Jasmin Agosto, Hartford
Jasmin’s vision for Sageseeker Productions was born out of a lifelong mission to build community through Black and POC-centered creative space. She has been organizing cultural events, festivals, and exhibitions alongside other artists, students, elders, and community organizers, and through schools and nonprofits in Hartford since she was a teenager. After over 10 years of work, she continued to see a lack of performance opportunities for womxn of color, especially queer womxn of color, and after establishing her company, put together the first La Sala Femme event in May 2018. La Sala Femme is a performance series where a diverse group of artists and healers come together to produce public experiences that release grief, inspire joy and cultivate curiosity in the community. By day, she develops creative and intergenerational programming through her position at the Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library. As a producer and curator, she brings to the forefront Black womxn, womxn of color, non-binary and queer artists with the goal of fostering nourishing collaborations across the state of Connecticut and setting a standard for care in curation and equity in paid creative work.
Andrew Camacho, New London
Andrew, artistically known as Suave-Ski is a successful hip-hop artist, actively involved in the New London arts community (recently voted into the Cultural District Commission). From recording music to producing videos, graphic designs, and websites for local artists and companies, he works to highlight musicians and events in the spirit of unity and collaboration. He is all about community and is described as an all-around prolific artist and inspiration. He will soon be launching Artflame, a non-profit music mentorship program he created to provide a comfortable and creative environment for area youth to pursue their passions and promote positivity, artistic growth, and collaboration through the music-making process.
Shelby Davis, Waterbury
Shelby is a life coach, author, theater enthusiast and educator with a love and passion for helping others. He established City Youth Theater, a theater company committed to challenging each student to perform at their highest level on and off the stage. Aside from impacting young adults through theater, Shelby has touched the lives of many through his books Meet Wyatt Brown & Everything My Parents Taught Me in 6 Steps, a book centered around guiding, encouraging, and motivating individuals to believe in themselves and to reach for their goals.
Marti Etter, Stamford
Marti is co-founder and executive director of The Ballet School of Stamford, a non-profit devoted to nurturing young dancers through a disciplined and focused training program that brings out the best of their natural talent. Students are never turned away because they cannot afford classes – Marti finds a way to provide scholarships to all those who want to dance. She is passionate about arts education and the change it can bring to a child’s life.
Kerry Kincy, Middletown
Kerry is an artist with a strong commitment to bringing expressive arts into all spaces and all communities, particularly in underserved and invisible populations who are not traditionally served by arts organizations. Ms. Kincy is a core faculty member with New Haven Ballet’s Shared Abilities Program where dancers with and without physical disabilities work in partnership to create performances. She provides the vocabulary and the tools to utilize the transformative power of movement /dance to both typical and differently-abled communities, in schools, colleges, Alzheimer's residential programs, hospitals, correctional facilities and with veterans with PTSD. Kerry is the Founder and Director of Free Center Middletown and facilitates free programming with all ages, races, ethnicities, and backgrounds to move together as a tool to strengthen social and cognitive abilities and an awareness of the mind/body connection as a path to healing. Kerry is an Expressive Arts Consultant to organizations and institutions, collecting data to understand the efficacy of their programming.
Angaza and Effie Mwando, Torrington
Effie and Angaza use the arts as a way to connect the community. They are described as the most loving, positive, accepting and inspiring individuals who work tirelessly (in their "retirement") to promote the celebration of all cultures and encourage people of different backgrounds to come together. Through their work, they highlight and educate the community about black culture and have risen to the forefront of advocacy for cultural unity. They also work with schools to bring diversity programming into the classrooms, and they encourage local groups to share with each other through art.
Daniela L. Sikora, Ridgefield
Daniela is a musician, vocal teacher/coach, artistic director and conductor of the Ridgefield Chorale and the Founders Hall Singers. Throughout her career, Daniela has championed artistic collaboration and community access to the arts in Ridgefield and beyond. She believes that the arts are a necessary and vital part of the human experience, foster positive social interactions and are major economic drivers in our communities.
Kim Weston, Guilford
Kim is a mother of six children, photographer, artist and teacher who has dedicated her life to sharing fine art and photography to people of all ages and abilities regardless of their circumstances or resources. She encourages students to aspire to use their craft to express their emotions and feelings to process experiences and explore their environments. Not only does Kim teach her craft with an enthusiasm that is infectious and inspiring, she also enlightens students on how to be successful and create a fruitful living doing so. She is deeply dedicated to serving her community by developing artists from within the community and preparing them for the next step in their artistic journey. She is in the process of opening Wábi Gallery in downtown New Haven that will feature fine art and photography from Connecticut artists, national emerging artists and a photography mentorship program for teens.