Pamela Sneed is a poet, performer and visual artist and art critic.. She is the author of Funeral Diva (City Lights, 2020). Funeral Diva won the Lambda Lesbian Poetry Award in 2021. She is the recipient of a 2023 Creative Capital in literature and a 2024 NYSCA grant in poetry. She was a Teiger Mentor in the Arts at Cornell in 2024. She teaches across disciplines in Columbia Universities School of the Arts, MFA in Visual Artist. She is a guest faculty member at the Whitney ISP.  She was a guest poetry editor for the April 2025 issue of the Brooklyn Rail. She has published in Cultured Magazine, 4Columns, Art Forum, Poetry Magazine and more. She is currently touring with her one woman show and band, A Tribute to Big Mama Thornton.

Janelle / jei, is an storyteller artist who explores the complex layers of our lives, intricately blending music, soundscaping, dialogue, poetry, conversation, body movement, and more to illuminate the unique, special, and shared aspects of our experiences. Their work has graced venues such as The Kennedy Center, Legoland New York, Joe’s Pub, Seattle Public Theater, and the Lincoln Center. However, these accomplishments are just a fraction of their artistic journey.
Storytelling has always been at the heart of jei’s life. They have a passion for crafting stories, exploring human connections, and uncovering the ways we grow together. Through their art, jei invites you to see the world through a different lens, celebrating the beauty and complexity of our shared humanity.

Photo Credit: JMA Photography

Slide into something intimate with Janelle // jei Lawrence at the HOT Festival at Dixon Place – where new poems, prose, prompts, and short stories make their first-ever appearance out loud. This work is unapologetically queer, BIPOC, and unafraid to get close; jei embraces sharp edges and soft landings

Justin Allen works in music and sound, performance, visual art, and writing. He has been commissioned by The Chocolate Factory Theater, The Shed, and ISSUE Project Room and received support from Franklin Furnace, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Jerome Foundation. He received his BA in literary studies from Eugene Lang College at The New School and his MFA in sculpture from Yale School of Art. In 2022 he released a four-song EP, Ekphrastic Punk, with his band Black Boots. In 2024, he released his first book, Language Arts, published by Wendy’s Subway.

Photo Credit: S*an D. Henry-Smith