Neighborhood Leap

Alli Rogers Andreen is an artist and museum educator in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She has her M.A. in Art Education with a Graduate Certificate in Art Museum Education from the University of North Texas (2015) and her B.F.A. in Studio Art with Emphasis in Painting from Texas State University (2011). Rogers Andreen currently works as the Manager of Family Programs at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, where she creates inclusive educational opportunities for learners of all ages and abilities. With a focus on participatory fiber and sculpture installation, Rogers Andreen has shown and collaborated with a variety of arts organizations in North Texas, including Art Tooth, Sunset Art Studios, Arlington Public Library, East Lubbock Art House, and Arts Fort Worth.

Cosmo Jones was born on a sailboat in Connecticut, then spent the rest of his childhood in North Texas. Though he had always engaged in making things, it wasn’t until college that he began to view these artistic pursuits as an option for a vocation. Along the way he’s worked in theater as a properties master, as a silversmith in the jewelry industry, as a real estate investor, and as a construction administrator for a major arts festival. Now he uses the act of painting to allow his intuition and unconscious the freedom necessary to work problems and ideas that the conscious mind has trouble dealing with without undue attachment. He views the act of painting as synonymous with the act of using a magic spell, incantation, or sigil. They are acts of concentrated will put forth into the world with intent to affect change in consensus reality. This change can be in the artist’s consciousness or in the viewer’s. Either way, it is intended to change perception and therefore the experience of reality itself. Having earned his MFA and gotten a taste for teaching at the University of North Texas, Cosmo is continuing his studio practice and showing his work.

Fernando Rojas Cervantes is a Fort Worth artist and architecture student born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, a place that established a background of cultural and artistic influences which fuel his work and lead him to explore the lines between style, emotion and culture. He enjoys exploring and representing ideas, developing visual languages and creating artwork that will resonate with the viewer. His work ranges from smaller scale indoor work to large scale outdoor murals, always improvising and trying to push the limits of the visual. The mediums he uses range from digital illustration to acrylics and his inspirations come from street art, comic illustration, history and architecture.

a Texas native, spent his formative years in Trinidad & Tobago and Egypt. Now he has made a name for himself with captivating live shows sharing the stage with the likes of G-Eazy, Joyner Lucas, Benny The Butcher, and WESTSIDE Boogie. From landing placements with Kia Motors and CBS’ Criminal Minds, Lou has built a genuine connection with his fans. Great music that stands the test of time is always derived from real life and that’s exactly what Lou CharLe$ sets out to do — tell his truth. The story is still being written for Lou CharLe$, but it is obvious that his electric shows, positive message, and charismatic candor is resonating with a diverse audience causing more and more to ask “Who is Lou?” 

Grady Spencer & the Work is a band built from blood, tears, and sweat. A whole lot of sweat. Grady was born and raised in the West Texas plains, where he learned not only the value of a hard day’s work, but also how to play the acoustic guitar. Following his love for the music of Jack Johnson, Grady would quickly realize that the music that he was playing was not only a hobby but a dream that he would be chasing for the rest of his life. In 2013, Grady would meet Blake Sager, the original and long-withstanding drummer of the band. Several roster alterations and changes over the years would eventually lead Grady to also find and convince bassist Johnny Hatcher and lead guitarist Tyler Martin to join the band as well. Since late 2017, this group of close friends and teammates have been working together to craft two full-length albums and countless live shows across the country.

Martha Peters was born in Detroit; however, she considers herself a Texan having spent most of her youth in Dallas and Houston. She earned her BFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin where she began her ongoing body of work under the mentorship of Professor Lawrence McFarland. Peters’ intuitive photographic practice continues to result in a poetic interpretation of land, water and sky. Her work has been published and exhibited nationally and is represented in various public and private Collections. In 1991, Peters was selected to head the Austin Art in Public Places (AIPP) program. She has directed the Fort Worth Public Art program since 2003. Under her leadership, nearly 300 public art projects have been completed in the two cities. She has served on artist selection panels for Austin, Dallas and San Antonio and has curated portable artworks for Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport. Over the past 18 years, Martha Peters has worked with communities throughout Fort Worth to develop public art projects that are meaningful to them. In the Near Southside, these include West Rosedale Street, Fire Station #5, the Shamblee Branch Library, South Main Street and currently, Magnolia Avenue. Peters has lived in the Fairmount Southside Historic District with her husband and daughter since 2004.

Armond Vance is a multidisciplinary musical artist originally from Toledo, Ohio. He is an active performer composer and educator – directing a middle school orchestra and mariachi program in East Fort Worth. His performance style is a syncretic mix of hip hop, R&B and classical, with violin being his main vehicle of expression. As a composer, Armond has written and arranged pieces for professional and amateur ensembles, such as the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth ISD District Youth Orchestra, the Columbus Promusica Chamber Youth Orchestra, and the Gunn High School Chamber Orchestra in Palo Alto California. In 2018, Armond gave a TEDx talk at The Ohio State University called from Bach to 2Pac, where he discussed parallels between hip-hop and classical music.

HALF IN TWO credits:
Dancer: Adam W. McKinney
Director: Daniel Banks
Editor: Luca Baida
Community Voices: Ms. Betty Franklin, Dr. Opal Lee, Mr. Bob Ray Sanders, Ms. Estella Williams
Researcher: Moses Kama

Special Thanks to:
Kati Culebro, Jay Duffer, and Ayesha Ganguly, Amphibian Stage Productions
Kwesi Johnson, The Cultural Assembly
Morgana Wilborn and Tiffany Hall
Fort Worth Public Library Genealogy, Local History, and Archives Unit
Amy Akanni, Gayle W. Hanson, Kwesi Johnson, Trice Jones, Gaby Kienitz, Carol Roark, Bertha Scott, Richard Selcer, Dione Sims, and John Stevenson
A DNAWORKS Production

Daniel Banks is a director, deviser, and dance dramaturg. He is co-director of DNAWORKS, a Fort Worth, Texas-based arts and service organization dedicated to dialogue and healing through the arts. Co-founded in 2006 by Banks and Adam W. McKinney, DNAWORKS centers Global Majority and LGBTQQ2SPIAA+ voices to create more complex representations of identity, culture, class, and heritage in dance, theatre, film, and writing. 

Daniel has directed, led workshops, and/or instigated projects in 36 states and 23 countries, at such venues at the Belarussian National Drama Theatre, The Market Theater Lab (South Africa), National Theatre of Uganda, McCarter Theatre Center, the NYC and DC Hip Hop Theatre Festivals, Playhouse Square, PlayMakers Rep, and The Public Theater. He has worked as choreographer/movement director for productions at Shakespeare in the Park, Theatre for a New Audience, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Landestheater (Austria), La Monnaie (Belgium) and on the dramaturgical team for Camille A. Brown & Dancers.

He is founder of the Hip Hop Theatre Initiative and has served on the faculties of NYU, CUNY, Naropa University, and as Chair of Performing Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Daniel is Associate Director of Theatre Without Borders and on the national cabinet of the grassroots US Department of Arts and Culture. He is Co-Convener and Board Chair of Transform 1012 N. Main Street, the project to repurpose the former Ku Klux Klan Auditorium in Fort Worth, TX, into The Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing. He is the recipient of TCG’s Alan Schneider Director Award.

HALF IN TWO credits:
Dancer: Adam W. McKinney
Director: Daniel Banks
Editor: Luca Baida
Community Voices: Ms. Betty Franklin, Dr. Opal Lee, Mr. Bob Ray Sanders, Ms. Estella Williams
Researcher: Moses Kama

Special Thanks to:
Kati Culebro, Jay Duffer, and Ayesha Ganguly, Amphibian Stage Productions
Kwesi Johnson, The Cultural Assembly
Morgana Wilborn and Tiffany Hall
Fort Worth Public Library Genealogy, Local History, and Archives Unit
Amy Akanni, Gayle W. Hanson, Kwesi Johnson, Trice Jones, Gaby Kienitz, Carol Roark, Bertha Scott, Richard Selcer, Dione Sims, and John Stevenson
A DNAWORKS Production

