Creative Activism – 2015 SWF Closing Plenary Featuring Bassem Youssef, Susan Meiselas, Darren Walker, Ken Brecher, Monica Yunus, Camille Zamora, Ned Breslin and Feliciano dos Santos
Speakers
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President, Magnum Foundation
Susan Meiselas is a documentary photographer and member of Magnum Photos since 1976. She is the author of Carnival Strippers, Nicaragua: June 1978-July 1979, Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History, Pandora’s Box and Encounters with the Dani. She has co-edited two collections: El Salvador: Work of 30 Photographers and Chile from Within. Meiselas has also co-directed three films: Living at Risk and Pictures from a Revolution with Richard P. Rogers and Alfred Guzzetti and Reframing History where she returned again to Nicaragua and placed her photographs of the popular insurrection in the landscape where they were first taken. Her pioneering website created in 1998, akaKURDISTAN, is considered a seminal model for diaspora participation in collective memory and cultural exchange.
Meiselas is well known for her multi-decade documentation of human rights issues in Latin America. Her photographs are included in American and international collections. In 1992 Meiselas was made a MacArthur Fellow and in 2015 received a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2007, she became the founding President of the Magnum Foundation. The Magnum Foundation supports, trains, and mentors the next generation of in-depth independent documentary photographers and seeks to increase the impact of both historical and contemporary photography in the digital age.
Meiselas is presently on the Advisory Board of the Acumen Fund and the Vera List Center for Arts and Politics at The New School.
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, Massukos
Massukos are considered national treasures in their native country, renowned both for their stunning music and the humanitarian work that they do. By day, the leader of Massukos, Feliciano dos Santos, is the director and founder of the NGO Estamos; by night he is the guitarist of one of Mozambique's most revered bands. Hailed as “the next Buena Vista Social Club”, they sold more than 80,000 copies of their debut album and their sensational new album Bumping is attracting rave reviews as “an irresistible charmer of a record ”.
Originating from Niassa in northern Mozambique, one of the poorest parts of Africa, Massukos use their high profile to speak out against the hardships that have affected their lives. Passionate about the development work they do, the band travels for miles to remote villages to deliver simple life-saving messages about hygiene, sanitation and HIV/AIDS.
The release of their remarkable new album Bumping, followed by their stellar performance at WOMAD 2007 has launched Massukos on to the world stage. With an invitation from Michael Eavis to play at Glastonbury 2008 and plans afoot for a European tour, the band's success story is set to continue.
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Director, ESTAMOS Organização Comunitária
Feliciano dos Santos was born on June 9, 1964 in Niassa Province, northern Mozambique. Married father of six children. Executive Director of ESTAMOS, a Mozambican NGO working on water and sanitation projects, natural resources, HIV and AIDS, and good governance. Winner of Goldman Environmental Prize in 2008 for his social activism and promotion of good sanitation practices in particular ecological sanitation. By National Geographic, is selected as Emerging Explorer in 2010 for the promotion of hand washing with features music and other innovative ways. The same year by AmcowAfricaSan selected as Grassroots Champion of sanitation in Africa. This latest award was extended to his Massukos group applauded internationally. With the group conducts health and sustainable use of natural resources campaigns. His group already recorded 3 albums; the songs speak of issues of poverty, health and education, and in particular about sanitation and washing hands.
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Political Satirist, Bassem Youssef
Bassem Youssef was the host of AlBernameg - the first of its kind political satire show in the Middle East. Originally a 5-minute show on YouTube, AlBernameg was the most watched show across the region.
Youssef received wide acclaim around the world with coverage in some of the biggest media outlets. Throughout its three seasons the show remained controversial through its humorous yet bold criticism of the ruling powers, which led to tens of lawsuits being filed against the show and its host. Youssef was issued an arrest warrant in March 2013 where he was released on bail after questioning. In 2013 he was named among Time Magazine’s most influential list, awarded the International Press Freedom Award by the CPJ, and chosen by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the global thinkers. In June 2014 AlBernameg team held a press conference where Youssef announced the show’s termination due to overwhelming pressures. Youssef majored in cardiothoracic surgery, passed the United States Medical License Exam, and is a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. He is currently a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F Kennedy School of Government.
