Pedagogy Study Hall: Panel on Public Arts and Humanities, convened by Christopher Brooks

About the Participants

Called an “astral soul goddess” by Mojo magazine, Navasha Daya (nah-Vah-sha Day- ya), is an exceptionally gifted and seasoned recording and performing artist, songwriter/ singer, composer, producer, arranger, choreographer, curator and committed cultural arts activist who is internationally known as a breath-taking performer.

On stage, Navasha embodies the indigenous feminine spirit and inspires women throughout the world. Grammy-Award winning songstress India Arie described Navasha’s voice as “the true definition of soulful.” Navasha has charted at #2 on both Japan’s jazz and dance iTunes charts numerous times (usually second to Lady Gaga); she has also received international acclaim from her debut solo release “Rebirthed Above Ground ‘ – a genre – busting powerhouse of originality and soul-stirring lyrics. Daya’s most recent album “Lom Nava Love (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” was listed as one of the 50 best soul albums of 2016 by Soultracks and described by Sirius XM radio host Dermot Hussey as “A soundtrack of the times…”. Prior to her solo releases, Navasha served as lead vocalist, songwriter and co-founder of the highly acclaimed Baltimore based soul/jazz band, Fertile Ground.

As a performing artist, Navasha has performed all over the globe and has shared the stage with a bevy of artists such as South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela, Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo, Japanese pianist Hajime Yoshizawa, and American artists such as Common, Jill Scott, Joan Baez, India.Arie, Erykah Badu, Run DMC, Zap Mama, Rachelle Farrell, Cassandra Wilson, Earl Klugh, Michael Franti of Spearhead and Roberta Flack just to name a few. As a songwriter, Navasha Daya’s compositions have been remixed by some of the world’s top DJs and producers. In addition to her solo career, Navasha tours often as a guest artist with the Grammy Award–winning a cappella group Sweet Honey in The Rock. She is recognized as the 25th voice among the 28 women who have contributed their talents to the ensemble over its 50+ year history.

A Baltimore transplant by way of Cleveland, OH, Navasha Daya’s impact on the world reaches far beyond the stage and walls of the recording studio. Navasha is an artist with a purpose. Navasha, a music educator and committed cultural arts activist, is a Co- Founder and Director of the Healing & Performing Arts of the Youth Resiliency Institute, whose mission is to utilize the Arts to mobilize and bring change and equity in the community. She also serves as co-director of the Cherry Hill Arts & Music Waterfront Festival in South Baltimore.

Carla Du Pree is an author of fiction, a state and national arts advocate, a literary consultant, and the executive director of a small but fierce, literary nonprofit, CityLit Project, which holds an annual award-winning CityLit Festival in Baltimore. As part of her work with CityLit, she co-founded Scribente Maternum, (a fancy way of saying Writing Mamas) which holds an annual Write Like A Mother Retreat. During her time with CityLit, she created a mentorship program with young professionals called Gladiators. Her fiction appears in two anthologies, and several excerpts from her novel-in-progress have been published in Callaloo, The Pierian Literary Journal, the Ilanot Review, among others. She is the recipient of fiction fellowships based on this work from Peter Bullough Foundation, Hedgebrook, Baldwin for the Arts (founded by children’s author Jacqueline Woodson), Rhode Island Writers Colony (directed by Jason Reynolds), and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2x). She is a Rubys and Maryland State Arts Council literary grantee and was awarded the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies inaugural 2020 Diversity, Equity &

Inclusion Individual Award and the Maryland State Department of Education’s Arts Leader for April 2020. She is also the recipient of the prestigious 2025 Cultural Innovator Award from Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding dedication and creativity in fostering the arts within the Baltimore community.

Justin “Nether” Nethercut is a self-taught native Baltimorean street artist and mural painter. Nether’s work is as a social documentarian of the struggles, dreams, history and dilemmas that our cities and subcultures face. With outdoor work, acting first as an artistic hand to the community’s aspirations, pieces are generally designed in conceptual collaboration with native stakeholders, always site-specific, and focused on the locale. Woven into many of the artworks is a spiritual, natural sense of balance and design to evoke an understanding of our presence and importance to surrounding ecosystems. The quest is merely an attempt to help reclaim and recycle neglected parts of the landscape, bring out the city’s cultural pride, and capture the essence of every place he paints. 

Nether has painted over 175 murals over the past 16 years across the city and helped organize over 35 more pieces of public art. On top of painting murals, Nether is a founding co-director of the public art and landscaping organization Arts+Parks. He also co-curated the Eubie Blake: Sandtown Mural Project in 2015 with Ernest Shaw following painting the Freddie Grey Memorial Mural and the Wall Hunters project in 2013. In Baltimore his work is spread all throughout the city with large collections of murals in Mount Clare, Bocek Park, and Sandtown neighborhoods. Nether’s works can be found in many other US cities and internationally in London, Paris, Berlin, and Montreal.