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I AM ARTS Foundation Studio Artist Iamartsfoundation@gmail.com https://www.iamartsfoundation.org/ The I AM ARTS Foundation is non-profit arts organization that utilizes the ARTS to transform lives. Additionally, the foundation is known for mentoring youth and providing them with access to arts education and community-based services. Our curriculum prepares youth to be well rounded citizens in the arts and within the creative industries. We currently run four significant programs including: I Am Arts Performance Company , a youth performance company, Project I Am Arts , an online and after school program, Creative Arts Summer Intensive , a summer enrichment program, I Can Dance NYC , a cultural enrichment dance experience. Our Vision To provide wellness through experiential artistic practice and community engagement. Our Mission To provide a platform of personal expression, cultural awareness and social development through artistic creation and service learning. OUR STAFF STUDIO ARTIST EBON DOOLEY HONOREES

Brian Spears 2021 Ebon Dooley Honoree Social Justice Champion Brian Spears , Attorney at Law, specializes in litigation involving governmental liability on a state and local level. He has knowledge and experience in the handling of cases involving civil rights, constitutional law, and police misconduct. He has built his law practice around fighting against violence and racism by law enforcement and by white supremacists. He has brought more lawsuits against the Ku Klux Klan than any other Georgia attorney—from Wrightsville to Albany, from Rome to Forsyth County. Mr. Spears has also supported peoples’ movements by providing defense to activists arrested when demanding an end to forcing homeless people out of downtown Atlanta, equal rights for persons with disabilities, equal educational opportunities, and an end to US support for apartheid in South Africa. He has worked towards the ending of US wars in Latin America. He has also worked for fair elections, affordable medical care (the Grady Coalition), and an end to corporate domination of our democracy (Occupy Wall Street, Atlanta). Spears is the former Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild, a founding member of the National Police Accountability Project—the largest lawyers organization specializing in police misconduct, a founding member of the Detroit-based Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, and, for more than thirty years, he organized the annual Atlanta Civil Rights Litigation Seminar to train other lawyers to bring civil rights lawsuits. Brian is an attorney who does not back down from taking on the system firsthand to address issues governing police practices, civil rights and governmental liability and has also donated his legal skills to nonprofit organizations. He has practiced law for more than three decades and received rewards from the ACLU of Georgia, SCLC, NAACP, and the Georgia Lawyer Chapter. Brian represents the kind of social justice champions who are seldom celebrated, but essential to advancing justice in this nation. He is among those lawyers who are always ready to advise, support and defend the rights of protesters holding the line against economic and social attacks by those in power. OUR STAFF STUDIO ARTIST EBON DOOLEY HONOREES

Ashley Dopson 2022 Ebon Dooley Honoree Jack Sinclair Visual Artist tapestrymurals@gmail.com http://www.ashleydpaints.com/ Ashley Dopson is a conceptual fine artist who uses her art to create intimate moments in public spaces. Her murals can be seen in many corners of the city — “Dream Big: The Phases of Ms. Kamala Harris” on Cascade and Beecher, “Herstory: Heroines of the West End” at the Goodwill on Ralph David Abernathy, and “Fish Are Jumpin’ and the Cotton Is High” at the Krog Tunnel entrance to name a few. Raised in Atlanta, she credits her early childhood in New Orleans for her colorful palette and rich textures. Her works are a conglomerate of primitive impasto and a contemporary take on the painting styles of the Harlem Renaissance. OUR STAFF STUDIO ARTIST EBON DOOLEY HONOREES

Akbar Imhotep 2019 Ebon Dooley Honoree Change Maker 1951-2022 Akbar Imhotep committed his entire adult life to fostering social change by educating adults and children with his captivating stories and fascinating puppets. He began his artistic career in 1977 as an actor with the Proposition Theatre Company. In 1979, he was introduced to puppetry at the Center for Puppetry Arts. After a six-year residence at the Center, he launched his solo career, traveling around the city with his colorfully draped suitcases filled with magic, wonder and excitement. He impacts the community by affecting positive social change with his involvement in progressive cultural organizations and community improvement efforts including the Atlanta Kwanzaa Cultural Committee. His impact has grown to include the Southern region of the U.S. as well as nationally. OUR STAFF STUDIO ARTIST EBON DOOLEY HONOREES

