Jeffrey Gibson (American, b. 1972), 2005 Creative Capital Awardee, is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and convener celebrated for his work in painting, installation, video, and performance. For over two decades, he has examined how language, pattern, and music construct meaning, synthesizing Indigenous and Western traditions through vibrant color, complex patterning, and layered sound. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, Gibson represented the U.S. at the 2024 Venice Biennale with his acclaimed exhibition the space in which to place me, which made its U.S. debut at The Broad in Los Angeles in May 2025. In June 2025 he unveiled a site-specific installation at Kunsthaus Zurich. Gibson was selected for the Metropolitan Museum’s 2025 Genesis Facade Commission and will present new work for the historic exterior this September. His work is held in major collections including MoMA, the Whitney, and the National Gallery of Art. He lives in New York’s Hudson Valley and is artist-in-residence at Bard College. Photo by Brian Barlow

Nona Hendryx, 2024 Creative Capital Awardee, has been at the forefront of integrating digital innovation with artistic expression since the 1980s. From her Hall of Fame worthy beginnings with Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles to her revolutionary ventures into art-rock, new-wave, and now cutting-edge mixed reality experiences, Nona Hendryx continues to earn her title as music’s “Queen of Transformation.” Never content to rest on her laurels, this visionary artist perpetually pushes the boundaries of what music and technology can achieve together. Hendryx is a founding member of the group Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles, whose fresh harmonies earned them their reputation as “The Sweethearts of the Apollo” and their induction into the R&B Hall of Fame in 1999. After 10 years of recording and touring the group spent a year in England guided by Vicki Wickham and reinvented themselves into the iconic funk-rock group Labelle recording with Elton John. In the 70s, Hendryx’s empowering and socially conscious songwriting abilities and Labelle’s vocal power, separated Labelle from all previous female groups, earning Labelle, three Gold Albums and a #1 Worldwide Platinum Hit with “Lady Marmalade.” Her solo career encompasses nine studio albums and collaborations with musical luminaries including Prince, Peter Gabriel, Mavis Staples, Talking Heads, Boy George, Cameo, Africa Bambatta, George Clinton, Bono, and Keith Richards, resulting in several top 10 hits and a Grammy nomination. Having recorded over 25 albums and toured internationally for more than 40 years, Hendryx expanded her creative reach in the 90s into theatre and film, writing music for Charles R. Wright’s play “BLUE” and the Oscar-nominated film “Precious,” while also scoring the film “Gospa” and creating music for Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theatre. Photo courtesy La Jolla Music Society

Colleen Jennings-Roggensack is a founding board member of Creative Capital, current Vice Chair, and champion of artist-centered philanthropy and innovation. She is a visionary arts leader committed to expanding access to the performing arts and fostering community through shared cultural experiences. As Vice President for Cultural Affairs at Arizona State University and Executive Director of ASU Gammage, she oversees the historic Frank Lloyd Wright–designed theater and leads the Connecting Communities initiative, an award-winning model for inclusive, socially engaged programming across Arizona. A Tony Awards voter and member of The Broadway League Board of Governors (former Vice Chair), Jennings-Roggensack has helped shape national arts policy and Broadway touring standards. A former dancer and choreographer, Jennings-Roggensack brings decades of experience as a performer, educator, and arts advocate. Her honors include the 2024 Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre and the 2023 Distinguished Service Award from The Broadway League. In 2012, Arizona celebrated their 100th Anniversary and The Arizona Republic named Colleen as one of the individuals who had the greatest impact in the era. Her husband Dr. Kurt Roggensack is a Volcanologist and her daughter Kelsey is a PhD Candidate at Cornell University. Photo by Christine Johnson

Stephen Reily is a longtime champion of Creative Capital, former Chair of the Creative Capital Board of Directors, and passionate supporter of the arts. He is the Founding Director of Remuseum, a museum think tank housed at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art dedicated to advancing innovation among U.S. art museums. An attorney and successful entrepreneur, he served from 2017 to 2021 as Director of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, where he led the institution through a transformative period of civic engagement, equity-focused initiatives, and financial success. Under his leadership, the Speed presented “Promise, Witness, Remembrance,” an acclaimed exhibition organized in response to the killing of Breonna Taylor, and co-authored a book documenting the project’s process and impact. As a philanthropist and social entrepreneur, Reily was longtime Chair of the Greater Louisville Project, which for 20 years used data to catalyze civic progress in Louisville, and partnered with the Louisville Urban League to create the Reily Reentry Program, responsible for a majority of criminal expungements granted to citizens of Kentucky since it was created in 2018. 

Carmelita Tropicana (Alina Troyano), 2016 Creative Capital Awardee, has been a vital presence in New York’s downtown performance scene since the 1980s. Carmelita Tropicana’s performances and plays have been presented/produced in theaters, museums, alternative performance spaces, and galleries including: Brooklyn Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Sevilla, Hebbel am Ufer Theater, Berlin, Kirk Douglas Theater-Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, Performance Space NY (formerly PS 122) and INTAR theater, NY. She has received a LatinX Fellowship (2022), United States Artists Fellowship (2021), CLAGS, Center for Lesbian and Gays Studies José Muñoz Award (2021), Guggenheim Fellowship (2017), Creative Capital (2016) Anonymous Was A Woman (2005), and an Obie (1999). Her writing has appeared in many anthologies, most recently in Animal Acts, Performing Species Today ((University of Michigan Press, 2015). A collection of scripts, short stories and essay appear in her book I, Carmelita Tropicana, Performing Between Cultures was published by Beacon Press. She co-edited with Holly Hughes and Jill Dolan the Lambda Award-nominated book Memories of the Revolution: The First Ten Years of the Wow Café Theater (University of Michigan Press, 2015). She has served on the Board of Directors of Performance Space New York (PS 122), and presently serves on the Soho Rep and New York Foundation for the Arts Board of Directors. She is a member of Actors Equity Association and the Dramatist Guild. Photo by Carlos David