Course Contributors

Dr Rebecca L Farnum, LLM

Becca is an activist-academic specialising in the interaction between environmental, economic, social, and political forces; the intersectionality between oppression and agency; and the interplay between localised movements and transnational discourses.

Past projects have involved drafting legal policy for the United Nations; community organising around fair housing, workplace discrimination, and environmental rights; and serving a stint in the Obama White House.

Becca’s teaching focuses on transformative learning, partnering with students to understand and purposefully impact global change in pursuit of sustainable justice.

Learn more about Becca’s work in this Syracuse Story about learning opportunities during the Spring 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and explore more in her Virtual Office.

Logan Booth

Logan Booth graduated with degrees in Public Relations and English from Syracuse University, where she minored in Native American Studies. As a media professional, Logan is committed to telling the stories of Indigenous Peoples around the world. In Summer 2021, she interned with Sound Beat on NPR to create Native student oral histories.

A first-generation college student from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Logan volunteers as an academic tutor for young people at the Onondaga Nation School. While completing her degree at Syracuse, Logan took a variety of Indigenous studies courses and spent a semester studying abroad in London. She is currently working as Account Coordinator for Day One Agency in New York.

Claire Celestin

Claire Celestin is a maternal health advocate focusing on Black womxn’s experiences in US and UK biomedical systems. Claire graduated with a degree in Behavioral Neuroscience from Northeastern University, where she worked with Professors Judith Hall and Jin Goh at Northeastern’s Social Psychology Lab to research the cognitive consequences of implicit racial bias to the realm of sexual orientation. 

A 2019 Marshall Scholar, Claire holds an MSc in Women and Children’s Health from King’s College London and an MA in Social Anthropology from SOAS. While in London, Claire volunteered as a Maternity Mate supporting pregnant women in vulnerable situations. In Fall 2022, she began medical school to pursue her dream of becoming one of the US’s all-too-few Black female obstetricians.

Gabby Cook Francis

Gabriella (Gabby) is an international relations scholar focused on US foreign policy and America’s evolving international role. As a Marshall Scholar, Gabby completed an MPhil in Comparative Government before serving as the Leland Foundation Association of Marshall Scholars Transatlantic Fellow at Chatham House. Prior to moving to the UK, Gabby worked for the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and interned with the Clinton Foundation. She has also spent time with the International Rescue Committee, and Manhattan Borough President’s Office. 

Gabby holds an Honors BA in Political Science and Philosophy from CUNY Hunter College. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and lived in New York City for 6½ years before moving to the UK.

Dina Eldawy

Dina graduated with a degree in International Relations and Citizenship and Civic Engagement from Syracuse University. During her time at Syracuse, Dina tutored refugee youth in the city and taught English to migrant communities in Santiago, Chile. Dina also worked with Palestinian refugee youth communities in Lebanon, where she learned more about social justice and transnational solidarity-building. 

As a 2019 Marshall Scholar, Dina completed an MA in Migration and Global Development at the University of Sussex and an MSc in Global and Imperial History at the University of Oxford. She is now based in Washington, D.C., where she supports migration and refugee services.

Emma Morgan-Bennett

Emma is a visual media artist and activist-scholar particularly drawn to questions surrounding race, reproduction, and the body. Committed to Black Radical Joy, Emma sees liberation within the creative celebration and engagement of those who have survived and thrived in spite of the odds. 

A born and bred New Yorker from Washington Heights, Emma is now a filmmaker and queer studies instructor based in London. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 2020 with High Honors having written her Medical Anthropology thesis on Radical Doulas and the Black Maternal Mortality Crisis in Austin, Texas. 

Outside of her filmmaking and teaching work, Emma spends her time working as a full-spectrum doula (physically and emotionally supporting pregnant people through their reproductive journeys), investing in creative projects, and writing.

