Karen Detlefsen: Vice Provost for Education
Provost Wendell Pritchett and Deputy Provost Beth Winkelstein are pleased to announce the appointment of Karen Detlefsen as Vice Provost for Education, effective on July 1, 2021.
Dr. Detlefsen is a professor of philosophy in the School of Arts and Sciences, with a secondary appointment in the Graduate School of Education; chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences; founding director of Penn’s Project for Philosophy for the Young; and affiliated faculty of the Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality, and Women. She is a leading global scholar of early modern philosophy who has taught at Penn since 2001, with particular interests in women in the history of philosophy, the history and philosophy of education, and the history and philosophy of science. She has been awarded the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest University-wide teaching honor, and the Kahn Award for Distinguished Teaching by an Assistant Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences.
“Karen Detlefsen is renowned for her strong commitments to teaching and education, not only on our campus but also in our Philadelphia community,” said Provost Pritchett. “She will be an ideal partner to help us chart the course for graduate and undergraduate education at Penn as we emerge from the pandemic in the years ahead.”
Dr. Detlefsen is co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Early Modern European Women Philosophers (Routledge, forthcoming) and Women and Liberty, 1600-1800 (Oxford University Press, 2017); editor of Descartes’ Meditations: A Critical Guide (Cambridge University Press, 2013); and the author of dozens of major articles and reviews across early modern philosophy. At Penn, she served from 2014-2019 as director of the Integrated Studies Program and currently serves as co-chair of the University Advisory Council to the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia and a member of the Faculty Advisory Board of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, among many other positions. She earned a PhD in philosophy from the University of Toronto, an MA from the University of Western Ontario, and a BA in English and philosophy from the University of Calgary.
“I greatly look forward to working with Karen Detlefsen in this new role,” said Deputy Provost Winkelstein. “She is a highly experienced teacher and scholar who is well-known across campus as one of our great mentors and collaborative leaders. She will work closely with me, Provost Pritchett, and our many faculty, staff, and student partners to help shape and implement our core educational initiatives going forward.”
The Vice Provost for Education, reporting to the Deputy Provost, oversees undergraduate and graduate education at Penn, developing and implementing policies that promote academic excellence, innovative teaching and learning, and interdisciplinary knowledge across the University. The Vice Provost chairs the Council of Undergraduate Deans, the Council of Graduate Deans, the Council of Professional Master’s Degree Deans, the Graduate Council of the Faculties, and the Faculty Advisory Council for Access and Academic Support Initiatives.
From the Provost and Williams Director of the Penn Museum: A Message to the Penn Community—Towards a Respectful Resolution: An Apology to the Africa Family
April 28, 2021
(Content Warning: contains discussion of human remains.)
The Penn Museum and the University of Pennsylvania apologize to the Africa family and the members of our community for allowing human remains recovered from the MOVE house to be used for research and teaching, and for retaining the remains for far too long.
The Africa family and our community have experienced profound emotional distress as a result of the news that human remains from the horrific 1985 bombing of the MOVE house were at the Penn Museum and this fact has urgently raised serious questions: Why were the remains at the Museum in the first place? Why were they used for teaching purposes? And, most importantly, what are we going to do to resolve this situation?
In 1985, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office asked Penn physical anthropologists to assist with the efforts to identify some of the remains from the MOVE house. It is common for physical anthropologists to assist in forensic cases where individual identity is uncertain, and over the years our experts revisited this question, driven by new science and technology. But despite these efforts, we, unfortunately, are still unable to provide conclusive confirmation of identity.
Chris Woods personally learned on April 16 that these remains were in our Museum and that they had been used in a forensic anthropology class, having assumed his role as director on April 1. The important topic of returning human remains to descendants was very much on the minds of Museum staff as there had just been a public announcement of plans regarding the Morton Cranial Collection, and the issue of the MOVE victim’s remains was raised in this context. In the April 12 announcement of the plans for the Morton Collection, we vowed to work with local communities to learn their wishes and to return individuals to their ancestors, wherever possible, as a step toward atonement and repair for the racist and colonial practices that were integral to the formation of these collections.
