Dr. William Valerio serves as the director and CEO of Woodmere Art Museum. As a result of Dr. Valerio’s leadership, Woodmere has become an increasingly vital presence in the cultural life of the region with steady growth in attendance, membership, and community involvement. By organizing almost one hundred exhibitions and enlarging and digitizing the Museum’s collection, Dr. Valerio has elevated the visibility of Philadelphia’s artists.
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FringeArts is Philadelphia’s home for contemporary performance, presenting progressive, world-class art that expands the imagination and boldly defies expectation. Their programming exposes audiences to genre-defying dance, theater, and music performances by accomplished and emerging innovators who push the boundaries of art-making and redefine the artistic landscape worldwide.
Chris Gruits is the executive and artistic director of the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. His vision returns the Annenberg Center to its roots as Philadelphia’s premier curator of innovative and groundbreaking programs, and a wide range of collaborations in dance, music, theater and more. A signature of his leadership is the cultivation of partnerships across the community, reflecting the Annenberg Center’s commitment to serving the University of Pennsylvania, the surrounding West Philadelphia neighborhood and the Greater Philadelphia region.
Kelly Lee is the chief cultural officer for the City of Philadelphia, appointed by Mayor Jim Kenney. She leads Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, which closes the gap in access to quality cultural experiences and creative expression through the support and promotion of arts, culture and the creative industries. The Office connects Philadelphians to enriching arts-infused experiences, links local artists and cultural organizations to resources and opportunities, and preserves Philadelphia’s public art assets.
Globally, it is estimated that 1.3 billion people live with some form of distance or near vision impairment. Prejudice about blindness is widespread; blind people do not have equal access to education and the labor market. Social entrepreneur Andreas Heinecke was determined to do something about it. He founded Dialogue in the Dark—in which blind people lead the audience in small groups through a set of real-life scenarios in total darkness to share this experience.