Yasmeen is a Lebanese director, writer, and actress based in Brooklyn (technically Queens).

Her journey began in Lebanon, continued with a master’s in screenwriting and directing in Paris, and took her to New York for an intensive program at Stone Street Studios.

After working in all three countries, she took a break to transition and rediscover her artistic voice. Her work now captures the joy of her transition, the warmth of her chosen family, and the bittersweetness of New York. Blending Lebanese and global pop culture, she creates hybrid entertainment that navigates reality and absurdity, transcending conventional boundaries.

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Zanya Andrade Fitz serves as AFI’s Officer of Relocation & Resettlement, implementing strategies, resource-sharing, and community-building mechanisms for at-risk artists resettling in the United States.

Ms. Andrade Fitz has over nine years of experience in community-based organizing and engagement, dedicating her career to representing immigrant stories through the arts, language justice, and human rights.

Ms. Andrade Fitz received a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in Immigration Studies, Legal Studies, & Theater from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She also holds a certificate in Art & Cultural Heritage Law from Georgetown University Law Center.

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Shelly Bahl is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and educator. She has been leading and participating in BIPOC and feminist artist-run culture in Toronto and NYC for over 30 years, and her research focus is on decolonizing art histories and practices in the Americas. Her interdisciplinary artwork in drawing, painting, sculpture/ installation, performance, photography and video has appeared in many solo and group exhibitions internationally. Bahl is a member of The Paglees, a feminist collective of mid-career immigrant artists of South Asian origin living in the USA. The Paglees’ inaugural exhibition is currently touring across the USA, at venues including the South Asia Institute, McColl Center, Catherine G. Murphy Gallery and the Plains Art Museum. Bahl was born in Benares, India, and is currently based in Brooklyn.

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From Donetsk to Mariupol to Kyiv, Ukraine, Diana Berg transformed her practice from activist to artist, curator, and cultural manager amidst war and displacement. Founder of Mariupol’s Platform Tu, she has been working with gender inequality and human rights issues through art, persisting in activism and cultural preservation after being displaced twice by war. Diana’s work exploring topics of memory and war has gained national and international recognition. At documenta fifteen, she coordinated the 3-day Ukrainian program. Diana is currently developing a project on the environmental crises in the east of Ukraine affected by Russian ecocide. She is committed to leveraging art for social justice and environmental awareness.

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Stanlyn Brevé (she/her) is the Director of National Programs at the National Performance Network (NPN), where she champions a just and equitable world by advocating for artists and advancing racial and cultural equity in the arts. Brevé has built her career as a visual artist, video documenter, media producer, educator, and arts administrator. She is graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the James P. Shannon Leadership Institute, and served on the Board of Directors of The Association of American Cultures. With decades of experience as a moderator, speaker, panelist, and volunteer, Brevé is a trained community mediator in her hometown of Bulbancha (New Orleans, LA).

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Data Chigholashvili is the Curator of Residency Unlimited (Brooklyn, NY). Data works at the intersection of social anthropology and contemporary art. Their research, curatorial practice, and art projects explore topics around visual and urban anthropology, ethnography, socially engaged art, natural and built environments, public space, migration, foodways, memory, queering, archives, and/or museums. Data has worked in arts and culture independently, was the Curator of International Programs at the State Silk Museum, and was a team member of an artist-run organization and residency GeoAIR (both in Tbilisi, Georgia). They have participated in many residency and fellowship programs, presented at different conferences and events internationally, as well as written for various platforms and edited publications.

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Maka Chkhaidze is a cultural manager and curator. With a background as an actress, Maka’s primary interest lies in researching and using performing art as a tool in building relations between disconnected, underrepresented groups of society. In 2022, Maka founded the non-profit organization InForm – Platform for Inclusive Minds to advocate for and bring the disability narrative into the contemporary art scene in Georgia, and to link contemporary arts and disability communities. She formed an inclusive contemporary dance theater group of mixed ability dancers and actors with the goal of developing original and collaborative, local and international performing art productions, educational programs and inclusive arts community.

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Matthew Covey is the co-founder and executive director of Tamizdat, a nonprofit with the mission of facilitating international cultural exchange. He has presented and chaired panels on artist mobility issues at numerous conferences, including SXSW, WOMEX, Folk Alliance, APAP, and many others. In 2015 he launched Tamizdat’s affiliated law firm, CoveyLaw, which has quickly become the U.S.’s leading authority and advocate for arts immigration.

