Board of Directors
Danielle provides private music instruction to young people in the Washington DC area. Having grown up in Roadwork as the Daughter of In Process Member—Pam Rogers—Danielle has a unique appreciation for the power of coalition, culture and cause that she has witnessed since her early days. She is proud to be part of the next generation of Roadwork.
Cultural Democracy and Statecraft Heritage Policy, African Diaspora
James has served in various positions at the Smithsonian Institution, including Assistant Provost for Educational and Cultural Programs. He sits on several boards including the Mosaic Theater Company and The Institute for Policy Studies.
Cindy (Cynthia) Phillips is a “mostly retired” attorney living in Fargo, North Dakota and professor emeritus from Minnesota State University Moorhead which is just across the Red River from Fargo. At MSUM she taught a variety of business law courses, created the Baccalaureate Paralegal program and helped found a graduate program for nonprofit administrators. She also served as the institution’s affirmative action officer and was Faculty President (Union) for nine years, also serving in statewide union offices.
Urvashi is an attorney, organizer, and nonprofit and foundation executive, with a record of effective leadership in academic, advocacy, philanthropic, legal and grassroots organizations. Urvashi was an early volunteer and board member of Roadwork. While in Law school, she lived in the roadwork house on Harvard Street.
Board of Advisors
Ysaye M. Barnwell is a commissioned composer, arranger, author, actress and former member of the African American female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock. She is a vocalist with a range of over three octaves and appears on more than twenty-five recordings with Sweet Honey as well as other artists. Trained as a violinist for 15 years beginning at the age of 2 1/2, she holds degrees in speech pathology (BS, MSEd), cranio-facial studies (Ph.D.) and public health (MSPH). Read more…
Composer, arranger, author, actress and vocalist
Pam loves bringing together a theme and great singers. With her sister, Paula Pree, she co-directs a church music program. She has produced and coordinated many Civil Rights programs for the Smithsonian Institution American History Museum, Program in African American Culture.
I attended my first Sisterfire Festival during summer break from Bryn Mawr College in 1987. That kindled my interest giving artists an opportunity to present their gifts. After putting on several events at school including Sweet Honey in the Rock, I found my way to Drexel University to study Arts Administration.
Toshi Reagon is a one-woman celebration of all that’s dynamic, progressive, and uplifting in American music. Since first taking to the stage at age seventeen, the singer-songwriter and guitarist has moved audiences of all kinds with her approach to rock, blues, R&B, country, folk, spirituals, and funk. Leading her renowned band BIGLovely, launched in 1996, she connects, inspires, and empowers.
Alexis was born and raised in Harlem, New York. The second of eight children, she grew up with her mother’s view of life: “You got three strikes against you. You poor, you black, and you female.” But De Veaux was drawn to the world of words and books, and through literature she reimagined the world her mother understood.
More: alexisdeveaux.com
Nicole has worked with private sector companies and non-profits regarding innovative community and economic development initiatives and partnerships. She has led numerous projects with a social impact focus. Nicole holds a MPP from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA from Spelman College. Nicole was born in Richmond, VA, and currently lives in Washington, DC.
NYU Tisch School – MFA Dance
Lehuanani DeFranco is a New York City-based dancer and Native Hawaiian activist for indigenous and environmental rights. Lehuanani graduated Cum Laude from Skidmore College with a double major in History and Dance and received her M.F.A. in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
She currently works for Translucent Borders, a project exploring how dance and music can act as catalysts for creative engagement across geographic, economic, and cultural borders. Lehuanani is also a performer with Te Ao Mana, a performance group that expands the presence of Polynesian culture worldwide through creative projects, dance classes, workshops, and community gathering.
More: halawai.org/nypit-lehuanani-defranco.html
Co-Founders
Amy Horowitz is interested in the unlikely coalitions and inevitable contradictions in music cultures and everyday lives. Dr. Horowitz has over four decades of experience in the academic world, the music industry, and grassroots social justice arts networks. Her main research interests are global indigenous studies, the study of music in disputed territory, contemporary Jerusalem, Arab Jewish popular music and protest music as responsible citizenship. She believes in coalition across differences, and has long fought against racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and misogyny.
