Donyale Reavis is an attorney specializing in intellectual property, entertainment and art, and small business corporate transactions. Donyale recently completed editorial duties with the New York law firm Sidley Austin Brown & Wood for the 3rd edition of the widely acclaimed Practicing Law Institute treatise entitled, “Art Law”.
Reavis began her law career in Washington, DC with the international law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. As a member of the corporate department, Reavis primarily focused on intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, and electronic commerce.
Reavis earned her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1999 where she also received a Masters degree, cum laude, in Government Administration (JD/MGA ’99). She earned her B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from Boston University in 1992. Reavis received several accolades for her work while at Penn, including the Presidential Leadership Award for University Women of Color and graduation honors for community public service. She has served as legal and field counsel to local, state and national political campaigns, including Rendell for PA Governor 2002 and 2006, State Counsel, America Coming Together in 2004, Street for Mayor ’99 and ’03.
In addition to her legal and political work, Reavis also organized the Philadelphia Hip-Hop Summit Action Network-Philadelphia Summit in 2003 and 2006. Reavis is the founder and President of the youth-based media arts organization, kaPow! inc., which provides arts-based instructional programs and media literacy curricula for high school youth in Philadelphia, including a six-week hip-hop summer Media Arts Institute which teaches youth to produce film, music, and choreographed dance while learning about careers in the entertainment industry.
Donyale Reavis
PRESIDENT, Chair
Programs Committee
Brian Peterson
Chair,
Curriculum Committee
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Michele is the Executive Director of Montäzh, as well as the company’s Artistic Director. Michele is currently teaching Intro to Hip-Hop at Bryn Mawr College and one of the minds behind the “P H R E SH” project and the annual dance workshop called “Ladies of Hip-Hop”.
Michele, a graduate of Temple University, BS in Community Health Studies, has trained at Koresh Dance Center, American Academy of Gymnastics, The Broadway Dance Center of NYC and with hip-hop and house choreographers Rennie Harris, Terry Wright and Moncell Durden. She has been featured on MTV’s ‘Global Groove’, WTXF-TV (local Fox affiliate), WYBE’s ‘Philly Live’, the 2000-2003 Rittenhouse Row Arts Festival, Philadelphia’s ‘Op Sail 2000’, 2003 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and is a principal dancer for Montäzh.
Michele Byrd-McPhee
Nancy Watterson is a folklorist passionate about engaged ethnography and community-based research. Nancy received her Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania, her M.A. in English Literature and Language from the University of Michigan, and her B.A. in English and Film History and Aesthetics from Oakland University, in Rochester, MI. Nancy’s teaching interests include African American folklore as well as emerging and ethnic literatures, and working with writers at all stages of their research, from brainstorming essay ideas to completing dissertations.
She has recently accepted a position as Assistant Professor of English at Cabrini College. For the past five years she has served as a lecturer in the Princeton Writing Program teaching “Social Action and Artistic Expression,” a first-year writing course about arts, culture, and activism affiliated with Princeton University’s Community Based Learning Initiative. During the summer she teaches a related course (Bread and Roses: Artistic Expression and Community Action) in the Master of Liberal Arts Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Before Princeton she taught at Harvard University for five years, and before that at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Delaware, and Oakland University.
Nancy Watterson
Stefan Frank received his MLA from the University of Pennsylvania and his BFA in film studies from Syracuse University. Between degrees Stefan worked as a film and television executive for LivePlanet, a multi-media production company founded by film producer Chris Moore (Good Will Hunting) and screen actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. There he helped develop the award-winning documentary Pop and Me (MGM Studios), the first season of the Emmy-nominated television series “Project Greenlight” (Miramax TV/HBO), and was Associate Producer of American Pie 2 (Universal Pictures).
Following his graduate studies Stefan was the Frederick Nuxoll Fellow of Media and Public Policy in the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. There, he assisted in the production of the award-winning weekly radio program Justice Talking and the New York Times Learning Network.
Stefan recently completed the radio documentary “Meetup.com: Building Social Capital in the 21st Century” which explores issues of community, democracy, and civic participation with a particular focus on the role of media in public discourse. Stefan is currently producing a radio documentary about the American Shad and continues to lecture in both the Cultural & Personal Enrichment Program and the cinema Studies department at the University of Pennsylvania.
Stefan Frank
Christian Rozier is a commercial director with a visual sense as varied as the New Orleans culture from which he hails. He has directed clips for musical recording artists Arrested Development and the Spooks, as well as commercial spots for a range of local and national campaigns. His documentary for Arrested Development, entitled Among the Trees, has been screened in festivals around the globe.
In 2000, Christian formed Filmverlag, a film and video production company.
Christian Rozier
Chair,
Website Committee
As an artist, Chenjerai has enjoyed a successful career as a songwriter, producer, vocalist, and musician. In 1995 he joined four other artists to form the visionary hip-hop group Spooks. In July of 2000 Spooks released their critically acclaimed debut album S.I.O.S.O.S. VOL1, which would subsequently go gold in England, France, Belgium and Sweden, and climb music charts to the top ten in over ten countries around the world.
Through his involvement with the Spooks Chenjerai has worked on a variety of musical projects ranging from collaborations with industry giants such as Marcus Miller in the soundtracks of several major motion picture releases.
As a teacher, Chenjerai has worked consistently with people of all ages and backgrounds. His lectures and workshops empower his audiences to dissect the inner workings and agendas of the entertainment industry and fully comprehend how it affects them both as consumers and potential industry professionals. Chenjerai continues to create and tour around the world performing with the Spooks, who recently visited Turkey as ambassadors of Hip Hop culture.
Chenjerai recently created Tongue Productions, a music production team involved in a wide spectrum of music and songwriting for recording artists as well as film, theatre, and television.
Chenjerai Kumanyika
Osborne "Dinky" Bingham, hails from Jamaica, New York. This ultra-talented musician's humble beginnings were in the basement of his jazz musician father and opera singing mother's house. Young Dinky began playing at various churches, weddings and funerals at 11, which got the attention of a young Aaron Hall.
These "Brothers in Christ" started singing, writing and producing tracks, which set the pace for their very bright futures. Dinky went on to become the lead singer for the group, The Jamaica Boys, which included Marcus Miller, Lenny White and Bernard Wright. This experience in playing live music around the world for millions of people gave Dinky a deep satisfaction, but the love of family was greater. This love drove him back home to the studio where he could reach the masses and still be a father to his 5 children.
Dinky is a much sought after programmer from Dj Clue, Mariah Carey, Lil Mo, Fabolous, Christina Millian, and more. Dinky has produced tracks with such diversity it is difficult to track his record.
Osborne “Dinky” Bingham
Curtis Midkiff is a co-founder of SG Promotions, a lifestyle marketing company based in Washington, DC which creates events and marketing strategies for a range of clients including: non-profit organizations, artists, and corporate clients. Midkiff also serves as a Senior Advisor to Black America's Political Action Committee, the nation's largest minority political action committee.
A graduate of Morehouse College and George Washington University, he also serves on the Founding Board of the Hope Academy, a proposed college preparatory middle school to be located in Washington, DC where he currently resides.
Curtis Midkiff
