Artists

Ari Agha

Ari Agha (Ph.D., M.M., they/them) is a genderqueer/transgender singer, creator, and activist. A proud advocate of feminism, their work centers on the voice and connections between voice and identity. They seek to create space in what it means to be a (mis)gendered human with a range of multiple, simultaneous, and contextualized identities. They collaborate with artists and ensembles across disciplines to create performances that provoke questions rather than provide answers and invite spectators to participate rather than just observe. Their performances feature compositions by women, queer, and BIPOC composers.

Ari completed a Master of Music in Voice Performance/Pedagogy at Arizona State University in 2024. They also have a Ph.D. in Sociology and over fifteen years of experience conducting applied social science research. They work for wages as the Development Officer at Partnerships for Trauma Recovery in Berkeley, California. Ari and their co-conspirator Kim Williams, along with their four leggeds, Sunshine, Moose, and Spike-the-cat, make their home on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation in the area also known as Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Robert Farid Karimi

Robert Farid Karimi Critically acclaimed trans-channel artist, interactive experience educator, performer, author, Robert Farid Karimi, designs interactive immersive game-performance experiences to spark players to imagine worlds of mutual community nourishment. With over 25 years of expertise, Karimi develops playful performances that foster dialogue and human connection to spaces worldwide — from General Mills to Off Broadway to Nuyorican Poets Café to NPR to HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, Hawaii International Film Festival, The Smithsonian, and South by Southwest. Karimi is co-director of the Public Practice + Generative Play StudioLab and serves as Assistant Professor in the Music, Dance and Theater department at Arizona State University.