| GAF 2022 | Student Leadership Team | Artists | Events | Installation Views |
Ben Fears (He/They; festival manager) Ben Fears is a first-year masters student at Gallatin engaging the intersections of songwriting and Performance art in order to understand the performance of Queer identities. Ben also serves as the Graduate Assistant of NYU’s Gallatin Arts Festival, where he fosters creative collaboration, passion for interdisciplinary art and engagement of the arts for positive change. In their creative work, Ben has composed original music for internationally awarded short films like “Jester ”, which won gold in the 2021 Barcelona Film Festival. Ben also songwriters and performs in NYC beside artists such as Wolftyla, Elijah the Boy, and Junai. In his organizing work, Ben was the recipient of the Terrell Parker LGBTQ+ Community Leadership award for his work in community organizing.
Jaden Galvan (she/her; curator) Jaden is a junior at Gallatin concentrating in art activism, sustainable fashion, and business. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Jaden became passionate about learning how culture impacted the Chicano art scene within her community. Jaden utilizes traditional and contemporary mediums of textile work with the goal of creating a narrative of familial history in relation to cultural inheritance and present-day afflictions.
Ashley Hurst (she/her; social media/curation) Ashley is a junior from Birmingham, Alabama and is concentrating in marketing for arts and culture at Gallatin. Additionally, she is interested in social media and gallery management. She previously interned for James Fuentes Gallery in New York’s Lower East Side, where she became passionate about utilizing marketing and social media as tools for art education. As this is her first year working with GAF, Ashley is thrilled to be able to promote and be inspired by the art of her peers!
Tara Podias (she/her; producer) Tara is a third-year Gallatin student studying dramatic writing, game design, and Japanese language. Her concentration, Narrative Interactive Fiction in Translation, focuses on how storytelling and the sharing of art across language and culture can facilitate diplomacy and human connection. She has previously produced the Gallatin Theatre Troupe’s 2021 Musical Cabaret. Tara is grateful to everyone who’s hard work made this festival possible. She would like to thank the artists for sharing their work, and the audience for sharing in this festival with them.
Nadine Rousseau (she/her; producer) Nadine is a graduate student at Gallatin studying storytelling and nonprofit management. Her previous producing experience includes her independent cabaret projects (Hopelessly Devoted to Me, Empty Room) and a solo performance showcase directed by Anna Deavere Smith. She graduated from the dance program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and earned her BA in Dramatic Literature from George Mason University. Prior to her current role as a fundraising analyst at NYU, she worked in arts administration at the Tisch School of the Arts, The Public Theater, Signature Theatre (VA), and Dance/USA. She is passionate about innovative cultural programming, equity in philanthropy, and artist hospitality.
Daniela Stahle (she/her; curation) Daniela is a first-year student at Gallatin exploring studio art, art history, and cultural studies—or whatever else interests her. As a practicing artist, her work has been featured in a variety of magazines and on album covers, and she is interested in dabbling in a variety of mediums. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Daniela has grown extremely interested in how cities affect experience, which serves as a departure from her interest in art as it behaves within space. Principally, she is passionate about art as a mode of experience and hopes to create, collaborate, and consume art of all kinds. Although somewhat new to curating, Daniela also curated artwork for Velvet Cocoon, the magazine she made last summer. Outside of art, Daniela loves cooking and listening to music. She is delighted to be a curator for the Gallatin Arts Festival and to showcase the work of her peers.
Sovah Woydak (she/her; social media/curation) Sovah is a first-year student who is using her time at Gallatin to explore channels of study within arts administration and education. She is a practicing artist and one of her pieces is being displayed within this year’s festival. Her art has received several scholastic gold keys and has been displayed within local galleries. Outside of art-making, Sovah works at a local preschool and helps to facilitate the afterschool arts program. During the spring and summer, she enjoys volunteering in a local community garden where her favorite flowers to grow are marigolds. Sovah is ecstatic to be participating in this year’s GAF and sees it as an opportunity to lift up voices within the Gallatin community and promote connection during turbulent times.
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