Matthew is admitted to the New York Bar, and is also president of Howard Zinn’s Voices of a People’s History of the United States.

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Dr. Mary Ann DeVlieg is an independent consultant, evaluator, facilitator and speaker, and an Expert for the Council of Europe’s initiative on artistic freedom: Free to Create/Create to be Free. Since 2010 she protected and defended the human rights of artists-at-risk as a case worker. She founded the EU working group, Arts-Rights-Justice; was freeDimensional’s Co-Director (2013-2015) and a co-founder of the Arts-Rights-Justice Academy, University of Hildesheim. Former Secretary General of IETM (1994-2013), the international network for contemporary performing arts. She founded On the Move and Roberto Cimetta Fund for Mobility in the Mediterranean, is currently a Board member of Ettijahat-Independent Culture and of SH|FT Safe Havens Freedom Talks. Her PhD examined the rights of relocated artists in the EU cultural policy and practice landscape.

Hannah East is the Acting Executive Director of City of Asylum Pittsburgh, the largest U.S. member of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN). She leads City of Asylum’s long-term sanctuary residency, which supports seven international writers who are living in exile or displaced by conditions in their home countries. She also oversees a year-round schedule of more than 120 free literary and arts programs that connect global voices with local audiences. Having previously served as City of Asylum’s Director of Finance and Administration, where she strengthened organizational systems and financial management, she now guides institutional strategy and partnerships that protect creative expression and expand access to the arts.

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Lama El Homaïssi (she/her) is an immigrant performer and writer from Lebanon, currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Born to a family of artists in Beirut, Lama grew up assisting her father, Faek Homaïssi, on his original musicals and mime plays, knowing she would eventually follow a similar path as a creator-performer.

She began her professional career as a television writer and producer for regional formats like The Voice and So You Think You Can Dance, and developed the award-winning concept Ana Zahra Jr. for girls’ empowerment.

After moving to the U.S. for her MFA in Musical Theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee (2017), she began merging writing and performance. She wrote and fronted her first one-person show, Article 534, a verbatim piece about Lebanon’s anti-LGBTQIA+ law. Most recently, as an artist-in-residence at SHIM:NYC, she developed her cabaret show, Not Harem Material (premiered at Joe’s Pub in 2023), and her first musical play, Radio Beirut.

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Sabina Fattakh, a Kazakh artist, DJ, and activist, navigates her creative journey through a decolonial and feminist lens, challenging hegemonic narratives while celebrating her cultural heritage. Her DJ sets serve as a form of cultural resistance, blending traditional Kazakh melodies with contemporary beats, reclaiming spaces and narratives often silenced by colonial histories. Embracing her identity as a Qumalaqshi, she incorporates traditional nomadic divination practices into her performances, grounding her art in ancestral knowledge. Through her activism, Sabina advocates for decolonization and inclusivity, working towards a world where diverse voices are heard and valued.

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Olha Filonchuk is a multidisciplinary artist, theater set and costume designer, and art teacher. Olha’s current practice focuses on visual, multidisciplinary art. Working with refugee communities, Olha explores the topic of forced migration, issues of national and cultural identity, and human-nature relationships using documentary data and oral history in installations, artbooks, and assemblages. She created around 50 performances in Ukraine and Europe. Olha co-founded the immersive Baby Theater for children under 3 in Kyiv. Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Olha temporarily moved to Thuringen, Germany, in 2022 after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

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Yohann Floch is the Director of Operations at On the Move, the international network dedicated to artistic and cultural mobility, and the Director of FACE, a resource platform that facilitates European capacity-building programmes in the contemporary performing arts field.

Throughout his career, Yohann has designed, coordinated, and contributed to numerous European cooperation projects and pilot international collaborations while working for independent arts organisations and cultural institutions. He serves governmental bodies and private foundations as external expert and leads or co-authors cultural policy reports.

Previously, Yohann held various leadership positions, including Secretary General of the European Dancehouse Network (Spain), Director of Skåne’s International Resource Office (Sweden), Coordinator of Dansehallerne’s Nordic dance network (Denmark), and Coordinator of the Circostrada network (France).

