Jason Schupbach is Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts, where he oversees the Design Art Works grants and leadership initiatives such as Our Town, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, and Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design.

Prior to joining the Endowment, Mr. Schupbach held the first-in-the-nation position of Creative Economy Industry Director for the Massachusetts Office of Business Development. Past positions include director of ArtistLink, National Artist Space Initiative Consultant for Leveraging Investments in Creativity, and Capital Projects Manager and Staff Urban Planner/Designer for New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs.

He received a B.S. in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master's in City Planning with an Urban Design Certificate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

John is an artist, designer, and innovator with over a decade of experience creating public art, public space, and community participation projects. As a Rebar founder and principal, he led the creation of Park(ing) Day, The Panhandle Bandshell, The Victory Garden, and Showplace Triangle. While at CMG Landscape Architecture in San Francisco, he helped craft the Treasure Island Redevelopment Plan, Mint Plaza, and the Concord Naval Weapons Station Reuse Plan.

John lectures and teaches worldwide and is a senior lecturer at the California College of Arts in San Francisco. John studied Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts, and fine art and sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. John is a registered landscape architect in the state of California.

Chicago-based artist, urban planner, musician and cultural developer, Theaster Gates, works across museums, neighborhoods and fiscal structures. His recent art objects focus on the topic of Civil Rights while also addressing abandonment and blight in poor communities throughout the Midwest.

Theaster's work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum. His work considers the redemptive qualities of materials and neighborhoods.

Theaster is Director of Arts and Public Life and Artist in Residence at the University of Chicago, and is President and founder of the Rebuild Foundation, a not-for-profit.

Tupper Thomas retired in February 2011 after 30 years as President of the Prospect Park Alliance and Administrator of Prospect Park, the 580-acre flagship park of Brooklyn. She has a Master's degree in Urban Planning from Pratt Institute. In 1980 Tupper was hired as the first Administrator. She was responsible for the ongoing operation of the Park, its multimillion-dollar restoration, special events, public information, fundraising and services for Park visitors.

The Prospect Park Alliance was formed in 1987 to revive, enrich, restore and preserve Prospect Park in partnership with the City of New York. Tupper is the founding President. Tupper is currently consulting and working with City Parks Alliance, a national organization that advocates for parks. She has received numerous awards and has been a guest speaker for parks groups throughout the United States and abroad.