While the remains recovered from the MOVE house were not part of the Museum collection, it could not be clearer that this same standard should be applied here as well—these remains should be returned to the Africa family as soon as possible. The research of our physical anthropologists was done in the interests of serving our community, but by any measure 36 years is far too long to have waited.
We understand the importance of reuniting these remains with the family. This is our goal. And we are committed to a respectful, consultative resolution.
For many, one of the most traumatic parts of this narrative is that some of these remains were used in a forensic anthropology class that was offered by Princeton University and taught by a member of the Penn Museum staff. This course has now been suspended.
Classes in forensic science require human remains to teach the next generation of forensic specialists. However, it is an ethical imperative to show the utmost respect to family survivors. Informed consent must be given by the person before death or by the family afterwards. Regretfully, this did not happen in this case—and it was a serious error in judgment to use these remains in a class of any kind, especially given the extreme emotional distress in our community surrounding the 1985 bombing of the MOVE house. Unquestionably, the decision to use the remains in this way has torn at old wounds that our city and community have long sought to heal.
The Museum has promised to reassess our practices of collecting, stewarding, displaying, and researching human remains, and we are committed to this promise. It is now obvious, however, that this reassessment must also include how human remains are used in teaching as well as a comprehensive review of the holdings and collection practices of our Physical Anthropology section.
As part of this review, the University of Pennsylvania has hired attorneys Joe Tucker and Carl Singley of the Tucker Law Group to investigate how the remains came into the possession of the Museum and what transpired with them for nearly four decades. This report will be shared with the community and its findings used to help us ensure that nothing of this nature is repeated in the future.
We must constantly bear in mind the fact that human remains were once living people, and we must always strive to treat them with the dignity and respect that they deserve.
—Wendell Pritchett, Provost
—Christopher Woods, Williams Director, Penn Museum
From the President and Provost: Statement Regarding Human Remains Recovered from the MOVE Home
April 26, 2021
We were profoundly disturbed to learn this past week that human remains, provided to a faculty member by the medical examiner many decades ago in an effort to identify a victim from the 1985 bombing of the MOVE house, had been kept at the Penn Museum for much of that time. Simply said, this was insensitive, unprofessional, and unacceptable.
An official apology has been extended to the Africa family by the Museum and the University, and the Museum is currently working to return the remains to the family. In our judgment, it is imperative that we bring in an outside investigator who can examine how this unfolded and provide us with a complete report on what transpired. To this end, we have hired attorneys Joe Tucker and Carl Singley of the Tucker Law Group to investigate how the remains came into the possession of the Museum and what transpired with them for nearly four decades. We will share this report with the community and use its findings to help us ensure that nothing of this nature is repeated in the future.
—Amy Gutmann, President
—Wendell Pritchett, Provost
School of Social Policy & Practice Excellence in Teaching Awards
SP2 Standing Faculty
The Excellence in Teaching Award is presented to both standing and non-standing faculty members in recognition of excellence in teaching and mentoring during the previous year. Winners of this award are chosen by the Student Policies and Procedures Committee from the pool of five standing and five non-standing faculty with the highest quantitative scores for “overall quality of the instructor” on the course evaluations.
The 2021 award honorees are as follows.
Ram A. Cnaan is a professor and the director of the Program for Religion and Social Policy Research at SP2. He is the founder and faculty director of the Goldring Reentry Initiative, which works to reduce recidivism and help returning citizens to better integrate in society. He is also a Global Eminent Scholar at Kyung Hee University Graduate Institute of Peace Studies in South Korea. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
He is the past president of ARNOVA (Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action). He is the originator of the first practice doctoral degree in social work (DSW), which is now in its 10th year and has been emulated by some 12 schools nationwide.
Dr. Cnaan received his doctorate degree from the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh and his BSW and MSW (both cum laude) from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. He has published numerous articles in scientific journals on a variety of social issues, mainly faith-based organizations, volunteerism, criminal justice, social policy, and social development. He serves on the editorial boards of 11 academic journals and is the author or editor of eight academic books including The Other Philadelphia Story: How Local Congregations Support Quality of Life in Urban America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006) and Cases in Innovative Nonprofits: Organizations That Make a Difference (Sage, 2014). Currently, Dr. Cnaan is working on three new books: one on religious organization and society; one on community organizations; and a family history project. In his spare time, Dr. Cnaan collects and publishes books on antique obsolete tools. He also collects Inuit prints. He is considered an international expert in the areas of faith-based social care, volunteering, prisoners’ reentry, and social policy. He lectures widely and teaches regularly in four countries.
