Ishmael Reed is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, playwright, editor, and publisher.

Mary Schmidt Campbell is  an art historian, scholar and President Emerita of Spelman College in Atlanta. 

Andria Hickey is  Head of Programmes at Fogo Island Arts and Shorefast in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) was one of the great innovators in postwar American painting. He emerged from the Washington DC scene in the mid 1960s with works that elaborated upon and disrupted the ethos of Color School painting.