Pauline Black is a singer and actress who gained fame as the lead singer of seminal 2-tone band The Selecter.  Black developed an acting career in television and theatre, appearing in dramas such as The Vice, The Bill, Hearts and Minds and 2000 Acres of Sky.  She won the 1991 Time Out award for Best Actress, for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in the play All or Nothing At All.  Since 2010, she has toured internationally with The Selecter.  Her memoir Black By Design was published by Serpent’s Tail in late summer 2011.

Joan Myers Brown founded the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts in 1960, offering African American dancers access to professional training which traditional schools would deny them.  In 1970 she founded PHILADANCO – The Philadelphia Dance Company.  She initiated the Smithonian Institution’s International Conference for Black Dance Companies in 1988 and the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) in 1991.  Joan Myers Brown was honoured in the 2012 National Medal of the Arts, the highest civic honour in the USA for excellence in the arts.  President Barack Obama presented the prestigious honour at a ceremony that took place in July 2013 at the White House.  Most recently Joan Myers Brown has been honoured by the Dance Heritage Coalition as one of America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures.