Make a Wave

MOYANA (she/her) is passionate about making music that makes a difference. Her music is rooted in R&B, jazz, and soul. In 2025, she released her debut album PTCHWRK, produced by 7VNTH, which was recognized by These Days Magazine, …

BSA Gold (she/her) is a flutist and producer exploring sound, spirituality, and self-understanding through electronics and acoustic instruments. Inspired by Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, Ras G and countless other pioneers in music, she experiments with synths/electronics, and acoustic …

Lisa (she/her) is a designer, musician, and facilitator based in Chicago. Her work navigates the slippery tensions between emergent technologies and traditional print-based design tools. By incorporating sound design, moving image, and lights as materials, she strives to make work …

Breon Arzell (he/him) is a dedicated teaching artist, actor, director, choreographer, writer, and collaborator. With Chicago as his artistic home, he has served as a mentor and instructor at several universities, studios, and theaters. He holds a BA in Theater …

Iris Bernblum (she/her) is a cross disciplinary, conceptually based artist with a deep interest in the way Capitalism commodifies and mirrors the way we consume and guides our desires. She explores ideas around human nature, power, and vulnerability, focusing primarily …

Craig D. Black Jr. (he/him/they/them) from San Jose, CA is a dancer, educator, stager, and the Rehearsal Director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

At age ten Craig began dancing at South Bay Dance Center. In 2011, he received his BFA …

Antonio Bruno (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist who treats creativity like a block party: open to everyone, full of surprises, and best when shared. Rooted in Chicago, Tony uses sound, storytelling, theater, and community gatherings to spark connections that feel …

Tatiana Castañeda (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist from Oak Park, Illinois. She is currently a company member and teaching artist with Aerial Dance Chicago, as well as a dancer and choreographer for MOMENTA Dance Company. 

Tatiana received …

ALEX CHITTY (she/her/they/them) (b. 1979, Little Havana, Miami, FL) grew up between the United States and Britain. Chitty studied theater, dance, literature, botany, marine biology, and fine art at Smith College (BFA, 2001) and earned her MFA (2008) with the …

Hawk Coleman (he/him) is a performing musician in the Chicagoland area. He has sung at many notable events such as, CosmicCountry. He has performed in local venues across Chicago, including the Old Town School of Folk Music, the Hideout, …

Christopher Damman (he/him) is a composer/bassist who has gigged persistently in the Chicago scene since the late, great saxophonist Fred Anderson gave him a monthly gig at the Velvet Lounge in 2009. He was a notable regular substitute for Brian …

BABA IDRIS/Idris Daniel (he/him) is an accomplished performing artist whose love for West African music and dance was shaped by Chicago’s rich arts community. At age 10, he joined SPIRITS S.O.A., a youth training program where he studied traditional West …

Thomas Canty (they/them), also known by his stage name Tre Daniels, is a dancer, choreographer, DJ, and producer from Chicago. With over a decade of experience in hip-hop, house dance, and event production, he has become a dynamic force …

Binta (she/her) is an award-winning, versatile artist and leader with extensive non-profit and community-centered experience in arts programming and creative sector initiatives. As a first-generation, Senegalese and Gambian singer-songwriter, Binta captivates listeners through spiritually rooted music. She uses her ancestral …

Soh Darling (she/her) is a Chicago-based vocalist and songwriter whose sound weaves soul, jazz, and R&B into something deeply personal and contemporary. From early days with the band Idesia to touring with Noname, she’s carved out a voice all her …

Lauren Dotson (she/they) is a poet, storyteller, actor, collagist, and teaching artist currently based in Chicago, but originally from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Lauren creates work that concerns itself with Black temporalities, queering the folktale, and using assemblage as a form of …

Rueben (he/him) is an accomplished producer, playwright, director, choreographer, illustrator, costume, and wig designer. He has had the pleasure of working with many theater companies across the country and in the Chicagoland area such as ETA, Black Ensemble, Mmpact, Congo …

Deborah Goodman (she/her) is a Lecturer in Dance at Loyola University Chicago. Her expertise is in the techniques and repertory of American Modern Dance vanguards Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey. She is an international authority on the early technique of …

Willow James (he/him) is a Chicago-based arts leader, DJ, and multidisciplinary artist working in photography, sound design, and music composition. He uses art as a platform for community healing and creates work that uplifts Black identity–building spaces where art and …

Caroline Jesalva (she/her) is a Chicago-based improviser, violinist-vocalist, multidisciplinary artist, and curator. She studied music at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA where she developed a practice centered on contemporary, improvised, and experimental music composition and performance. …

J. Kent (she/her/they/them) is a visual artist whose practice explores post-consumer desire through collection and arrangement. Exploring that which was buried, Kent’s floral scented work proposes bounty amidst a culture of professed scarcity.