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President, Library Foundation of Los Angeles
Kenneth S. Brecher is president of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. He was formerly executive director of the Sundance Institute, president of the William Penn Foundation, director of the Boston Children’s Museum, and associate artistic director of the Mark Taper Forum. An anthropologist by training, Brecher was an honors graduate of Cornell and a Rhodes Scholar. He has received numerous fellowships, including a research grant from the Getty Center for Education in the Arts and a Ford Foundation Fellowship for his study of Amazonian tribesmen. He has lectured and published widely and served as an international consultant on challenges facing arts leadership. He has been a keynote speaker at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship and played a central role in organizing the closing plenary on the importance of activist artists in social change.
He is the author of Too Sad to Sing: A Memoir with Postcards and editor of the classic Xingu: The Indians and Their Myths, by Orlando and Claudio Villas Boas. His installation “The Little Room of Epiphanies” was at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
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Soprano and Co-Founding Director, Sing for Hope
Camille Zamora is the Co-Founding Director of Sing for Hope, a leading non-profit that brings arts outreach programs to communities in need and presents initiatives – including NYC's summertime street pianos – that make the arts accessible to all. An internationally acclaimed soprano, she has appeared with ensembles including LA Opera and Glimmerglass Opera and with collaborators ranging from Plácido Domingo to Sting. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she has performed recitals on five continents and live concerts on NPR, BBC Radio, Deutsche Radio and Sirius. She has been recognized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and named one of CNN’s Most Intriguing People, NY1’s “New Yorker of the Week” and one of the “Top 50 Americans in Philanthropy” by Town&Country. A regular contributor to The Huffington Post and a leading voice in the “citizen artist” discussion, Camille has performed and spoken at Fortune Most Powerful Women’s Summit, Aspen Ideas Festival, and The United Nations.
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Director, The Marshall Institute, London School of Economics
Stephan Chambers is the inaugural director of the Marshall Institute at LSE and Director of the 100x Impact Accelerator. He serves on the steering groups for the Just Transition Finance Lab and the LSE Grantham Research Institute. At LSE he also sits on the governing board for the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity and is Professor in Practice at the Department of Management and Course Director for the Executive Masters in Social Business and Entrepreneurship. Before joining the Marshall Institute Stephan Chambers was the Co-Founder of the Skoll World Forum. From 2000 to 2014 he directed the University of Oxford’s MBA and was the founding Director of Oxford University's Executive MBA programme.
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Founder, The Invitation
Writing a book on Ukraine, building an Invitation to starve child welfare of children and families who have no place in that system, and welcoming each day with a smile and a bit of light.
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Soprano and Co-Executive Director, Sing for Hope
Monica Yunus is the Co-Founding Director of Sing for Hope, a leading non-profit that brings arts outreach programs to communities in need and presents initiatives -- such NYC's summertime street pianos -- that make the arts accessible to all. An internationally renowned soprano, Ms. Yunus has performed with the world's leading companies, including The Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, The Zouk Festival, and in recitals in Spain, France, and her native Bangladesh. She has been honored with a 21st Century Leaders Award and, in 2013, received a Congressional Citation, was honored as "New Yorker of the Week" by NY1, and was named one of the "Top 50 Americans in Philanthropy" by Town&Country. A leading voice in the "artist as citizen" discussion, she has performed and spoken at the Fortune Most Powerful Women’s Summit, Nexus Global Summit, and The United Nations. The daughter of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Ms. Yunus is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
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President, Ford Foundation
Darren Walker is president of the Ford Foundation, a $16 billion international social justice philanthropy. Under his leadership, the Ford Foundation became the first non-profit in US history to issue a $1 billion designated social bond to stabilize non-profit organizations in the wake of COVID-19.
Before joining Ford, Darren was vice president at Rockefeller Foundation. Previously, he was COO of Harlem’s Abyssinian Development Corporation.
Darren co-founded both the US Impact Investing Alliance and the Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy. He serves on many boards, including the National Gallery of Art, Carnegie Hall, the High Line, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, Committee to Protect Journalists, Block Inc., and Ralph Lauren.
Educated exclusively in public schools, Darren was a member of the first Head Start class in 1965 and received BA, BS, and JD degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He has been included on numerous leadership lists including Time’s annual 100 Most Influential People and Out magazine’s Power 50. He is the recipient of 16 honorary degrees, Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Medal and was named the Wall Street Journal’s 2020 Philanthropy Innovator.