Shannon Navarro

Shannon Navarro is a singer, actor, writer, and arts administrator who holds degrees from the University of Tampa (Performing Arts) and the Royal Central School for Speech and Drama (Music Theatre). She served as Company Manager for the National Theatre Arts Company and National Philharmonic Orchestra in her native Trinidad and Tobago before leaving to pursue her PhD at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. A lifelong advocate for educational equity and cultural heritage, Shannon holds an Advanced Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Her practice seeks to enhance minority representation in the cultural and political sectors; her research is focused on African-Caribbean representation in musical theatre, looking specifically at stereotyping, representation, identity and Otherness.

At Syracuse University London, Shannon teaches courses on The Modern Stage, London’s Creative Industries, and Musical Theater Scene Study.

Kalåni Reyes

Kalåni Reyes is a Chamorro marine biologist. Originally from the Northern Mariana Islands, Kalåni has studied coral reef health and fish populations in Guam, Micronesia, and Saipan. Her work as a Scripps Institution of Oceanography Summer Undergraduate Fellow was published in the journal Marine Chemistry.

Kalåni is deeply committed to science communication. In 2021, she served as a #YouthSpeak Representative for the IUCN, producing a policy brief on environmental demilitarization as part of a global youth network. Through her Deep Pacific Podcast project, Kalåni is creating a platform of educational outreach tools and a mutual aid community for Pacific Islanders.

Breanna Riddick

A graduate of George Washington University, Breanna was recently based at the University of Hawai’i for doctoral work in American Studies. Breanna’s work takes a transnational approach, imagining history as non-linear so as to consistently assess how the past both impacts and exists in the present. She is currently working as a Community Engagement Strategist for Mae, working to improve the health and quality of life for Black mothers, babies, and those who love them.

Bre studied abroad with Syracuse University London for the 2019 spring semester. During her time in London, she gave a presentation critiquing the white saviour complex inherent in ‘voluntourism’ for the Questioning Borders Symposium at London’s Migration Museum. Her research was derived largely from her main focus in American Studies: the intersections of contemporary culture and Blackness. 

Garrett Turner

A native of Florence, Alabama, Garrett Turner is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. Garrett majored in music and creative writing at Emory, where he recently served as an Arts and Social Justice Fellow using theatre to honour known victims of the 1906 Atlanta race massacre. In 2021, Garrett performed on Broadway in Thoughts of A Colored Man, after premiering the role of ANGER with Syracuse Stage.

Garrett has studied at the University of St. Andrews as a Bobby Jones Scholar and holds masters degrees from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Queen Mary. He is currently writing Eleanor: A Church Story, a musical about a young Black woman from Tennessee who stages a mini revolution in her church when she is banned from preaching because she’s a girl.

Reylon Yount

As a biracial Chinese American growing up in San Francisco, Reylon began learning yangqin (the Chinese hammered dulcimer) as a way to stay connected to their heritage. Reylon has since introduced the rare instrument to the world stage, featured alongside Rhiannon Giddens and Yo-Yo Ma on Silkroad’s GRAMMY Award-winning record “Sing Me Home”.

While completing undergraduate studies in Environmental Science and Public Policy at Harvard University, Reylon conducted research for environmental organisations in China, Australia, and the U.S. Reylon then moved to the UK to complete two master’s degrees at SOAS University of London and Goldsmiths University of London. They now co-direct Tangram, an artist collective envisioning a world beyond the China-West dichotomy.

Jamila Bargach

Dr Jamila Bargach is the co-founder of Dar Si Hmad, which operates the world’s largest operational fog harvesting project. The system not only delivers potable water to Amazigh households, but also fosters the independence of women in the community. An anthropologist by training, Jamila has taught at University Mohammed V in Rabat and worked at a number of NGOs in Morocco and overseas. She has also published several articles on adoption practices, unwed mothers, gender and development, and the DSH fog initiative.  As an activist and scholar, Jamila has dedicated her life to serving under-resourced communities, creating sustainable initiatives through education, and scientific innovation.

Jamila joins Climates of Resistance to speak about capacity-building through community-driven engineering, the ethereality of fog, and Indigenous resource politics in Morocco. Her Spring 2021 conversation with Syracuse students is available here.