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Gracie Golden is the Resettlement & Partnerships Manager at Artistic Freedom Initiative. Throughout her career, Gracie has worked at the nexus of art, cultural heritage, and human rights. In her current role at AFI, Gracie manages AFI’s resettlement program to provide holistic professional, logistical, and personal support to US-based at-risk artists and cultural workers. Before coming to AFI, Gracie worked at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Cultural Heritage Center, implementing community-based and emergency cultural heritage preservation initiatives worldwide. She has also contributed to cultural heritage preservation initiatives at the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative. Gracie received her M.A. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and her B.A. in anthropology and history of art from Johns Hopkins University.

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Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work. Emily belongs to the Yup’ik Nation, is a land and water protector and an organizer for justice, sovereignty and well-being. A Bessie Award-winning choreographer, Guggenheim Fellow, and recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award, Emily is based in Lenapehoking/NYC and on Haudenosaunee lands. Emily’s large-scale performance gatherings insist thrivance, radical reworlding, and just futures. Emily is trying to make a world where performance is part of life; where performance is an integral connection to each other, our environment, our stories, our past, present and future.

Emily hosts monthly fires on Mannahatta in partnership with Kai Recollet. Emily was the Pueblo Opera Cultural Council Diplomat at Santa Fe Opera 2018-2020. She was a lead organizer of First Nations Dialogues, a member of Creative Time’s inaugural Think Tank, a co-compiler of the documents, Creating New Futures: Guidelines for Ethics and Equity in the Performing Arts and Notes for Equitable Funding and is currently co-lead for First Nations Performing Arts.

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A native of Lebanon, Wissam Kahi co-founded the catering company Eat Offbeat with his sister, Manal Kahi. They discovered a gap in the US market for authentic international cuisine and began their venture using their Syrian grandmother’s hummus recipe.

The company has a dual mission: to meet consumer demand for home-cooked global dishes and to provide employment for refugees, who are hired as chefs to share their homeland’s recipes.

Eat Offbeat

Mai Khôi is a Vietnamese singer, composer, and activist known for her work at the intersection of art and activism. She rose to fame as a pop star, winning Vietnam’s Television Song and Album of the Year awards in 2010. Over time, she became a vocal critic of government censorship, culminating in a pro-democracy campaign for the National Assembly and a meeting with Barack Obama. This activism came at a high cost, leading to her exile in the U.S.

In exile, Khôi has continued her artistic and activist work through projects like her genre-splicing trio, Mai Khôi Chém Gió, and her current project, Mai Khôi and the Dissidents. She has also been an artist in residence and was awarded the 2018 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent and the 2022 Four Freedoms Award for Freedom of Speech.

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Cansu Korkmaz is a Turkish visual artist living and working in New York. Their work examines ways of documenting intimacy, memory, and identity, challenging photography’s ability to compartmentalize the physical and the ethereal within rapidly evolving social landscapes. The artist approaches photography both as a physical entity—the printed image—and a fleeting gesture—the captured moment. They deconstruct methods of capturing a subject and storing its printed version, asking: If memories are fluid and non-chronological, why are photographs so pristine? Their work seeks hidden narratives by orchestrating various images, creating a subjective, imperfect reality where the images rebel against the norm and build their own version of “being,” much like a queer body.

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Carin Kuoni is the Senior Director and Chief Curator of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School and an Assistant Professor of Visual Studies. Her work explores how contemporary art reflects and informs social, political, and cultural conditions.

A founding member of the artists’ collective REPOhistory, Kuoni previously directed exhibitions at Independent Curators International (ICI) and the Swiss Institute. She has curated numerous transdisciplinary exhibitions on diverse issues like democracy, social networks, and Native American identity. Kuoni is also the editor or co-editor of several anthologies, including Speculation, Now and Entry Points. In recognition of her work, she received a 2014 Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Fellowship.

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The New School

Barbara Lanciers is the Director of the Trust for Mutual Understanding (TMU), a private American foundation that funds professional exchanges in the arts and environment conducted in partnership with institutions and individuals in Central, East, and Southeast Europe; the Baltic States; Central Asia; Mongolia; and Russia. 

