community advisory council
The Powerhouse Arts (PHA) Community Advisory Council (CAC) serves as a cornerstone of PHA’s commitment to creating culturally-relevant and community-led programming. By actively seeking community input, the council ensures that our programming, resources, and offerings resonate and are accessible to a diversity of individuals, creating an organization that reflects and celebrates the richness of our communities in Gowanus and New York City.
They will work closely and collaboratively with the Powerhouse Arts team to offer their feedback on a variety of programs and services. The CAC will have opportunities to share community-centered, art-specific, and culturally-relevant feedback, test-run workshops, share topics and ideas for our programs, resources, and more!
2025–2027 council members
Cynthia Alberto (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and founder of Weaving Hand, a Brooklyn-based weaving studio, healing arts space, and cultural center. Her work merges traditional weaving techniques from global communities with contemporary practices, emphasizing sustainability through a zero-waste philosophy across her artwork, performances, and public projects. Through her teaching and creative endeavors, Alberto explores the intersection of weaving and healing, with a strong focus on artisanal craft and environmental consciousness.
Her work was recently featured in a group exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art (2024), and her latest weaving programs and exhibitions are currently on view at the Creativity Lab, in conjunction with Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, at the Museum of Modern Art (2025).
Deborah Chi (she/her) holds a BFA in Drawing & Painting, two consecutive Masters in Theological Studies in Philosophy, Theology & Ethics, and a Masters in Public Administration. Her academic focus is on aesthetics & ethics, and how art and storytelling can help foster human connection, and thus social transformation. She has an extensive background in nonprofit administration, taught art in various contexts, and is actively engaged in arts advocacy, civic participation, and community building. She resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Gayah Imani Gillson (she/they/kin) is a multidisciplinary artist, songwriter, and activist dedicated to fostering creative expression and community empowerment. A native resident of Gowanus Houses, she is the Founder & Director of Theater of the Liberated and CEO of Artist Temple, initiatives that bridge artistry, social justice, and leadership development.
Through their own organizations and in partnership with local organizations and groups, Gayah continues to champion artistic liberation and collective transformation, advocating for accessible creative spaces and resources both within and beyond the boundaries of their community.
Dre Jácome (she/her) is a storyteller and strategist weaving across digital and land-based technologies. By day, she is a communications strategist in service to liberation movements rooted in cultural organizing, healing justice, and the solidarity economy. As a trained herbalist and historian, she grounds her creative work in archival research, oral history, and critical ethnobotany. Working across design, poetry, assemblage, and computation, she has shown work at Smack Mellon, Lincoln Center, and MOCADA’s Abolition House. She has been awarded fellowships with Future Histories Studio, Oral History Summer School, and Wildseed’s Radical Imagination Artist Residency. She holds a B.A. in History & Latin American Studies from Swarthmore College and an MPS from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.
Nitin Mukul (he/him) is an American visual artist of Indian descent mapping spaces where painting and video intersect as a durational experience. He has lived and worked in Massachusetts, India, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and currently New York City. In 2020 he was Artist in Residence at Caldera Arts in Sisters, Oregon, and is the recipient of 2020 and 2023 fellowships from NYFA. His work has been shown at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pioneer Works, The Queens Museum, Lincoln Center, and The Rubin Museum, among others. His recent project Heat Maps: Queens was presented in 2024 as a solo exhibition at the New York Hall of Science, Queens. Also, in 2020, he and his wife co-founded Epicenter NYC, a community journalism multiplatform initiative that engages, connects and informs and empowers through the power of culture and community. Mukul currently profiles a new artist for Epicenter NYC every week, accompanied by a $100 micro-grant.
Jessica Tolu (she/her) is a Brooklyn native and fine arts student at Brooklyn College. With four years of experience in education and teaching, she is passionate about nurturing the creativity of others. From 2023 to 2024, she served as a PHA intern, where she further developed her connection to the arts and the local community. Jessica’s commitment to fostering creativity reflects her belief in the transformative power of art in people’s lives.
Pamela Wong (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based writer and curator who champions contemporary art, collaborating with artists, and building community. In 2009 she started Art Hag, a blog highlighting artists and exhibits in NYC and beyond. For three years, she was a local reporter covering arts, culture, and news in northwest Brooklyn neighborhoods including Park Slope and Gowanus. She currently contributes to Park Slope Pulse where she shares stories about local personalities and small businesses.
In Fall 2024, Pam became Director of 440 Gallery, an artist-run collective in Park Slope. Since 2005, the gallery has facilitated lively cultural exchange, hosting artist talks, musical performances, children’s art activities, and more.
Pamela has curated the art programming for the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse since 2022, showcasing work by local artists and attracting visitors to the waterfront community space. She was previously Special Projects Director for Arts Gowanus where she worked to promote and support local artists. Along with helping to coordinate the organization’s annual fundraising gala and open studios weekend, she spearheaded the inaugural Gowanus Art Parade.