Cleigaie Narcisse 2024 Jack Sinclair Gallery Assistant Cleigaie Narcisse is a Fine Arts Manager, detail-oriented independent curator, and Project Manager from the Bronx, NY. Her passion for creativity inspired her to pursue Graphic Design at Kennesaw State but her business acumen led her to receive a BS in Business Administration from Georgia Southern University. After an early career in Marketing introduced her to the world of curation. Cleigaie quickly became engaged with the Atlanta art scene, reinvigorating her passion for supporting the arts. Cleigaie worked as the Manager and Associate Curator of Future Gallery, a black artist-owned fine art gallery exhibiting the works of emerging contemporary artists. She also works as Project Manager of Future Dead Artists, an arts organization that aims to develop a thriving arts ecology for local artists. Possessing a deep interest in representation and cultural awareness within communities, Cleigaie is dedicated to the equity of funding and access to opportunities that develop a more inclusive arts ecology where true representation can thrive and inspire. She continues to work with artists as a manager and consultant. Cleigaie Narcisse, is an Atlanta-based Arts Administrator passionate about supporting artists and creatives. Hailing from Bronx, New York she was exposed to a plethora of experiences in the arts, from music, theater, dance, and graffiti street art to museum exhibits developing a deep affinity for the arts in all its forms early on. After studying Graphic Design at Kennesaw State University, she interned with Cartoon Network’s in-house production studio, Williams Street on projects for their Adult Swim programming block. With a professional background in Marketing, Creative Direction, Brand and Project Management, Cleigaie quickly acclimated to the Atlanta arts scene and nurtured her passion for supporting the arts. In 2018 she signed on as the Gallery Manager and Associate Curator of Future Gallery in East Point Atlanta and Project Manager of the artist collective Future Dead Artists. Going on to co-curate over 15 exhibitions, artist talks, and workshops featuring local, national, and international visual and performance artists. In 2019 she head curated “Dead Ringer Vol. III”, a Future Dead Artists’ annual juried group exhibition, featuring a unique concept of the creative inspiration processes between visual artists and Photographers. During the turn of the pandemic, in 2021 as a member of Future Dead Artists and in partnership with The Creatives Project TCP she co-curated a Juneteenth-inspired group exhibition “Self-Liberated”. This exhibit focused on celebrating local Black artists who were trailblazers, leaders in their own right, who did things their way and on their terms, embodying the spirit of Juneteenth. She has been published in both Visionary Artistry Magazine and Voyage ATL. As a passionate volunteer and curator, she has worked with various organizations such as; MOCA GA, Future Gallery, The Creatives Project TCP, The Lines Gallery, TILA Studios, The ArtsXchange, SOHO Art Group, and has built relationships with independent artists and arts administrators in and around Atlanta. Possessing a deep interest in representation and cultural awareness within communities Cleigaie is dedicated to representing and creating inclusive and equitable opportunities for local artists. OUR STAFF STUDIO ARTIST EBON DOOLEY HONOREES

ArtsXchange Annual Fundraisers Learn more about our Annual Fundraisers 2023 UnMask The Future Celebrating 39 Years of Service Saturday, October 14, 2023 7:00 PM - 12:00 PM Learn more 2022 Give Peace A Dance Put on your grooviest threads and give peace a dance! Saturday, September 24, 2022 7:00 PM - 12:00PM Learn more

Shelia Turner and Sistagraphy 2018 Ebon Dooley Honoree Change Maker https://www.sistagraphy.com/ 1961 - 2018 In 1993, Shelia Turner , an Atlanta-based documentary photographer, wanted to create a vehicle for Black women photographers to exhibit their work. At the time, the world of photography was dominated by white males. There was no collective of Black women photographers documenting the stories of Black women. Shelia contacted nine photographers that she knew personally, and they all accepted her invitation. The inaugural exhibition garnered critical acclaim. The collective’s next exhibition was held in 1994 under its new name, Sistagraphy. Shelia passed away in 2018, but her commitment to the relevance and importance of photographic art created by African American women lives on. Sistagraphy encourages lifelong learning and promotes the art of photography through interpretive theme-based exhibitions, educational programs, and community outreach. OUR STAFF STUDIO ARTIST EBON DOOLEY HONOREES