Adam W. McKinney is a dancer, choreographer, and activist. He is a former dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, among other internationally renowned dance companies. He, alongside his husband Daniel Banks, is the Co-Artistic Director of DNAWORKS, an arts and service organization committed to healing through the arts and dialogue. McKinney serves as President of Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice, a Fort Worth-based social justice organization, and as Co-Secretary and founding board member of Transform 1012 N. Main Street, the project to transform Fort Worth’s former KKK auditorium. His awards are numerous. Of note, Adam served as a U.S. Embassy Culture Connect Envoy to South Africa through the U.S. State Department, he was awarded a Jerome Foundation Grant for Emerging Choreographers, a New York University President’s Service Award, a Surdna Foundation Teaching Artist Fellowship, a Mid-America Arts Alliance Interchange grant, TCU’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award, and a Hotel Dryce/Art Tooth You Are Here grant. His work has been presented around the world and, most recently, at Bridge Projects (Los Angeles, CA) and Project Row Houses (Houston, TX). He holds a BFA with high honors in Dance Performance from Butler University and an MA in Dance Studies with concentrations in Race and trauma theories from New York University. McKinney is an Assistant Professor of Dance in the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Fabiana Elisa Martínez was born in Buenos Aires and has a degree in Linguistics and World Literature. She is a linguist, a language teacher, and a writer. She speaks English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian. She has lived in Dallas, Texas, for almost twenty years. She is the author of the short story collection 12 Random Words, the short story Stupidity, published as an independent book by Pierre Turcotte Editor, and the grammar book Spanish 360 with Fabiana. Other stories of hers have been published in five continents in multiple publications among which are Rigorous Magazine, The Closed Eye Open, Ponder Review, Hindsight Magazine, The Good Life Review (UK), The Halcyone, Rhodora Magazine (India), Mediterranean Poetry, Writers and Readers Magazine (UK), Libretto Magazine (Nigeria), Automatic Pilot (Ireland), Lusitania (Buenos Aires), Manawaker Flash Fiction Podcast, EgoPhobia (Romania), Heartland Society of Women Writers, and the anthologies Writers of Tomorrow, Pure Slush-Love Lifespan 4 Anthology, and the 2022 Wordrunner Anthology. 

Ross Reitzammer was a student of art and music and his initial professional creative interests moved into the field of technology. After majoring in music at NTSU (currently known as UNT), he went on to write business software in the 1980s and continued software development into the 21st Century. With the introduction of the internet, web design brought a whole new canvas to explore. Web applications were born, and with them, creative design invaded the conventional business software development model. Graphic design became an integral component of creating compelling web applications. Ross started using photography and art as mediums for designing interactive web-based business solutions. After retiring from software design, he returned to exploring creativity by combining photography, pen and ink, watercolor, and other art forms to make unique visual art.

Kristen Soble is a muralist, illustrator and designer, specializing in large scale public art projects. Kristen works passionately to create engaging murals, unique atmospheres, and visual experiences that inspire creativity and joy. While her style is bold and bright, with splatters, drips, texture, and patterns, she is also extremely driven by each client’s individual needs and expectations.Kristen believes that everyone is creative and It is her greatest accomplishment to help bring your vision to life.Kristen Soble’s vibrant and diverse body of work can be seen livening up all corners of various cities.

Adam Werner is an art educator and artist with a focus on the intersection of the arts and community. Adam currently serves as the Manager of Community Teaching Programs for the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and previously taught for 11 years in elementary and middle school classrooms as a visual arts instructor in Castleberry ISD. He was a co-founder of the Third Thursday art walk in Fort Worth’s near southside and has served as both an artist and a juror for a variety of public art projects in that neighborhood. Adam received a BFA in Painting from the University of Texas at Arlington and an Associate of Arts in Visual Art from Kilgore College.

Brennen Bechtol has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of North Texas College of Visual Arts and Design.  His artwork is held in private and public collections in the United States and in Paris, France.  He makes hand painted artwork and signs in his studio located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas.  Through his sign painting studio, Brennen is applying his skills as an artist to promote local businesses with quality hand-painted signs and murals.

Benito Huerta received a B.F.A. degree from the University of Houston, and his M.A. from New Mexico State University. He was Co-founder, Executive Director and Emeritus Board Director of Art Lies, a Texas Art Journal. He is a Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington where he has been Director/Curator of The Gallery at UTA since 1997. His work was featured in a one-person exhibition, “Under Pressure: A Print Survey 1976-2018” at Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Dallas in spring of 2019. Other recent one-person exhibitions were “Odd Ducks and Other Assorted Tales” at William Campbell Contemporary Art, “Entr’acte” at Reavley Gallery, Cole Art Center at Stephen F. Austin University. Huerta has also shown at the Houston Museum of African American Culture; the Wichita Falls Museum of Art among others. His work is in several museum and corporate collections throughout the United States. Huerta was the recipient of the Dallas Center for Contemporary Art’s 2002 Legend of the Year Award and Exhibition and was the first Maestros Tejanos Exhibition in 2008 at the Latino Cultural Center, Dallas. As a curator he recently organized a survey exhibitions of David McGee for the Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston and The Gallery at UTA, University of Texas at Arlington and Cesar A. Martinez for the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago. 

