Core Team
Hatim Belyamani - Founder & Artistic Director
Growing up in Morocco, surrounded by sounds of the country’s Arabic, Amazigh, and Sub-Saharan African origins, Hatim was an award-winning classical pianist and heavy metal guitarist. At Harvard, he traded in his headbanging to study sociology, jazz, composition, and ethnomusicology, but found a passion in
electronic music – a medium that enabled him to combine his eclectic influences. For the next decade, while developing a prestigious career at Apple, Hatim composed, produced, and performed in various solo and collaborative music projects.
In 2012, Hatim felt a strong calling to pursue his vision of bringing people together through music, and resigned from his senior management position at Apple to devote himself to creating Remix ⟷ Culture. His journey with the organization has since taken him and his growing number of collaborators around the world, whether filming and recording traditional musicians, leading workshops, or performing live video remixes at festivals (notably Roskilde and WOMEX). Hatim is currently based in Brooklyn, NY, where a vast trove of thriving and interwoven cultures keeps him inspired to continue bridging divides and connecting disparate communities through the power of music, remix, and storytelling.
Eugenie Cha - Executive Director
Eugenie is a writer and multidisciplinary artist whose work negotiates the relationship between memory, violence, and public spaces in contest, resistance, transit, or movement.
She earned a Master of Science in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Africana Studies from Bard College, and has held artist residencies and fellowships in Finland, Morocco, Cameroon, and Senegal, the latter where she was the 2025 RAW Académie Observer for RAW Material Company's Session 11-"A Sense of Place” cohort. Her work has appeared in group exhibitions and public readings at the Arabic Language Institute in Fez; doual’art in Douala; A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn; and Accent Sisters in New York City.
She has worked in development for the past fifteen years in support of global civil society organizations and activists across West, Central, and East Africa, and Norway, as well as arts and social justice non-profits in the United States. Currently, she lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Conrad Clifton - Artistic Producer
Conrad Clifton is a Brooklyn-based music producer, composer, DJ and photographer. He creates music that is genre fluid - seamlessly blending elements of hip-hop and electronic music. And with a passion for film photography, he specializes in portraits, lifestyle and events.
Conrad believes creativity is free flowing, and shouldn't be limited to just one medium. As a music producer, he has major film and TV placements with Warner Bros., DC Films, HBO, Netflix, Nike, Starz, MTV, Dr. Martens and more. Winner of the Independent Music Award for BEST DANCE/ELECTRONIC EP, Conrad’s music has received support from The FADER, Magnetic Magazine, BBC Radio 1xtra, Kitsuné Musique and others. He was recently awarded Editors’ Pick for Life Framer: Urban Life Photography Competition, for his image ‘Xeara Tiara’. Also, the collaborative short film 'LAYERS' - for which he starred in and composed the original score - is an Official Selection for the La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival, as well as the Berlin Fashion Film Festival.
His new photography book and exhibition, ‘Act Like I’m Not Here’ was recently on display at Galerie Kitsuné in Brooklyn, and he continues to express himself, shooting music artists and events in NYC - as well as composing custom music for movie trailers.
Osvaldo Valdes - Finance Director
Osvaldo Valdes (Ossie) is a finance, accounting, and operations pro with 15+ years of experience in corporate and nonprofit spaces. Originally from South Florida, he made the move to NYC over six years ago—fulfilling a lifelong dream. He loves tackling complex problems, streamlining processes, and helping teams level up.
Beyond the spreadsheets, Ossie is into photography, travel, and has a love-hate relationship with running. You might spot him roaming the streets with his camera or posted up in a café with a good book.
Ossie holds a Bachelor’s in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University and currently calls Harlem home.
Project Consultants
Arshia Haq - Program Manager
Arshia Fatima Haq (born in Hyderabad, India) is a multidisciplinary artist working across film, visual art, performance, and sound, through counter-archives and speculative narratives, and is currently exploring themes of indigenous and localized knowledge within the context of Sufism.
Her projects have been presented nationally and internationally at museums, galleries, nightclubs, and in the streets - notable venues include the Hammer and Broad Museums in Los Angeles, MOMA in New York, Centres George Pompidou in Paris, and Onassis Stegi in Athens.
Haq is also the founder of Discostan, a collaborative club-based project, radio show and record label drawing from the cultural production of South and West Asia and North Africa and their diasporas. She has produced radio programming for Dublab and KCRW and currently co-produces a monthly radio show on NTS.
Haq received an MFA in Film and Video from California Institute of the Arts and a BA in Comparative Literature from Northwestern University.
