Tomás Esson (b. 1963, Marianao) Nicknamed El Bicho, Esson spent several years living and working in New York before moving to Miami in 2000. He studied at the Academia de Artes Plásticas San Alejandro, as well as the Instituto Superior de Arte in Cuba. His art has been featured in solo and group exhibitions internationally since the 1980's and can be found in collections around the world. They include the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the Ludwig Forum for Internationale Kunst in Aachen, Germany; the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago; the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Monterrey, México; the Pérez Art Museum in Miami; and the Hirshorn Museum & Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. His work consists of“tormented, mythological beings, erogenous plant life, and other motifs that populate his art’as described by Janet Batet in A Fertile Universe: Tomás Esson’s Miami Flow. (CINTAS-Knight Foundation Fellowship in Visual Arts, 2018-2019)

Javier Galindo (b. Havana): An architect and designer based in New York, Galindo’s practice investigates the role of impermanence and fragmentation in architectural discourse and expression. Galindo received the 2015 Rome Prize in Architecture, the KPF Traveling Fellowship, and several competition awards and recognitions. His professional experience includes time as Senior Associate Principal and Lead Designer at Kohn Pedersen Fox in New York. He has also practiced professionally in design firms in Miami and San Francisco. As an assistant instructor at Cornell University, Galindo has taught Visual Studies and Representation courses. He received a Masters of Architecture from Cornell University and a Bachelors of Architecture from FIU in Miami. (CINTAS for Architecture & Design 2018-2019)

Juan A. Martínez, Ph.D. (b. 1951, Havana): Professor Martínez is an art historian specializing in European and Cuban modern art. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Art History from Florida State University and his B.A. in Art History from the University of Florida. He is the author of Cuban Art & National Identity: The Vanguardia Painters, 1927–1950 (Florida, 1994), María Brito (UCLA, 2009), and Carlos Enríquez: The Painter of Cuban Ballads (Cernuda Arte, 2010). Dr. Martínez has also published numerous book chapters and essays in exhibition catalogues. He recently curated the exhibit, Cuban Art & Identity: 1900–1950, at the Vero Beach Museum of Art. He is currently working on a monograph on one of the pioneers of Cuban modern painting, Fidelio Ponce de León (1895–1949). (CINTAS Lifetime Achievement Award 2018-2019)

Sabrina Peña Young (b. 1977 Ft. Lauderdale): Peña Young became involved with SYCOM, an experimental enclave of composers and media artists while at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She worked with Emmy-winning director Charles Lyman at Atlantic Productions before leaving to study music technology at Florida International University. Combining her love of music and love of science fiction imagery, in 2011 she received a New Genre Award from the International Alliance for Women in Music for her futuristic multimedia oratorio Creation. She has composed scores for Emmy-winning Rob Cabrera‘s animated short Monica (2012) and Sean Fleck’s time-laps film Americana. Wanting to explore film further, she began production on Libertaria: The Virtual Opera, a science fiction machinima opera produced entirely online. In 2015 Young published her debut novel Libertaria: Genesis as an addendum to her groundbreaking opera and collaborated with composer Lee Scott on his interactive social media opera The Village. Young is a member of the New York Women Composer’s Association, the International Alliance for Women in Music, Madrinas, Vox Novus, and the Buffalo Movie and Video Makers. (CINTAS Foundation Brandon Fradd Fellowship in Music Composition 2018-2019)