Waco Porter was born in Galveston, TX in 1974 and raised by the Marines. He met his wife in 1996 and has not looked back. She and his daughters have reinvigorated his pen and have been the backbone of his writing. They are the anchor for his wandering mind. Waco uses poetry to get a clear image of what he sees. When he is not writing, Waco likes to swim, bike, run, and ride around the city looking for pancakes. Thoughts on life? In his own words: youngest of four, only boy, daddy’s son, mama’s joy.

Rebekah Vandergriff, LMSW is the author of “What Day Is It?” A Family’s Journey Through Traumatic Brain Injury. Rebekah is employed as a Part-time Cognitive Therapist assisting traumatic brain injury survivor’s who live in the community. She advocates for the disabled population using art in any form to express themselves, create a calm environment, while promoting care for our Planet. When she isn’t working as a therapist, she is caring for her three daughters Gabrielle 20, Camille 13, and Olivia Josette 11. She and her husband live in Prairie Village, KS, and are strong supporters of the Arts in the Greater Kansas City area.

Sharon Eiker, founder of the Jump Start Art Foundation, is an Artist, Poet, Singer, and Songwriter. While Sharon loves creating Art her passion is creating space for our community to share their Art with each other. Building an Arts Foundation to assist emerging Artists by connecting them with the many resources available in the Kansas City Area, will be a real joy to participate in for the years to come. To hear a demo by a new songwriter, read a first chap book, view a first showing of a visual artist, attend a first dance recital, teach a poetry class or a drawing class, or view a newly written never been seen play, are some of the things Sharon is looking forward to as a member of the Jump Start Art Foundation. Sharon was part of The Writer’s Place while it was still an idea and a dream among several Kansas City poets. She served on its board for more than 20 years and continues to host its monthly open mic. She also hosts the Uptown Arts Bar Blue Monday open mic.

Kat Day is a Journalist, Photographer, and Graphic Designer. Kat recently graduated from Full Sail University receiving her Master of Arts in New Media Journalism. Kat also has an MFA in Media Design and a bachelor’s in Graphic Arts. Kat has her own website on artists from the Kansas City Crossroads Arts District and stays active in the arts with MOD Gallery & Space. Kat recently did the layout and content creations for the Marshall Writer’s Guild called Deep Roots in Missouri. Kat is also the Editor in Chief and Content Creator for Wolf Den Media Productions LLC> Where she works remotely.

Justin Canja is a visual artist, writer, poet, enthusiast, and lover of all forms of artistic expression. As a former DC metro area native, he grew up with national monuments, museums, and a rich exchange of history and political movements. He competed in art shows, poetry slams, and improv competitions which introduced him to the local art communities. Justin is a strong believer in the power of a creative culture driven by the arts and is continuing his efforts now living in the KC Metro area with his husband, Aaron.

Malcolm Cook, holding an MS in Computer Science, brings professional experience in IT and software applications management and development. He is a songwriter, a performing and managing member of Kansas City’s community-based Gamelan Genta Kasturi, and a budding poet/spoken-word artist. He also serves on the board of directors for the non-profit Kindness KC Inc. for which he is developing a community literature program.

Hugh Merrill is an artist, educator, writer, and community activist. In 1985 he had a solo exhibition at the Nelson Atkins Museum, and his work is collected in over 50 museums including the New York Museum of Modern Art, Kansas City Kemper Museum, Cranbrook Art Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Poland National Museum of Poznan. He is a long-time professor at the Kansas City Art Institute. In 1996, he collaborated with French artist Christian Boltanski on the city-wide community arts project Our City/Ourselves: Portrait of Community at the Kemper Museum. Hugh was the president of the Southern Graphics Council International from 199x to 199x. He developed Chameleon Arts and Youth Development as a resource for disenfranchised youth communities which provided over 1 million dollars for community arts and youth development programming during its 25 years. Merrill was selected as one of 42 international artists for Richard Noyce’s book Printmaking At the Edge published in 2006. Hugh has been awarded multiple grants including 2 NEA grants, Melon Foundation, Yaddo Fellowship, and the 2007 Distinguished Education Award from the Southern Graphics Council International. The Nelson Atkins Museum invited Hugh to curate Print Lovers at 30: Celebrating Three Decades of Giving in 2008. In September of 2010, his retrospective Divergent Consistencies was exhibited by the Leedy Voulkos Art Center.

Brian Ousley’s passion for art began with his first photography class in the 7th grade. Years later, in college, Ousley reunited with his passion taking elective photography classes while pursuing his degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing. His first solo show during his senior year in college lit the fire that still burns today. Ousley owned his first gallery, BOOM Studio, in 2005, located in Columbus Park, and he quickly learned to network with other visual artists, musicians, and sponsors. Ousley elevated his art openings by featuring artists’ work that Ousley was networking with and his photography. Ousley had continued to show his works throughout the years and began a business representing artists (BOOM Art). Then, he found the current location where MOD Gallery is (just a shell back then) in 2008. After a year in preparation and getting the space ready for the opening of the MOD Gallery, Ousley was ready for the Crossroads First Fridays. Ousley’s MOD Gallery has won several awards, including the Best Art Gallery (#2, behind the Nelson Atkins Museum) for eight years now. Ousley is very passionate about helping new artists get their start building their art businesses and instrumental in assisting bands, musicians, DJs, chefs, and established artists gain vast exposure at MOD Gallery.

Richard Fritz holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute. He is an accomplished fine art painter and has won several commission paintings and public art projects. Richard is an experienced executive level non profit arts administrator and proven community projects artist. Richard has received several grant awards as an artist including most recently an Inspiration Award from the ArtsKC Fund which are investments in human capital, providing direct support to individual artists and arts professionals for projects and activities that have the potential to advance their careers and build their capacity for future work, and a Rocket Grant Award funded by the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, MO and the KU Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, KS, in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The program aims to fuel the energy of the Kansas City regional visual arts community by encouraging and supporting innovative, public-oriented work in non-traditional spaces.Richard has been an Art Experience Painting Classes instruction at his local studio business, painting commissions for clients, and painting from reference he finds online or from observation on location.  His works vary in subject matter and purpose and he enjoys working with others to provide purpose and effectiveness to the artwork he makes.  Please feel free to contact him by email or phone for any art commissions or painting instruction.