Ayah Abdul-Rauf studied film at the Kansas City Art Institute and the USC film school in Los Angeles, where she was identified as a method writer for her unorthodox approach to storytelling. She is an adjunct professor of film at Johnson County Community College and New York Film Academy. Her new novel, The Fox and the Stag is available in print, online and in stores. https://shethewriter.com/ 

Vanessa Aricco is a multimedia poet and performance artist exploring our precarious relationships with capitalism, pop culture, and climate destruction. She uses nostalgia as a tool for dissection and repetition as a form of change. She is a recipient of the 2025 Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Award. vanessaaricco.com

Megan Birdsall is a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist. Her original music can be heard with her band MBird, and her career as a jazz vocalist has seen her play stages across North America and Europe. She has shared stages with such luminaries as Chakka Kahn, Mike Melvoin, Christian McBride, Bob Bowman and more.

Héctor Casanova is Assistant Professor of Illustration at the Kansas City Art Institute and has been working as a fine and graphic artist for over 25 years.  As a staff artist at The Kansas City Star ('99-'15), he illustrated hundreds of articles and won a handful of awards.  His work ranges from editorial illustration and comics to murals and gallery installations.

Joseph Davis is just another Midtown miscreant who can string a few words together and get somewhat close to that thing called “poetry".” Catholic mis-educated in high school and college. His book Black Lives Matter and Other Poems is available through Spartan Press and in area bookstores.

Lexi Ramirez Dickens is a poet, writer and photographer living in Liberty, Missouri. Her poetry and short prose has been published by Salt Tooth Press and her photography can be seen at https://www.brightonroadphotography.com/

José Faus is a visual artist, writer, performer and independent teacher/mentor with an interest in the role of artists as catalysts for community building. His chapbook This Town Like That was released by Spartan Press. The book The Life and Times of José Calderon was published by West 39 Press. His Children’s book Possum Trot was published by La Resistencia Press.

Lauren Lee is an artist and illustrator from Overland Park, Kansas. Growing up, she discovered a love of storytelling that persisted into her life today. She uses a variety of mediums, dabbling in creative writing and puppetry alongside her work as an illustrator. Lauren is currently based in New York City and is in the process of completing her senior thesis project at Parsons School of Design. https://lelee5353.wixsite.com/lauren-lee

Theresa Monique Leggard is a Brooklyn=born (the burough, not the avenue), Jersey raised, Midwest transplant. She’s a full-time composition instructor with a freelancer’s spirit. Teresa is a sometimes writer, perpetual editor, frustrated poet, playwright-turned-director, and recovering procrastinator. If you do find her online, she’ll be @LeggardTM.

David Wayne Reed is a writer/director born in rural Kansas, inspired by landscape and highway, and shaped by storytellers on the radio.  Reed lives in the bright lights of Kansas City, Missouri where he served for two years as Acting Chair of the Municipal Art Commission www.davidwaynereed.com

Korbin Richards lives in the Kansas City metro area and spends their time working on their short story collection, collecting bones, and playing with their service dog, Shell. Both their academic and creative work have been published by Yale University’s American Literature in the World and To the Stars Through Difficulties: A Kansas Renga in 150 Voices. Korbin’s newest fiction, “Astral Projections” will be published by Prismatica Press. Their works in progress can be found at https://www.instagram.com/korbinrikkole/.

Michael Andrew Smith is a writer, educator and songwriter. He is the author of Project Daylight and co-authored the Dramatic HIV/STD Awareness Project, which he helped lead for over 20 years. His plays have been produced on professional and academic stages, and his splash prose has been published by Salt Tooth Press. Michael is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Object.