Bringing the Outside Edge In - Philadelphia Artists, Journalists, and Audience in Dialog, a panel discussion brought to you by Cannonball 2025, brings together artists and writers from the Philadelphia community to talk about the dynamics that we wish to build between artists, journalists and the media, and contemporary audiences. What is the relationship between artist and review writer? How can festivals like Cannonball support journalists in connecting with stories? How can we work together to contribute to the future of arts in Philadelphia?
Shavon Norris will moderate the conversation with panelists and will follow up with a Q&A with the public.
Shavon Norris is an Artist. Educator. Facilitator. She grew up in a Black Sci-Fi Christian home in the Bronx that sparked her curiosity about the magic, medicine, and meaning living within us. Shavon uses movement along with text, sound, and imagery to reveal the stories living in our bodies. Her work explores our relationship to our identities, our experiences, and to each other. An examination and celebration of what we feel, think, and believe. As an artist her work has been presented at venues in NYC and Philadelphia. As a performer, she has performed for Silvana Cardell, Leah Stein, Merian Soto, makini poe, and toured with Pig Iron Theatre Company. As a facilitator, she works with artistic, educational, and corporate institutions, offering learning on Creativity, Movement, Inclusivity, and Healing Centered/Trauma Informed Practices. Shavon’s artistic and educational philosophies are rooted in the desire to offer herself, learners, performers, and audiences, opportunities to deepen the understanding of self and the collective. She loves the living and working she gets to do in the world.Panelists:
Alaina Johns has been working as a freelance journalist in and around Philadelphia since 2007, and has been editor-in-chief of BSR since December 2018. Her work has appeared in outlets including The Philadelphia Inquirer, WHYY, Grid, Keystone Edge, American Theatre, and many more.Quinn D. Eli is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the Community College of Philadelphia, where he heads the Theater Program. He earned his B.A. from Ithaca College and his M.A. from Temple University. Originally from the Bronx, NY, Eli is active in the Philadelphia theater scene—as a playwright featured in Best American Ten-Minute Plays, and as co-founder of Jouska PlayWorks supporting playwrights of the African Diaspora. He also holds membership in both Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) and the Black Theatre Network.
Megan Mizanty is a writer and editorial board member at thINKingDANCE in Philadelphia. Her writing has been published in Danse Macabre Literary Magazine, Harrow House Journal, Bending Genres, Ghost City Press, The Inflectionist Review, Zoetic Press, iō Literary Journal, Pinky Thinker Press, Argyle Literary Magazine, and more. Megan was the recipient of the Linda Rolfe "New Writer's Award" through Routledge Publications, for her research in dance education. A seasoned choreographer and professional dancer, she received her MFA in Dance from Temple University, and taught for over one decade in higher education. @mizanty.art