Anita Durst has been a star, a muse, and a patron of the avant-garde performing arts and emerging arts scene in New York City, since she was 18. She founded chashama in 1995 following the death of her mentor and artistic professor Reza Abdoh. While performing and working in his company, Dar A Luz, she learned the value of unbridled expression and how to value art objectively. In the wake of Reza’s absence she was driven to create a place for artists free of financial and subjective constraints. Anita has worked tirelessly for over 20 years to secure over one million square feet of space in New York City for artists.

She believes programs like Chashama are the vital building blocks to ensuring cultural capital in New York City. Anita was born in New York City and was the flower child to hippy parents living in New Foundland Canada, Ibiza Spain, and the suburbs of New York City. As a precocious teenager she resisted conventional schooling. Shortly after graduating high school she moved back to New York City to help care for her grandfather.

She is a proud mother who ensures her entire family eats healthy, practices mindful movement, and lives in the moment. True to her ability to be in the moment and greatest strength of objective thinking, she believes all art to be valuable.

William (Bill) Abramson is a real estate executive and community leader with more than 20 years of experience working at the forefront of economic development and public space renewal in New York City. Bronx born, Abramson’s commitment to NYC is as impressive as his professional credentials. Abramson is currently the Director of Brokerage Services at Buchbinder and Warren, a 60-year-old real estate brokerage firm, where he oversees all residential, commercial, and office leasing and sales. He presently serves as the Co-Chairperson of the Union Square Partnership, and is the treasurer of several other NYC BIDs. He also served as Chairperson of Community Board #8 in the Bronx, President and Chairperson of the Board of the Riverdale YM-YWHA. Bill was also a past President of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club and was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to serve of the Workforce Investment Board, and was a David Rockefeller Fellow.

Marc has worked with and for Chashama since its inception in 1995 as a performance art company, segueing from performance to field assistant, manager and administrator. He took a sabbatical in 2010, returning in 2014, and most recently assists Chashama on a volunteer basis while the Covid-19 protocols are in effect.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he is a graduate of Bard College with a degree in music.

Michael J. Hirschhorn is founder & CEO of mebl | Transforming Furniture, a social enterprise passionate about expanding the marketplace for beautiful furniture handcrafted from reclaimed wood and metal. mebl’s big vision is to mainstream environmental sustainability in furniture production . From 2008-14, Michael served as Executive Director of the International Human Rights Funders Group. Previously, he served as Executive Director of Coro New York Leadership Center; as Executive Director of the Literacy Assistance Center; and as Deputy Executive Director of Educators for Social Responsibility Metro. Michael was an Assistant to the Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools and, from 1998-2003, served as the “Visiting Non-Profit Executive” at the Yale School of Management, where he advised MBA students interested in non-profit, public, and non-traditional private sector management. Michael serves on the boards of a number local, national and international human rights, activist media and education-focused non-profits and philanthropies. He holds a BA in American Studies from Yale University (1981) and an MBA and MSW from Columbia University (1989). Michael lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Jimena Martinez and their pesky, amazing 16-year-old twins.

Aaron Fernandez is a board member of Progressive Grocers Insurance which underwrites property & casualty, umbrella, and general liability insurance for retail operators nationally. Aaron is the managing partner at Galeta Partners which manages and operates a holding company that includes residential and commercial properties as well as retail operations such as Union Market and Ideal/Americas Food Basket. Aaron is assistant to the treasurer of Rancheros Unidos, a charity organization that builds homes and infrastructure in impoverished areas in the Dominican Republic. Before his current profession, Aaron was a professional baseball player for the Detroit Tigers. Having played cello for over a decade, Aaron is a patron of the musical arts with an emphasis on classical and jazz. Aaron received an MSBA in Business Analytics from the College of William and Mary.

