Advisory Committee

Co-Chairs

+ Jeff Dess — Educator / Author / Speaker

Jeff Dess is an award-winning educator, best-selling author, and public speaker specializing in culturally responsive education. He is the Co-Founder of Trill or Not Trill, a disruptive educational firm and leadership institute. A TEDx speaker, Jeff has reached more than 100,000 learners through institutions and companies nationwide. He is the author of seven books, including the Amazon bestseller We Wear Kicks To Work. In addition to his educational work, he has performed internationally as a spoken word poet throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. He currently serves as the Director of Leadership & Engagement at New Jersey City University.

+ Kristin Orlando — Arts Executive

Kristin Orlando is a seasoned arts executive with extensive experience in strategic leadership, innovative problem-solving, and community partnership development. She serves as Vice President of Operations for the New Jersey Symphony’s new Symphony Center in Jersey City and has played an integral role in the programming, design, financing, and construction planning of the facility. Originally from San Diego, California, Kristin has spent her professional career on the East Coast and is proud to be part of the Jersey City community.

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Members

+ Heather WarfelSandler — Artist / Educator / Advocate

Heather WarfelSandler is a multidisciplinary artist and arts advocate based in Jersey City. For more than 25 years, she has directed the award-winning HCST Dance/Choreography Program. Her work in dance education has been recognized with the 2023 New Jersey Governor’s Award in Dance Education Leadership and the 2022 Presidential Award from the National Dance Education Organization for her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She holds certifications in Yoga, PBT, PCT, Functional Awareness, and soon-to-be Umfundalai Technique. In addition to teaching movement arts, Heather is a performance and textile artist whose work has been presented throughout Jersey City and across the East Coast. She is a current Board Member of Dance NJ and was the founding Vice Chair of the Jersey City Arts Council.

+ Raymond E. Mingst — Artist / Curator / Cultural Advisor

Raymond E. Mingst is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and cultural advisor whose work engages questions of memory, history, and queer lineage. A recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship, his practice examines ruptures in the historical record and brings forward narratives made vulnerable through omission and institutional neglect. Through multimedia and archival interventions, his work creates sites of mourning, devotion, and historical recovery.

For more than two decades, his work has been exhibited in museums, universities, and independent art spaces. Mingst is the co-founder and co-director of Curious Matter, an exhibition and project space established in downtown Jersey City in 2007. In his advisory work, he brings deep experience in cultural stewardship, community engagement, and the development of thoughtful, inclusive arts initiatives that strengthen the local cultural ecosystem and expand opportunities for artists.

+ Ernie Paniccioli — Photographer / Author

Ernie Paniccioli is the author of Hip Hop at the End of the World and Who Shot Ya? He first entered hip-hop culture in 1973 by documenting the graffiti art dominating New York City streets. Armed with a 35mm camera, Paniccioli went on to capture the evolution of hip hop from its earliest days.

A Native American photographer known for documenting communities often overlooked or misunderstood by mainstream America, Paniccioli is regarded as one of hip hop’s premier visual historians. His work has been compared to the documentary legacy of James Van Der Zee and Edward S. Curtis. A Hip Hop Hall of Fame inductee and recipient of the Zulu Nation Human Soul Award, Paniccioli also created The Other Side of Hip Hop, named Best Documentary in 2007. His work is featured in Cornell University’s renowned Hip Hop Collection.

+ Kevin Clark — Composer / Facilitator / Technology Leader

Kevin Clark is a composer, facilitator, grantmaker, and mission-driven technology leader. He currently serves as Chief Product Officer at Productable and previously led major public-interest technology projects at Pivotal Labs.

A sought-after facilitator, Kevin has led workshops at Brown University, Jacob’s Pillow, and the White House, and speaks nationally on the arts, product management, and cultural economics. Formerly Director of Platform at New Music USA, he developed influential grantmaking tools and continues to advise funders on participatory funding, technology, and strategy. As a composer, he creates theatrical and facilitative works that draw on historical sources to create novel audience experiences.

+ Rimli Roy — Choreographer / Producer / Artistic Director

Rimli Roy is an artiste, dancer, choreographer, producer, director, thespian, humanitarian, and visionary. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of Jersey City nonprofit Surati for Performing Arts.

She has received numerous honors for her work, including an Individual Artist Fellowship Award and Folk Arts Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Dance Advancement Fund award from Dance/NYC, and a U.S. Artists International award. Her work has been featured by CNN Travel, NBC, Vogue, The Statesman, and Outlook India. Her original production, Ramaavan – A Musical, received a National Endowment for the Arts Musical Theatre award for two consecutive years and toured multiple cities in India in 2024 through an invitation from the Government of India (ICCR).

+ Hiyasmine Gaskins — Artist / Muralist / Educator

Hiyasmine Gaskins is a Jersey City–born visual artist, muralist, educator, and project manager, as well as the founder of Artistic Afro, a creative wellness brand rooted in bold, community-centered art and connection.

With more than a decade of mural experience across nonprofits, municipal programs, and community organizations, her work focuses on creating safe and affirming spaces for expression, healing, and social dialogue. Her artistic foundation includes studies at New Jersey City University, the School of Visual Arts, and Florence University of the Arts in Italy.

In addition to her creative practice, Hiyasmine has worked extensively in curating, event planning, and project management, blending artistic vision with collaborative community engagement. She previously served the local arts community through the Jersey City Arts Council as Community Engagement Manager and as a supporter of its Youth Mentorship Program. During her six years with the Jersey City Mural Arts Program, she trained more than 30 young artists in collaborative, justice-centered mural-making and storytelling.

+ Katelyn Halpern — Multidisciplinary Artist / Curator

Katelyn Halpern is a multidisciplinary artist originally from Austin, Texas, now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. Trained as a dancer and writer and self-taught across additional media, her practice spans installation, performance, multimedia visual art, and writing.

Her work explores themes of peace and conflict, intimacy, space dust, possibility, freedom, and the experience of moving through the world in a feminine body. Described by the Jersey City Times as a “compelling conceptual artist,” “mischief maker,” and “born searcher,” she is the founding Artistic Director of SMUSH Gallery, an art space dedicated to creative experimentation and community engagement in Jersey City