazine and Texas Monthly and named one of the Best Lawyers in America.
He is an alumnus of the Dallas Business Council of the Arts and is active in a variety of civic groups, currently including board positions for Theatre Three, the Dallas All Sports Association, and the Dallas County Coalition of Community Justice Agencies. He also currently serves on the Legal Committee for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and on the Campaign Advisory Board for the American Journey Experience, an American history museum in the planning stages to be located in North Texas. David is an Eagle Scout and is proud of his two children and six step-children.
Image courtesy of David. G. Luther Jr.
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Board Chair, 2017-23
she/herConstance Mortell is an Associate Producer for Off Broadway Touring, the Emmy-nominated film director/producer of Prairie Tides, an early financial backer of the Oscar-winning short Saving Face, and the Oscar-nominated documentary Writing with Fire and Executive Producer of the TV pilot The Abandon. She has produced numerous award-winning shorts, including Make the Change and This Old Church, and she has been a financial supporter of independent documentaries including Mother: Caring for 7 Billion, Open Sesame – the Story of Seeds, and Nelson Algren: The End is Nothing, the Road is All. Currently, she is in pre-production on a documentary entitled MoreThanAFilm about the Black List.
Constance received a City of Chicago Public Service Award for her achievements while on the executive staff of the President of the Chicago Transit Authority, and she garnered a National Trust for Historic Preservation Award while serving as Executive Director of the Holy Family Preservation Society. She holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Colorado.
Image courtesy of Constance Mortell
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Marianna Schaffer is a curious connector and strategist with over 20 years of service in the philanthropic and movement sectors. She brings her highly passionate, personable, and dynamic approach to her work as Vice President of Programs at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, where she provides strategic vision, design, oversight, and management of all programmatic and grantmaking activities.
Prior to joining the Dodge Foundation, Marianna worked in support of artists and arts institutions dedicated to positive social change. She served as the inaugural Director of Artist Initiatives at Creative Capital, a New York-based organization that provides innovative and adventurous artists across the country with substantial financial and infrastructure investments. As a Program Officer at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, she worked with individual artists and small arts organizations working at the intersection of arts and social justice, primarily through pioneering initiatives such as the Artist as Activist Fellowship and SEED program. During her tenure, she also managed the New Climate Initiative, a partnership with the Sundance Institute to uncover and support films and emerging media projects that address the environment, conservation, and climate change.
Before joining Rauschenberg, Marianna worked in the Rockefeller Family Office as a member of David Rockefeller’s philanthropic team for eleven years, rising to become the Director of Programs at the David Rockefeller Fund, where she was responsible for day-to-day operations and grantmaking focused on arts access and engagement, criminal justice reform, and climate justice and advocacy.
Marianna holds a Master of Arts from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts from Antioch College. Outside of her professional activities, Marianna serves on the Board of Directors of the Outdoors Empowered Network, Impact Guild, Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, and Opendox. She also serves as the Board Chair of the Scherman Foundation.
Image courtesy of Marianna Schaffer
Board Member Emeriti
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Board Member Emeritus; Co-Founder, Hip-Hop Theater Festival
she/herKamilah Forbes is an esteemed award-winning director and producer for theater and television. She co-founded the Hip-Hop Theater Festival and currently serves as the Executive Producer at the World-Famous Apollo Theater in Harlem.
This Howard University alum has won awards for both directing and producing, including the 2019 NBTF Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award and an NAACP Image Award. Kamilah’s directing credits include Between the World and Me, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, written by Lynn Nottage, Blood Quilt written by Katori Hall, and Sunset Baby written by Dominique Morrisseau. She has produced several works for television, most notably the seventh season of the Tony Award and Peabody Award-winning series Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry on HBO. Her most recent directorial work, Between the World and Me, aired as a special event on HBO and HBO Max in November 2020 to critical acclaim. In addition to her work at the Apollo Theater, Kamilah is set to direct the Broadway premiere of Soul Train alongside Questlove, Dominique Morrisseau, and Camille A. Brown.
Image courtesy of Kamilah Forbes
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Clyde Valentín is a Creative Producer, Cultural Entrepreneur, and Strategist. He has over twenty years of executive experience managing start-up organizational environments, multidisciplinary projects, and live events.
During his time at the Hip-Hop Theater Festival (HHTF), Clyde served as the inaugural Executive Director, and supported the transition of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival from an annual project into a year-round 501©3 arts organization. After HHTF’s 10th Year Anniversary, he also oversaw the rebranding effort from HHTF to Hi-ARTS and the move to East Harlem, opening its first location – a 700-square foot storefront Studio/Gallery space on 100th Street, around the corner from Artspace PS109, the current home of Hi-ARTS.
Image courtesy of Clyde Valentín