DIRECTORS

           FOUNDING DIRECTOR:
           TRANSCULTURAL ALIGNMENT &
           TRANSLINGUAL HEALING

           Ava Ansari is a Farsi interpreter, transmedia 
           poet, transcultural curator, and yogi working  
           with the sensual, institutional, and digital
           bodies. Their practice lives at the
           intersections of choreographic, linguistic, 
           musical, and spatial composition;  
           heterotopic healing and radical cyber
           celebration; and translingual embodiment
           and bodies' free navigation.

           Since 2010, Ava has been working with
           telepresence healing technologies and
           distanced communities to diversify the
           fixated notions of poetic expression and
           governance. “The Back Room” collective
           for critical dialogue and virtual poetics with
           hubs in cities in Iran and the US (Doris Duke
           Foundation’s Building Bridges Awardee,
           2010-14); “Subway” app for poetic public
           movement beyond preventing laws
           (International Journal of Arts & Technology,
           Volume 7, 2014); and “Conducting Studies”
           processor for poetic mapping (International
           Conference on New Interfaces for Musical
           Expression 2015, International Symposium
           on Electronic Arts 2014) are examples of
           their collaborative projects.
   

           CO-DIRECTOR:
           SPATIAL JUSTICE & ARCHITECTURE OF
           COLOR

           Dr. Craig L. Wilkins is an architect, theorist,
           author, critic, and 2017 National Design
           Award Winner. Recognized as one of the
           leading scholars on African Americans in
           architecture, his essay, “(W)Rapped Space:
           The Architecture of Hip Hop” (2006) is the  
           first theoretical source that predicted the
           influence of hip hop on architecture. His first
           book, The Aesthetics of Equity: Notes on race,
           space, architecture and music received a
           2008 Montaigne Medal and 2009 National
           Indie Excellence Award.


           CO-DIRECTOR:
           RESONANCE & SONIC ENGINEERING

           Salar Ansari is an Iranian immigrant DJ,    
           producer, instrumentalist and engineer, 
           uniquely positioned at the forefront of the
           sonic connection bridging the SWANA
           (Southwest Asia-North Africa) region and
           the Midwest, US. He is the co-founder of
           Feeder Loft recording studio and music label
           in Waawiiyatanong/Detroit, and Analog  
           Room international music residency in Iran
           and UAE.

           Salar has garnered accolades from
           recording engineering with the famed Blue
           Note Records to winning the 2021 Detroit
           Music Awards for “Best Electronic
           Recording.” In total, he has featured on over
           50 productions as an engineer, producer,
           and session musician while collaborating
           with an incredible array of artists across the
           globe. He releases original music through
           Moozikeh Analog Room and Feeder Loft
           Records as well as his own imprint Passed
           Out On A Persian Rug. In addition to his own
           production work, he’s also a founder of
           improvisational dance act DMVND, along
           with Rafael Leafar and Ian Fink as well as
          Everyday Crisis with Luis Resto and George
          Rahme.