We are Philadelphia artists, activists, and culture bearers embedded in neighborhoods and communities.
A Nonprofit Cooperative
The Philadelphia Assembly is a representation of Philadelphia’s field of creative-placemaking practitioners. The Assembly selects a representative body to make up the Core Assembly, that carries the work forward, and ensures that the collective’s mission and vision are reflected in the practices, programming and engagement of, for, and by the Assembly via: direct feedback, collective data, research and exploration of best practices.
The General Assembly
Pamela Bridgeforth, Philadelphia Association of CDCs
Denise Brown, Leeway Foundation
Betsy Casañas, Semilla Arts Initiative
Michelle Currica, Samuel S. Fels Fund
Verónica Ayala Flores
Leigh Goldenberg, The Wilma Theater
Erica Hawthorne-Manon, Small But Mighty Arts
Lenora Jackson-Evans, Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood Action Center, Inc.
Aviva Kapust, The Village of Arts and Humanities
Melissa Kim, LISC Philadelphia
Dave Kyu, Asian Arts Initiative
Trapeta Mayson, Philadelphia Poet Laureate
Vernoca Michael
Jerry Puryear, Artist
Tinamarie Russell, North Central Susquehanna Philadelphia Community Development Corporation
Andrew Simonet, Artists U.
Jamaine Smith
Jennifer Turnbull, Spiral Q
Catzie Vilayphonh, Laos in the House
Yolanda Wisher, Philadelphia Contemporary
James Wright, People's Emergency Center
Current Core Members
Vashti DuBois
The Colored Girls Museum
Launched in 2015, The Colored Girls Museum (TCGM) "honors the stories, experiences, and history of Colored Girls of the african diaspora.” It is the first institution of its kind, offering visitors a multi-disciplinary experience of memoir, in all its variety, in a residential space. This museum initiates the “ordinary” object — submitted by the colored girl herself, as representative of an aspect of her story and personal history which she finds meaningful; her object embodies her experience and expression of being a Colored Girl. TCGM has been engineered to pop up in other cities and neighborhoods around the country — transforming ordinary spaces into Colored Girls Museum outposts, which collect, archive, and share the stories of indigenous colored girls. This start-up Museum enterprise has been written about in the new Anthology Black Futures, Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, Essence, Philadelphia Magazine , Philadelphia Inquirer, Metro U.K., and others.
DuBois has held leadership positions at a number of organizations over her 30-year career in non-profit and arts administration,working primarily on issues impacting girls and women of color including : Free Library of Philadelphia, Tree House Books, the Historic Church of the Advocate, Children's Art Carnival in New York City, Haymarket People's Fund in Boston, Congreso Girls Center, and The Leeway Foundation. DuBois is a graduate of Wesleyan University, a NAMAC Fellow. She is currently working on a Memoir about the Colored Girls Museum and is a 2022 Clark Fellow.
Tonnetta Graham
Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corporation
Tonnetta Graham is a North Philadelphia native who is a Founder and current Executive Director of the Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to neighborhood preservation, commercial, residential and economic development, and planning. She has successfully led community engagement programming and negotiations on a wide variety of development projects that have resulted in community benefits that stabilized the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood and empowered its residents.
Tonnetta has a BS in Human Resource Management from Indiana University of PA and her MS in Higher Education and Organizational Leadership from Drexel University with additional certifications in Volunteer Management and Citizen Planning.
Wit López (Project Manager)
Till Arts Project
Wit López is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning multidisciplinary maker, performance artist, and cultural advocate based in Philadelphia, Pa.
Wit is the Founder and Artistic Director of Till Arts Project, a grassroots arts services organization serving LGBTQ+ artists in the Greater Philadelphia Area. They serve as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Stockton-Rush Bartol Foundation and are a member of the Core Assembly of the Philadelphia Assembly. They are currently an inaugural fellow of the Chronicling Resistance Activist-Curator Fellowship, a Securing the Roots Arts Fellow, and a Philadelphia Black Artists Fellow.
Stasia Monteiro
HACE CDC
As a QTPOC with experiences spanning 6 years developing resident-led programming in a community development context and 3 years serving students and families through Philadelphia’s public education sector, Stasia works with fluidity, moved by the gravity of liberation and intersectional justice. They found their way into the Philadelphia Assembly through their passionate applications of a neighborhood programming framework that prioritizes holistic dialogue and deep listening among people of many identities, holding space for complexity and conflict, and furthering resident-led efforts aligned with their self-identified priorities and needs. Stasia values asking questions that prompt nuanced discussion and creative thinking, demystifying complex topics, and celebrating others’ strengths.
As a Core Assembly member, Stasia is excited to leverage their experiences as an educator, a community organizer, and a creative, detail-oriented person to mobilize generative and critical applications of collective leadership and anti-oppressive investment. They are honored to support the Assembly in cultivating spaces to usher in our fullness, critically examine social dynamics, and continually synthesize and apply our learnings toward increasingly liberatory outcomes. Stasia holds a BA in English Literature (SUNY Geneseo) and an M.S.Ed in Secondary English Instruction (University of Pennsylvania).
Christopher Rogers
Paul Robeson House
Chris (he/him/his) was born and raised in Chester, PA and is currently a Ph.D Candidate within the Reading/Writing/Literacy program at PennGSE. He serves as a Public Programs Director for the Paul Robeson House Museum.
Tinamarie Russell
North Central Phila CDC/RCO
Tinamarie Russell has been active in human rights, community civic engagement, civil rights, activism, and housing rights since the age of thirteen after reading the works of Ms. Maya Angelo. Always the advocate for human rights her passion was fueled by her mentors Mr. Shuna Miah and Mr. Ricardo Rose of the Blight Arrest Pioneer Patrol.
Ms. Russell is currently the founder and President of North Central Phila CDC/RCO