Allison Werner-Lin is an associate professor at SP2. Her research addresses the intersection of genomic discovery and family life. Her work is among the first to explore the psychosocial challenges unique to women and men of reproductive age who carry a genetic mutation that confers elevated risk of cancer. Dr. Werner-Lin has served as an investigator in multiple interdisciplinary, NIH-funded grants examining dissemination and implementation of emerging genomic technologies in reproductive, pediatric, adolescent, and emerging adult contexts. Presently, Dr. Werner-Lin is an investigator on a Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot Grant with the Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania, where she is examining barriers to cascade genetic testing in families of pediatric cancer survivors. She is a senior advisor to the Clinical Genetics branch of the division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute, where she oversees psychosocial research addressing hereditary tumor predisposition syndromes, including Li-Fraumeni syndrome and inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. She is a member of the Scientific Committee governing the International Meeting on Psychosocial Aspects of Hereditary Cancer, and in 2019, she was a visiting scholar at the Hastings Center for Bioethics. In 2021 she will assume the role of director of research for the Association of Oncology Social Work.
Dr. Werner-Lin has held multiple training grants to build and evaluate interdisciplinary educational programs in oncology, genome-based health literacy, and health care social work practice. She has partnered with local and national agencies that seek to identify how best the rapidly evolving knowledge base of genomics may be translated into education and outreach programs for teachers and families. At SP2, she is founder and director of the Advanced Certificate in Oncology Social Work continuing education program and director of the Social Work in Health Care Specialization for the MSW program. She regularly advises MSW and DSW students and teaches advanced clinical social work practice, family caregiving, and qualitative research methods. In 2020 she won SP2’s Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dr. Werner-Lin received her MSW and PhD from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. She earned a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, and a bachelor of arts in family studies and psychology from Wellesley College. She is a fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research and a distinguished scholar and fellow of the National Academies of Practice in Social Work. She was recently honored by the CSWE’s Council on the Role and Status of Women in Social Work Education for outstanding mentorship. Dr. Werner-Lin is a licensed clinical social worker practicing in New York and Pennsylvania. She has practiced in community-based organizations providing individual, family, and group counseling and psychotherapy to families affected by cancer, and she maintains a small private practice for parentally bereaved children and teens.
SP2 Non-Standing Faculty
Meredith Myers is a senior fellow in the Wharton School’s Center for Leadership and Change Management. She has benn a member of the Penn faculty since 2009, working within the Wharton School, SP2, and the Positive Psychology Center. Dr. Myers has won excellence in teaching awards in the Wharton School and SP2’s MS in Nonprofit Leadership program.
Dr. Myers is also the executive director of Job Crafting LLC, an organization that helps people bring more purpose and engagement to their work. In her research and consulting, she has coached international leaders, executives, and board members in corporations, non-profits, government, and mission-critical teams. Her key areas of interest include optimal human performance, leadership, collaborating in contentious contexts, training the trainer, bias in decision-making, and the science of emotions.
Dr. Myers holds a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University. She is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business, earning a BS in economics from the Wharton School and a BA in international studies from the College of Arts & Sciences.
Matthew Bennett teaches the course Data Analysis for Social Impact as part of the nonprofit leadership (NPL) program. He is a professorial research fellow at the Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities (CIRCLE) at the University of Sheffield, U.K. Dr. Bennett received his MSc and DPhil in sociology from the University of Oxford, and his BA in psychology and sociology from the University of Washington.
