Chi Campbell

She/Her

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Chi is a Brooklyn based artist and activist committed to creating beautiful spaces that center Black femmes and foster radical thought. Her artistic practice focuses on decolonizing and reimagining design processes and experiences to make design accessible, joyful, and empowering for working-class Black communities. As a fellow, she will create a program of classes, through the lens of Black hair politics, for Black queer people to learn about braiding your own hair while simultaneously interrogating. Through these classes, students will be given the tools to critically analyze the broader design of their lives.

Dez Soriano

Dez/They/Them

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Dez is a dancer, cultural practitioner, and movement artist born-and-raised in New York City. As an alum of NYU Gallatin concentrating their studies on “Queer Underground Worldmaking: Survival and Performance”, they are an avid researcher of queer resilience and artistic innovation. Their passion for these topics has led them through intense training in the dance form called whacking (or waacking), punking, & posing, which has become their model of choice for empowerment, liberation, and social movement work. Through their fellowship, they will organize LGBTQ+ dance education events, including free and accessible weekly punking/posing/waacking dance and history workshops centering Black/Latinx queer legacy and community building.

Khenya Makena

She/They

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Khenya is a queer Kittitian-American artist, researcher, writer, and musician from the Bronx whose work is rooted in preserving and celebrating queer Black history. Starting as a songwriter, her work has evolved to arts programming including writing workshops and music events. Performing under the alias OOMAN, she creates electronic, hip-house-inspired music exploring identity and liberation, and communal legacy through spaces for expression and resistance. During her fellowship, she will conduct filmed interviews with activists exploring the history of inner-city safe spaces in NYC and LA, focusing on Black queer perspectives, and how these spaces evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic.

*Interviews and materials will be incorporated into a film shown at Maysles Documentary Center and Judson Memorial Church, and will be donated to The LGBT Center in New York.

KT Kennedy

They/Them

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

KT is a Black queer non-binary artist, educator, and community organizer based in Brooklyn who leads Assembly at Recess Art, an arts diversion program for system-impacted youth focused on creative expression, advocacy, and healing. KT founded Black Trans & GNC Resource and Black Education Matters, providing accessible education for Black trans communities, and builds transnational solidarity working with ACT UP NYC, Thank God For Abortion, and the Red Cuban Trans Mutual Aid Delegation.Their multidisciplinary work spans digital art, community practice, and education, centering Black trans futures, abolitionist frameworks, and collective care.  KT’s fellowship project will center around building a network and resource hub offering care to enable TGNC and queer youth to thrive. They will also develop a digital archive for comprehensive queer resources for educators, families, and young people, and connect mutual aid and organizing efforts across NYC.

Yösel Nadik

She/Her

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Yösel is a 27-year-old Bhutanese transgender womxn from Queens, NY. Born in Thimphu, Bhutan, and raised across three different boarding schools in India, she speaks four languages: Dzongkha, Nepali, Hindi, y un poquito de español. As a third-culture kid, Yösel has always been a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion.Her personal journey in therapy has inspired her to work with the LGBTQ+ community. As a Fellow, Yösel will create and lead a mental health program focused on serving the transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) immigrant communities of NYC. Yösel will organize community-oriented workshops and facilitate meaningful discussions surrounding mental health for TGNC youth, with the goal of dismantling the barriers between gender identity and mental health within various immigrant communities.

Z Longo

They/Them

Activist-in-Residence Fellow

Z Longo is a non-binary multidisciplinary artist, performer, ttrpg enthusiast, teacher, and actual real life wizard. They are a staunch believer in immediate grassroots action, community organizing, and the power of whimsey. During their fellowship, Z will teach LGBTQ+ community members of all skill levels how to mend, alter, fortify, and personalize clothes/textiles, facilitating 14 workshop-style classes and collaborating with other creatives. Their program is focused on arming our community with hard skills to help save funds and provide mindfulness, regular time to commune with others.