Leah Lane, a multi-media artist, is currently studying Drama at NYU Tisch School of Arts. Leah has been honored to perform as part of the Children’s Chorus at The Metropolitan Opera, the Dicapo Opera Theatre at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, The Tilles Center, and Carnegie Hall among others. Leah originated the role of The Stoner in Carmen High at The 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has been a frequent performance artist at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center. When she is not performing, Leah is a photographer; mixed media collage artist, and writer. Leah has had several academic photography series exhibitions, and was included in the 2017 Guild Hall Clothesline Art Sale. As an author, her children’s book, “This Never Happens in the City” was a successful fundraiser for The CDCH and she wrote the book for the musical “Moey’s Fairy Tale Adventure” which played a sold out run at The Dix Hills Performing Arts Center in 2013.

For more information on Leah Lane visit: www.LeahLane.com

Amber was raised on 60 acres in Northern California, between the Pacific Ocean and the redwoods. Raised with no electricity or TV in a small town of 250 people, who are still her family to this day. Amber was one of the few black kids in the entire county.

At 17 she moved South from her sheltered, bucolic life, to Santa Cruz, Ca. with her mother and younger brother, attending Santa Cruz High School (with a little more diversity) and later attending UCSC and Cabrillo College. She sadly did not learn to surf.

NY called. At 21, Amber packed a car with a dear friend and headed East to NYC, reuniting with the Brooklyn Jewish side of the family, to pursue her interest in film and theater. Taking classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the New School, Amber began her internship at the world-renowned Wooster Group, where she later performed with Nancey Reilly. For the next several years she worked in the downtown theater scene, where she first met and performed with the great Anita Durst. Amber worked with Maryanne Weems’s The Builder’s Association, The Blue Man Group and Annie-B Parsons to name a few. Simultaneously, she also began work in the film and commercial world, casting commercials and international ad-campaigns with the well-known casting agent Leslie Simitch.

Amber met Jonathan Demme in the downtown theater scene, purchased her first professional camera and started working as an assistant editor for Jonathan Demme’s film company, Clinica Estetico. Later working and shooting on his documentaries about Haitian life and then later his blockbusters such as Philadelphia Story, Beloved, with Oprah Winfrey and the Truth About Charlie, in Paris. Therein started amber’s career, where she shot and produced documentaries and TV for the next 15 years. Amber was blessed to work with many of the greats, such as; Sam Shepard, Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, The Roots, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Rambin’ Jack Elliot and spent 10 years working closely with the late rapper DMX.

Amber loved the film world, but had a deep desire to be part of a larger solution. She temporarily put the film and TV world aside to create her beloved company Redu. Inspired by her profound connection to mother earth from her early years in Northern California, she decided to turn her focus on the environment. With landfills at capacity in NYC, she saw an innovative way to keep usable materials out of landfill. Redu is a design/ build company that makes sustainable furniture and builds commercial and residential interiors from 99% re-use materials. Redu “rescues” scraps and so-called “waste” materials from the surrounding local businesses and dry-construction waste from the myriad construction sites around the

city. Building Redu and being part of the solution, has been the happiest days of her life.

Amber is thrilled to be uniting forces with her dear friend Anita and to serve on the board for Chashama, an undeniable solution and ode to creativity and the arts, that helps keeps the heart and soul of NYC intact.

Since discovering Chashama in 2010, Lydia has held a range of roles at the organization, from Executive Assistant to Development & Finance Associate to General Manager – providing her with a deep understanding of Chashama’s mission, capacity, and potential for growth. As General Manager, Lydia oversaw Chashama’s office, human resources, finances, and internal and external policies, and provided supervision and support in development, event and project management.

In 2016, Lydia left Chashama to join The Durst Organization, where she currently manages corporate operations, business logistics, and office procurement as their Asst. Manager of Office Operations, while continuing to support Chashama as a member of the Board of Directors. A creative problem solver who excels at ‘wearing many hats’ while balancing budgets, time, and space with an unusual delight in data and analytics, Lydia holds a dual-BA in Art History and Business Management from SUNY Stony Brook, an Associate’s Degree in Merchandising and Management from the Fashion Institute of Technology, a Certificate of Data Visualization from the University of Washington, speaks ein bisschen Deutsch, and has also served as Treasurer on the Coney Island USA Board of Directors.

Bridget Murphy has over twenty years of experience working in the art world. Bridget is a practicing Art Advisor based in New York City with a focus on supporting emerging, established and under-recognized artists, she works closely with both private and corporate clients. Additionally, she is the Director of Art+Culture Projects which produces limited editions to support non-profit partners and museums. Bridget has both institutional and non-profit experience having worked at: Artadia, Longhouse Projects, MoMA, the List Visual Arts Center at MIT and the ICA Boston. Bridget received an MFA and Museum Studies Certificate from Tufts University/SMFA, and an undergraduate degree in Fine Art and Art History from Boston University. She serves on the benefit and advising committees of Smack Mellon, Sanctuary for Families, and Blue School NYC.

Richard P. Rubinstein is currently chief cook and bottle washer at New Amsterdam Entertainment. He has been profitably blending art and commerce as a NYC based producer of Feature Films, Miniseries and Syndicated TV Series since 1973. Along the way he took his prior production company public and at various times was a subsidiary of Spelling Entertainment, Blockbuster and Viacom. Mr. Rubinstein holds an MBA from Columbia University and is known for his willingness to give new directors, writers and actors a chance to prove themselves.

Cynthia Wang has extensive experience in real estate and finance, serving as Executive Vice President at Apple Bank for over 27 years. Prior to joining Apple Bank in 1994, Cynthia held positions as President of Foray Capital Group and Vice President at Chemical Bank in both the Real Estate and the Asia Middle East Africa Divisions. While Cynthia’s career has been in Finance and Real Estate, she received an MA in Art History from Columbia University and remains an active admirer and patron of contemporary art.

Roger Wu is the co-founder of travel influencer marketplace, Cooperatize, which he recently sold to Famecast. Prior to this he had co-founded Giftfinder and Klickable.tv which he sold to HipHopShopping TV. Before that, he was on the founding team of Bloomberg Law. He started his career on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

He is a member of SAG / AFTRA, an avid curler (and on the board of Brooklyn Lakeside Curling), and completed the NYC marathon 3 times. In his spare time, he is working on an NFT project, a novel, and an art exhibition.  He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in finance and computer science while competing in rowing and bodybuilding.

Jennifer Busch is CEO and lead designer of I.Buss & Allan Uniform Company, a leading supplier of uniforms to the real-estate and hospitality industries. She has substantially grown and repositioned her company to become a developer of distinct “looks” for her clients. In 2017 she launched her fashion brand Pipenn. Pipenn was born out of Jennifer’s tendency to make her own clothes, which inevitably caught the eyes of women who wanted to purchase a piece for themselves. Since Pipenn’s launch, the brand has become known as a local bespoke fashion label. The fabrics are custom designed from Jenn’s original art, and her latest collection will now include men’s custom designs as well.

Driven by her passion for pursuing strategic opportunities with leading organizations, brands, executives and thought leaders, Amanda has spent her career bringing unparalleled enthusiasm to all of the projects and partnerships she has developed, managed and executed. Amanda has spent the past almost 10 years working across luxury/lifestyle hospitality and entertainment organizations based in New York City. Her professional career spans industry leading companies such as TAO Group, William Morris Endeavor/IMG, Legends Hospitality, and most recently Marriott International/W Hotels. As part of W Hotels, Amanda oversees all marketing functions for W New York – Times Square and W Hoboken, leading the properties’ overarching marketing strategy and implementing brand marketing standards for W in New York City. Her division oversight includes digital and social marketing, paid and owned media, influencer marketing, programming and activations, strategic partnerships, and PR/Media relations.