CWP Staff
Michele Kotler (ext. 1), CWP's Executive Director, founded the organization in 1997. Ms. Kotler is a graduate of the NYC public school system, and she won a scholarship to attend Sarah Lawrence College. She received an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she also taught creative writing. She serves on The After-School Corporation’s Advisory Committee, and the New York City Arts-in-Education Roundtable’s Board. Her poetry has appeared in the anthology, Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds, The Teachers of WritersCorps in Poetry and Prose, Washington Square Review, and Painted Bride Quarterly.
Khalil G. Murrell (ext. 2), Program Director, earned degrees in Political Science (Temple University), Education (UPenn), and Fine Arts — Creative Writing (Sarah Lawrence College). A poet and a former high school English teacher, he has worked in the arts and education for more than 7 years, including overseeing the Poetry-in-the-Schools Program for the Dodge Poetry Program and Festival for five years. Khalil resides in Newark and is working on his first manuscript, my name is burning.
Suzanne Lee (ext. 3), Development Director, is a graduate from Rutgers University in her proud home state of New Jersey. Before joining Community-Word Project, Suzanne worked in the non-profit sector at Madison Square Boys & Girls Club, ENACT, and Coro New York Leadership Center. She also served in the Peace Corps for two years in Benin, West Africa.
Craig Hayes (ext. 4), Program Associate/Social Media Manager, brings 15+ years of experience in marketing, branding, and advertising. Craig is a graduate of NYU with a BA in Anthropology. Craig also received an MFA in Photography from NYU and the International Center for Photography. He enjoys long walks on the beach with the Chicken Lady.
Patricia A. Chilsen (ext. 5), Interim Assistant Program Director, taught with Lincoln Center Institute for nine years as a theater teaching artist, and three years as Program Manager for the Research Learning Community. Patricia worked with learning disabled students at Denver Academy. Besides a life in arts in ed, Patti has written, directed, and performed theater in the US and abroad. She holds an MFA from Denver’s National Theatre Conservatory.
Teaching Artists
CWP Teaching Artists are hired for their creative expertise and their dedication and ability as educators. All CWP teaching artists have completed our 25-week Teaching Artists Training and Internship Program.
Carrington Alvarez earned a B.A. in English and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Masters in Education from Pace University as a New York City Teaching Fellow. She has taught English in a public Brooklyn high School and is pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at The New School.
Tokumbo Bodunde is a documentary/experimental filmmaker who taught high school English and Media Criticism and Women’s Studies at the college level. She received her MA in Media Studies from The New School and has trained with Third World Newsreel.
Susan Buttenwieser received a fiction fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and has taught writing at Bedford Women's Correctional Facility, Bank Street College, PEN American Center, The LGBT Community Center, and Metropolitan Community Church Homeless Youth Services. Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
David Ciminello received a BFA in Acting from The Catholic University of America and his MFA in fiction from Sarah Lawrence. He wrote the screenplay Bruno, directed by Shirley MacLaine. His writing has appeared in Lumina and Poetry Northwest. He has worked with The Virginia Avenue Project, Medgar Evers College, and the Sunnyside College Readiness Program.
Nehassaiu deGannes holds a MFA in Poetry from Brown University. Her work has appeared in Callaloo, Poem Memoir Story, American Poetry Review, Caribbean Writer, Painted Bride Quarterly, Tuesday: An Art Project, TORCH, Encyclopedia Project (F-K), After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery, and The ARAVA Review.
Gwendolyn Dorell is a flutist in Brooklyn Fife, which performs music of the African-American Mississippi and Brazilian fife and drum tradition. Gwendolyn received her bachelors in classical flute performance from Mannes College and her masters from the Eastman School of Music.
Felipe Galindo (aka Feggo) has a BFA in Visual Arts from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. US citizen. He has received grants for his art and animation projects from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, National Association of Latino Arts & Culture, Puffin Foundation, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, NYSCA, and the NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Lisa Marie Gutting is a certified NYS visual arts teacher with over eight years experience. She has a Masters in Education in the Arts from Harvard. Lisa was the founding Arts Infusion Specialist at a charter school in the South Bronx where she collaborated with K-2 classroom teachers to support and differentiate literacy instruction.
