Ahamefule J. Oluo (they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, writer, comedian, and creator of live performance and theater. A founding member of the award-winning experimental jazz quartet Industrial Revelation, they are the recipient of a Mellon Creative Research Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, the ArtistTrust Arts Innovator Award, a MAP Fund grant, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, and a Mid-Atlantic USArtists International grant. Oluo has produced comedy albums by Hari Kondabolu and Dwayne Kennedy, and has written for television, including Santa Inc. on HBO Max, starring Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen. They have also appeared on "This American Life". Their autobiographical music-theater works Now I’m Fine (2016) and Susan (2020) premiered at The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival. Now I’m Fine was described by The New York Times’ Ben Brantley as “a New Orleans funeral march orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg,” while Time Out New York wrote, “It’s as though I grabbed a live wire; I can still feel the electricity in my skin.” Brantley called Susan “virtuosic” and “crackerjack.” Now I’m Fine was later adapted into the film Thin Skin, which Oluo wrote, scored, and starred in, and which won Best Director for Charles Mudede at the Harlem Film Festival. Their newest solo work, The Things Around Us, is currently touring nationally and internationally. Oluo’s work has been presented or invited by Under the Radar Festival, La MaMa, PICA’s TBA Festival, On the Boards, REDCAT, Williamstown Theatre Festival, ArtsEmerson, The Ringling Museum, Fusebox Festival, Transform Festival UK, and others. They have had residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, PICA, and more.
Roya Amirsoleymani (she/her) is an independent curator, writer, creative producer, project manager, and consultant in contemporary performance and visual art, based rurally on Twana lands on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. She is the producer of new performance works by San Cha; Ahamefule J. Oluo; and Holland Andrews & yuniya edi kwon, all of which have been variously supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital, National Performance Network, MAP Fund, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles Performance Practice, and more. She has served as a consultant for National Performance Network and the International Presenting Commons, among others. She was co-curator of On the Boards' 2025 Northwest New Works Festival in Seattle and co-curator of the Out of Sight exhibition for Seattle’s 2023 Bumbershoot Festival. From 2012-2023, she was a director and curator at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), organizing visual art exhibitions, experimental dance, theatre, and sound art performances, residencies, public programs, community events, publications, grant making, and co-curated the annual, internationally renowned Time-Based Art Festival. She was a founding member of Portland’s Arts Workers for Equity and served on the International Presenting Commons. Her practice has spanned research, writing, symposia, publications, public art, public panels, conference papers and presentations, book making, and cultural advocacy. Her writing has been published in print and online arts and hybrid journals and publications. She is currently developing a book and archival project about death and friendship. Roya holds a BA in Contemporary Visual Culture & Gender Studies from the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies in California, a Master's in Arts Management from the University of Oregon, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Arizona State University.