Dr. Bennett’s expertise is in inequalities and wellbeing outcomes of care, prosocial behaviour and social diversity. He is a co-investigator in the Economic and Social Research Council’s (U.K.) “Sustainable Care,” and the National Institute for Health Research’s (U.K.) “Achieving Closure” programs, which look at the cost and contributions of care and the impact of care home closures. He is also principal investigator on an ESRC award that looks at the impact of diversity on intergroup relations, stress (allostatic load) and wellbeing. His expertise is in linking and analyzing large-scale surveys and administrative datasets using advanced statistical methods (multilevel, panel and structural equation models). Dr. Bennett’s social care research (both academic and co-produced with Carers U.K.) has consistently featured in the media nationally and has been debated in the House of Lords. He also works with SP2 professor Peter Frumkin as assistant director of the Social Impact Fellowship, which brings together some of the top doctoral researchers in the world working in the area of voluntary sector and non-profit studies. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Social Policy and the International Journal of Care and Caring.
Daniel Baker is a lecturer in the MSSP Program, where he teaches courses in policy analysis and policy communication. He holds a BA in philosophy from the University of Washington, a JD from Duke University, a graduate diploma in economics from the University of Cambridge, and an MPP and a PhD in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Baker’s research focuses on the theory of social policy and public administration, looking at the intersection of democratic theory, ethics, and practical policy analysis. In particular, his research aims to reconcile the normative obligations in deliberative democracy, one of the most prominent conceptions of democracy in modern political theory, with the practical and pragmatic arguments for cost-benefit analysis and evidence-based policy that sway much of the social policy and public administration literatures.
Dr. Baker is a licensed attorney in his home state of Washington and practiced law near Seattle before pursuing his doctoral degree. He has published on the First Amendment and researches the interplay between legal obligations and moral obligations in modern governance. Outside of work, Dr. Baker plays chess and reads extensively about economic history and the history of philosophy.
Stuart Weitzman School of Design G. Holmes Perkins Distinguished Teaching Awards
The G. Holmes Perkins Teaching Awards are presented annually, based on nominations by students at the Weitzman School of Design, to recognize distinguished teaching and innovation in the classroom, seminar, or studio.
The 2021 faculty honorees are:
G. Holmes Perkins Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award
Gabriel Martinez, senior lecturer in the department of fine arts, is a Cuban American visual artist originally from Miami, Florida who works largely with photography, performance, and installation. Mr. Martinez was a recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2001 and was granted a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship in 2003. He has received two Individual Artists Grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. He has also participated in several national artist residencies and artist-in-residence programs including: The Rosenbach Museum and Library and the Fabric Workshop and Museum, both in Philadelphia; Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida; Arcadia Summer Arts Program, Maine; MacDowell, New Hampshire; and Yaddo, New York.
He has created performance-oriented events and installations for various venues including: in Philadelphia at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Art Alliance and NEXUS/Foundation for Today’s Art; in New York at White Columns, Franklin Furnace, Exit Art, Thread Waxing Space and the SCOPE Art Show at Lincoln Center; and in Miami at Miami Art Central and Bernice Steinbaum Gallery. Mr. Martinez studied at the Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting in 2003. His work is included in the Phaidon Press publication Art & Queer Culture (Themes and Movements Series).
One of Mr. Martinez’s students said, “Gabe has been a pivotal part of my journey as a photographer. He is genuinely excited about his students’ work and provides clear and constructive criticism.” Another said, “he has taught me how to boil down my ideas into a concept that’s clearly communicated to my audience. I really owe him a lot!”
G. Holmes Perkins Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award, Non-Standing Faculty
Paul Farber, lecturer in the department of fine arts, is a curator, historian, and educator, serving as the artistic director and co-founder of Monument Lab and senior research scholar at the Center for Public Art and Space at the Weitzman School. Dr. Farber’s research and curatorial projects explore transnational urban history, cultural memory, and creative approaches to civic engagement. He is the author of A Wall of Our Own: An American History of the Berlin Wall, which tells the story of a group of American artists and writers who found refuge along the Berlin Wall and in Cold War Germany in order to confront political divisions back home in the United States. He is also the co-editor with Ken Lum of Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia, a public art and history handbook and catalogue designed to generate new critical ways of thinking about and building monuments.