Barbara was a Fulbright Scholar with the Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute. She has written independent articles on American performance for Szinhaz Hungarian theater magazine and Didaskalia Polish theater magazine. She is the director and co-creator of Kaddish, a staging of Hungarian Nobel Prize-winning author Imre Kertész’s novel Kaddish for an Unborn Child. 

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Elizabeth Larison is Director of the Arts and Culture Advocacy Program at the National Coalition Against Censorship, a member of Don’t Delete Art, and a writer and curator. Prior to joining NCAC, Elizabeth earned a BA in Human Rights and a MA in Curatorial Studies, and worked for organizations including Flux Factory, the Park Avenue Armory, and apexart. Elizabeth’s writing has been published in The Art Newspaper, Full Bleed, and Art21.

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Collective Courage

Independent Curator + Program Officer, Jerome Foundation

Melissa Levin is a values-driven arts administrator and artist-centered curator with more than 20 years of experience in the field. Levin is currently the inaugural New York City-based Program Officer with the Jerome Foundation, supporting early career artists in MN & NYC. Previously, she worked at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) for more than 12 years, where—as Vice President of Cultural Programs—her role encompassed wide-ranging institutional and artistic leadership, including overseeing LMCC’s artist residencies, exhibitions, and public programming.

Since 2016, with collaborator Alex Fialho, Levin has stewarded the legacy of and curated critically acclaimed exhibitions dedicated to the late artist Michael Richards (1963–2001). Released in November 2025, they have also co-edited Michael Richards: Are You Down?, the first monograph focused on Richards’s visionary practice. Levin holds a B.A. with honors in Visual Art and Art History from Barnard College. She currently serves on the boards of the Artist Communities Alliance and Danspace Project.

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Jonathan Miller directs the Opportunity Network for At-Risk Writers, Artists, Rights Defenders, and Scholars (ONWARDS), a collaborative initiative of US civil society groups that seeks to help people in fellowships, residencies, or other short-term arrangements find stability once their placements are over. ONWARDS offers workshops, info sessions, meetups, resource lists, and opportunities to connect with people in similar situations. Jonathan has worked in dozens of countries as a radio, television, and print journalist, and serves as executive director of Homelands Productions, a nonprofit journalism cooperative specializing in radio documentaries. He founded Story House Ithaca, a community organization in Ithaca, NY, that brings people together around stories in all their forms. He serves on the board of Ithaca City of Asylum.

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Achiro Patricia Olwoch is an award-winning writer, director, and producer from Gulu in Northern Uganda, currently living in exile in New York. She is a Visiting Scholar and Instructor at Vassar College, teaching playwriting and postcolonial drama. A former Weiss International Fellow and Scholar at Risk at Barnard College (2023-2024), Achiro has received numerous accolades for her groundbreaking work, including the TV series Coffee Shop and Yat Madit, and acclaimed short films like The Surrogate.

Her creative work bridges history and contemporary struggle. She recently completed three manuscripts left unfinished by her late father and is now working on a memoir about her life from exile to war and a novel about a former child soldier navigating Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, Pen America, and Adi Magazine. Her play, The Survival, premiered at Lincoln Center (2022) and returned for a full production at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (2024). She serves as the African Representative on the Women Playwrights International Management Committee and is a member of the National Queer Theatre’s Artistic Collective.

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Ravi Ragbir is an immigrant rights activist and the Executive Director of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York. He works directly with those facing deportation, empowering them through advocacy and accompaniment. As an organizer, he trains advocates, creates sanctuary spaces, and runs “Know Your Rights” forums to help communities navigate the immigration system.

He has developed a clinic to assist immigrants without lawyers and coordinates a large accompaniment program, ensuring people are not alone when checking in with immigration agents. Ravi’s work is deeply personal, as he is also fighting his own deportation. He has testified before the New York City Council and provides crucial information to city and state agencies, all while fighting to remain in the U.S. with his family and supporters.

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Diana Rakhmanova is an artist, curator, art manager, researcher, and journalist. She is the founder of PF Cultural Center “Kuduk” in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Diana curates educational projects on eco-art, data-art and art management in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. She also creates installations, discussions and cooking-together happenings considering food as an art language of cultural exchange. Most of Diana’s work is autobiographical based on memories, search for herself, internal reflections, and the history of Tajikistan. Her work was exhibited in Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and USA and included as part of the DAVRA collective at Documenta fifteen. She participated in art residencies in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia.

