Eric Pankey is the author of fifteen collections of poetry and a collection of essays. His work has been supported by two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. He is Professor of English and the Heritage Chair in Writing at George Mason University where he teaches in the BFA and MFA programs in creative writing.

Khalid Kouhen, born in Fez in Morocco under the star of cultural diversity and established in France since 1978, is a percussionist without borders. He received the teaching of great percussion masters, such as Pandit Shankar Ghosh, Indian tablas virtuoso and Nicia Ribas d’Avila, Brazilian samba drummer. An eclectic concert artist, Khalid Kouhen collaborates with eminent artists from all walks of life. He brings a personal sound to the music, combining tradition and contemporary music. The virtuosity of his playing and the multiple colors of his instrumentation are highly sought after on international stages. He has been invited to many festivals, including “Paris Jazz Festival” (France), “Jazz Au Chellah” and “Fez Sufi Music Festival” (Morocco), “Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival” (Caribbean), “Førde Traditional and World Music Festival” (Norway)… An inspired improviser and experienced pedagogue, he also excels in composition and arrangements for percussion orchestra.

Jennifer Atkinson is the author of six collections of poetry—most recently A Gray Realm the Ocean, which won the 2021 Poets Out Loud Prize from Fordham University Press. She is newly retired from George Mason University, where she taught in the MFA and BFA programs in Poetry Writing. She lives in northern Virginia.

Jeff Williams lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and Austin, TX where he is an Associate Professor of Studio Art at the University of Texas. Williams was the 2009 Leonore Annenberg Fellow in the Arts at the American Academy in Rome. He is a recent recipient of an NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship for Environmental Structures and a Santo Foundation Award. Solo projects and exhibitions include RAIR in Philadelphia, PA, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY, 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA, Arthouse in Austin, TX, and Artpace, San Antonio, TX. Group exhibitions include Jack Hanley Gallery, NADA on Governors Island, NY, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, New Cities Future Ruins in Dallas, TX, and Lora Reynolds Gallery in Austin, TX. Articles and reviews include The New York Times, Art in America, Art Papers, Blouin Modern Painters, Shifter Magazine, and Hyperallergic.

Flora Geißelbrecht is an Austrian violist, vocalist, composer and lyricist. Her special interest lies in the music of our time and the musical and interdisciplinary interaction. Her music often revolves around voice, speech and words. She has completed studies in classical, contemporary and jazz viola as well as composition and improvised music. In 2020/2021 she worked as an academist of the German leading contemporary music Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt. After winning several competitions and scholarships in Austria, she also won the international competition for soloist, the Berlin Prize For Young Artists 2021, with her program for viola and voice, as well as the recording prize by french label outhere music. In her own compositions, Flora Geißelbrecht merges her various knowledges and skills in New Music, folk, jazz, improvisation, composition and poetry, rounding off a very personal whole performance.