Muriel Leung received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College, where she was awarded the Lori Hertzberg Prize for Creativity. She created Write to Resist, a workshop series where Asian American young women explore issues of violence and identity. Her poetry and essays have appeared in RE/VISIONIST and Dark Phrases.
Tecoyia Scott Littleton is an actress and writer. She received her Masters degree in Educational Theater from NYU and her Bachelor’s degree in Theater/Communication from Hampton University. Tecoyia studied film acting at the Zarro Film Academy in Norfolk, Virginia.
Gia Marotta holds a B.A. in Theater from Yale University. Her plays have appeared at Dixon Place, FringeNYC and Ensemble Studio Theater. She has co-directed a youth summer arts program in Kigali, Rwanda, for the grassroots HIV/AIDS organization WE-ACTx since 2009.
Leticia Perelstein received a BA in Photography and Anthropology from Hampshire College. Her projects include a photo essay about her grandparents in Argentina and a visual story about Solentiname, about an island in Nicaragua. Leticia has worked as a teaching artist for the past six years.
Katie Issel Pitre is a writer, actor, singer, dancer, collaborator and educator. She earned an MA in Educational Theatre in Colleges and Communities from NYU. She is involved as a devising actor in The United Folktale Project in conjunction with The Abrons Art Center/Henry Street Settlement.
Hilary Pharr has taught visual arts in after school, at the Children's Museum of Manhattan, and at a Waldorf School in Brooklyn. She received her BA in Fine Art from Hampshire College, with additional studies in art education and child development.
Karla Robinson, a Bronx native, received her BA in Urban Education and Creative Writing from the New School. She is a poet, theater artist, educator and doula. A founding member of the Herstories Project, she has been seen in its productions of TAPESTRY and Bone Songs. She is currently obtaining a MSEd in Special Education from CUNY Hunter.
Carrie Rubinstein earned her MFA in sculpture from Hunter College. She studied at James Turrell’s Roden Crater project and participated in exhibitions in California, Massachusetts and New York City. She is an active member of the tART women’s artist collective and a comedy improv performer.
Jade Sanchez-Ventura completed an MFA in creative non-fiction at Hunter College and exhibits regularly in NYC and the northeast. Her essay, “In Spite of My Skin”, appeared in the anthology About Face; Women Write About What They See When They Look in the Mirror.
Maria Schirmer is a MA student at NYU researching how theatre can be used as a tool for social change. She works as a project assistant at the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics and is a member of the Lark Play Development Center. She was recently awarded a Gallatin Global Human Rights Fellowship, which culminated in an eight-week internship with the Jana Sanskriti Center for Theatre of the Oppressed in Calcutta, India.
Roberto Carlos Soto received his BA in Art and Latin American Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. He produced a photo documentary, Favela da Rocinha, on one of the largest shantytowns in South America. He has an MFA in photography from Hunter College.
Kamau Ware is a teaching artist in photography, working out of a home-based studio in Brooklyn. He obtained a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies (concentration in World Culture and American History) from the University of Pittsburgh. He continued his studies at Pittsburgh Filmmakers while earning a certification in elementary education.
Renée Watson graduated from The New School and earned a certificate in Drama Therapy. Her poetry has been published in With Hearts Ablaze and Theater of the Mind. Renée's first children's book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, was published in 2010 (Random House).
Ibi Aanu Zoboi received a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council for her Daughters of Anacaona Writing Project, writing workshops for teen girls in Brooklyn and Port-au-Prince. Ibi has been a teaching artist in New York City public schools for over 10 years.
Joseph Zoboi has worked as an art educator and artist-in-residence for the past fifteen years in schools. He has exhibited at the Fulton Art Fair, Magnolia Tree Earth Center, Brooklyn Museum, Hudson Guild Gallery, Waldorf=Astoria, Ocean Hill Art Sanctuary, and the Strange Horizons Online Gallery.
