Hatch-Billops Collection, Inc.

-- October 12, 2003
Sue Graham Mingus, Writer and Music Producer
Sue Mingus, once a magazine editor an publisher, is now carrying on the legacy of legendary jazz composer Charles Mingus by directing repertory ensembles that showcase the compositionof her husband, who is now deceased. She has also chronicled their romance in a book, Tonight at Noon: A Love Story (1992).

--October 26, 2003
Madeline Anderson, Filmmaker and Producer
From 1971, Madeline Anderson found herself working as supervising editor, producer, director, and editor at CTW. She formed Onyx Productions in 1975 and completed several works for both Sesame Street and the Electric Company. From 1977 to 1980 Ms. Anderson directed 18 short films for the Infinity Factory. In addition she has also taught at Columbia University Graduage School of Arts. She has served on the borads of the New York Council for the Arts, the New York Film Council, Women Make Movies, and the International Film Council (IPS). Awards presented to her include Grand Prize at the First Blacke Annual Film Festival of the Media Women's Metropolitan Chapter, her induction into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, and the Gallery of the Greats and Galery of the Greatest, Miller Brewing Company.

-- November 9, 2003
Louis Meriwether, Writer
She began writing for the L.A. Sentinel in 1961. She left to become a story analyst at Universal Studio in Hollywood. Since 1988 she has lived as a freelance artist. Her recent novel is Shadow Dancing published by Ballantine in 2000. She has written three biographies: Daddy Was a Number Runner, Don't take the Bus on Monday: the Rosa Parks Story, The Heart Man, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams.

-- December 7, 2003
Ray Grist, Visual Artist
Ray Grist, an artist currently working in Brooklyn, New York, has shown his work consistently over the past thirty-five years. His most recent solo exhibition was Ray Grist: Bring on the Paint at the Broome Street Gallery in New York City. Other one-man shows include Ray Grist: Paintings for the 90s, and Ray Grist: Passages at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Grist has shown at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center, New York, the Alaska State Museum, Juneau, Alaska, and Cinque Gallery in New York City.

-- February 29, 2004
Robin Kelley, Historian
As chairperson in the History Department at New York University, he also serves as consultant for film and television, i.e., Jazz by Ken Burns, The American Century (ABC-TV), 20 from the 20th Century: A Social Histoy of American Space. Dr. Kelley has published many books and has been awarded a number of prestigious fellowships: Robert L. Hess Scholars-in-Residence, Louis Armstrong, Professor of Jazz Studies, the Schomburg Scholars-in-Residence, and elected to the Society of American Historians.

-- March 14, 2004
Ademola Olugbefola, Visual Artist
His work has been featured in major museums, universities and galleries, as well as on television in the USA, the Caribbean, African, Europe, and Japan. TransArt presented his five acre environmental installation, Nature Symphony and MAMBO: A Tribute to Tito Puente. Other shows include an exhibition and lecture at the Albany International Airport and a show in 2001 at Poughkeepsie's Albert Shahinian Gallery with Helen Douglass

-- March 21, 2004
Arthur French, Actor/Director
An acclaimed actor, French has commanded film roles in Music of the Heart, Crooklyn, Malcolm X, and The Out of Towners. His television appearances include Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit, Third Watch and Due South. On Broadway, he has performed in Mulebone, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Design for Living, You Can't Take it With You, Death of a Salesman, The Iceman Cometh, The River Niger, All God's Chillun Got Wings and Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death. Of historical note, Mr. French was founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company.

-- March 28, 2004
Nari Ward, Visual Artist
Born in St. Andrews, Jamaica, he now lives and works in New York City. His solo exhibitions include Episodes at Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston, Attractive Nuisance at the Galleria Civica d'Arte in Torino, Italy, and Happy Smilers: Duty Free Shopping at Deitch Projects in New York. His awards and fellowships include the Willard L. Metcalf Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Bessie Award in Visual Arts, Dance Theater Workshop, Penny McCall Foundation, the Pollock Krasner Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the John Guggenheim Fellowhship.

-- April 4, 2004
Yuriko Takata, Visual Artist
Born in Los Angeles, she has had several solo exhibitions, including Editions Limited Gallery, Ex Quandris, Luxembourg, Joan Joseph Gallery, Indianapolis, Mito Cultural Center in Mito Japan, and Neville Sargent Gallery in Chicago. Ms. Takata work is also included in many corporate collections, i.e. ARCO Oil Company, AT&T, Bank of America, and IBM Corporation.

-- April 25, 2004
Linda Earle, Arts Administrator of Skowhegan

--May 2, 2004
P.J. Gibson, Writer
Ms. Gibson has written over thirty plays as well as numerous poems and short stories. Long Time Since Yesterday has had upwards of sixty productions. Holding an MFA from Brandeis University, her honors include the Bushfire Theatre of Performing Arts Seventh Annual "Walk of Fame," a Shubert Fellowship for the study of dramatic arts, and a playwriting grant form NEA. She is an Associate Professor of English at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.