As a curator, Dr. Farber works with artists and their families to engage, revisit, and re-imagine their archives. In doing so, he also brings multi-generational students into the fields of public art and history. In addition to curating Monument Lab’s City Hall exhibition (2015) and citywide exhibition (2017), he is a co-curator with Salamishah Tillet of Monument Lab’s A Call to Peace exhibition in Newark (2019). His work on culture has also previously appeared in The Guardian, Museums & Social Issues, Diplomatic History, Art & the Public Sphere, Vibe, and on NPR. Dr. Farber earned a PhD in American culture from the University of Michigan and a BA in urban studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He previously served as a postdoctoral writing fellow and visiting assistant professor of history at Haverford College, a doctoral fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., and a visiting scholar in the urban studies program at the University of Pennsylvania.
One of Dr. Farber’s students said, “I took Paul’s Monument Lab class last semester, and it was one of the best learning experiences I’ve had, even though it was over Zoom. I always left his classes feeling more energized and with many more ideas and important questions.” “Paul’s classroom, even virtually, is a place that cultivates warmth, creativity, and openness,” said another. “He leaves space for close listening and lively candor. His interpersonal skills paired with his research and experiences are invaluable and prescient. The intimacy in which he operates his classroom provides ground for sacred and fruitful interrogation into the human condition.” A third student said, “his knowledge and his critical work with issues of monuments, public space, and public art were inspiring, as was his sense of humor and ability to engage a group of people.”
G. Holmes Perkins Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award for Standing Faculty
Erick Guerra is an associate professor and the associate chair of city and regional planning in the Weitzman School of Design, where he teaches courses in transportation planning and quantitative planning methods. His research focuses on the relationship between land use, transportation systems, and travel behavior with an emphasis on rapidly motorizing cities, public health outcomes, and transportation technologies. He has published articles on land use and transportation in Mexico and Indonesia, public transport policy, land use and traffic safety, and contemporary planning for self-driving vehicles. As a practicing researcher and consultant, Dr. Guerra has completed projects on accessibility and transportation affordability for the Brookings Institution, the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. He holds a PhD in city and regional planning from the University of California Berkeley, a master’s in urban planning from Harvard University, and a BA in fine arts and French from the University of Pennsylvania. He also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon from 2002 to 2004.
One of Dr. Guerra’s students said, “He teaches in an engaging manner and creates a learning environment in which students want to perform well.” Another said, “Erick serves as a great example of civility which makes not only an educator but also a role model.” “His courses inspire an atmosphere in which students want to perform well and impress,” said a third student.
New Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies
The School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania announces the establishment of the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies (CLALS). The center will stimulate and support research and teaching on the Latin American region and the Latinx populations of the U.S. and provide an integrated academic base for scholars, students, and programs across Penn that focus on these topics.
The center will bring together 60 faculty, representing 12 departments and two programs in the School of Arts & Sciences in addition to six other schools across Penn. This figure includes 18 scholars of Latin American and Latinx studies that Arts and Sciences has recruited since 2015.
CLALS will build on the foundation of Penn’s 33-year-old Latin American and Latinx Studies Program (LALS), which is home to an undergraduate major and minor, a graduate certificate, and limited research activities. The center will absorb the existing program and also promote a robust research mission, featuring thematic research clusters, an expanded speaker series, support for junior faculty research, and expanded dissemination of research findings, as well as visiting professor and post-doctoral fellow positions. New support for graduate students will include research awards and a graduate student colloquium, while existing undergraduate research opportunities will be expanded.
The center will also be a vehicle for expanding academic-community collaborations, building on existing LALS program partnerships with Latinx communities and organizations in Greater Philadelphia as well as with institutions and communities in Latin America.
CLALS will be led by director Tulia Falleti, Class of 1965 Endowed Term Professor of Political Science. Emilio Parrado, Dorothy Swaine Thomas Professor of Sociology and a longtime head of the Latin American and Latinx Studies Program, will also hold the title of founding director and oversee programming on Latinx populations.
