DIRECTORS
ROSEMARIE CHUNG
Rosemarie Chung is founder and director of Studio 174, Chung is an British-Jamaican artist and educator; a graduate in fine art from Camberwell School of Arts, London. In the 1990s she was a part-time lecturer at Edna Manley Art College in Kingston, Jamaica and in 2001 introduced the use of art as therapy through a programme developed with the Jamaican government Department of Psychiatry in hospitals as well as in communities affected by violence in Downtown neighbourhoods such as Tivoli Gardens and Trenchtown.
In 2005 Chung founded Studio 174, non-profit arts studio and arts academy for children and young adults in Downtown Kingston, Jamaica. The arts academy developed courses in drawing and painting as well as creating murals with neighbourhoods in Downtown; opening discourse and practice as an arts school in the public realm; often in areas experiencing extreme poverty and violence.
JAMILA COOPER
Jamila Cooper Is a graduate from the University of the West Indies in General Business Management. Prior to her work at Studio 174 she spent several years working in Sales and Customer Service in retail companies. As an acting director she is responsible for monitoring activities in and outside of the Studio. In addition to micromanaging the Studio 174's creative processes and overall training programme.
Cooper's aim is to foster growth in every individual that is a part of Studio 174 in hope that they can also contribute to our programme and their communities. One of the goals of Studio 174 is to be the first Jamaican Non-Profit organization to provide an educational platform where inner city youths can hone their talents artistically. The studio believes every person that has participated in our programme will definitely have an advantage over those who study formally. The educational component in the training is very practical and the exposure is a force to be reckon with. It’s a small family made of creative geniuses who are hungry to succeed in a world where artistic abilities are not given the credit it genuinely deserves. It’s a tremendous feeling to mentor people from all works of life.
ABBAS NOKHASTEH
Abbas Nokhasteh is founder of Openvizor, an international arts and cultural organisation based in London, UK. Openvizor builds multi-disciplinary partnerships and projects with formal and informal networks that combine practical knowledge and research, learning from each other in collaborations exploring alternative processes and models of expression, education and organisation from the ground up.
Nokhasteh has presented research and curated events at cultural and academic institutions including The British Library, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Serpentine Gallery London, Venice Biennale, The Louvre, The Jewish Museum Berlin, Goldsmiths, University of London, University of Oxford. Openvizor partners and associates include artists and researchers from across the full range of disciplines, communities, insitutions and organisations, as well as governments and inter-governmental bodies in places such as London, Istanbul, Kingston, Dhaka, Paris, Banjul, Bogotá, Santiago, Hong Kong, Ramallah and Cape Town.
