The Future is Connection: On Community Engagement & Contemporary Art

WHOOP DEE DOO PRESENTS: The Future Is Connection: On Community Engagement & Contemporary Art

A conversation with Guadalupe Maravilla, Shaun Leonardo, Jamel Mims, and WHOOP DEE DOO, with opening words from Tiffiney Davis, moderated by Caits Meissner

Join us for an evening of conversation about community-engaged art practices and their influence on contemporary art and the cultural landscape. Learn from our esteemed panelists about how they work to challenge political and socioeconomic boundaries by situating their practices to invite thoughtful participation and collaboration, as well as how artists work within and beyond institutional contexts.

This event is presented and hosted by WHOOP DEE DOO, renowned for their live productions that push the boundaries of community-driven collaboration through a nationally recognized process which guides contemporary artists and local groups to create new possibilities within an intergenerational creative contenxt.

Panelist Bios

Tiffiney Davis, a resilient Black community leader, co-founded the Red Hook Art Project (RHAP) in 2009 to create opportunities for artistically gifted youth in underserved communities. As Executive Director, she leads RHAP’s free art and mental wellness programs, fostering a safe, inclusive space that empowers students through holistic education—offering homework help, visual and music lessons, and leadership development. Her collaborative efforts secured $1 million in federal funding, expanded programming, and established a dedicated studio, while her swift pivot to virtual classes and meal distribution during the pandemic underscored her commitment to community needs. Recognized with the 2023 Woman of Distinction Award and featured on the Kelly Clarkson Show, Davis champions the transformative power of the arts and inclusive spaces where every child can thrive.

Shaun Leonardo is a Brooklyn-based artist and arts administrator whose 15+ year career has centered on community engagement, public programming, and experimental pedagogy. He began at Socrates Sculpture Park, where over 11 seasons he developed pioneering education and performance initiatives that significantly expanded the park’s offerings. He later led youth and community programs at the New Museum and served as Visiting Fellow at Pratt Institute, fostering dialogue around belonging and ethical engagement. From 2016 to 2024, Leonardo played a pivotal role at Recess, co-directing its evolution as a socially engaged arts organization and launching the Assembly diversion program. A Queens native with an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, his artistic work—recognized by Creative Capital, Guggenheim Social Practice, and others—has been featured at major institutions like the Guggenheim, New Museum, and MASS MoCA.

Guadalupe Maravilla is a transdisciplinary artist whose work combines sculpture, painting, performance, and installation to explore themes of activism, healing, and migration. Drawing from his own experience as an unaccompanied, undocumented child fleeing the Salvadoran Civil War and his later battle with cancer, Maravilla addresses the physical toll of systemic abuse on immigrants. He holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and an MFA from Hunter College, and his work is held in major museum collections including MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and the Museo Reina Sofía. Maravilla has received numerous fellowships and awards such as the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and Creative Capital Grant, and has exhibited widely, with recent solo shows at MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, and the ICA Boston, among others. His touring immersive installation Mariposa Relámpago continues to be shown across the U.S. and internationally.

Caits Meissner is a New York City-based writer, educator, and multidisciplinary artist whose work spans poetry, comics, nonfiction, music, and participatory arts. Formerly Director of Pr*son and Justice Writing at PEN America, she edited The Sentences That Create Us (Haymarket Books, 2022), of which thousands of copies were distributed to U.S. prisons free of charge. With over 15 years of teaching and building community arts programs in 100+ schools, prisons, and universities, she’s worked in leadership capacities with organizations such as The Lower Eastside Girls Club, Tribeca Film Institute, Urban Arts Partnership, and The Bronx Academy of Letters. Her creative work has appeared in The Rumpus, Harper’s Bazaar, The Guardian, Oprah Daily, and more. Meissner currently consults with a variety of organizations, including WHOOP DEE DOO. Her ongoing creative projects include AUNT CAKES (menstrual clown rap), JUDY DOOM (multimedia punk fiction), and FLOWERS FOR LINDA (a podcast on grief and creativity).

Jamel Mims ​is a storyteller, multimedia artist, and Director of Arts Education & Community Engagement at Abrons Arts Center. A Fulbright Scholar who studied hip hop culture in China in 2008, his international experience resonates through his work, as he switches between english and mandarin as the bilingual rapper, MC Tingbudong. His socially engaged practice -- which ranges from songs and music videos to curricula, programs and interactive experiences -- put youth culture and a commitment to social justice at the center. Recently mentioned in i-d magazine's "up + rising" series profiling 100 black creatives around the globe, his work has been featured in New York Times, The Nation, VICE, XXL, RadiiChina and more.

, a non-profit arts organization that utilizes collaborative art and live performance as tools to uplift and connect intergenerational communities. Established in 2006, for nearly two decades, WDD has created programming with community groups in partnership with NYC-based arts organizations including the Museum of Modern Art, the Art21 Education Department, the High Line, the Artist Alliance, the Museum of Arts & Design, Pioneer Works, and Abrons Art Center. Created in the likeness of a public access television show filmed with a live studio audience, each WDD production is a unique experience where participants work to bring the full scope of the show to fruition through brainstorming and building sets, props and costumes; storyboarding narratives; creating characters and dialogue; drawing designs; engaging in 3-D sculptural methods; and participatory performance.

This event is free and open to the public. RSVP is strongly encouraged.

PLEASE NOTE: A reservation does not guarantee you a seat. We encourage you to arrive early.

If ADA accomodations are needed to attend this event, please email ZGV2ZWxvcG1lbnQgfCB3aG9vcGRlZWRvbyAhIG9yZw==.

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