“We take great pride in Penn’s deep tradition of excellence in Latin American and Latinx studies,” said Steven J. Fluharty, Dean and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience. “CLALS will provide a focal point for showcasing Penn’s considerable faculty and programmatic strength in this area and serve as an institutional base for pursuing innovative new research and teaching agendas. Given the importance of Latin America globally and of Latinx in the U.S., the center will also have a key role to play in advancing the School priorities around global inquiries and diversity and inclusion.”
“I am honored and humbled to lead the new Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies at Penn,” said Dr. Falleti. “It constitutes the realization of a dream we have been working towards with colleagues, students, and staff for many years. Our interdisciplinary center will strive to support and provide the human and intellectual talent capable of addressing the most pressing challenges and opportunities faced by Latin America and Latinx populations during the 21st century. Indeed, the creation of our center amidst the challenges posed by the pandemic heightens its relevance and promise. It also fills me with gratitude and with hope for more equal, sustainable, and just futures.”
Penn COVID-19 Response Update
The University community must continue to follow Penn’s public health guidance on campus. Masking, distancing, washing, testing, and completing your daily PennOpen Pass are still required even if you are vaccinated. Penn’s public health program is based on evidence specific to our University population.
Actions to Keep the Penn Community Healthy
Penn tracks data and follows the latest science to make decisions in the best interest of public health.
Actions by individuals remain our primary tools to minimize virus transmission:
- Wearing a mask,
- Staying physically distanced, especially when eating indoors or outdoors,
- Hand washing,
- Staying home when feeling sick, and
- Completing daily PennOpen Pass symptom checker and exposure reporting. The use of PennOpen Pass is required for those on campus.
The Penn community should remember that our decisions impact the lives and health of student pods, classmates, colleagues, and our West Philadelphia neighbors.
Guided by our commitment to education and research and to the health and safety of our community, Penn supports innovative remote learning and work while inviting students back to campus to live and learn. Being vigilant about public health at Penn helps preserve the health of our neighbors as well. We all pull together because Penn Cares.
For the latest Penn COVID updates, visit https://coronavirus.upenn.edu/.
Black Music City Project Awards: $48,000 in Grants
The Black Music City project announced that it is distributing a total of $48,000 to 23 Black creatives in the greater Philadelphia area to produce new artistic works inspired by Philadelphia’s rich Black music history. Each recipient is receiving between $1,000 and $3,500.
In December 2020, the new Black Music City collaboration between Philadelphia public music radio stations WXPN-FM and WRTI-FM and REC Philly announced that it had secured funding from Wyncote Foundation to award grants to Black creatives in the greater Philadelphia region to help them create new projects that recognize and honor the influence of Philadelphia’s Black music history. Since that announcement, another $19,000 in sponsorship funding provided by Tito’s Handmade Vodka and a donation by Philadelphians Dan and Marilyn Hauser has brought the total amount of grant money available to $48,000. More than 600 applications were received. The Black Music City Selection Committee, which determined the final list of recipients, includes Black Philadelphia-based professionals in the arts, media and business.
The deadline for applications was January 25, 2021 and more than 600 applications were received. The Black Music City Selection Committee, which determined the final list of recipients, were Black Philadelphia professionals in the arts, media and business.
Committee member Gerald Veasley, President of Jazz Philadelphia, said, “Reviewing the submissions was an incredible reminder of the breadth and depth of talent we have in our city.” Hip hop artist and committee member Chill Moody said, “We’re all excited to see these amazing jawns come to life.”
The committee also includes:
- Alex Holley, FOX-29 TV Good Day Philadelphia anchor/co-host
- Dame and Yaya Horne, creative director and CEO, co-founders, Tiny Room for Elephants
- Ashley Coleman Thomas, senior membership and project manager, Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy
- Dyana Williams, CEO, Influence Entertainment and award-winning broadcaster
Work on the new creative projects will begin immediately. Videos hosted by artist and Black Music City spokesperson Suzann Christine and posted at www.blackmusiccity.com will spotlight the journeys of some of these new creations. All new works must be completed by May 27, with exhibition and distribution of the videos and final artwork taking place during June, which is African American Music Appreciation Month.
More information about Black Music City is available at www.blackmusiccity.com. Follow and share about the project using #blackmusiccity.
To read more information, including the full list of funding recipients, read the WXPN press release.