Louisville Artists
Saffiyah Rasool is the Co-Owner and Creative Director of Safiyyah Dance Company in Louisville, KY. She has primarily trained in jazz and hip hop. She has trained with studios like Dance 411, Millenium Dance Complex, IDA Hollywood, and Broadway Dance Center. She has also danced under world renowned chereographers like Debbie Wilson and Laurieann Gibson. She wants to blend the genres of hip hop and jazz to create her own unique style. On the Safiyyah Dance Company website, they write that she "exudes the joy of movement" and "gives people the confidence to express themselves through dance." Her dance company's mission is to provide her student's with individuality in their dance journey and be able to design the experience they desire.
Saffiah
Rasool
Ben Sollee is a Kentucky born cellist and composer. Ben took an unconventional approach to the cello and incorporated it in bluegrass and folk music. He has released a few albums, which include Ben Sollee and the Kentucky Native, Inclusions, and Learning to Bend. He also has participated on a few film scores including Maidentrip and Beauty Mark. Ben is also an enviornmental activist. In 2009, he decided to tour completely by bicycle. He has spoken about enviornmentalism at South by Southwest Music and TEDxSan Diego and is involved with raising awareness around mountain top removal in Appalachia in his home state of Kentucky. He is evidence that modern artists have no boundaries to what is possible.
Ben Sollee
Sanjay Saverimuttu is a company dancer at the Louisville Ballet. Sanjay is originally from Boca Raton, Florida and joined the company in 2012. He is also a chereographer for the Louisville Ballet Youth Ensemble, Ballet Arkansas, Boca Ballet Theatre, and the University of Kentucky. He is also a dance filmmaker and co-produced Dis/Comfort Zones, a multi-disciplinary arts installation. He's been featured in Queer Kentucky, Arts Louisville, and Pointe Magazines. Sanjay is also an activist for inclusion and diversity within the dance world. He seeks to create a de-colonized dance enviornment and works closely with Louisville Ballet for calls in diversity. Sanjay utilizes his social media platforms to advocate for the dance world that is so close to him.
Sanjay Saverimuttu
Carly Johnson is a singer-songwriter from Louisville, KY. She recieved her Bachelor degree in music from the University of the Arts and returned home to start performing as a jazz vocal/guitar duo. She released the album It's Pretty Standard and recieved the Louisville Music Award for Jazz Artist of the Year. She's expanded beyond just jazz music and has performed with My Morning Jacket and Liberation Propechy. Her self-titled debut solo album combines her love of jazz, soul, and pop music to tell her story and the emotion is evident through her voice. Carly has also participated in many benefit shows/concerts to benefit local charities supporting the arts. She has also collaborated with many local artists, including the Louisville Ballet.
Carly Johnson
Jaylin Monet Stewart is a muralist who creates installation works with chalk or paint surrounding topics such as healing, social justice, gun violence, racism, gender, and more. She is also a teacher at the West End School, a free boarding school to help "at risk" young men in the West End of Louisville. She created murals outside of hospital sidewalks during the COVID-19 pandemic and used her art for cries for racial justice this summer as well. She was given the Firestarter award by the Kentucky Foundation for Women and uses her art to create social change. Her mural work is available to all, especially those who don't regularly see art. She uses her murals to inspire people to believe in something greater than themselves and to empower them to stand up for what they believe in.
Jaylin Monet Stewart
Ashley Cathey is a multi-media performance and visual artist. She is a muralist, curator, and painter. She utilizes her art to "centralize the experiences of black bodies during and after the African diaspora." With an initial interest in performing arts, her work has shifted to a more visual platform. Her work can be found in Looking Up: Heroes for Today in Louisville Metro Hall and a mural in the Kroger on West Broadway. She also curated the event Black Before I was Born in Roots 101 African American Muesam. Ashley is an activist as well, utilizing her art to change the narrative of black bodies as violent.
Ashley Cathey
Jecory Arthur, also known as "1200", is a teacher, musician, activist, and councilperson. Jecory Arthur is from West End Louisville and began as a music educator, teaching in music lessons, schools, after school programs, workshops, master classes, clinics, and more. He has performed as a classically-trained musician as well as a hip-hop artist. He's organized a wide-range of community initiatives like "I AM ALI" Festival, the reopening of the Speed Art Museum, and the Forecastle Festival's West Louisville showcase. He performed as the first hip-hop artist with the Louisville Orchestra and composed and starred in a rap-opera called The Greatest: Muhammad Ali. He is currently a professor at the HBCU Simmons College of Kentucky and will be inaugerated in January 2021 as the youngest councilperson in Louisville. Jecory uses his love of music education to promote equity and help struggling youth. He uses his art for activism and has contributed, participated in, and been involved with countless activist and artistic missions and events across the city.
Jecory Arthur
Sandra Charles is an oil-painter and batik fiber artist. Her work primarily focuses on the experiences of black women and the cultural, historical, and social implications of their lives. She obtained her BFA from the University of Louisville and has received numerous awards, including the Hadley-Creatives Community Foundation of Louisville Mellon-Oberst Family Award and the Kentucky Foundation for Women Summer Residency Grant. Her exhibitions include African American Women: Celebrating Diversity with Art in the Kore Gallery, Black Before I was Born in the Roots101 African American Museum, and The Sum of All of Us at the Muhammad Ali Center Museum. Sandra Charles seeks to steer away from a stereotyped history of black women and through her paintings, wishes to truly represent them and understand their complex standing within historical, social, and cultural context.
Sandra Charles