Roxanne Varzi is a filmmaker, author, anthropologist, and associate professor of Anthropology and Visual Studies. She is the author of The Independent Publisher's Award gold-medal prize winning book "Last Scene Underground: An Ethnographic Novel of Iran."

Peter Sellars is a ground breaking American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is a professor of Art as Social Action and Art as Moral Action at UCLA