dream hampton is an award-winning filmmaker and writer from Detroit. For three decades her essays and cultural criticism helped shape a generation. Her most recent works include the award-winning short film “Freshwater” (NYT OpDocs/PBS, 2023) and “Ladies First” (Netflix, 2023). Selected works include “Treasure“ (Frameline, 2015), “Finding Justice” (BET, 2019), “It’s A Hard Truth Ain’t It” (HBO, 2019), and the Emmy-nominated "Surviving R. Kelly" (Netflix, 2019), which broke ratings records and earned her a Peabody Award. In 2019, hampton was named one of TIME 100's most influential people in the world.

Jeneé Osterheldt is a culture columnist who covers identity and social justice through the lens of culture and the arts. She centers Black lives and the lives of people of color. Sometimes this means writing about Beyoncé and Black womanhood or unpacking the importance of public art and representation. Sometimes this means taking systemic racism, sexism, and oppression to task. It always means Black lives matter. She joined the Globe in 2018. A native of Alexandria, Va. and a graduate of Norfolk State University, Osterheldt was a 2017 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, where her studies focused on the intersection of art and justice. She previously worked as a Kansas City Star culture columnist.

Timmhotep Aku is a Brooklyn-bred and based cultural worker who has written and edited for Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Complex, The Fader, and other publications. He is the story editor on the Signal Award-winning podcast series, “The Blog Era” and his Black art-inspired radio show, “Subject To Change,” airs monthly on London’s NTS Live.

Rashida Bumbray is a curator and choreographer. In 2022, she curated Loophole of Retreat: Venice, a three-day global symposium focused on Black women’s intellectual and creative labor as part of Simone Leigh’s Exhibition “Sovereignty” at the American Pavilion for the 59th Venice Biennale. As Director of Culture and Art at the Open Society Foundations (2015-2022), Bumbray spearheaded the development of the foundations’ first global program dedicated to advancing diverse artistic practices and strengthening locally-led cultural spaces globally. She began her curatorial career in 2001 at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. As Associate Curator at The Kitchen, New York (2006-2012), she organized critically acclaimed commissions and exhibitions, including the first NY solo exhibitions for many artists, including Simone Leigh, Leslie Hewitt, and Adam Pendleton.  Bumbray‘s work in performance and experimental film draws from Black American vernacular and folk forms, including ring shouts, work songs, hoofing, and the blues. Her works have been presented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Black Star Film Festival, The Park Avenue Armory, Dia: Chelsea, The New Museum, Tate Modern, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. A graduate of Oberlin College, Bumbray also has an MA in Africana Studies from New York University.