2022-23 National Cohort: Mid-America Arts Alliance

Wolfe Brack is a self-taught visual artist and curator, born and based in Kansas City, Missouri. His work deals with the minute, the unnoticed, and the humorousness that is often overlooked. He draws inspiration from architecture, natural forms, and human personality traits. Brack comes from a line of artists and briefly attended the Kansas City Art Institute in 2002. During this time, he learned fire-based performance and performed semi-professionally around the region. In 2011, he became director of GLOW, an interactive UV body painting and entertainment group. In 2013, Brack attended culinary school and worked briefly as a chef. These experiences and connections informed his future career path, as operations manager for the InterUrban ArtHouse, an arts nonprofit in Overland Park, Kansas, and his current position as the artistic director for IUAH, overseeing gallery exhibitions, programming, performances, and events in the space, as well as curating offsite corporate spaces on the ArtHouse’s behalf. He works toward equity in the arts through deliberate representation of artists from marginalized communities. Brack has juried multiple art shows and competitions, has been a contributing editor for a local arts publication, and has served on public art selection committees. He sits on the board of directors for the Kansas City Toy and Miniature Museum. Brack loves to create experiences. Whether through visual art that demands close inspection, immersive events and performances, or thought-provoking exhibition curation, he encourages people to engage with themselves and each other through the arts.

John Levi HorseChief is from the Osage, Pawnee, Blackfeet, and Potawatomi Nations and is a father and grandfather. He serves as the program assistant at the Osage Nation Museum, where he enjoys helping constituents with research requests and image requests and, in particular, working with files that contain his culture and language as an Osage citizen. His passions and hobbies are digital archives and beadwork. He also likes to make moccasins and whatever beadwork is necessary for himself and his family. He would like to learn more about conservation, diversity, inclusiveness, and justice through this fellowship.

Jacquline Smith is the youth studios manager at The Union for Contemporary Art. In addition to developing and administering The Union’s youth engagement programs, she serves as a liaison between the artists, partner organizations, youth and their families. They graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a bachelor’s degree in general studies – art concentration, with a certification in nonprofit management. Smith has long been an advocate for youth, dedicating nearly 20 years of service through mentorship, summer camps, schools, and other youth-based programs. Incorporating their love for travel, adventure, and helping others, they have spent time volunteering abroad as a teaching artist in San Ignacio, Belize and Baños, Ecuador. Locally, Smith has organized group art shows as a means to bring awareness to issues impacting their community and raise funds for local charities. They see art as a tool to express oneself and better understand the world around us. Through art, they hope to encourage youth to find their voice and build strong relationships within and outside their communities.