Heather Carson

Heather Carson is a public servant for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development in British Columbia, Canada. In her work as a First Nations Relations Advisor with the Provincial Government, Heather holds the Crown accountable for its legal duties to consult and accommodate; partners with local Nations to better understand stewardship values; and implements Government-to-Government Agreements between BC and First Nations. 

Currently based in the small town of Fort St. James, Heather was born, raised, and works in the traditional territory of the Dakelh (Carrier) People. She holds a BA in International Studies from the University of Northern British Columbia and an LLM in International Law from the University of Edinburgh. Heather is passionate about incorporating Indigenous knowledge in resource management and empowering coworkers to develop cultural competency through equitable exchange with First Nations.

Heather’s recent projects include co-creating a Traditional Ecological Knowledge Course for Ministry staff; leading the implementation of Dakelh Culture workshops for local offices; running a COVID ‘Un-Book Club’ with multimedia-based discussions on  various topics highlighting Indigenous heritage and politics; test-driving new legislation with Minister Katrine Conroy; and trapping lynx in -30°C with a local community member. 

Heather joins Climates of Resistance to speak about formal policy mechanisms for public participation in environmental governance.

George Clarke

George Clarke is a science communicator with a strong interest in reaching marginalised groups through informal education and live science. He currently works as a Schools Officer for the Ocean Conservation Trust, using the resources of the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth to engage young people in environmental justice.

George had a successful career in physiotherapy before completing his master’s degree in Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth. Today, he is one of a very few Black environmental professionals in the UK. He has been increasingly discovering and reflecting on his deep interest for diversity, inclusivity and accessibility through environmental social science.

George joins Climates of Resistance to consider the racism that is endemic to conservation and identify mechanisms for equitably engaging communities of colour in environmental action.

Bill De La Rosa

A Mexican-American, first-generation college graduate, Bill De La Rosa has dedicated himself to improving the lives of current and future immigrants. Currently a DPhil Candidate at the University of Oxford, Bill is also a Visiting Scholar at the University of Arizona’s Binational Migration Institute. During the last year, he worked in the Pima County Administrator’s Office on criminal justice initiatives ranging from police reform to drug sentencing alternatives. Bill has previously worked for the US Department of Health and Human Services as a Policy Analyst and as a Public Information Officer in the Office of Refugee Resettlement. 

Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Latin American Studies with honors from Bowdoin College and two master’s degrees from the University of Oxford. Among his accomplishments, Bill has been named a John Lewis Fellow, a Truman Scholar, a Marshall Scholar, the 2016 National Male Hispanic Scholar of the Year, and in 2020, a Southern Arizona ‘40 under 40’ honoree for his impact in the community. Bill plans to enrol at Yale Law School after completing his DPhil.

Bill speaks with Climates of Resistance participants about the intersections between migration, incarceration, and environmental racism by sharing his personal story of unjust border policies.

Abiodun Henderson

Abiodun Henderson is a community organiser and founder of The Come Up Project. The Come Up Project’s flagship program is Gangstas to Growers, a holistic agribusiness training program for formerly incarcerated young adults. The Come Up Project is also developing the Sweet Sol Hot Sauce Cooperative. 

Sweet Sol grows their ingredients with Black farmers, slanging their sauce on the way to liberation. Infused with turmeric and lavender, “you could just literally spoon it into your mouth” according to Chris Morocco. They partner with the South West Atlanta Growers Cooperative (SWAG Co-op), a farmer-based membership cooperative aiming to develop and maintain a healthy and secure food system that is environmentally and economically sustainable. 

Abiodun has been a community organiser in the westside of Atlanta for over nine years. Under her leadership, the Westview Community Garden is now community-owned. Abiodun is a native Brooklynite who represents for the Kru Liberians. She enjoyed when her six-year-old son yelled, “Free Black People” every morning when they used to pass the Atlanta City Jail before COVID.

Abiodun has joined Climates of Resistance alongside Anamarie Shreeves to talk about the GtG model and examine trash as violence. The session investigates the connections between racism, liberation, waste systems, ethnic cleansing, motherhood, climate migrants, and personal and collective resistance.

Robert Jeffery

Robert Jeffery is dad to over 80 houseplants. He is a Black entrepreneur and content creator who uses plant culture to share anti-racist work with broad audiences. Planter Rob was born in Birmingham, Alabama. After graduating from Western Michigan University with a degree in Organization Communication, Rob moved to New York, where he launched a business in the floral industry. The start-up’s message? Let’s chat plants and racism. 

PlanterRob is a brand intended for everyone. Through engaging content, they teach how to care for plants while bringing awareness to the many faces of racism. PlanterRob offers a variety of products and services including indoor plants, merchandise, digital marketing, plant styling for home and businesses, plant consultations, and workshops. 

Rob began this work due to the lack of BIPOC representation within the plant community, especially in media and mainstream advertising. When he tells people “I sell plants”, they often respond with a violent microaggression, cracking jokes about marijuana. But with Black men behind bars at horrifically disproportionate rates due to a plant, it’s no joke. Rob’s on a mission to normalise conversations about plants and racism – so we can grow sustainable justice while tearing up the roots of systemic oppression.

Rob offers special workshops to Climates of Resistance participants exploring the links between racism and houseplants (and, of course, how to create lush greenery on our windowsills).

Antonio López

Born and raised in East Palo Alto, California, Antonio López received his B.A. in Global Cultural Studies and African & African-American studies from Duke University before earning a Masters in Fine Arts (poetry) at Rutgers-Newark. His debut collection, Gentefication, won the 2019 Four Way Books Levis Prize in Poetry, and is set to be published later this year.

As a 2018 Marshall Scholar, Antonio completed a Masters in Philosophy in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford, where he served as poetry editor for the Oxford Review of Books. He is now pursuing a PhD in Modern Thought and Literature at Stanford University while fighting gentrification in his hometown as the newest and youngest councilmember for the City of East Palo Alto.

Building on his family’s experience and using East Palo Alto as a case study, Antonio joins Climates of Resistance to consider issues of border and migration; redlining; gerrymandering; and colonisation.

Nico Montano

Born and raised in Spring Valley, NY, via El Salvador and Argentina, Nico Montano is a researcher, photographer, and abolitionist based in New York. Nico holds a BA in Psychology of Juvenile Delinquency & International Criminology, an MA in Research Methods in Sociology and Social Policy, and an MSc in Gender, Media, and Culture. 

Nico’s current research focuses on the experiences of people in New York City who have been charged with violent felonies or have been incarcerated at Rikers multiple times, and how the structural barriers they face can be overcome and dismantled. Previous research includes the connection between youth exposure to violence in NYC and PTSD; policing in the South Bronx; refugee detention and experiences with police in Northern England; and racial and gendered representations of Salvadorans in films about the Salvadoran Civil War. Nico centers Queer, Trans, LGBA youth, Black/Indigenous, Immigrant, Central American and Diaspora folk, using critical participatory action methodologies.

Nico teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice on issues of mass incarceration in the United States; race, gender, and stereotypes; theories of justice; and the history of early prisons in the US. 

Nico examines these issues with Climates of Resistance students as they consider environmental racism trends within the prison-industrial complex.

Christopher Morgan

Chris Morgan is a conservationist interested in parks and protected areas, land use planning, and geographic information systems (GIS). He currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the traditional territory of the Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk, and Menominee Nations, and works for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 

Born and raised in Madison, Chris graduated with degrees in geography and cartography/GIS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked as a planner for the Minnesota Department of Transportation for three years, including an analysis on whether people of color were disproportionately affected by public airports throughout the state.

Chris recently completed his master’s degree at the University of Northern British Columbia in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, where he partnered with the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation to identify lands of ecological and cultural importance in their territory for conservation action. Together, they built a planning tool that considers current biodiversity, climate change, and landscape connectivity, all while working to interweave the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Tsay Keh Dene throughout the project.

