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The INSTITUTE FOR
AESTHETIC ADVOCACY
IAA Staff and Board
Founded by a diverse -- racially, politically, medically -- group of artists,academics, critics, and curators
(most of whom were connected to Hamline University), the IAA's all volunteer staff and Board includes:
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Leadership and Operations:
Executive Director, Shea Sullivan
Creative Director and Co-Founder, Dr. Aaron McKain
Director of Strategic Development and Co-Founder, Noah Tilsen
Senior Critic/Curator and Co-Founder, Steven Pedersen
Director of Education and Outreach, Harrell Mathieu
Vice Director of Communications, Riley Miller
Senior Editor, Samson Hall
Emeritus, Prof. Allison Baker (2017-2022)
Board and Project Personnel:
Riley Miller
Ayin Monge
Moises Morales
Allison Fox Schneider
Samantha Fisher
Matt Haney
Executive Director - Shea Sullivan
Shea Sullivan is the Executive Director of the IAA, as well as the Assoicate director of the Institute for Digital Humanity, a student-run think tank that advocates for civil rights issues connected to advances in technology. Across her history of advocacy, Shea has coordinated and facilitated partnerships with the ACLU of MN, the ADL, Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business, Creighton University, Little Earth. She has also organized multiple international art exhibitions that built coalitions across the digital divide, and curate bi-partisan cross-cultural conversations about our digital future.
Creative Director (Interim) - Dr. Aaron McKain
Dr Aaron McKain is the co-founder and Creative Director of the IAA. As a curator, scholar, and artist, his work on public health and art advocacy has appeared in the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, the Missouri Review, Gallery 610, The Rhetoric Society of America, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, Twin Cities Zine Fest, the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, and Posthumanism: New Media 2020. He also serves as Executive Director of the Institute for Digital Humanity.
Director of Strategic Development - Noah Tilsen
International artist and author. He also holds a realty license in Minnesota and has a BFA in creative writing. Lives inside a salt circle, patiently waiting for something from the abyss to peer back.
Director of Communications; Senior Curator - Steven Pederson
Gaffe Archivist. He majored in English to learn how to be more of a person. He took art classes and learned to socialize somehow. Now he’s an art whisperer, talking about how things talk to people.
Director of Education & Outreach - Harrell Matthieu
Criminal justice major. New Orleans transplant. Video game enthusiast.
Vice Director of Communications - Riley Miller
Digital Media Arts major, game designer, video and audio designer, graphic artist. Creator of the EMF antlers.
Board Member - Ayin Morales
As the Director of Pedagogy and Community Education off the Institute for Digital Humanity, Ayin has held school age workshops on Digital Ethics at community centers, like Minnesota's first Native American community, Little Earth. She's also lead partnerships with ACLU of MN, the ADL, and Netflix's Coded Bias.
Board Member - Moises Morales
Content creator and multimedia specialist who also knows a thing or two about how to make movies.
Board Member - Allison Schneider
MFA holder and artist of both the digital and tangible worlds. Board member since 2022.
All Bullets Shatter Partner - Matt Haney
Artist. Nerd. Flawed human that makes comic books in this spare time.
Matt has a BFA with a focus on painting from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with a minor in film studies. He has worked in Journalism for the past 23 years as an Illustrator and Graphic Artist. Currently the Graphics Editor for Global Press.
All Bullets Shatter Partner - Samantha Fisher
Samantha Fisher has four decades of creating under her hat, and she's always ready for more. She is the co-creator of an adorable DIY craft kit line called Monkey Sock Monkey, and she founded the performing arts group The Sugarplum Elves, which now includes troupes in three cities on the west coast. In non-pandemic times, she tours with her band Spank Williams. She just finished directing her second play. Her current favorite project is TABLE, a cooking/fundraising effort in Seattle. In her spare time, she is a freelance graphic designer and pretends to paint.
All Bullets Shatter Project Manager - Joseph Cobb
Philando Castile Scholarship recipient at North Central University. Pursued a Broadcast Journalism degree. Now pursues his entrepreneurial ambitions.
All Bullets Shatter Partners
Michael Harker - DALN, Georgia State University
Ben McCorkle - DALN, The Ohio State University
Kate Comer - DALN, Portland State University
Julius Hernandez - Institute for Digital Humanity
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