Creative Advisory Committee

A cluster of illustrated figures shown from the back, shoulders up, wearing brown sweaters. Light blue headphones sit on top of heads of spiked, brick red hair. Each figure's arms are reaching up to the headphones.

The Creative Advisory Committee is composed of international artists and creative professionals from the tops of their fields. The committee reviews proposals for Sound Scene and, along with curators and volunteers, helps craft the most inviting, engaging, accessible and memorable sound art festival anywhere.

Jay Afrisando, a thirty-something Asian man artist, sitting and holding a 1-foot-long MIDI controller vertically beside him. He smiles enthusiastically. The photo is captioned, “[the sound of enthusiasm]." — Photo Credit: Jim Nihart

Jay Afrisando is an award-winning multimedia artist, composer, researcher, and educator. Employing multisensory and antidisciplinary approaches, he shares awareness of aural diversity, acoustic ecology, modernity, cultural identity, and worldly wonders often overlooked. He uses various approaches, including video, spatial audio, fixed media, improvisation, and various collaborative methods, to provide critical experience and disseminate knowledge. His collaborative 5-channel film installation In Which to Trust? was exhibited at Sound Scene 2022. The Sound Scene’s diverse and multisensory natures are what motivate him to be part of the Sound Scene 2023 Creative Advisory Committee.

Photo Credit: Josh Levi

Layne Garrett is an improvising musician and instrument builder based in Washington DC. He works with prepared guitars, found objects, and self-built instruments. He plays in the improvising duo Weed Tree with drummer Amanda Huron, as well as in regular and irregular collaborations with a spectrum of players from across the DC and Baltimore sound universe. He is an active promoter of musical culture, hosting house/diy shows for over a decade, and organizing shows and all manner of events and exhibitions for the past 6+ years at Rhizome DC, where he is a founding member, curator, and currently Program Director. He has led instrument building and sound exploration workshops and camps for kids at various educational institutions around town. He has traveled to play at events like High Zero in Baltimore, XFest in Massachusetts, Voice of the Valley Noise Rally in West Virginia, H-O-T Series of Improvised Music and Dance in Philadelphia, and Frantasia Festival of Out Music and Arts in Maine. He performed at the inaugural Sound Scene event back in 2007 and has performed and/or created interactive sound sculptures and/or facilitated workshops at nearly every iteration since.

A woman looks at the camera with blue eyes and a serious expression. She has brown hair framing her face with sharp bangs across her light skin. She looks to be in her 30s. She is wearing a black shirt and behind her are brightly colored framed artworks on the wall.

Sandy Guttman is an independent curator and graduate student in Disability Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to her time in school, she was an assistant curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, where she supported a number of projects including Georgia Saxelby: Lullaby, Manifesto: Art x Agency, Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors, and Yoko Ono: Four Works for Washington DC and the World. Guttman’s curatorial and research interests focus on the intersection of disability aesthetics and creative accommodations in contemporary art—particularly in time-based media.

A woman with dark brown hair is smiling with lips closed at the camera. She is wearing a v-neck shirt that is orange with blue flowers. She has light skin. She looks to be in her 40s. The backdrop is blurry.

Rebecca Boggs Roberts is an award-winning educator, author, and speaker. Through her career, Rebecca has served many roles, including a journalist, producer, tour guide, forensic anthropologist, event planner, political consultant, jazz singer, and radio talk show host. Currently she is the curator of programming at Planet Word, a new museum that celebrates the joy and wonder of words and language. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, three sons, and a long-eared hound dog. Rebecca’s next book is Untold Power, a biography of Edith Wilson, published by Viking in 2023.

DJ is leaning over a mixing board, wearing a patterned African dress and glasses sliding down their nose. Hair is pulled back and headphones are over their head and ears. There are brightly colored pink, yellow, orange and red painted artworks on either side and a disco ball behind the figure.

Slammer is a DJ, dance floor imperialist, and proud member of the Anthology of Booty crew

A woman stands with her arms at her sides smiling at the camera. She is sanding in front of bright green cattails and green trees are behind her. She is wearing a green dress and has brown hair. She is Korean and looks to be in her 20's or 30s.

Yeseul Song (born in Busan, South Korea, based in New York) is an artist and educator who uses technology and interaction as art media. She’s an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts’ Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP/IMA). Yeseul uncovers creative possibilities of non-visual senses and invents new sensory languages to advocate equitable and imaginative views of the world. She explores and occupies non-traditional art spaces to challenge commonly held ideas about access and accessibility of art. Yeseul has received residencies/fellowships from the Museum of Arts and Design, More Art, Mana Contemporary, Engelberg Center, Future Imagination Fund, and NYU ITP. Her work has been supported by Wave Farm, NYSCA, Brooklyn Arts Council, Gimhae Cultural Foundation, and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, and shown at the Clayarch Museum, Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum (Sound Scene), New York Live Arts, Fort Mason Center, CultureHub, and Art in Odd Places, among others. She was an Art & Code track member of New Museum’s NEW INC in partnership with Rhizome.org. https://yeseul.com/

A man sits sideways smiling. He is in his 20s or 30s and is wearing a grey cardigan. He has light brown skin and dark brown hair and a brown scruff on his face. There is a tree behind him and bright sunlight

Dag Yeshiwas is an artist based out of D.C. and has worked with Sound Scene since 2019. He first appeared as an artist with an interactive installation called ‘Sonic Plants’ where visitors could make music using electronic current signals transmitted directly from plants. He’s also a Software Engineer at SoundExchange and a resident DJ at Wonderland Ballroom. He enjoys long walks at the U.S. Botanic Garden, making DIY electronics, going to concerts, building LEGO models and playing video games. He’s currently trying to keep more than one plant alive.

Bio coming soon for creative advisory committee member:

Sonia Herero