Chris joins Climates of Resistance to discuss equitable strategies for partnering with Indigenous communities through research.

Emma Robbins

Emma Robbins is a Diné artist, activist, and community organiser with a passion for empowering Indigenous women. As Director of the Navajo Water Project, Emma creates infrastructure bringing clean running water to the 1-in-3 Navajo families without it.

Founder of The Chapter House, a new Indigenous arts space, Emma completed her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and studied Modern Latin American Art History in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Through her artwork, Emma strives to raise awareness about the lack of clean water on Native Nations and educate viewers about issues such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis; representations and misrepresentations of Native Peoples; and broken treaties. 

Emma joins Climates of Resistance to speak about structural inequalities in resource access; the extreme levels of uranium contamination faced by the Navajo Nation; and the value of art for cultural and environmental changemaking.

Anamarie Shreeves

Anamarie “Ree” Shreeves is a cooperative founder, program coordinator and geographer who works closely with environmentally-driven organizations to support and promote their mission.

Ree started her zero waste life in 2013, and since has grown an affinity for trash, dedicating her research to waste behaviour and its connection to climate change. Ree is a founding member of FortNegrita, a definitive source for zero waste, self-reliance, conscious consumerism and eco-tourism. Through Fort Negrita, Ree hosts bi-monthly reusable menstrual pads workshops, organises an annual Earth Day festival in Atlanta, teaches zero waste workshops around the US, and consults for local businesses on zero waste operations and accommodations. She has worked with many local organisations, including West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Food Well Alliance, Seed Life Skills, Sevananda Co-op, Dunwoody Nature Center, Ladyfest Atlanta, MURMUR Gallery, and Red Bike & Green,  to name a few, and has also developed the “Atl Zero Waste Guide”.

In 2020, Ree published her master’s thesis on “The significance of the informal waste sector in a minority world country: A Case-Study of Metropolitan Atlanta”. Today, she continues to make Fort Negrita an inclusive platform and cooperative in the environmental space.

Ree joins Climates of Resistance alongside Abiodun Henderson to examine trash as violence. The session investigates the connections between racism, liberation, waste systems, ethnic cleansing, motherhood, climate migrants, and personal and collective resistance.

Annie Beach

Annie Beach is a visual artist, born and based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Treaty One Territory. Beach is Cree/Saulteaux/Ukrainian, with relations from Peguis First Nation and Brokenhead First Nation. 

Annie is a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (Honours) from the University of Manitoba’s School of Art, where she has sat on the School of Fine Art Student Association as Co-President for a number of years. 

Beach is a serial muralist who has curated, designed, and executed over a dozen mural projects throughout the city. She works as art instructor with a variety of youth, community arts and cultural-based organisations. 

Reflecting on the creation and purpose of public artwork, Annie says “Instead of just showing up and putting whatever you want onto a wall, you have to think about, ‘Who is going to see this, and who is it for?’ You have to connect with community members who are going to be in this area and give them a chance to play a part in what’s going to be put up on the wall; it gives them a sense of pride and self.” She brought that perspective to Train Stories, a multimedia series commissioned by Climates of Resistance to examine environmental injustices experienced by the Asian Diaspora and First Nations in Canada.

Micah Hendler

Micah Hendler is a musical changemaker working to harness the power in each of our voices to make a difference. After studying international relations at Yale, Micah blended his academic knowledge of conflict and mediation with his artistry to found the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, an Israeli-Palestinian music and dialogue project. The chorus empowers young singers from East and West Jerusalem to share their truths, become leaders in their communities, and inspire others to join their work for peace, justice, inclusion, and equality.

Micah recently moved back to the US to work with the Justice Choir, a grassroots movement using the collective power of music to promote social and environmental justice, and Braver Angels, a relationship-building initiative depolarising the Red-Blue divide through dialogue. Named as a Forbes 30 Under 30, Micah also writes for Forbes about music, resistance, and global affairs.

