Conversations Panel
Imagining the Future for Arts + Culture Investment
Gabriela Serena Sanchez
Executive Director - The Philadelphia Cultural Fund / Co-Artistic Director / Board Member
Gabriela Serena Sanchez, is a cultural producer and multidisciplinary mother artist- a director, actor, photographer, video editor, teaching artist, poet – who blends creative practice with deeply embedded social justice action. A Philadelphia native, Sanchez graduated from the Creative and Performing Arts highschool and received a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Temple University. Sanchez is known for effectively building coalitions in a diverse range of communities throughout the city and furthering a vision of an arts sector deeply rooted in equity and justice.
Gabriela is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. Sanchez provides leadership and vision in the fulfillment of PCF’s mission to support and enhance the cultural vitality of Philadelphia and all its residents by promoting arts and culture as engines of social cohesion, economic development, and health and well-being.
Sanchez is also the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Power Street Theatre, a women of color- led multicultural theater collective presenting powerful new plays, theater education and community story circles in the heart of el barrio as well as other Philadelphia neighborhoods. For over a decade, she has worked with multiple influential arts and culture organizations in the city including Conflict Resolution Theatre, Taller Puertorriqueño, Norris Square Neighborhood Project, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, and dozens more!
Erlin Geffrard
Artist / Professor at PAFA
Erlin Geffrard is a painter based in Philadelphia, PA. Most of his work is mixed media painting with a variety of styles. Ranging from family portraits to images derived from imagination. Using new and repurposed materials in rhythmic combinations. His current series explores the connections between family memory, ritual, and popular culture.
Erlin Geffrard is originally from Palm Beach, Florida and is of Haitian descent. He studied painting and design at San Francisco Art Institute before earning an M.F.A. at the University of Pennsylvania. Primarily an installation artist and activating his pieces through participation by the visitor and sound, Geffrard originally worked under the alias, Kreyola Kid, as a performance artist. He was influenced by the idea of "refugee" running throughout his work and life; his Haitian origin and family, upbringing in Florida and the underground culture in the Bay Area. His work concerns the overlap of fine arts, commercial hip hop culture, and issues of class, race, place, gender, and religion through subject matter and material.
Tayyib Smith
Founding Partner at The Growth Collective / Principal at Smith & Roller Holdings / Board Member / Investor
Tayyib Smith is serial entrepreneur ; founding partner and chief strategist at The Growth Collective³’ a partnership with the vision is to provide access to resources and capital that will elevate Bipoc communities and generate wealth for neighborhoods stagnated by systemic racism and divestment.
A principal at Smith & Roller Holdings, a real estate company that engages and invites diverse stakeholders of neighborhoods to become part of a growing, multicultural and multi-socioeconomic tapestry. Tayyib has long been a successful conduit of professional and cultural ecosystems. He is a Board member at The Guild of Future Architects , the Kensington Corridor Trust, The Prizm Art Fair in Miami, and Black Star Film Festival.
Tayyib is dedicated to cultural competency and the ability to engage multicultural audiences. He co-founded Pipeline Philly to serve as an inviting and dynamic co-working space filled with professionals from various backgrounds and industries, creating one of the most diverse workspaces in the city. .
Rebecca Segall
Owner & Director of Gross McCleaf Gallery / Board Member / PAFA Advisor
Rebecca Segall is the owner and director of Gross McCleaf Gallery, an institution in Philadelphia’s Fine Arts community for the last half-century. An accomplished artist herself, Rebecca is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and has also had a career in consumer products sales as an on-air specialist for the QVC television shopping network, as well as in real estate brokerage representing developers in the sale of residential properties.
Rebecca is a member of the Board of Directors of the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization focused on meeting the therapeutic needs of children who have experienced trauma in the city’s diverse communities. She is also a member of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s South Asian Art Committee and serves as an advisor to the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Ryan Bowers
CEO of Baker Station Advisors / Panel Moderator
Ryan Bowers is a seasoned economic justice advocate focusing on the intersection of capital markets and social change. He currently serves as CEO of Baker Station Advisors, a boutique consultancy advising nonprofits, investors, and local governments.
Most recently, Ryan co-founded Activest, an investment research firm bringing a racial justice lens to municipal finance. Previously, he was Senior Partner and Cofounder at Frontline Solutions, a management consulting firm serving foundations and nonprofits.
Ryan has a BA from Temple University and MBA from Saint Joseph’s University.
Sammetria Goodson
Attorney of Goodson Law PLLC / Host
Sammetria is an Attorney who focuses her practice on Art Law and Intellectual Property. Sammetria works with a wide range of art industry clients including artists, art agencies, collectors, consultants, cultural organizations, dealers, galleries, and independent curators. She also works with creatives, makers, and artisans in a various intellectual property-based enterprises.
Sammetria holds a BBA in Marketing from the McCombs School of Business and a BA in Art History from the College of Fine Arts - both from The University of Texas at Austin. She’s also a proud graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia.
Sammetria loves talking about the intersection of law, art, and design. She’s a frequent lecturer on the topics of Art Law, and best business practices for Creatives, Artists, and Designers. She currently teaches a class called How to (Not) be a Starving Artist at UT Austin, College of Fine Arts. Sammetria was recently awarded an Arts Education Award from the Dallas Business Council for the Arts for her community arts education work. An article co-authored by Sammetria discussing Art and Private Investment was published in 2023. She is licensed to practice law in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas and serves client at her boutique Art Law firm Goodson Law PLLC.
Megan McFadden
Director of Strategy, ImpactPHL / Host
Megan has dedicated her 18-year career to economic systems change. As a field and ecosystem builder, Megan's worked with pioneering organizations at local, national, and international levels on everything from investment convenings to the R&D of new investment funds, global research projects to capacity-building for entrepreneurs. She's worked with teams including SOCAP, Institute for the Future, ImpactAlpha, The Enterprise Center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Impact Hub, and more.
Megan is committed to being in service of a Just Transition and believes that artists and cultural practitioners are essential to this transition and a future regenerative economy. She is the co-author of Moving Minds & Money to Transform Arts & Culture Investment.
Karyn Polak
Founder & Principal of Shift the Prism / Host
Karyn Polak works passionately on social and economic equity, making progress towards a more regenerative and inclusive global economy.
Karyn founded Shift the Prism Advisory to support changes in mindsets, systems, and approaches to capital and development – sparking creative engagement and collaboration from the hyperlocal to the national and international level within public, private, non-profit, and community spaces. She previously served as a senior counsel, trusted advisor, and C-suite executive at Citigroup, PNC Bank, and Transamerica — from her first senior position as General Counsel for Citi Private Bank to her most recent as Chief Legal Officer for Transamerica -- and before that at three top-100 U.S. law firms.
Karyn serves on the Programming Committee with ImpactPHL to help expand the reach of this meaningful work.