Organizing Artist

As a cultural strategist, daniel johnson draws artistic considerations from their background as a parent, organizer, museum educator, and public historian. johnson’s work emerges in relationship with others, centering the relationship itself as a practice of sincerity, reciprocity, and curiosity. Cultural expression provides the tools for forming affinity and focusing collective deliberation toward practical impacts for everyday life.

Muralist

Gavin Bird is a Jackson, Mississippi based muralist. While drawing, painting and sculpture have been life-long passions, murals have been an emphasis since January 2021. Gavin focuses on creating timeless pieces of art highlighting the culture and history of surrounding communities. Gavin has painted roughly 40 murals throughout the South over the past three years including the largest mural by a single artist in Mississippi measuring 478 feet by 10 feet.

Mixed Media Performance Artist

Sara is a mixed-media performance artist based in New Orleans, LA. Her current work is inspired by the technologies of joy, pleasure, sensation and connection found in Southern Black foodways. She uses stories, sounds and textures to transport people to a future of food sovereignty and abundance.

Community Advisory Group

Mary Kinnard Lofton is a native of Utica, MS. Married to Osie Lofton, they have 6 children, 15 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Mary is a retired eligibility worker of 28 years with the State of Mississippi, Department of Human Services. She is a graduate of Hinds Agricultural High School and Utica Junior College, located in Utica, Mississippi. She is also a member of Water Valley Missionary Baptist Church and loves to sing in the choir and work in her flower garden.

Community Advisory Group

Kayla McDonald is an example of "Homegrown." As a life-long resident of Utica, MS, her most rewarding achievement is growing the future leaders of the world, giving back to her community while teaching at her hometown school Utica Elementary. When she is not spending time with family and friends, her hobbies are event planning and decorating. As an educator and resident, Kayla believes that Utica's historical attributes and residents are hidden jewels, with much to offer and explore.

Community Advisory Group

Sherril Curtis Strong has deep roots in Utica. Her ancestors settled in Utica in 1780 and her great great grandfather Richard Curtis Jr. has been said to be the first Baptist preacher in Mississippi. Forty-five years married with two children and five grandchildren, Sherril worked in the health sector for forty years in areas such as respiratory therapy, pharmacy tech, patient care representative, dental assistant, and then manager of a dentist office in Utica. After this career Sherril opened a flea market with her 80 year old mother named Rebecca Rose Antiques. Ten years after opening, their building burned down and Sherril reopened the store on Main Street in Utica. Sherril has recently organized a nonprofit - Utica MS Revitalization - to bring life back to her town.

Community Advisory Group

Cycsila Washington is a Utica who works at the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Centers Utica clinic. She attended Carver Elementary/Middle School and graduated from Raymond High School. Washington holds degrees in Practical Nursing and an Associate Degree in Arts from Hinds Community College. She has three children, one grandchild, and loves helping people and giving back to her community when she can. Her hobbies are cooking and traveling.

Community Advisory Group

James Owens is from Hot Coffee, MS in Covington County. He attended Collins High School and graduated from Jackson State University with a degree in Physics. Owens is retired from Entergy after 30 years, with all but 3 of those years at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station. He is pastor and founder of Ebenezer Church of God in Christ at 145 White Oak Street in Utica. He operates Omnibus Thrift at 118 White Oak Street in Utica. James has been married to Barbara Owens for over 40 years. They have one son, one daughter and one grandson all living in Texas. The Owens’s have been residents of Utica for over 10 years and have a strong passion to leave the world better than they found it.

Public Engagement Artist

Stephanie McKee-Anderson is a multi-talented creative executive born in Picayune, MS and raised in New Orleans. She leads Junebug Productions, the organizational successor to the Free Southern Theater, the cultural wing of the Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Twenty years stewarding Junebug’s important work has allowed McKee to use her skills as an executive, artistic director, choreographer, and cultural organizer to continue using the arts as a vehicle for social change.

School Residency Artist

Kira Cummings is a multi-medium artist adept in painting, pyrography, photography, videography, graphic design, and animation. A Fine Art graduate of Jackson State University with a Minor in Graphic Design, Cummings holds a membership in the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi for pyrography. Cummings is the Creative Director for The Works where she creates video and animation for musicians, interview programs, and corporate promotions as well as producing live events.

Site Team Partner

Co-Founder and Co-Director for the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production, Brandi Turner partners in program design and is the lead coordinator for events and programming at this place-based, holistic community development organization. Raised by proud Motown natives in Louisiana and Mississippi, she has enjoyed a creative life in dance, as a makeup artist, and most recently the culinary arts.

Site Team Partner

Calvin B. Williams is a passionate leader committed to making a difference in his community. First elected as a Utica alderman at age 21, Calvin has a strong background in nonprofits, community organizing, and event planning. He is known for his tireless work ethic, dedication to creating positive change, and bringing people together to improve lives. He is a champion for the arts, creative spaces, and access to healthy food.

Site Team Partner

Carlton Turner is an artist, agriculturalist, arts advocate, policy shaper, lecturer, consultant, and facilitator. Carlton is co-founder of the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture). Sipp Culture uses arts and agriculture to support rural community, cultural, and economic development in his hometown of Utica, Mississippi. where he lives with his wife Brandi and three children.

Public History Advisor

Retired Director of Library Services and Archives for Hinds Community College-Utica, Jean Greene now serves as Co-Director of the Utica Institute Museum. In addition to an extensive background working throughout the library system in Mississippi and Hinds County, Jean serves as Board Chair for Sipp Culture, a board member of the Mississippi Historical Society, a member of Phi Delta Kappa Utica chapter, and on the Mississippi Humanities Council Speakers Bureau.