DAAS is a contemporary artist, internationally recognized for his vibrant, engaging paintings and murals.Based in Austin, Texas, DAAS’ mural work utilizes a combination of abstract and representational imagery, driven by a distinct color palette and design aesthetic which incorporates bold shapes and organic forms saturated in vivid colors, to create larger-than-life artworks focused on bringing a sense of beauty and inspiration into the surrounding space.

DAAS’s works have been on display around the globe at galleries and art fairs in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Switzerland s well as numerous galleries in the United Sates, His public art portfolio is extensive with international works in Amman- Jordan, China, Nepal and pieces in San Diego, Tennessee, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois.

Brad Smith’s career as a mural artist began in 1977 at the age of 15. He was recruited in 2013 by Near Southside Inc. to be the featured artists for Art’s Goggle’s 10th anniversary. He is proud to have started the revitalization of Deep Ellum in the 80’s. Because of this, he was recruited to paint the murals on the Tilt Vision building. The “I Am A Man” portion of the mural on Broadway Street was painted on the 50th anniversary of the march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge for civil rights in Selma Alabama in March of 1965. The mural on Doggie Diggs was commissioned by the business owner Candace  Cooper in 2019. This was one of the first businesses in Near Southside to include mural art as a promotional vehicle. Murals not only allowed Brad to make a living off of his artwork, but they also brought color to the city. They bring color to the town, and become part of the city, a part of people’s day when the walk or drive past them. Brad loves the idea of the artwork being out among the people, the people essentially interact with these piecesBrad’s talent is not limited to creating wonderful murals, his work on canvas is beautiful. Using many vibrant colors to tell stories that are relatable to those in all walks of life.

Art Tooth is an artist-run non-profit that works with businesses, museums, and galleries to create opportunities for artists. Thanks to a partnership with Near Southside Inc., Art Tooth has curated exhibitions in the Art South container since 2019.

Jovane Caamaño is a queer boricua performer and educator based in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. After earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts at TCU in Fort Worth, he has performed with several professional theatres in the DFW area as well as in a national tour, acting, singing, and dancing in a wide variety of roles. He teaches with Story Stage in Fort Worth, equipping and empowering young people to tell whatever stories they want to tell, and he is also an acting and dialect coach. Jovane is passionate about the power of storytelling—both fact and fiction—to challenge, to heal, and to effect change in ourselves and in the world at large, and he loves to consume and create all (or at least most) kinds of stories in all kinds of formats. Jovane is vegan, loves hiking, and is currently really enjoying improving his knitting skills.

Jaden Dominique is a Rising Senior at Texas Christian University pursuing her Bachelors in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Musical Theatre. The California native is so blessed to be a part of this wonderful project and can’t wait for you all to see it.

Jonathan Fielding is a theater artist originally from Fort Worth, Texas.  As a collaborator with Amphibian Stage he has directed Artist Descending a Staircase (co-directed with Brenda Withers), Northside Hollow, and The True History of Julia Pastrana…(both the audio and live versions).  He has also performed in plays at The Old Globe, Penguin Rep, Ford’s Theatre, and The Public Theatre of Maine.  He currently lives in New York where he has worked on Broadway, television, and film.

David Lanza has been sound designing in DFW for some time now, is excited to still be sound designing, and looks forward to sound designing more in the future. David’s work has included working as the production engineer on 3 national tours, mixing over 75 musicals and plays, and designing more than 150 theatrical productions.  In that time he has worked with companies including Kids Who Care, Amphibian Stage Productions, Jubilee Theatre, GFour Productions, Theater TCU, All Saints Episcopal School, Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts, Dallas Theater Center, Tarrant County College, Texas Ballet Theater, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and many many others.

Make Something Beautiful is a video production company based in Texas. We create films, commercials, documentaries and other creative work that helps support and leverage brands. If there is one thing we have learned in our 6 years of creative storytelling it’s this: stories should do more than just exist, they should add something to the world.