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Mehrnam Rastegari is an internationally recognized master of the Kamancheh, a bowed string instrument used throughout Central Eurasia. She is a carrier and innovator of several Iranian classical and folk traditions, and she has been featured in some of the most prestigious music festivals worldwide, including GlobalFest, Secret Planet, Fajr International Music Festival, WOMEX, and Ragas Live Festival. In addition to her work as a performer, she has composed and contributed to award-winning soundtracks for over 10 feature films, theaters, award-winning short films, and the video game “Assassin’s Creed.

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Sara Roer (she/her/hers) hails from Waccamaw land, colonially known as Wilmington, NC, and settled in Lenapehoking (NYC) in 2005 after years of asking to stay on childhood visits. An extroverted, non-disabled, cisgender, white queer femme, Sara’s “slash life” has always balanced dance and arts administration, grounded in curiosity, collaboration, and long-term commitment. She’s been a collaborator with Emily Berry/b3w Performance Group and Keith A. Thompson/danceTactics for nearly 20 years each (earning a New York Times nod as “eloquent”). She co-founded This Body collective with Diane Tomasi and has practiced traditional Thai Bodywork for over 16 years. After 14 years at BAX|Brooklyn Arts Exchange, she is now Interim Executive Director at Dance/NYC, cultivating equitable, justice-centered creative ecosystems.

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Alison Russo is the Founding Director of the Artist Protection Fund (APF) at the Institute of International Education. Since 2015, she has led the creation and expansion of APF, a pioneering global initiative that supports threatened artists and champions artistic freedom and freedom of expression. Under her leadership, APF has become a leading model in the field, offering critical support through fellowships, partnerships, and advocacy.
An interdisciplinary artist and collaborator, Alison’s work spans site-specific performance, integrated media, civic engagement, and arts-based humanitarian projects. She has developed projects across the U.S., Europe, the Balkans, and East Africa, and has cultivated a global network of artists and institutions dedicated to cultural resilience and creative freedom.
Alison holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and is an honors graduate of the University of Connecticut.

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Zelo Safi is AFI’s Senior Attorney, Immigration & Human Rights, providing legal services for at-risk artists from around the world. With a background in both the arts and law, she is passionate about the intersection of art, cultural heritage, and legal practice.

Ms. Safi has extensive experience in business immigration matters, specializing in O-1 artist visas and family-based immigration. She previously worked with True, Walsh & Sokoni, LLP (now True & Walsh LLP) and Lehach & Filippa, LLC in New York.

Ms. Safi earned her JD from Catholic University, Columbus School of Law, a BA in Government from George Mason University (with an Art History minor), and a certificate in Art & Cultural Heritage Law from Georgetown University Law Center. She is admitted to practice law in New York and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

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Nisha Sajnani is a distinguished professor, researcher, and a leading advocate for the role of arts in health and social well-being. She is the Director of the Drama Therapy Program and Theatre & Health Lab at NYU and a founder of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Her work focuses on how creative expression can inspire equity and collective flourishing, particularly for individuals and communities affected by trauma and displacement. She has co-authored and edited several books on drama therapy and art as a health resource, including a global series for The Lancet. An award-winning professional, Dr. Sajnani’s efforts have been recognized with numerous accolades for her contributions to research, education, and diversity in the field of drama therapy.

NYU

Cuban filmmaker and designer whose work moves between experimental documentary and
essay film. Graduated from the International School of Film and Television, where she earned a
Master’s degree in Essay Film Direction, her practice centers on self-reflexive narratives,
memory, and the many forms of Cuban migration.
Through a hybrid approach that intertwines personal testimony, archival materials, and poetic
imagery, Salgado explores questions of displacement, belonging, and the politics of
representation. She has collaborated with various media outlets as a reporter, editor, and
documentarian.
Her films have screened at DOC Buenos Aires, Visible Evidence XXIV, the Havana Film Festival,
and INSTAR Film Showcase. Based in Miami, she develops essayistic projects on family and
diaspora.

