2025 Sachs Program Grants Evaluation Committees
The decisions around what to fund each year are extremely difficult and not taken lightly. This year, 2025 grant cycle applications were peer-reviewed by eleven different committees, reflecting a range of expertise. Committee members included former grantees, Penn students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as Philadelphia community members and colleagues within the arts.
While the committees change each year, the decisions they make are always informed by The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation’s grantmaking priorities and criteria and are undertaken with great care and attention. The feedback committee members generate for applicants is also an integral element of our efforts to support the communities we serve.
We are grateful to our 2025 committee members for the time and thought they dedicated to this year’s grants evaluation process.
Committee Members
- Alli Katz
Associate Director of Program and Events, Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania - Amy Yoshitsu
Co-creator of Converge Collaborative; Artist - Andrew Beal
Associate Director of Development and Finance, The Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania - Antoine Haywood
Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, UF College of Journalism and Communications; University of Pennsylvania Alumni - Blanche Brown
Executive Director, Vox Populi Gallery; Poet - Bonnie Samantha Maldonado
PhD Candidate, Benjamin Franklin and William Fontaine Fellow of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania; Artist - Carrie Hutnick
Executive Director, Civic House and Penn Civic Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania - Cienna Davis
PhD Candidate, Communications, University of Pennsylvania; Community Organizer and Cultural Worker - Clayton Colmon
Director of Curriculum Design, Arts & Sciences Online Learning, University of Pennsylvania - Corine Labridy
Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies, University of Pennsylvania - Cory Bowman
Associate Director and Director of UACS National Network and UACS Regional Training Centers Program, Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania - Dan Blacksberg
Trombonist and Composer - David Fox
Lecturer in Theatre Arts; Director of the Penn Reading Project and New Student Orientation, University of Pennsylvania - Edward Epstein
Director, Teachers Institute of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania - Elisa Foster
Director, Penn Women’s Center, University of Pennsylvania - Eric Anglero
Director, LGBT Center, University of Pennsylvania - Ernest Owens
Journalist; CEO of Ernest Media Empire, LLC; University of Pennsylvania Alumni; West Philadelphia Arts Council Member - Eugene Lew
Director of Sound & Music Technology, Recording Engineer, University of Pennsylvania - Grace Sanders Johnson
Associate Professor of Africana Studies, Sach Program Board Member, University of Pennsylvania - Hannah Feldman
Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Associate Professor of Contemporary Art, History of Art, University of Pennsylvania - Hannah Wallace
Museum Manager, Paul Robeson House and Museum; Project Coordinator, West Philadelphia Arts Initiative; Artist - Ivanco Talevski
Senior Lecturer, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania; Artist; University of Pennsylvania Alumni - Jasmine Johnson
Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Sach Program Board Member, University of Pennsylvania - Jessica Peterson
Manager, Common Press, University of Pennsylvania - Jezenia Romero
Community Outreach & Administrative Coordinator, The Center for Experimental Ethnography, University of Pennsylvania; Artist - Jo Park
Associate Dean for Arts and Letters, School of Arts & Sciences President’s Distinguished Professor of English, Sachs Program Board Co-chair, University of Pennsylvania - Jo Tiongsen Perez
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania - Julia Fox
Assistant Director Annual Fund and Individual Giving, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania - Justin Gotzis
Administrative Coordinator, Platt Student Performing Arts House, University of Pennsylvania; Artist - Karen Smith
Percussionist, Playwright, Director, Producer and Poet; West Philadelphia Arts Council Member - Kate Abercrombie
Registrar, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania; Artist - Kayla Romberger
Lecturer, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania; Artist - Kerrin Lyons
Community Outreach & Engagement Coordinator, WXPN, University of Pennsylvania - Kevin Platt
Associate Professor, Russian & East European Studies, University of Pennsylvania - Kristin DeMarco
Senior Designer, ISA - Laura Koloski
Senior Associate Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Temple University - Leah Falk
Director of Education and Engagement at Penn Live Arts, University of Pennsylvania; Writer - lexi welch
Assistant Professor of Sculpture, Providence College; Artist; University of Pennsylvania Alumni - Lisa Britton
Lecturer, French and Francophone Studies, University of Pennsylvania - Lisa Sonneborn
Director, Media Arts and Culture (MAC) @ Institute on Disabilities, Temple University - Lucy Zepeda
Lead Producer, Arts in Action, University of Southern California - Lynn Dolby
Director, Penn Art Collection, University of Pennsylvania - Lynne Farrington
Senior Curator, Special Collections in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania - Mae Eskenazi
Lecturer, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies; Artist; University of Pennsylvania Alumni - Matt Neff
Director, Undergraduate Program in Fine Arts and Design, Sachs Program Board Co-Chair, University of Pennsylvania; Artist; University of Pennsylvania Alumni - Michael Grant
Senior Director of Communications, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania - Michael Ketner
Director of Performance and Admissions Liaison, Department of Music, University of Pennsylvania - Michelle Lopez
Associate Professor of Fine Arts, Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania; Artist - Miranda Powell
Gallery Coordinator, Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania - Natacha Diels
Assistant Professor of Music, University of Pennsylvania; Musician - Nicola Gentilli
Associate Director, Cinema & Media Studies Program, Director of the Penn-in-Cannes summer program in France, University of Pennsylvania - Rain Jacobson
Clinical Research Coordinator, Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Artist; University of Pennsylvania Alumni - Rudy Gerson
Lecturer, Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania; Lecturer, Brooklyn College; Artist; University of Pennsylvania Alumni - Ryann Carey
Associate Director, Associate Director, Central Corporate & Foundation Relations - Steven Fenton
Interim Chief Operating Officer, New England Foundation for the Arts - Taja Jones
Associate Director of Individual Giving, Penn Live Arts, University of Pennsylvania - Whitney Trettion
Associate Professor of English, Faculty Director, Price Lab for Digital Humanities, University of Pennsylvania - Yuanyi Cen
Multidisciplinary Designer; University of Pennsylvania Alumni
2025 Grant Awards
The Sachs Program 2025 Grant Awards supported 42 ambitious and creative projects in the arts and humanities at the University of Pennsylvania.