Nile Lansana (he/him) is an acclaimed interdisciplinary artist from the South Side of Chicago. He was nominated for a 3Arts Teaching Artist Award in 2024 and the inaugural Chicago Poet Laureate position in 2023. He won the UW-Madison 2021 Ronald …

Chih-Hsien Lin (she/her/they/them), a native Taiwanese, is an independent movement artist, embodied thinker, and a clinical counselor specialized in somatic-based approaches. Currently she is a founding member and collaborator of IS/LAND (a performance collective group), a working artist with …

Amyna Love (she/her) is a classically trained, independent artist and former educator based in Chicago. She has a range of musical influences such as Paramore, Lianne la Havas, Imogen Heap and Ella Fitzgerald. Her musical storytelling lends itself to an …

Rasa (he/him) is an Iranian-born violinist and violist whose work bridges cultures through music and education. A passionate performer and educator, he brings the sounds of underrepresented communities to life, drawing from Western, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Eastern European …

Kaeli Meno (they/she) is a Queer and Chamorro director and playwright with an emphasis on new work. They feel passionate about diversifying the existing theater canon and uplifting gutsy plays. As someone whose culture is not often represented, they seek …

Em Modaff (they/them) is an actor, musician, and tarot reader based in Chicago. You may have seen them as Alison Bechdel in Fun Home (Paramount Theatre), Abigail Bengson in Hundred Days (Kokandy Productions), Helga in The Secretaries (First Floor Theater), …

Zachary Nicol (they/any) is an artist, choreographer, and performer based in Chicago. Their practice across performance, writing, and video uses research in dance, movement, site, and image to unfold problems of representation and paradox in the performing body.

Their solo …

Lola Ayisha Ogbara (she/her) is a Nigerian American conceptual artist and arts manager from Chicago, Illinois. She earned a BA from Columbia College Chicago and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. Her practice explores haptic (sub)conscious frameworks using …

Nick Pupillo (he/him) is an award-winning national and international choreographer and teacher recognized for the power and versatility in his work. A graduate of Indiana University and former dancer with Giordano Dance Chicago, Pupillo’s focus quickly became concentrated on teaching …

Kayla Reefer (she/her) (b. 1992) is an Afro-Panamanian American multidisciplinary artist based in Chicago, Illinois. Her still imagery primarily nests in the genres of portraiture and documentation through which she explores the varying nuances of identity, intimacy, and community. Reefer's work …

Monica Rickert-Bolter (she/her) is a Chicago-based visual artist of Potawatomi and Black heritage. Her artwork uses traditional mediums, such as charcoal, pastels, graphic design, and digital coloring to create expressive characters and tell diverse stories. After completing her undergraduate degree, …

Lyn Rye (they/them) is a bassist, singer-songwriter, and multi-media producer. Rye leads their own band and is also a frequent collaborator with musical collectives of many genres as well as cultural projects using art for social change. Rye’s songs often capture …

Wes (he/him) is a passionate and accomplished head coach, choreographer, and mentor, currently leading the award-winning HF Steppers widely recognized as the best step team in Illinois. As the head coach of HF Steppers, the longest-running step team in the …

Kezia Waters(he/they) is an anti-disciplinary artist whose work is deeply rooted in storytelling. Their practice leans heavily into sonic performance, guided by the principles of deep listening, where bodily and emotional intelligence hold central importance. Through their process, they engage …

Tiffany Wong (she/her) is a Chinese interdisciplinary artist exploring collective liberation rooted in abolition. She believes that art is a powerful medium for embodied connection with both the self and the collective in the struggle against capitalism and colonialism. She …

Nayeon Yang (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist and social service worker based in Chicago. She moved to the US from S. Korea in 2006 at the age of 24. Experiencing the implied status of a 'foreigner' now in both countries, …

Selva Zafiro Luna (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. Their practice integrates print media, garment design, word and symbol to highlight queer opulence. As an educator they've worked in public schools across Chicago for more than a decade. 

They …

Jocelyn (she/her) was born and raised in Waukegan, Illinois to immigrant parents. She discovered her passion for performance early, nurtured through local arts programs. From reciting poems in kindergarten to performing nationally with drill teams and cheerleading in school, her …

Khelsey Zarraga (she/her) is an African American and Venezuelan violinist, educator, and social justice advocate based in Chicago. Khelsey is a proud member of D-Composed, an all-Black chamber music collective celebrating the works of Black composers. As a member of D-Composed, …