Jova Lynne
Jova Lynne is an arts practitioner based out of Detroit, MI. Lynne has worked at various museums and arts spaces such as worked at the Museum of Moving Image in Queens, New York, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California, and is the Director of Temple Contemporary, the at Tyler School of Contemporary Art and Architecture. She was a participant in the Center for Curatorial Leadership and Studio Museums inaugural curatorial leadership form cohort. Lynne is a co-founder of BULK Space, an organization dedicated to supporting the careers of marginalized artists and serves on the board for the Black Art Library. In Addition to her curatorial practice is a working artist and received an MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2017. Recent exhibitions include the curation of, Nep Sidhu’s Paradox of Harmonics, Mark Thomas Gibson’s A Re-Telling and LaKela Browns From Scratch: Seeding Adornment amongst others.
Keia Carter Simmons
Keia Carter Simmons presently serves as the Associate Director of Exhibitions and Public Programming at Temple Contemporary. She is a creative innovator and problem solver with a master’s degree in arts administration. Keia is visual learner who appreciates the art of working behind the scenes to help promote and uplift the arts community.
Originally from Hartford, Connecticut, Keia now resides in Philadelphia with her artist husband Danny and their dog Eli.
Emerson Brisbon
Emerson Brisbon is a former anti-oppression trainer and social justice activist who enjoys building infrastructure in all forms: from projects and programs to individual creators. They have worked with artists such as Lauryn Hill and musician and producer, Toshi Reagon.
When not working on dope projects with people trying to change the world, Emerson uses their training in herbalism to craft remedies for their community as part of their project and business, Plantwerks Botanicals.
A Philly native, Emerson currently resides outside of the city with their incredible young kiddo.
William Toney
William Toney is an artist, educator and arts organizer from Kansas City, Missouri. Toney has exhibited nationally and had solo exhibitions of his work at the UMKC Gallery of Art and HAW Contemporary. And is the recipient of several artist residencies and fellowships, including the Charlotte Street Studio Residency and the Drugstore KC.
Toney holds an MFA in Photography from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture with an emphasis on interdisciplinary practice. Having worked at various museums and galleries as an exhibitions manager, Toney has a passion for working with fellow creatives. The nature of collaboration has inspired his practice as an educator and curator. Currently based in Philadelphia, Toney has expanded his commitment to the arts with a vision of creating a more inclusive future for artists and practitioners
Linda Earle
Linda Earle has worked across cultural disciplines as a funder, educator, curator, and nonprofit executive. She has advocated for innovation, inclusion, access, and participation in arts and cultural organizations while leading the development of platforms for creative practice. Before retiring from Tyler School of Art + Architecture in 2022, Linda launched the new program in Fine Arts Management as Professor of Practice creating curricula in cultural policy, the history of philanthropy in the arts, and management practices. She was a 2021 Visiting Scholar at the Pew Center for Art and Heritage during which time she produced essays and public programming on Black cultural archives.
Linda served as chair of Jerome Foundation board of trustees and is a long-time member of the Art Matters Foundation board. She also currently serves on the advisory boards of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics the New School, NYC , and the Aspen Institute’s Artists Endowed Foundation Initiative. Previous board service included leadership roles with the Alliance of Artists Communities and the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts. She was also a founding board member of the Sadie Nash Leadership project to equip youth as agents for change in their lives and in the world.
As a funder and advisor, she has served on numerous grant, awards, and commissioning panels including: the National Endowment for the Arts; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the New York State Council on the Arts; Pew Foundation; The Rauschenberg Foundation Archives Research Residency; 3ARTS Fellowships, Chicago; The McConnell Trust Fellowship Program of the Rhode Island Foundation; the Pittsburgh Sport & Exhibition Authority; the Julie Taymor International Fellowship; and New Dramatists. In addition, she served on the College Art Association’s Excellence in Diversity Awards Committee, Temple and Tyler’s Accessibility Working Groups.
Before joining the faculty at Tyler, she served for ten years as Director of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and was the Executive Director of the Great Lakes Colleges Association’s New York Arts Program. Previously she was a Senior Program Director at the New York State Council on the Arts, where she helped found and was Director of Individual Artists Program.
Linda has taught film and cultural studies at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University; Hunter CUNY, and Barnard College. She has given public talks and has published articles and essays on cultural policy, individual artists’ practices, the creative process, and education. In addition to Linda’s roles in arts leadership, she has held residencies at Hedgebrook and the Writers Room, and continues her creative practice and curatorial collaboration.
Special Thanks to Tyler School of Art And Architecture Faculty and Staff: Susan Cahan, Adam Blumberg Jessica Jane Julius, Sharyn O’Mara, Doug Bucci, Paolo Mentasti, Wanda Motley Odom, Maggie Dunkle. Graphic, Media Design and Public Relations: Tiph Browne, Jamison Lung. Yikes Inc., Tracy Levesque, Mia Levesque, Scott Wilson, Matthew Davis Communications. Community Advisory Committee: Patricia Wilson Aden, Eric Battle, Samantha Hill, Christopher R. Rogers, Phd., Synatra Smith. Exhibition Technicians: Ian Bosak, Cadence Hammell , Jillian Donohue, Greg Biché, and C.J. Stahl. Community Ambassadors: The Divine Lorraine Hotel, African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, House of Umoja, Johnson House, Cliveden, Germantown Historical Society, Roger Wing, Raphael Tiberino, Pentridge Station and the community of Germantown Potter’s Field for their contributions in bringing Black Like That: Our Lives As Living Praxis into being.