Luke Sutherland is a trans writer, editor, and librarian. He has studied at the Tin House Winter Workshop and the Yale Writers’ Workshop. His chapbook Distance Sequence (forthcoming from Neon Hemlock Press) won the OutWrite 2023 Chapbook Contest in Nonfiction. He was a finalist for the SmokeLong Quarterly Award, the Black Warrior Review Contest, and the Larry Neal Writers’ Award. His work has appeared in smoke and mold, ANMLY, Bright Wall/Dark Room, MQR: Mixtape, and more. Luke also runs a DC-based trans writing group and micropress, Lilac Peril. You can find him online as @lukejsuth.
Tracy Chiles McGhee
Tracy Chiles McGhee is an award-winning, multi-genre author, cultural curator, and community builder with a commitment to exploring and celebrating the narratives of the African Diaspora. As the author of the novel, “Melting the Blues,” which received multiple awards, McGhee’s work is rooted in themes of cultural remembrance, expression, and healing. She founded My Published Book and WoMANIFESTING, initiatives aimed at amplifying women’s voices. McGhee’s leadership roles extend to advising and supporting several organizations, demonstrating her dedication to fostering the arts, community engagement, and raising the visibility of marginalized communities. A graduate of Catholic University Law School and Georgetown University, Tracy Chiles McGhee resides in Washington, DC.
Kristy L
Kristy L is a cultural organizer, artist, and emerging scholar in Washington DC. Her current projects focus on the history, politics, and world-making practices of DC’s Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ cultural communities, explored via personal archives and intergenerational events.
Her current project, “Cultural Waves,” is a zine series dedicated to chronicling the vibrant history of women and gender-expansive DJs in Washington, DC. Collaging together mini oral history interviews and materials from DJs’ personal archives, the project explores the journeys, influences, and cultural impact of DJs from the 1970s through the 1990s. With a focus on DC’s communities of color and their cultural and creative legacies, ”Cultural Waves” uses illustration and zine traditions to create a visually and historically captivating DIY publication that can educate and inspire. It amplifies the voices and celebrates the contributions of gender minority DJs in DC’s music scenes. Culminating in a public program featuring panel discussions and a zine release party, we come together to cultivate intergenerational dialogue and preserve this vital aspect of DC’s cultural heritage.
Dwayne Lawson-Brown
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Dwayne Lawson-Brown, aka the Crochet Kingpin, is an author, playwright, and arts administrator for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Dwayne has performed and hosted at many venues including The Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth Theater, Keegan Theater, The Strathmore, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and Spit Dat DC. Crowned 2021 DMV “Male Poet Of The Year” – ultimately, Dwayne’s goal is to invite folks to feel again.
Urmila Janardan
Urmila is a documentarian, organizer, and researcher, interested in understanding systems of oppression and documenting the people building alternatives. They have worked as a production assistant since 2019 and are in post-production of their first short film, “Ma Granite” (working title). The film follows a group of climbers in Hyderabad, India for three months as they fight to preserve their local crag from illegal encroachment. As an organizer, Urmila is a member of Ward 1 Mutual Aid—a community-led effort to take care of each other and keep DC as safe as possible; as well as Libereaders—a Black and radical mutual aid library that distributes free literature. As a policy researcher, they work to understand and mitigate the ways technology and automated decision-making can materially harm people. Urmila performs improv at the Washington Improv Theater and enjoys forging, cooking and swimming at Banneker pool.
Paul Grant
Paul V. Grant is a nationally recognized filmmaker, designer, and oral historian. He serves as the Chief Creative Officer of Ascender Communications, Inc., a digital advertising and media production company that is proudly based in (Ward 7), Washington, DC. He established the firm in 2005 and now has 20 years of professional experience producing award-winning films, advertising and public health campaign messages for non-profit advocacy groups, businesses, and federal agencies. Paul is a member of the American Advertising Federation (AAF-DC), American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Women in Film and Video (WIFV-DC) and the Association of African American Museums (AAM). He studied filmmaking and graphic design at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Visual Arts.
Jon Gann
Jon Gann, a gay, Jewish, native Washingtonian, is a film producer and director, creating award-winning commercial, documentary and narrative films since 2000. His most recent award-winning productions include the feature documentary “Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection”, exploring the singer’s career and struggles through never-heard recordings, and the short documentary, “Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color,” detailing the incredible life of the DC-based Black Woman abstractionist painter. He is the Founder of DC Shorts, a non-profit organization championing short filmmaking, and the creator of the DC Shorts Film Festival. Jon is also a founding Board Member and former Executive Director of the Film Festival Alliance, the first organization to professionalize the festival space.
Benji de la Piedra
Benji de la Piedra is an interdependent scholar and oral historian. A Visiting Fellow in the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, he is researching and writing about the vast and interrelated worlds and work of Afro-American intellectuals Herbert Denton Jr, Ralph Ellison, and Albert Murray. Benji designed and implemented the DC Oral History Collaborative’s inaugural workshops in 2017, and continues to professionally practice, teach, and consult on oral history methodology across the United States. He co-chaired both the Oral History Association’s 2022 virtual symposium on “Race & Power in Oral History” and the OHA’s 2023 annual meeting on “Oral History As/And Education.” He holds a B.A. in American Studies and M.A. in Oral History from Columbia University and is a proud member of the Washington International School’s class of 2010.
Ashley Gunter
Ashley, a native of Washington, D.C., is an educator, interdisciplinary artist, and administrator with a background in developing and executing dynamic arts and education programs. She is dedicated to nurturing creativity and community involvement and has overseen programs in Philadelphia, the D.C. area, and nationally that encourage personal and collective development. Ashley is excited to bring her diverse programming experiences, a keen eye for inclusion and accessibility, and a passion for celebrating diverse perspectives to HumanitiesDC with the aim of fostering impactful community engagement. In her free time, she enjoys working in her new garden or taking classes at her neighborhood recreation center.
Carolina Fuentes
Carolina is a PhD candidate studying Anthropology at the George Washington University (GWU). She earned her BA in International Affairs and MA in Anthropology as a Presidential Fellow at GWU. Her research focuses on Salvadoran migration patterns, community-building, and identity formation in the DMV area. She has worked as an Editorial Assistant at Anthropological Quarterly, where she read and edited articles from around the world. At HumanitiesDC, she hopes to learn more about the different community-led initiatives that increase participation in the humanities while also supporting the oral history community of practice in the nation’s capital. Outside of work, Carolina is part of the Yellow House Collective, producing Las Muertes Más Bellas del Mundo/ The Most Beautiful Deaths in the World, a film about Salvadoran artists in Washington, DC.