Alicka is a Brooklyn Councilwoman who got her start as a CITYarts kid, painting a mural at age 16. Alicka has always been a visionary dreamer and a fervent believer in the better angels of our nature. Behind her signature glasses and smile rests her grit and empathy that has been forged from her upbringing in Brownsville. She’s carried this with her throughout her experiences which have guided her to North Carolina A&T State University, culminating with a Psychology degree and subsequently, on an almost yearly basis, a return to the Greatest Homecoming on Earth. She went on to earn a Juris Doctor degree from CUNY School of Law, and has continued to model the school’s motto – “Law in the Service of Human Need."

Alicka has worked in various capacities with City and State legislators and has spent years sharpening her servant leadership and perspective concerning marginalized individuals and their plights; locally and internationally. She worked as a community organizer in Brooklyn, and as a Child Protective Specialist with the NYC Administration for Children Services, prior to bringing her influences to Accra, Ghana – managing a Human Rights and Community Development portfolio under the auspices of US Embassy Accra. Upon returning to the US, she served as Chief of Staff to her State Assemblywoman and later served as a Senior Advisor for the New York City Housing Authority – Community Engagement & Partnerships Division.

Despite her close and intimate understanding of the intersectionality of obstacles facing the many, she is among the few that remain actively hopeful and vocal about the much needed change that is imminent. Alicka is married to a United States Diplomat whom she met in college and they have one son who is an aspiring artist. She is an active member of Wayside Baptist Church and continues to volunteer through her sorority Delta Sigma Theta.

Charlotta Kotik, a native of Prague, first came to the United States to work at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. During the course of her career, she has organized over 100 museum exhibitions, presenting the work by artists as divers Mariko Mori, Kerry James Marshall, John Cage, Jenny Holzer, Alyson Saar, Michelle Stuart and Robert Longo. From 1992 through 2007, she was the Curator and Chair of the Contemporary Art Department at the Brooklyn Museum. There, she established one of her major contributions to the curatorial practice —The Grand Lobby Projects—in order to provide exhibition opportunities for installation-based work by artists such as Martin Puryear, Joseph Kosuth, Ida Applebrook, Petah Coyne and many others. In the 1980s, she also initiated the Working in Brooklyn Series to document the energy of the nascent Brooklyn art scene. In 1991, she received the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation Award for outstanding achievement in contemporary art. In l993, as the United States commissioner for Venice Biennale, she presented works by Louise Bourgeois in an exhibition that later traveled internationally. Since 2000, Ms. Kotik has participated in the Jindrich Chalupecky Award, an important recognition for visual artists in the Czech Republic. The Award became a model for art programs in 9 other of the post- Communist countries. Presently, Ms. Kotik works as a writer, lecturer and independent curator and facilitates various project for galleries, alternative spaces and museums, ranging from FiveMyles in Brooklyn, the Art OMI residency in Ghent, NY, to institutions in Czech Republic, such as National Gallery in Prague. She received the Award from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic for the Lifelong Contribution to the Field of Visual Arts in 2016 and in 2018, the Skutek Grand Prix and the Doctor Honoris Causa in Theory and History of Art from Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague. Charlotta helped put CITYarts on the public art map as a founding Board Member.

Rozina Vavetsi is an educator,graphic designer, and associate professor and Chair of the Department of Digital Art and Design at New York Tech. Vavetsi’s work has been exhibited in London, Milan, New York, Las Vegas, and Athens, has won numerous graphic contests such as Good 50x70, How Design Adobe Commemorative, Graphic Design USA, InHouse Design, and was featured in the print and online design publications Creative Quarterly and Graphic Design USA. Vavetsi maintains a small design studio developing client and personal projects and she is happy to give back to the design community with the pro bono work she has done for the Manhasset Theater Group and the American Cancer Society.

In addition to creating her own work, Vavetsi has taught a wide array of both graduate and undergraduate graphic design courses and she is involved in various academic initiatives such as curriculum revisions, design of new courses, panel discussions and collaborations with regional high schools, international universities, and local organizations and communities.

As a faculty member and designer, Vavetsi collaborated with CITYarts, leading her students to create 3D and laser-cut ornaments for the CITYarts Holiday/Peace Tree at Lincoln Center Square in 2015 and now leading students, faculty, and staff in the CITYarts’ Cooking With Color initiative.

Vavetsi instills her students the notion that graphic design goes beyond pure aesthetics and the 2D world, and she is encouraging them to apply it in more complex and experimental ways, such as infographics, kinetic typography, and interface design, incorporating production technologies such as laser cutting and 3D printing.

Vavetsi received a Bachelor's in Education from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, and a Master of Science in Communications Design from Pratt Institute in New York. She is an active member of professional organizations such as the Type Directors Club and AIGA.

As he was ready to give a compulsory life sentence to Chris Young, his heart was nudging him the other way. He listened to his intuition and left the bench to join the law firm Sanford Heisler, which offered him the platform to do the work he is passionate about.

Judge Kevin Sharp was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of a firefighter, who instilled in him the love of country and duty. Judge Sharp enlisted in the United States Navy following his graduation from high school. It was during this time in the military that Judge Sharp developed an interest in the law and social justice. Following his service, he went on to obtain his J.D. from the Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1993.

Judge Sharp joined the U.S. Congressional Office of Compliance, where he worked in the General Counsel’s office enforcing the labor and employment laws applicable to the U.S. House and Senate. In this role, he helped oversee public service and accommodation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as performing compliance inspections with regards to the ADA and OSHA.

In late 2010, President Obama nominated Judge Sharp to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, and in May 2011 the United States Senate voted unanimously to confirm Judge Sharp’s appointment to the bench. In his judicial role, Judge Sharp handled many high-profile cases. Judge Sharp remained on the court until April 2017, serving as the court’s Chief Judge from 2014 to 2017.

By 2017, Judge Sharp had become disillusioned with certain aspects of judgeship, namely that he found his hands tied in certain criminal proceedings by mandatory minimum sentencing laws. In short, these laws compelled Judge Sharp to hand down sentences more punitive and lengthy than would necessarily fit the severity of the offense.

Following his disillusionment, Judge Sharp stepped down from the bench and joined Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP in April 2017, becoming the Managing Partner of the firm’s newly opened Nashville office. In his role at Sanford Heisler Sharp, Judge Sharp oversees discrimination, retaliation and harassment cases, including both individual and class action litigations, as well as qui tam and ERISA matters. He also helps to steer the firm’s involvement in the ongoing nationwide opioid litigation.

Judge Sharp successfully poured his efforts into helping push for Executive Clemency on behalf of Chris Young, a man that Judge Sharp himself was forced to sentence to two life sentences due to mandatory minimum sentencing laws. At the time of that sentencing in 2014, Judge Sharp said, “there’s no justice happening here today,” in reference to the sentence he was compelled to hand down. In January 2021, Judge Sharp’s efforts finally proved fruitful when outgoing President Donald J. Trump granted Mr. Young clemency

Today, Judge Sharp seeks to use his history and reputation as an attorney and Judge to help push for criminal justice reform, as well as to pursue restorative justice on behalf of individuals who have been wrongfully convicted or given excessive sentences. As with Mr. Young, Judge Sharp is likewise working to achieve justice for Leonard Peltier, a Native American Civil Rights activist and founding member of the American Indian Movement.

Judge Kevin Sharp insists on making the Wrong Right and his meaningful actions are already being recorded in history while changing the world for the better.