Vasia Rigou
Greek-born Vasia Rigou is a seasoned journalist, editor and multimedia content producer largely on the subjects of visual art, culture, architecture and design. She currently serves as an Editor at Newcity, Chicago’s leading culture publication, as Writer and Copy Editor at the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) HQ, and regularly contributes to international architecture and design magazines OnOffice and ICON. She has experience creating content for brands and building conference speeches and influential TEDx talks. Simply put: she’s fascinated by finding out the great stories behind the people, places and objects that surround us, and by sharing those stories with the world. When she’s not writing about art or looking at art—wine in hand—she makes lists for pretty much everything, drinks immense amounts of coffee and takes cross-country road trips every chance she gets.
Contact: vasia@newcity.com Website: rigouvasia.com
Michael Workman
Michael Workman
Michael Workman is a choreographer, language, visual and movement artist, dance and performance artist, writer, reporter, and sociocultural critic. In addition to his work at the Chicago Tribune, Guardian US, Newcity magazine, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio and elsewhere, Workman is also Director of Bridge, a Chicago-based 501 (c) (3) publishing and programming organization (bridge-chicago.org). His choreographic writing has been included in Propositional Attitudes, an “anthology of recent performance scores, directions and instructions” published by Golden Spike Press, and his Perfect Worlds: Artistic Forms & Social Imaginaries Vol. 1, the first in a 3-volume series, was released by StepSister Press in October 2018 with a day-long program of performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Most recently, two of his scores were accepted for publication in a special edition of the Notre Dame Review focusing on the work of participants in the &NOW Festival of Innovative Writing.
Website: michael-workman.com
Nicholas Cecchi
Nicholas Cecchi is an architectural designer born in Denver, educated in New Orleans and currently practicing in Chicago. He led the design department of a Denver-based boutique architectural and sculptural fabrication studio for three years after graduating from Tulane University with a Master of Architecture. Following this experience in design-build and digital fabrication he decamped for Chicago to finish the process of architectural licensure while working on various projects in commercial, multi-family residential, educational and civic architecture. He is a published architecture writer, contributing pieces to leading publications as well as a regular column of architecture criticism to Newcity. Nicholas lives in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago where he can be found experimenting with new fabrication and design techniques, writing about architecture and urbanism, and watching the endless interplay of urban life from the stoop of his studio.
Contact: npc@nicholascecchi.com | Website: nicholascecchi.com
Journalist Isa Giallorenzo was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil and has elected Chicago as her beloved home since 2009. She runs the street-style blog Chicago Looks and wants to see this town become one of the fashion capitals of the world.
Website: chicagolooks.blogspot.com
Dustin Lowman
Dustin Lowman
Dustin Lowman is an em dash and cardigan enthusiast, patiently quarantining with his family in Connecticut. He holds an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Yetta Starr
Yetta Starr
Yetta Starr, IIDA, is the founding principal of Starr Design Associates, Inc., a commercial interior design practice specializing in workplace, education, civic, scientific, and showroom interiors as well as exhibits and visual communication projects. The practice engages with community-based initiatives supporting cultural and economic development. Yetta is a contributing writer to publications focusing on commercial design and industry trends. She can be reached at ystarr@starrdesign.net
Contact: ystarr@starrdesign.net
