Eric T. Kunsman
Eric T. Kunsman (b. 1975) was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. While in high school, he was heavily influenced by the death of the steel industry and its place in American history.
Eric holds an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, an MS in Electronic Publishing/Graphic Arts Media, a BS in Biomedical Photography, and a BFA in Fine Art photography, all from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.
He is a photographer and book artist based out of Rochester, New York. Eric works at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as an Assistant Professor in the Visual Communications Studies Department at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and is an adjunct professor for the School of Photographic Arts & Sciences. He also owns Booksmart Studio, which is a fine art digital printing studio specializing in numerous techniques and services for photographers and book artists on a collaborative basis.
To see his photography visit: www.erickunsman.com
Michael Riordan
Michael Riordan is the founder of Independent Good, a consultancy dedicated to helping individuals, groups, and organizations create and implement sustainable solutions. Prior to focusing full-time on Independent Good, Michael served for over two decades as a full-time professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where they specialized in all aspects of imaging and design production and media preservation and access. His work at RIT also included several stints in administration and a leadership role in a cross-disciplinary collaborative open-source innovation lab. Beyond his consultancy and the classroom, Michael has continually found connections with diverse audiences through his work as a speaker, author, and artist.
Bill Canning
Bill Canning, a Rochester-area native, developed a passion for bridging the digital divide through his nearly decade-long career in telecommunications. Working in both network-design and finance roles, he joined the Good Phone Project to continue to develop that passion for providing affordable means to communicate within the community. With experience at FirstLight Fiber and Greenlight Networks as the basis for his telecommunications experience, he has seen the importance of reliable phone and internet access first-hand.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics from the State University of New York at Potsdam (SUNY Potsdam) and a Master of Business Administration from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
Dr. Janelle Duda Banwar
Janelle Duda-Banwar, PhD, is the founder and director of On The Ground Research. On The Ground Research, works with organizations to identify, implement, and track interventions to better understand the impact of their work. Janelle has over a decade of experience in action research within the criminal justice field. Current and former projects include an evaluation of a local women’s re-entry program, a process evaluation of Rochester’s homicide response team, research partner with Ibero to disrupt an open-air heroin market, and examining Teen Empowerment’s impact on youth violence. Janelle holds bachelors and masters degrees in social work and earned a PhD in social welfare from Case Western Reserve University. She prioritizes engaging in collaborative, community-based, creative projects that strengthen neighborhoods. Janelle was a regular payphone user in the 90s when she needed a ride, had car trouble, or was running late.
Rebekah Walker
Rebekah Walker is the Digital Scholarship Librarian at the Rochester Institute of Technology. In this role, Walker advises RIT’s students, staff, and faculty on methods of digital pedagogy and project implementation. She leads instruction sessions, provides one-on-one consultations, and supports the full life cycle of digital project development. Her research interests include public access technologies and the application of technology to inform and shape social policy.
Unique Fair
Unique Fair is a professional Fine Artist Oil Painter from Rochester, NY who seeks to use his skill set as an artist and activist to empower and encourage people to be the change they wish to see in the world.
As an artist, Fair creates work that engages with the ideas of oppression, liberation, and the friction between the two.
Fair’s body of work centers the human figure and portraiture, where he finds inspiration to explore the human condition, and how it is affected by struggle, tragedy, and joy. As a practice, the artwork prioritizes the documentation of identities of people from underrepresented communities. As a Black Queer man, Fair hopes his work empowers others, and gives disenfranchised communities voices on their own terms, not the terms projected onto them.
In essence, Fair’s artwork seeks to grapple with our struggles toward a fair and just world, including depictions of our attempts, our shortcomings, our failures, and our successes.
Growing up, he developed a passion for community organizing, and after high school, Unique attended the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and received a BFA in Illustration. It was there where his interest in politics, community organizing, and art combined into an interest in the provocative power of painting as a means of activism. This vision has led Unique to create artwork that focuses on the themes of oppression, liberation, and the friction between. Fair is a recent MFA graduate from the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he has instructed undergraduate painting, printmaking, and drawing classes.
Recently, his achievements have included his artwork being collected by the Memorial Art Gallery, The Cary Collection, and The Mercer Gallery. Additionally, Fair was recently a recipient of the Rochester Contemporary Arts Centers Artist Residency Program and the Print Club of Rochester's BIPOC residency. Additionally, Fair's artwork has been accepted into a number of exhibitions. This includes the 67th and 68th Finger Lakes Exhibitions at the Memorial Art Gallery, the Facing Forward Exhibition at the Main Street Arts Gallery in Clifton Springs, and the Queering Democracy Exhibition at the Rochester Contemporary Arts Center. As well, Fair has held solo exhibitions, Innermost at the Mercer Gallery, and Beyond the Overture at the Little Theatre in Rochester NY.