cv | Safiyah Cheatam

Education

2018– MFA, Intermedia + Digital Arts, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, MD (expected May 2021)

2017 BS, Electronic Media and Film, Towson University, Towson, MD

2010 Young Scholars Program, Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Courses: ARCH 150 - Discovering Architecture (3)

Awards, Grants, Acknowledgments

2021 Fleur And Charles Bresler Residency, VisArts (forthcoming in September)

2020 Most Cultured Podcast Nominee - OBSIDIAN Podcast, Black Podcasting Awards

2020 Red Bull Arts Baltimore Microgrant - August

2020 IGNYTE Award Nominee - Best Fiction Podcast - OBSIDIAN Podcast, FIYAHCON 2020, FIYAH Literary Magazine

2020 Baltimore Artist Retreat, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Baltimore, MD

2019 Rubys Artist Grant - Media Arts - OBSIDIAN Podcast, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Baltimore, MD

2019 Professional Development Grant, UMBC Graduate Student Association, Baltimore County, MD

2017 Born in Baltimore Film Festival, Baltimore, MD

Official Selection, A Letter From the 8th Floor (2017)

2017 Women in Leadership Conference, Towson University, Towson, MD

Nominated Attendant by College Dean

2016 Media Arts Festival, Towson University, Towson, MD

2nd Place Music Mixing, Across (2016)

Solo Exhibition History

Group Exhibition History

2020 Everything is Connected, Jubilee Arts, Baltimore, MD (online due to COVID-19)

2021 SPARK IV: A New World, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD

2020 OBSIDIAN Podcast, Refusing Refusal, Baltimore, MD (online due to COVID-19)

2019 No Walls, No Bans, No Borders, The Peale Center, Baltimore, MD (curated by Rebel Lens Bmore)
2019 Supernova, StartUp Shell, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (curated by Tajbik Sheikh)
2019 Sister Cities Animated!, Sweaty Eyeballs Animation, Baltimore, MD (curated by Lynn Tomlinson and myself)
2017 Born in Baltimore Film Festival, Baltimore, MD
2016 Progress, 4c Gallery, Baltimore, MD (curated by Markele Cullins and Suldano Abdiruhman; Online)

Curatorial Experience

2019 Sister Cities Animated!, Sweaty Eyeballs Animation, Parkway Theater, Baltimore, MD, February 11

2018 Bmore Accomplished: Not Just History... Black History, Calendar, Wide Angle Youth Media, Baltimore, MD, Fall 2018

2018 The Skin We’re In, Zine, Wide Angle Youth Media, Baltimore, MD, Spring 2018

Presentations, Conferences, Panels

2020 "Making a Case for W.E.B. Du Bois as a Proto-Afrofuturist," History Should Make You Uncomfortable, presenter, Coalition of Master's Scholars on Material Culture, November 21 (online due to COVID-19)

2020 “WOC Artists Panel,” The BlackPrint, presenter, University of Maryland, College Park’s Multicultural Involvement & Community Advocacy (MICA), College Park, MD, February 26
2019 “Baltimore Spotlight: OBSIDIAN,” From Disordered to Deadly: Information and Power, presenter, Media Democracy Fund, Baltimore, MD, December 4
2019 “Instances of Behavioral Dissonance,” Border Control: Symposium & Exhibition, presenter, New Media Caucus, Ann Arbor, MI, September 21
2019 “#AllRappersGoToHeaven,” Shell Talk, presenter, StartUp Shell - University of Maryland, College Park, MD, April 4
2018 “Mapping a Pathway to Success through Creative Youth Development,” presenter, Maryland Out-of-School Time Network Conference, Baltimore, MD, January 10