Amy’s work in cross-cultural and multiracial coalitions includes co-founding Roadwork and Sisterfire and serving as artist representative for Sweet Honey in the Rock 1977 – 1994. Her activist work complements her academic background that combines training in Jewish studies and ethnomusicology (MA, New York University, 1986) with folklore and Israeli studies (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1994).
Amy serves on the Roadwork Board of Advisors and continues to be involved with efforts to preserve Roadwork’s legacy and supporting the next generation of leadership.
More: amyhorowitz.org
Composer, Producer, Curator
Bernice Johnson Reagon is a scholar, singer, and activist who has been a profound contributor to African American and American culture. Born in southwestern Georgia, her singing style and traditional repertoire is grounded in her experiences in church, school, and political activism. Her contributions to African American and American culture for over fifty years remains unparalleled.
Reagon has a long history with both the Smithsonian and Roadwork. In 1969, Folklife Festival co-founder Ralph Rinzler invited her to curate Black Music Through the Languages of the New World. In 1972, she founded and directed the Smithsonian’s Program in Black American Culture, a research group that developed the Folklife Festival’s unprecedented African Diaspora program that ran from 1973 to 1976. She also produced and performed on many Smithsonian Folkways Recordings albums.
As a co-founder of Roadwork in 1978, Reagon served as a board member, a solo performer, a member of Sweet Honey In The Rock, and co-creator and enthusiastic supporter of Roadwork’s coalition efforts. Reagon’s songbook, Compositions One, was co-produced with Roadwork in 1986. Now in retirement, her strongest musical collaborator has been her daughter, Toshi Reagon.
More: bernicejohnsonreagon.com
Oral History and Documentary Fellows
Art Institute of Chicago – MFA Studio Arts, 2020
Alliah was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from New York University in 2017 with a B.A. in Music, minor in Africana Studies and studied ethnography filmmaking in Accra, Ghana. She is a current Roadwork Center Oral History & Documentary Project intern as well as a Media Production and Archives intern at Performa, the leading non-profit organization dedicated to live performance by contemporary artists from around the world. Her primary interests include cultural studies, experimental music, experimental documentary, and visual anthropology. She also enjoys discovering music and film archive material, producing experimental hip hop and compiling indie music playlists by artists of diverse backgrounds.
Abigail Hendrix graduated from the University of Washington in 2018 with a degree in Anthropology, concentrating in Medical Anthropology and Global Health. Following graduation, she became an intern for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage where she worked as a writer and video editor, combining her love of storytelling with her background in anthropology. She began working with Roadwork in 2019, editing the 2018 Sisterfire Anniversary Concert videos. She is honored to be part of the Roadwork team and is looking forward to editing videos for them in the future.
More: abigailhendrix.com
NYU – MA Arts Politics
Ericka is an Atlanta based photographer and visual content creator whose work often surfaces themes of identity, black culture and religion. A self-proclaimed conceptual artist, Ericka uses photo, video and film to create compelling visuals that blur the line between art photography and photojournalism. Most recently, she has begun taking up interests in black archives, curating and community-based art initiatives in Philadelphia and Atlanta. She is a current intern at Roadwork where she is assisting with the archival storage of photos as well as assisting in the Enclave Habitat Planning Committee.
Ericka has a BFA in Art Photography and a BA in Religion from Syracuse University and is currently pursuing her MA in Arts Politics at NYU. She studied Fashion Photography and Filmmaking in Prague, Czech Republic in 2016 and exhibited her first gallery collection of work while abroad. Her most recent exhibition titled “Up for Air” is a multimedia installation that surfaces the experience of queer, black youth in religious spaces.
Consultants
Accounting
Legal
Kelly IP, Washington DC
Winston & Strawn LLP, Washington, DC
Cooley LLC
Editing
Debra DeRuyver
Web Master
Creatives
Web Design & Development
Sound View Design and Marketing
Graphic Design
Ann McMan
Christina Cappelletti
Sarna Marcus
Simone Dunye
Photography
Jeb Biren
Leigh Mosley
Ryan Whittemore
Sharon Farmer
Susan Wilson
Sarna Marcus and Simone Dunye Designer of the Sisterfire logo (1982) and Sisterfire logo (2018)