Artist Organizer

Lucie Wren Cooper is a painter, musician, and glass artist. Having been raised by artists in Jackson, MS, she has a deep appreciation for southern makers and stories passed down through generations. Her work explores themes of nostalgia through colorful, surrealist landscapes and poems set to reverb drenched guitar loops.

Artist Organizer

Monica “Surreal the Messenger” Atkins magnifies the work of grassroots communities, organizers, cultural workers, and social justice organizations by building strategies that center culture, community, capital, and creation. The Chicago native and 18 year resident of Jackson, MS has worked with labor unions, youth & grassroots communities, and climate/environmental justice organizations to develop strategic plans, organize campaigns, and cultivate partnerships with culture at the center of these strategies.

Artist Organizer

Monique Davis is Director of the Center for Art and Public Exchange (CAPE) and Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at the Mississippi Museum of Art. CAPE uses artwork, exhibitions, artist engagements, and programming as a vehicle to have conversations about race and equity. Monique creates human-centered spaces that expand visitor's perspectives and reveal our shared humanity. Monique is a CPA, Howard University graduate, and Washingtonian native living in Jackson, Mississippi.

Artist Organizer

Wendy Eddleman-Cooper is a multidisciplinary artist creating dreamlike and imaginative personal narrative paintings, prints, and stained-glass pieces. A native of Jackson, MS, Wendy studied with the APAC Visual Art program before studying printmaking, drawing, and 3D arts at the University of Southern Mississippi. Eddleman-Cooper assisted Bebe Wolfe and her creative team for 20 years at Wolfe Studio in Jackson and now is a studio artist at Pearl River Glass Studio.

Utica Food Club, Secretary

Willette Jacobs is Librarian at Evelyn Taylor Majure Library; the beating heart of Utica’s town center. Ms. Jacobs is the Homegrown Utica Fest Co-Chair and Secretary for the Utica Food Club. Willette offers the library and her services to the community in any capacity; hosting GirlTrek meetings in the basement, offering free afterschool tutoring, or advertising the library’s parking lot as an internet cafe for folkstoo shy to come inside.

Utica Food Club, Treasurer

A Utica High School alumnus of 1979, Shiela Brown is a retired software designer/project manager & data analyst who owns a small handcrafted soap and spa products business. Shiela is an artist in a variety of mediums and regularly fishes and hunts with Allen, her husband of 18 years. She enjoys her blended family of 4 children, 5 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren. Shiela is Treasurer for the Utica Food Club.

Community Advisory Group

Born and raised in Utica, Shanique Davis-Hampton is a mother of four passionate about her town and making it a place her children want to stay and grow old in. Shanique served the town of Utica as an educator for the last twenty years and is the new Utica Elementary/Middle School Librarian. Shanique also coaches and choreographs Utica Middle School’s Mahogany Dancers. Shanique is the Homegrown Utica Festival Co-Chair.

Artist Organizer

Born in Champaign-Urbana Illinois, Shamb’e Jones grew up in a family full of artists (musicians, seamstresses, carpenters, farmers…). Inspired by music and nature, he earned a BFA from Jackson State University where he participated in a study abroad program in Côte d'Ivoire, Africa, spending a summer studying various forms of craftwork. In the studio, music guides the process of how his vision and the materials communicate with each other.

Utica Food Club, Research Associate

A native Mississippian born in Vicksburg and raised in Jackson, food, family, and music as an artistic expression is a core part of who Rene’ is. Hardwick graduated from Spelman College, then earned a Master’s Degree in Library Science from Clark Atlanta University and a Doctorate degree in Educational Administration from Jackson State University. Rene’ strives to make African American Heritage and Culture and Black agrarianism accessible through archives.

Site Team Partner

Utica Mayor Kenneth Broome Sr. is Utica native, retired Marine Sergeant First Class of 22 years. Married to Shirley Broome and father of Kenneth Jr., he has been a lifelong community advocate serving as Ward 4 Alderman five terms, Senior Masonic Lodge #259 Warden, Andrew Jackson Council Scoutmaster, Utica Elementary PTA President, and a member of the Utica Heritage Society. He also served as Hinds County Maintenance Coordinator 34 years.

Utica Food Club, President

A Utica High School alumnus of 1985, Joyce spent her career working for what is now Merit Health. Joyce is an active community member serving her church at the District and Diocese levels and managing primary elections for both the Democratic and Republican Parties. With her first job being a cashier at the now closed Sunflower Grocery, it is fitting that Joyce is now President of the Utica Food Club.

Filmmaker

Jasmine Cannon is an award-winning filmmaker and documentarian who studied documentary storytelling at the Medill School, Northwestern University. Jasmine has worked on projects including Netflix's "AMEND," Disney's "Black is King," and ABC and Hulu's "Soul of a Nation” and “Killing County.” She is currently working on “UTICA” — a feature documentary about food access in Utica, MS. Jasmine is a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia and StarsCollective.

Site Team Partner

First term Utica Alderman Ella Green is a mother of four retired from the State of Mississippi economics division where she advocated for and helped create benefits such as helping design the first SNAP benefit card. Ms. Green holds her master's in Business Administration. She now focuses her time imagining waysUtica can evolve into a better place alongside her community, bringing the dreams of her constituents into fruition.

Artist Organizer

Ava Jeanne Davis is an artist from Jackson, MS and Washington D.C. She explores themes of heritage, love, and human connectedness through her paintings as well as all other areas of her life. Ava Jeanne is a recent graduate from Tulane University who lives as a professional artist while continuing her graduate studies in Social Work and working toward a better future in her community near and globally.