Ittai Shapira Founder and Artistic Director

Violinist, Composer, and Curator Ittai Shapira has performed as soloist with some of the world's most prestigious orchestras, has recorded over 20 CD's and composed 8 Concertos.   "The Ethics", his most recently completed work, was premiered at Carnegie Hall.  He has worked with Luciano Berio, Sir Neville Marriner, Glenn Close, Salman Rushdie, and Brooke Shields. Shapira is the Artistic Consultant for the Cornel Weill Music and Medicine Program, co-founder of the Ilona Feher Foundation.  He received an award from the Victor Herbert Foundation, in support of long term innovative projects.  Read more  www.ittaishapira.com

Natasha Zaretsky, Ph.D. Director of Programs and Education

Natasha Zaretsky, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist focusing on human rights, genocide, migration, and the politics of memory and truth in the Americas and the Jewish diaspora.  Much of her research focuses on memory as a space for survival and belonging, and she has publications focusing on music and social change, the generational transmission of Holocaust memory, and the politics of memory and human rights in the Americas.   Currently, she is a Senior Lecturer at New York University and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University.  Read more about her work here www.natashazaretsky.com. 

Laureen Park, Ph.D. Director of Interdisciplinary Programming

Laureen Park, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY, where she has helped shape the development of an interdisciplinary curriculum. She chairs curriculum development in the Interdisciplinary Studies Committee, chairs the Capstone Experience Committee, and also works on Asian Diversity. These programs promote cultural literacy through interdisciplinary collaborations between scholars, musicians, writers, and others.  Her research applies phenomenological and psychoanalytic approaches to resolving empirical problems such as interdisciplinarity and integration, roots of conflict, and narcissism. She has spoken at regional and international conferences and published papers about these topics.  http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/faculty/LPark.

Inessa Shkolnikov Creative Consultant

Inessa Shkolnikov is Design Director at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.

Liesel Staubitz Intern              

Liesel Staubitz is currently a student at New York University, studying Psychology and Studio Art in the College of Arts and Sciences.