As co-founder of Raise Your Voice Labs, Micah joins Climates of Resistance to co-lead the community music video project each semester, collaborating with students to explore the benefits of leveraging music as a tool for peacebuilding and environmental justice.

Alex Ho

Alex Ho is a British-Chinese composer based in London. Winner of the George Butterworth Award 2020, Alex has had pieces performed and commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Radio 3, Royal Opera House, National Opera Studio, Music Theatre Wales, and more. Alex studied Music at Oxford University and graduated with first-class honours in 2016  before completing a master’s in composition at Cambridge University in 2017 where he was awarded the Arthur Bliss Prize in Composition for his final portfolio. He is currently studying for a doctorate at the Royal College of Music funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. 

Previously with Syracuse London, Alex composed “Back here, again, together” as part of The Remembrance Suite, commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Pan Am Flight 103 and the University’s special relationship with the community of Lockerbie.

As co-director of Tangram, an artist collective catalysing transnational imagination and celebrating the vitality of Chinese cultures, Alex shares his work on projects like “Untold” and “Dreaming Clouds” to highlight how we can give voice to nature through music.

Asif Majid

Asif Majid is a scholar-artist-educator working at the intersection of racialized sociopolitical identities, multimedia, marginality, and new performance, particularly through devising community-based participatory theatre and creating improvisational music. Currently, he is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Human Rights at the University of Connecticut. 

Asif served as a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow with the San Francisco Arts Commission and completed his PhD (Anthropology, Media, and Performance) at The University of Manchester. Asif has published in multiple books, peer-reviewed academic journals, and popular media outlets. His performance credits include work with the Kennedy Center (US) and Royal Exchange Theatre (UK), among others.

As part of the Raise Your Voice community music video project, Asif helps students reflect on their understandings of global justice through artistic expression.

Emma Morgan-Bennett

Emma Morgan-Bennett is a visual media artist and activist-scholar particularly drawn to questions surrounding race, reproduction, and the body. Committed to Black Radical Joy, Emma sees liberation within the creative celebration and engagement of those who have survived and thrived in spite of the odds. 

A born and bred New Yorker from Washington Heights, Emma is currently studying filmmaking at Goldsmiths, University of London as a Marshall Scholar. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 2020 with High Honors having written her Medical Anthropology thesis on Radical Doulas and the Black Maternal Mortality Crisis in Austin, Texas. 

Outside of the classroom, Emma spends her time working as a full-spectrum doula (physically and emotionally supporting pregnant people through their reproductive journeys), working on her creative projects, and writing.

Emma has served as a Group Facilitator for the Community Audit, taught a special session on the use of humour and parody in anti-racism, and supported the Raise Your Voice community music video project.

Shannon Navarro

Shannon Navarro is a singer, actor, writer, and arts administrator who holds degrees from the University of Tampa (Performing Arts) and the Royal Central School for Speech and Drama (Music Theatre). She served as Company Manager for the National Theatre Arts Company and National Philharmonic Orchestra in her native Trinidad and Tobago before leaving to pursue her PhD at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. A lifelong advocate for educational equity and cultural heritage, Shannon holds an Advanced Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Her practice seeks to enhance minority representation in the cultural and political sectors; her research is focused on African-Caribbean representation in musical theatre, looking specifically at stereotyping, representation, identity and Otherness.

At Syracuse University London, Shannon teaches courses on The Modern Stage, London’s Creative Industries, and Musical Theater Scene Study.

Shannon serves as a Group Facilitator for the Community Audit of Climates of Resistance as well as a Teaching Artist for the course’s Raise Your Voice project.

Garrett Turner

A native of Florence, Alabama, Garrett Turner is a proud member of Actors’ Equity. Garrett majored in music and creative writing at Emory, where he recently served as an Arts and Social Justice Fellow using theatre to honour known victims of the 1906 Atlanta race massacre. In 2021, Garrett performed on Broadway in Thoughts of A Colored Man, after premiering the role of ANGER with Syracuse Stage.

