Charmaine Minniefield

The work of artist-activist, Charmaine Minniefield preserves Black narratives as a radical act of social justice. Firmly rooted in womanist social theory and ancestral veneration, her work draws from indigenous traditions as seen throughout Africa and the Diaspora, to explore African and African American history, memory, and ritual as an intentional push back against erasure. Her creative practice is community-based as her research and resulting bodies of work often draw from the physical archives as she excavates the stories of African American women-led resistance and spirituality and power. Minniefield’s recent public works which include projection mapping and site-specific installation, insight dialogue around race, class, and power. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, she incorporates other art forms to virtually bridge the past to the present. Recent projects include the mounting of "Remembrance as Resistance" during the 2018 Symposium on Race and Reconciliation presented by her alma mater, Agnes Scott College, which opened with the removal of two Confederate monuments from campus grounds and closed with the work as backdrop for the closing talk by Alice Walker on art and activism.

Dee Dee Batteast

Dee Dee Batteast is currently adjunct acting faculty for Ball State’s BFA program, where she teaches courses in beginning acting, audition, one-person show, and Shakespeare, as well as coaching Ball State’s professional showcases in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.  Dee Dee is a proud alumnus of Ball State’s undergraduate program (07’). After the completion of her undergraduate career, Ms. Batteast relocated to New York where she lived and worked as an actress, social activist, and youth advocate.  While in the city she volunteered at Girl Be Heard, a not-for-profit theatre company dedicated to social justice and issues affecting young women.  She currently spends her time in the summer working with Hidden Voices, as well as the Blue Ribbon mentor group in North Carolina.During her time at Ball State, Dee Dee is the faculty advisor of The Ethnic Theatre Alliance (ETA), a multi-cultural alliance group formed by Ball State’s theatre students, dedicated to providing all students, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, with the opportunity to connect their art with their activism. Ms. Batteast is also a writer.  Her self-produced one-woman show, NO AIDS, NO MAIDS, enjoyed a successful run at the Washington DC Fringe Festival, where it received the Capital Fringe Honors, Favorite Show of Fringe, Favorite Solo Performance, and Favorite Performance(s).  She is looking forward to touring the performance again next summer. Dee Dee received her MFA in acting from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she spent 3 years as a company member of PlayMakers Repertory Theatre.  Some of her favorite roles at PlayMakers include 'Elizabeth' in IN THE NEXT ROOM, 'Ruth Younger in A RAISIN IN THE SUN, and Montjoy in HENRY VI".  She has a great love of storytelling, and teaching others to tell stories.  She is a writer and activist who believes in the power of art to change the world, and to change the conversations that shape the world.

May every artist in the room approach the work with empathy, gratitude and generosity.