Rachel Switlick is the current Artist Liaison & Advocate for SHIM: NYC. She holds her MA in Performance & Culture from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her graduate work culminated in an examination of the impact of US Immigration policies and procedures on the creative culture of New York City. Her undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University (BA in English and BFA in Dance) were focused on interdisciplinary collaboration and a study of methods of communication amongst artists. Before joining the SHIM: NYC team, Rachel worked in theatre production for various performances, including Insight International’s tour of Uniform Justice and the TÉA Creative and Private Theatre’s co-production of Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana, Sean, Claudia, Gianna, Alex. As an advocate for social justice encouraged by the belief that artistic freedom is essential to a fair and just society, Rachel focuses her efforts on finding ways to support artists of all backgrounds. Outside of this work, Rachel currently spends her time empowering others as a Krav Maga instructor and debate coach.

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Ya Yun Teng is a cultural producer and arts administrator dedicated to amplifying underrepresented narratives and fostering equitable access to the arts. As Program Officer at the New York Foundation for the Arts, she develops programs and partnerships that empower immigrant artists and connect them to vital resources. Her previous work includes cross-cultural collaborations with institutions such as Flushing Town Hall, the Museum of Chinese in America, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Asia Society, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She has also served as a grants panelist for arts councils across New York City and is an alumna of Coro NY’s Immigrant Civic Leadership Program.

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Leanne Tintori serves as a consultant for the New York State Council on the Arts’ (NYSCA) Dance and State & Local Partnerships programs, bringing over 30 years of experience as a grantmaker, presenter, producer, and advocate.

During her 17-year tenure at NYSCA, Leanne served as Program Director and developed numerous statewide initiatives. These include the Statewide Community Regrants program (a partnership network supporting local arts and community building), the NYS Choreographers Initiative (a fellowship for emerging upstate dance makers), and the Audience Building Project (supporting nonprofit presenters and audience sustainability).

Prior to NYSCA, Leanne served as Program Director for the Tribeca Performing Arts Center and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. For over a decade, she was also the Director of Education, Youth and Family Programs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Julie Trébault is the Founder and Executive Director of ARC – Artists at Risk Connection, a global organization dedicated to safeguarding artistic freedom and supporting artists and cultural workers under threat.
Under her leadership, ARC has provided critical resources and support to over 2,100 artists in more than 60 countries who are facing persecution from state and non-state actors, empowering them to overcome challenges to their creative expression.

Before establishing ARC, Trébault held prominent roles in the art world, including Director of Public Programs and Traveling Exhibitions at the Museum of the City of New York and the Center for Architecture in New York City. She also contributed her expertise internationally, working at the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands and serving as Head of Higher Education and Academic Events at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris. Trébault holds dual master’s degrees: a Master’s in Arts Administration from Sorbonne University and a Master’s in Archaeology from the University of Strasbourg.

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Ashley Tucker is the Co-Executive Director of the Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI), where she leads the planning and implementation of programs and legal services for at-risk artists. With a career dedicated to international human rights and social justice, Ms. Tucker brings extensive experience from her work with organizations such as the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights. She has a unique background that combines art and law, holding a BA in Studio Art and a JD from CUNY School of Law. Ms. Tucker has worked on strategic litigation and conducted human rights trainings abroad, using her dual expertise to advocate for creative freedom.

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Kyaw Moe Khine (b.1996), professionally known as Bart Was Not Here, is a Burmese artist in exile based in New York. Rooted in graffiti and raised on imported subcultures, his visual language employs subversion, fiction, and narrative investment. Working across large-scale canvases, sculptural installations, and drawings, Bart constructs sprawling worlds inhabited by recurring characters and shapeshifting motifs.

Growing up under a military dictatorship in Burma, he used graffiti as a tool of agency, adopting the pseudonym at age 13. With limited access to global culture, he absorbed foreign films, literature, and subcultures through dial-up internet and bootleg markets.

Bart’s practice blends cinematic composition with gallows humor, internet semiotics with folklore, and conventional beauty with disobedience, engaging themes of violence, voyage, worship, and myth-making. A graduate of LASALLE College of the Arts, he has exhibited internationally. Following his involvement in the resistance against Myanmar’s 2021 coup, he went into exile, completing residencies at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York.

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Mia Yoo is the the artistic director of La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, in New York’s East Village. LaMaMa was founded in 1961 by the New York theater legend Ellen Stewart. After Ellen passed away in 2011, Mia Yoo became her successor.

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