Doris Duke

Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American heiress, socialite, horticulturalist, art collector, and philanthropist.

The daughter of a wealthy tobacco tycoon, Duke was able to fund a life of global travel and wide-ranging interests. These extended across journalism, competition surfing, jazz piano, wildlife conservation, Oriental art and Hare Krishna.

Much of her work centered on her father's estate at Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, where she created many elaborately-themed gardens, furnished with artifacts acquired on her world travels, including one of America's largest indoor botanical displays. She was also active in preserving more than 80 historic buildings in Newport, Rhode Island.

Twice married and divorced, Duke enjoyed a colorful private life that was seldom out of the gossip columns.

Her philanthropic work continued into her old age, some of it unknown to the public during her lifetime, and her estimated $1.3 billion fortune was largely left to charity. After much legal challenging of the executors and trustees, Duke's legacy is now administered by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, dedicated to medical research, prevention of cruelty to children and animals, the performing arts, wildlife and ecology.

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New England

New England is a region which comprises six states of the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by New York to the west, Long Island Sound to the south, the Atlantic Ocean and the Canadian province of New Brunswick to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north.

In one of the earliest English settlements in North America, Pilgrims from England first settled in New England in 1620, forming the Plymouth Colony. Ten years later, the Puritans settled north of Plymouth Colony in Boston, thus forming Massachusetts Bay Colony. Over the next 126 years, New England fought in four French and Indian Wars, until the British and their Iroquois Confederacy allies defeated the French and their Algonquin allies in North America.

In the late 18th century, the New England Colonies initiated the resistance to the British Parliament's efforts to impose new taxes without the consent of the colonists. The Boston Tea Party was a protest to which Great Britain responded with a series of punitive laws stripping Massachusetts of self-government, which were termed the "Intolerable Acts" by the colonists. The confrontation led to open warfare in 1775, the expulsion of the British authorities from New England in spring 1776, and the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.

Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates (born August 28, 1973) is an American Social Practice installation artist. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he still lives and works. Gates' work has been shown at major museums and galleries internationally and deals with issues of urban planning, religious space, and craft. He is committed to the revitalization of poor neighborhoods through combining urban planning and art practices.

Early Life, education and career

Theaster Gates was born and raised in East Garfield Park on the West Side of Chicago. He was the youngest of nine children and the only son. His father was a roofer and his mother, a school teacher. His sisters passed on their interest in civil rights activism and the family attended a Baptist church where Gates, a choir member, became interested in performance. A good student, Gates attended Lane Technical High School. In 1996, he graduated from Iowa State University, with a B.S. in Urban Planning and Ceramics. His early art was in pottery, and he spent time studying the art in Japan. He decided he wanted to explore religion in South Africa, and in 1998 he received a M.A. at the University of Cape Town in Fine Arts, and Religious Studies.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph

Marc Bamuthi Joseph (born 1975) is a spoken-word poet, dancer, and playwright who frequently directs stand alone hip-hop theater plays. His works include Word Becomes Flesh, De/Cipher and No Man's Land. He collaborated with Rennie Harris in 2007 to create Scourge, a play about Haiti's social-economical struggles. Joseph directed the play while Harris served as the choreographer. In 2008 he created the break/s, a play based on the book Can't Stop Won't Stop by Jeff Chang.

As a young man Joseph worked with the Senegalese National Ballet. He went on to work with Katherine Dunham, Joe Hahn, Mos Def, and Bonnie Raitt. Joseph was a National Poetry Slam champion in 1999, and a 2006 recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship. His work was featured in episodes of Russell Simmons' Def Poetry on HBO in 2004 and 2005. In the Fall of 2007 he appeared on the cover of Smithsonian Magazine. Two of his works have been featured at the Humana Festival of New American Plays, Chicago, Sudan in 2011, and the break/s in 2007.