Work History

2020 Research Assistant, Office of Curatorial Affairs, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC, February-April
2019-20 Exhibition Designer, Center For Art, Design And Visual Culture, UMBC, Baltimore, MD
2019– Co-Creator/Producer/Writer, OBSIDIAN Podcast, Baltimore MD
2019 Community Communications Manager, Rap Research Lab, Baltimore, MD, June-August
2018-19 Communications and Social Media Research Assistant, Intermedia + Digital Arts MFA Department, UMBC, Baltimore County, MD
2015-19 Volunteer Short Film Judge, Muslim Interscholastic Tournament, Washington, DC
2013 Research and Membership Intern, Maryland Film Festival, Baltimore, MD, June-August

Teaching Experience

2020-21 Teaching Artist, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD

Art Activity Instructional Video for Virtual Corporate Council Night, December 2020 and May, June 2021 (forthcoming)

2019-20 Teaching Assistant, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, MD

Introduction to Printmaking, Fall 2020

Intermedia Studio, Fall 2020

Introduction to Art + Media Studies, Fall and Spring 2019-2020

Visual Concepts I, Fall 2019

2019-20 Instructor, Summer Enrichment Academy (SEA), University of Maryland, Baltimore County, MD

The Art of Stop-Motion Animation, Summer 2020

The Art of Sound Animation, Summer 2019

2016-18 Lead Media Instructor, Wide Angle Youth Media, Baltimore MD
Animation, Fall 2016 and Spring 2017
Social Design, Fall and Spring 2016-2018
2016-17 Teaching Assistant, Towson University, Towson, MD
Visual Effects, Fall 2016
Animation Action Lab, Spring 2017
2013-16 Teaching Assistant, Govans Elementary School, Baltimore, MD
Writing and Reading Comprehension, Fall and Spring 2013-2016

Committees

2021 Member, Baltimore Field School, Working Group
2020-21 Trustee, Awesome Foundation, Baltimore MD

Press, Publications

2020

Lauren Passell, "⚰️ Lincoln's cadaver, Billie Holliday, a hip-hop conspiracy theory, Oklahoma City 🎶 Endless Thread's Amory Sivertson 🧵" Podcast The Newsletter, 12 October. Web.

https://podcastthenewsletter.substack.com/p/-lincolns-cadaver-billie-holliday

"60 Minutes Through Space." Open World, 8 October. Web. https://www.openworldradio.com/2020/10/08/60-minutes-through-space/

Lakshmi Gandhi, "55 years later, 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X' still inspires." NBC News, 10 September. Web. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/55-years-later-autobiography-malcolm-x-still-inspires-n1239797

Safiyah Cheatam, “Making a Case for W.E.B. Du Bois as a Proto-Afrofuturist.” The Drinking Gourd | Medium, 31 July. Web. https://medium.com/the-drinking-gourd/making-a-case-for-w- e-b-du-bois-as-a-proto-afrofuturist-302c60d8db8d

Aysha Khan, “Muslim women are building new worlds in science fiction and changing the confines of the genre.” The Washington Post, 17 July. Web. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ religion/muslim-women-are-building-new-worlds-in-science-fiction-and-changing-the- confines-of-the-genre/2020/07/17/ddea6a6e-c7aa-11ea-a99f-3bbdffb1af38_story.html

Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque, “Podcast Fever.” UMBC Magazine, 9 June. Web. https://magazine.umbc.edu/podcast-fever/

Teri Henderson, “MASTERS: Safiyah Cheatam.” BmoreArt, 28 May. Web. https://bmoreart.com/2020/05/masters-safiyah-cheatam.html

Vanessa Taylor, “Degrowing the Future. Part One of The Drinking Gourd’s Afrofuturism roundtable series." The Drinking Gourd | Medium, 31 January. Web. https://medium.com/the- drinking-gourd/degrowing-the-future-3bbfc28a725

Skills

Writing; Research and Planning; Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter); Adobe Creative Cloud (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere, AfterEffects, Lightroom); Dragonframe (Animation Software); DSLR Camera (Canon, Nikon); Digital Archives; Public Speaking, Customer Service, Curriculum Building, Smithsonian TMS System, MS Office (Word, Excel)