Garrett has studied at the University of St. Andrews as a Bobby Jones Scholar and holds masters degrees from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Queen Mary. He is currently writing Eleanor: A Church Story, a musical about a young Black woman from Tennessee who stages a mini revolution in her church when she is banned from preaching because she’s a girl.

Garrett serves as a Group Facilitator for the Community Audit of Climates of Resistance as well as a Teaching Artist for the course’s Raise Your Voice project.

Austin Willacy

For the past 23 years, Austin Willacy has directed Youth in Arts’ ‘Til Dawn, an award-winning teen a cappella group that empowers youth to find their voices in many ways. He is also a veteran member of The House Jacks, with whom he has produced 10 full-length albums and completed multiple world tours. 

Austin has served on the boards of the Rainforest Action Network, a grassroots effort taking action against industries driving climate change, and Freight & Salvage, a nonprofit community arts organisation promoting public understanding of traditional music with a focus on racial and gender justice. As a facilitator for YES!, Austin has co-founded Arts for Social Change Jams in the US, Turkey, and India; the Black Diaspora Jam; and the Mens Jam.

Each semester, Climates of Resistance embarks on a special project with Austin and his team at Raise Your Voice Labs using music to facilitate dialogue about environmental activism. Building on his political and community organising experience, Austin helps students consider what effective public participation can look like in the midst of mass inequities.

Naomi Woo

Naomi Woo is a conductor, composer, and pianist noted for her work as a socially-engaged artist and educator. As Assistant Conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Naomi programmes educational concerts with a focus on community engagement. She is also the first Music Director of Sistema Winnipeg, a music programme for social change in the city’s North End. A commitment to using music to imaginatively transform the world runs through all of Naomi’s work, including her doctoral thesis about The Practicality of the Impossible. 

Naomi completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She has also studied mathematics, philosophy, and music at Yale College, the Yale School of Music, and Université de Montréal. 

Naomi is a featured artist on several Climates of Resistance pieces, including the work of Tangram and Train Stories, a multimedia series examining environmental injustices experienced by the Asian Diaspora and First Nations in Canada.

Reylon Yount

As Mantawoman, she creates pop music videos and social commentary; as Reylon, he co-directs Tangram, an artist collective envisioning a world beyond the China-West dichotomy. Reylon Yount began learning yangqin (the Chinese hammered dulcimer) to stay connected to their heritage. They have since introduced the rare instrument to the world stage, and are featured in the soundtrack to Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and on Yo-Yo Ma on Silkroad’s GRAMMY Award-winning record “Sing Me Home”.

While completing undergraduate studies in Environmental Science and Public Policy at Harvard University, Reylon conducted research for environmental organisations in China, Australia, and the U.S. They then moved to the UK to complete two master’s degrees at SOAS University of London and Goldsmiths University of London. 

Reylon has served as a Group Facilitator for the Community Audit, taught a special session about environmental justice in East-West relations, and supported the Raise Your Voice community music video project.

Jessica Zhu

​Jessica Zhu made her orchestral debut in 2006 as a student of Nancy Weems at the University of Houston, when she played Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Houston Symphony. She has since performed with many orchestras in America. In 2009, Jessica was awarded the highly coveted Marshall Scholarship, with which she completed a Masters programme with distinction at the Guildhall School of Music & Dramas.

The ‘outstanding young Chinese-American pianist’ Jessica Zhu (The Independent) received warm praise for her Wigmore Hall debut, given as part of the Park Lane Group’s Young Artists Series in December 2011. Jessica has also appeared at the Purcell Room in the Southbank Centre, St James’s Piccadilly, St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Manchester Bridgewater Hall, among others around the UK and in Europe.

Believing in using music to reach and educate audiences without easy access to the arts, Jessica is an alumna of the LiveMusicNow young artist scheme, which brought her to perform in hospitals, elderly homes, and special education schools throughout the UK. 

Jessica joins the Raise Your Voice community music video project with the goal of making music more accessible to everyone - including those of us who don’t identify as artists!