Sharon Payne loves CUMEP and the kids! She has been heading the food program at Southside and CUMEP for nearly 4 years. She loves seeing the kids smile as they eat her delicious food. When not in the kitchen, Sharon enjoys spending time with her friends and enjoying her community.

I create wearable screen-printed art for people to feel empowered when they are moving about the world, in their daily lives. I create through oil painting, illustration, mural painting and screen-printing.

Jacob is a teaching assistant in the Ithaca City Schools, as well as a board member at the Downtown Ithaca Childcare Center. He provides technology support to teachers and students who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices like the ones he used as a young child. Jacob is an advocate for social justice and disability rights. In his free time, he enjoys creating with LEGOs, practicing American Sign Language (ASL) and exploring.

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G-Quan Booker is a dancer, poet, rapper and actor. Through his work as a teacher of Hip Hop Arts, he has provided guidance to many youth in the upstate New York region as well as during his 6 months in Thailand. G-Quan is one of the founders of the Hip Hop group GCF (which stands for “Greatest Common Factor”). In the past few years, G-Quan has taught at the Community Unity Music Education Program, Jillian’s Drawers, The Finger Lakes Residential Center, as well at the Auburn Public Theater and Wells College. Most recently, he works with youth in the After School program at Southside Community Center, a historical center of the vibrant Black neighborhood that was part of the Underground Railroad in Ithaca, NY.

Dr. Nia Nunn is a professor and poet. Creating curriculum, presenting arts programming for youth and offering performance lectures to people of all ages, the entire community is Dr. Nia’s classroom. Nunn creates innovative curriculum for youth/artists/teachers to feel joy and a sense of belonging when they’re expressing and discovering themselves through art.

I create vehicles for Planet Lovers and Liberated Co-creators to feel HOPE & JOY while aligning with Higher TRUTH.

Jon Keefner has been a member of the CUMEP team since 2012, first as an Ithaca College student and later as an educator. He has taken on various roles at CUMEP from teaching drumming and modern band, to administrative work and video/audio editing. His favorite part of CUMEP is the love, joy, and creativity that emanates from every inch of the program and he cites CUMEP as his greatest influence as a now 10+ year public school educator.