JOE BAKER is an artist, educator, curator and culture bearer who has been working in the field of Native Arts for the past forty years. He is an enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and co-founder and Executive Director of Lenape Center in Manhattan. He is a member of the Simon Whiteturkey family and direct line descendent of notable Lenape leaders, such as Captain Anderson Sarcoxie (1784-1876), Koquetahgechton White Eyes (1730-1778) and Netawatwees or King Newcomer (1686-1776).

Baker is a 2003 Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellow, a current adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health (New York, NY), and recently served as Visiting Professor of Museum Studies at Colorado College (Colorado Springs, Colorado). He has contributed to numerous advisory and board member roles for such entities as the Endangered Language Fund, the City University of New York, the National Public Art Consortium, New York Foundation for the Arts, and is a cultural advisor for the CBS Series, “Ghosts.”  Baker consulted on the renovation of the historical Tammany Hall (New York, NY), and is cultural consultant for Inwood Sacred Sites in the development and conceptual design of a project in the Inwood community of Manhattan.

Baker graduated from the University of Tulsa with a BFA degree in design and an MFA in painting and drawing, and completed postgraduate study at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education-Management Development Program. His work is included in the permanent collections of numerous museums across the US and Canada, including the American Museum of Art and Design, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Horseman Foundation. Baker will be featured in upcoming exhibitions at the Michener Art Museum (Doylestown, PA), Zimmerli Art Museum (New Brunswick, NJ), Rutgers University and Swarthmore College.

Shaliyah Ben is a lecturer, educator, and promoter of American Indian arts and culture and originally hails from the Navajo Nation; she was born in Shiprock, New Mexico where her family still practices traditional farming methods in the San Juan River Valley. Shaliyah is an alumna of both the Idyllwild Arts Children’s Center and Summer Youth Programs, and prior to joining Idyllwild Arts as Assistant Director and later Executive Director of the Native American Arts Center at Idyllwild Arts, she worked at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ. During her 20-year tenure at the Heard, she held multiple roles in both the Education and Curatorial Departments, and also served as the Director of Public Programming. Shaliyah enjoys spending time with her dog Amira and her family and friends. She is a violin player, French speaker, and lover of the color pink. Shaliyah has a BA in French, and certificates in both Arabic Language and Islamic Studies from Arizona State University.