Soundtrack of America

Dr. Regina N. Bradley is a writer and researcher of African American literature and culture with an emphasis on the contemporary Black American South. She is the author of numerous essays on race and popular culture and the short story collection Boondock Kollage: Stories from the Hip Hop South (Peter Lang Press, 2017).

Nelson George is a filmmaker, author, and critic who focuses on the contributions of black Americans to global culture. His books include award-winning histories (The Death of Rhythm & Blues, Hip Hop America) and popular novels (The Plot Against Hip Hop, To Funk and Die in LA). He’s directed cable movies (HBO’s Life Support) and feature documentaries (A Ballerina’s Tale, about dancer Misty Copeland), while writing for series (Netflix’s The Get Down) and producing (Cinemax’s Tales From the Tour Bus). His latest book is a collection of music writings, The Nelson George Mixtape (Pacific Publishing).

Alisha Lola Jones, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University (Bloomington). Dr. Jones is a council member of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), American Musicological Society (AMS), and co-chair of the Music and Religion Unit of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Her highly anticipated book Flaming: The Peculiar Theo-Politics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance (Oxford University Press) breaks ground by analyzing the role of gospel music making in constructing and renegotiating gender identity among black men.

Matthew D. Morrison, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, is an assistant professor in the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Matthew holds a PhD in musicology from Columbia University, an MA in musicology from The Catholic University of America, and BA in music from Morehouse College. Morrison is a 2018 – 19 fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American research at Harvard University. He has been a research fellow with the Modern Moves research project at King’s College, London, and has held fellowships from the American Musicological Society, Mellon Foundation, the Library of Congress, the Center for Popular Music Study/Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Catwalk Artists Residency, and the Tanglewood Music Center. He has served as editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed music journal Current Musicology and his published work has appeared in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, the Grove Dictionary of American Music, and on Oxford University Press’s online music blog. His in-progress book project, Blacksound: Making Race & Popular Music in the US, considers the implications of positing sound and music as major components of identity and (intellectual) property formations, particularly the construction of race out of blackface minstrelsy.

Hamza Walker is the Director of LAXART, an independent nonprofit art space in Los Angeles. From 1994 – 2016, he was the director of education and associate curator at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, a non-collecting museum devoted to contemporary art. He recently curated the group exhibition Sperm Cult and Sol LeWitt: Page-works 1967 – 2007 both in 2018.

David Rockwell is founder and president of Rockwell Group, an architecture and design firm, which renovated the Hayes Theater for Second Stage and collaborated on the design of The Shed with Diller Scofidio + Renfro (Lead Architect). His Broadway scenic design credits include She Loves Me (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards), On the Twentieth Century (Tony nominated), You Can’t Take It With You (Tony nominated), Kinky Boots (Tony nominated), Lucky Guy (Tony nominated), Hairspray (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), and the upcoming productions of Kiss Me Kate and Tootsie. Off Broadway scenic design credits include The Hard Problem and the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. His honors include an AIANY President’s Award, Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, and Presidential Design Award.

Frank J. Oliva is a Cuban American stage designer. Oliva’s work crosses the boundaries of theater, opera, film, and music. Recent projects include world and regional premieres at The Cincinnati Symphony, Two River Theatre Company, The Billie Holiday Theatre, Urban Stages and more. As associate designer, Oliva has led projects for Broadway, Off Broadway, and International Productions. Oliva was nominated for a 2018 Audelco Award and won the 2017 Innovative Theatre Award for Stage Design. His work will be featured at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space. Graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Frank is a member of United Scenic Artists, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, and Wingspace Theatrical Design.