Meet the Black Arts District Team
Lady Brion
Executive Director
Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, poetry coach, activist, organizer, educator and the executive director of the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District. She received her B.A. in Applied Communication from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Design from the University of Baltimore. Lady Brion also serves on the board for DewMore Baltimore and as the Cultural Curator for a grassroots political think-tank called Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle in Baltimore.
Maya Wright
Administrative Assistant
Maya is a poet out of Pittsburgh who has recently relocated to Baltimore to expand her professional and artist career. She majored in Behavioral Science at Point Park University and is now the Administrative Assistant at Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District. Maya began slamming the summer of 2020, and in April of 2021 became one of the top five women poets in the world. She is currently working on the release of her first poetry book.
Nathaniel Thomas
Graphic Artist
Nate Thomas is a visual and hip-hop artist from Detroit, MI. An academically trained Illustrator, BFA Illustration (2015), music wasn’t always on the radar as a career path. Throughout his time at College for Creative Studies some of his trials and tribulations led him to music. Originally a therapeutic outlet; it wouldn’t be long before he would begin to take honing the craft and learning the ins and outs seriously. Nate had been working on his craft since 2011 and officially became “Nate Variety” summer 2014. It would take some years of dedication before he released what he considered his first true body of work “C O L O R” in 2018. Nate currently resides in Baltimore where he works for Under Armour and the Black Arts District as a graphic designer.
Ciara Blue
Marketing and Communications Manager
Ciara Blue is a marketing and communications professional bringing over 10 years of experience working with non-profits, government programs, marketing and communications agencies.
Chelsea Sherman
Program Coordinator
Chelsea Monae is a multidisciplinary creative entrepreneur from Baltimore. She is known as a collaborative music creator and performer, an arts administrator, and a braider. Monae can be described as a genuine, shamelessly pro-Black, Baltimore-born artist who triumphs through adversity and affirms her worth through creativity.
Monae brings a decade of creative and administrative experience to creative venues & community organizations in Baltimore. She currently works as a Program Coordinator with the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts & Entertainment District, and is a resident artist at Blakwater House.
Kenneth
Director of Programs
Kenneth is an artist, organizer and educator from Baltimore, Maryland. For over a decade, Kenneth has worked to create art and institutions that connect and transform people. Most recently, his work centers around marginalized people gaining access to their intellectual, emotional, spiritual and creative traditions.
Angela N. Carroll
Lead Curator, Historical Photography Project
Angela N. Carroll is an artist-archivist, writer, curator, and investigator of art history and culture. She regularly contributes critical essays to significant publications including Sugarcane Magazine, Black Art in America, BmoreArt, and Hyperallergic, and also writes art exhibition catalogs for prominent institutions. In 2021, Angela released Exploring Presence: African American Artists in the Upper South, a catalog and short docuseries that surveys under-recognized artists in the DMV region. In Spring 2022, the Exploring Presence: African American Artists in the Upper South exhibition premiered at the James E Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University. She received her MFA in Digital Arts and New Media from the University of California at Santa Cruz and intermittently teaches within the Film and Moving Image program at Stevenson University and the FYE program at MICA in Baltimore, Maryland.
Candace Handy
Event Coordinator
Candace Handy is the event coordinator for the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District. As a dedicated community servant, she has spent her life enhancing and improving the quality of life for the people in the Baltimore community. She has worked with several non-profits in Baltimore, creating programming and transforming the way organizations deliver services. In her professional career, she has helped provide critical home repairs to low-income homeowners at no cost to the homeowners, curated community events, coordinated educational workshops, and led large scale volunteer events. Candace holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Molecular Biology from Towson University. She has also been featured in The Baltimore Times, The Annapolis Times, and various news outlets for her mentorship of young Black girls. She speaks within the community about the importance of mentorship and how it has greatly impacted her life and sits on the Board of Directors for a mentoring program in Baltimore City.
Cydni Stewart
Community Engagement Coordinator
Cydni “Beanpie” Stewart is a creative with entrepreneurial and artistic talents. Most of her time is spent building programs and cultivating ideas to spread art, therapy, and connection throughout her communities. With a background in administration and a passion for the arts, Beanpie has made her mark on the Baltimore scene by assisting and fertilizing entities that fit her vision of a better, healthier, creative Baltimore community.