Counter Narrative Project 2024 - Ebon Dooley Honoree Social Justice Champion info@counternarrative.org https://www.thecounternarrative.org Founded by Charles Stephens in 2014, the Counter Narrative Project is a narrative change organization that stands in the tradition of Bayard Rustin, James Baldwin, Essex Hemphill, and other movement leaders, artists, organizers, and visionaries committed to countering narratives and speaking truth to power. CNP shifts narratives about Black gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men to change policy and improve lives. OUR STAFF STUDIO ARTIST EBON DOOLEY HONOREES

ARTiculate ATLanta 2024 Ebon Dooley Honoree - Economic Justice Champion Contact - ARTiculate ATLanta https://www.articulateatl.org For more than a decade, ARTiculate ATLanta has provided local, emerging artists with a professional environment to show and sell their artwork. Founded by Courtney Ware Lett, Brandon Ball, and Esohe and George Galbreath, the mission of ARTiculate ATLanta is to promote and market the various forms of traditional and modern artistic expression inherent in Black culture with events that connect artists and art collectors, creating a network that will expand and strengthen the art community. OUR STAFF STUDIO ARTIST EBON DOOLEY HONOREES

Charmaine Minniefield 2021 Ebon Dooley Honoree Economic Justice Champion Alumni Studio Artist Contact@PraiseHouseProject.org https://charmaineminniefield.com/ The work of Artist-Activist Charmaine Minniefield preserves Black narratives as a radical act of social justice. Firmly rooted in womanist social theory and ancestral veneration, her work draws from indigenous traditions as seen throughout Africa and the Diaspora, to explore African and African-American history, memory, and ritual as an intentional push back against erasure. Her creative practice is community-based as her research and resulting bodies of work often draw from the physical archives as she excavates the stories of African-American, women-led resistance and spirituality and power. Minniefield’s recent public works, which include projection mapping and site-specific installation, insight dialogue around race, class, and power. Recent projects include the Remembrance as Resistance: Preserving Black Narratives in Atlanta’s historic Oakland Cemetery which honored the over 800 unmarked graves recently discovered within the African-American Burial Grounds through the multimedia installation of a Praise House. Her Praise House Project went on to receive a prestigious Our Town Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Charmaine’s work is featured in several public and private collections, and as a muralist, her walls can be seen throughout the City of Atlanta and beyond. She was honored by Mercedes Benz as a part of their Greatness Lives Here campaign. She is featured in the 2020 US Census commercial with her recent mural in Brooklyn depicting women who shaped the future. Minniefield recently served as the Stuart A. Rose Library Artist-in-Residence at Emory University through a collaboration with Flux Projects and as the Curator of Elevate for the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. Charmaine has a long history of including other artists in her projects, to share funding opportunities, and to advocate on behalf of artists. Her determination to help artists, especially Black women artists, to become economically visible by sharing resources and opportunities that will help create change is powerful. Charmaine’s brilliance as an artist is unquestionable, but what has earned her this award is her attention to sharing economic opportunities and funding among other artists. This is such a cooperative and collaborative example that deserves special recognition since under capitalism, being an artist is often a solitary and self-promoting life. As a visual artist my work seeks to preserve Black narratives as a radical act of social justice. As an artist-activist, I intentionally push back against erasure, displacement, misrepresentation, and marginalization by reclaiming cultural histories in communities affected by gentrification. My work invokes the power of the ancestors. By creating visual roadmaps from the past to the present, paved by the history and stories, love and heartache, success and failures of the ancestors, it celebrates and calls to the present the wisdom of those who have come before to inspire a new freedom movement today. My work reclaims the stories of the ancestors as social iconography of my generation by creating shrine paintings, which present the ancestors as sacred symbols of freedom. I believe that by reclaiming the stories of our ancestors and by praising and committing to their memory, we will better understand our collective potential and ourselves as a society. OUR STAFF STUDIO ARTIST EBON DOOLEY HONOREES