Board of Directors

Audra Frank Anastasi

Audrey Frank Anastasi is a prolific feminist artist, working in painting, drawing, collage, mixed media, & printmaking. She is also a curator, gallerist, educator and arts advocate. Most of Ms. Anastasi’s figurative works are painted with her non-dominant left hand. She has created large bodies of works of women, forced migration, nature themes of birds, animals and birch trees.

Anastasi has exhibited in 20 solo and over 200 group shows. Her “ref-u-gee” series was shown in a solo exhibition from October, 2022 through January, 2023 at the Brooklyn College library gallery in collaboration with the Valentine Museum of Art (VMoA.), Brooklyn. Accompanying the series is a limited-edition monograph w/ over 180 images and a foreword by Phyllis Braff. Ms. Anastasi’s collage series was exhibited at Welancora Gallery, Brooklyn, in May, 2019. In 2018, ten paintings were exhibited in “Painting to Survive,” curated by Yale critic Jonathan Weinberg.

Other book and publications include “Stations of the Cross”, published by SPQR press, BREUCKELEN magazine, “Collage,” with essay by Giancarlo T. Roma, and “Audrey Frank Anastasi”, a catalog with essay by feminist art critic Cindy Nemser.

In 2005 Ms. Anastasi and her husband Joseph established Tabla Rasa, the first full-time art gallery in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. She continues to serve on the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Arts Council and Hook Arts Media, formerly Dance Theatre Etcetera. Ms. Anastasi is also President Emeritus of Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition.

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/audrey-anastasi-xpU6jjxXT2yzZ_A8vaS9eg

Sam Sills

To stretch a metaphor, I’m vintage Brooklyn with notes of New England and a politically progressive finish. I’ve been a producer of PBS documentaries, and of videos for unions and textbook companies. In 2000 I joined NYC Children Services, where I make videos that support the protection and well-being of vulnerable children and families.

Very active with the racial equity committee at Children’s Services, and with the creation of a website on the history of child welfare. My life is buoyed by my son, Peter, my romantic partner, Christine, and a wonderful extended family and community of friends. Being a member of the HAM Board has been an especially enriching, meaningful experience.

Louric Rankine

A Hook Arts Media alum, I’ve dedicated my craft to documentaries, short narratives, and independent projects that discuss identity, culture, and human connection. For the past 3 years, I’ve worked in international media distribution and multimedia programming at Paramount, Warner Bros., and Dish Network.

Starting September 2024, I’ll be pursuing my MFA in Creative Producing at Columbia University. Born and raised in Brooklyn, I hope to magnify intersectional, first generation and immigrant black and brown voices on screen, television, and theater.

Corinthia A. Carter

Corinthia A. Carter is currently the president of Legal Staff Association 2320, part of UAW Local 2320. Prior to that, she was a Senior Staff Attorney at Brooklyn Legal Services (Legal Services NYC). She graduated from CUNY LAW in 2017 as a Pro Bono Scholar. While in law school, she published a law review article on police violence and hashtag activism. She holds an M.A. in Political Science and an M.S. in Human Resource Management.

She also serves as a board member of the National Lawyers Guild-NYC Chapter Foundation and Hook Arts Media. Corinthia was recently named one of City & State’s 2024 Labor Power 100 honorees.

Nyeema Bailey

Nyeema Bailey is a Bronx native and dedicated social worker with a deep passion for supporting and advocating for marginalized communities. She currently works in healthcare policy advocating for equitable healthcare access and quality services for all New Yorkers.

Her work is driven by a commitment to social justice and equality, and a desire to make a positive impact on the lives of those in need. In addition to her work in social services, she is a devoted lover of creative arts. She finds solace and inspiration in the beauty of self-expression through the arts and firmly believes in the power of the arts to heal, educate, and unite people from all walks of life. She is also a mother of two amazing sons, sister, friend, and favorite aunt to many. She has been a board member since 2021.

Kamau Ware

Kamau Ware is a multidisciplinary artist, historian, and walker. Kamau was born and raised in Pittsburgh, where he founded an artist collective called BridgeSpotters in 1996 that took inspiration from the many bridges in the city as analogous to many disciplines making a creative project. Ware moved to New York City in 2006 and applied his work as an artist and curator to develop a unique approach to visual storytelling, coined StoryStyle that softens the
threshold between artist and audience. After establishing his visual storytelling lab in 2008, Kamau Studios, he began working on what would become the Studios flagship project – the Black Gotham Experience (BGX). BGX launched the summer of 2010 as a series of walking tours and has expanded to a series of immersive experiences celebrating the impact of the African Diaspora on New York City. BGX has been based in the Seaport District since 2017. In 2022, Kamau Studios opened in Dumbo as a creative hub for its storytelling projects.

Kamau Ware is a sought-after voice to fill the visual abyss of Black New York history, illustrating powerful stories that exist outside of public consciousness. Ware has received prominent commissions to create works across mediums by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, BRIC Media, No Longer Empty, New York City Public Design Commission, The Shed, The Apollo Theater, The Tenement Museum, and Creative Time.

He recently published a digital comic book titled Buffalo Sonnet commissioned by Lincoln Center for Performing Arts that was referred to as “magical” by Comics Beat. Ware has made appearances on NBC New York, ABC New York, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic, New York Times, Gothamist, WNYC, Amsterdam News, Hyperallergic, and Art In America. In 2022, Kamau Studios and Black Gotham Experience received a grant from the Mellon Foundation. In 2024 Kamau received awards from Councilmember Chris Marte and Assemblyman Charles Fall, Dumbo Business Improvement District, and the New York Academy of History Herbert H. Lehman Prize for Distinguished Service.

Christopher Brown

Christopher Brown is an artist, songwriter, musician, and music producer. Christopher is a member of the Society of Composers and Lyricists and the Nashville Songwriters Association. He serves on SCL’s NY Song Arts Committee which collaborates with the Songwriter’s Guild of America and NY Songwriters Workshop creating opportunities for songwriters to showcase their talents in NYC.

He has passionately served and advocated for quality public school education. He has worked in real estate for Century 21 and currently works for Delta Air Lines. He has been a Board member since 2018.

Elise Bernhardt

Elise Bernhardt led non-profit cultural organizations for over 30 years. She founded Dancing in the Streets, producing performances in public spaces nationally and internationally. She was Executive Director of The Kitchen, the first Artistic Advisor for NYCity Center’s FALL FOR DANCE, and CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Culture. She is founder and Director of Jerusalem International Fellows: A Cultural Residency Program (currently on hiatus).

In 2018 Bernhardt founded Fleur Elise Bkln and leads Floral Design workshops at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and to individuals and corporations as a team building activity.

Bernhardt’s new practice, EXECUTIVE SEARCH AND RESCUE, was created to bring her experience as an organizational leader to help nonprofit organizations through major changes and challenges. She has been on the board of Hook Arts Media for over 10 years.