Tyler Wood - Audio Director
Tyler Wood was born and raised in rural northern Maine. By age 5 he'd fallen in love with playing and recording music, and was making original albums with his brother on a boombox tape recorder. Before too long Tyler was performing professionally as a pianist, and also began a parallel career as an audio engineer and producer. A decade ensued of touring and making records with artists including Chester French,
Joan As Policewoman, Luke Temple (Here We Go Magic), Glass Ghost, and Oh My Goodness. Tyler's work has encompassed a wide range of music from avant-garde to pop to traditional. His openness has led him in many directions, some very technologically oriented, but he has always maintained a passion for capturing a pure human performance-- a moment's music in a moment's time. When Hatim Belyamani sought Tyler's advice on early Remix ⟷ Culture work, Tyler fell in love with the music and was refreshed by the intimacy and vitality of the recordings. Tyler happily joined the trip to Morocco in spring 2014, and has been Remix ⟷ Culture's chief audio engineer and audio director ever since.
Board of Directors
Altay Guvench
Altay Guvench attended Harvard University from 1999 to 2003, where they obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology (Neuroscience). Since then, their professional career has spanned a diverse range of impressive projects in the music and technology spaces. As a bass player for The Great Unknowns, Altay recorded and co-produced their debut record. Altay then founded MightyQuiz.com in 2007, a user-generated trivia site. In the same year, they worked as a Web Developer for LibraryThing.com, building new features for their main site and data-syndication product.
In 2005, they became Co-Founder of AudioBeta Corp., a web application to allow musicians to keep in touch with their fans. Altay also worked as a Consultant for MediaUnbound, Inc. and as Manager, Business Development for Global Technology Conferences, Inc. in the same year. In 2012, they became a Partner/Founder of 10x Management, a talent agency for the tech industry. Finally, in 2018, they started working as a Software Engineer for Weights & Biases, building the best-in-class suite of developer tools for AI and machine learning researchers. Altay is currently supporting Remix ⟷ Culture with innovation and technology solutions to streamline internal process and workflows and strengthen artist programming and revenue sharing in accordance with our fair trade model.
Francisco Martinez
Francisco Martinez, Founder and Principal at Tactical Impact Consulting, is a finance and investment strategist specializing in capital allocation, financial structuring, and mission-driven investing. With a background spanning philanthropy, venture capital, and nonprofit financial management, he has secured and directed billions in philanthropic and investor commitments, optimized multi-million-dollar budgets, and guided organizations through monetary and operational transformations.
Francisco excels at leveraging capital to drive impact. He has designed investment and funding strategies that align financial sustainability with mission objectives, leading initiatives that blend traditional finance with innovative, high-impact solutions. His experience includes structuring investment vehicles, advising on financial strategy for social enterprises, and scaling organizations through resource optimization.
Previously, Francisco played a key leadership role at Lever for Change, a MacArthur Foundation nonprofit affiliate advising a $2.5 billion philanthropic initiative. While serving as Communications Manager, he worked closely with executive leadership and donors to advise on philanthropic capital deployment, impact measurement, and financial strategy for major gifts ranging from $10M to $650M. His insights have helped ultra-high-net-worth donors and institutional investors maximize the financial and social returns on their investments.
As a first-generation Salvadoran American, Francisco is committed to increasing economic mobility and financial inclusion. His work has supported over 550 organizations in strengthening financial resilience and accessing capital for transformative change. He holds an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently expanding his expertise in impact investing and financial strategy. Francisco serves on the Board of Directors for the University of Illinois Latina/Latino Alumni Association (LLAA), Nuestro Futuro Fund, and Chicago Latines in Philanthropy (CLIP), furthering his commitment to financial empowerment and equity.
Beyond his professional work, Francisco is an avid traveler and multidisciplinary artist in painting, mosaics, and charcoal.
Advisory Board
Justin Adams
Justin Adams is a UK based Guitarist, Composer and Record Producer.
After a childhood spent partly in the Middle East he developed his sound in the Post-Punk London scene, his solo album Desert Road (2000) referencing North and West African Trance music, blues, dub and psychedelia. He has toured the world and co-written 4 albums with Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, produced iconic albums for Tuareg guitar rebels Tinariwen and Algerian maverick Rachid Taha, and collaborated with West African Master Musician Juldeh Camara on a series of albums for Peter Gabriel’s Real World records. In 2023 he has played in the U.S. and Australia with roots Italian virtuoso Mauro Durante, in Paris with Algerian songstress Souad Massi ,recorded an album with New Wave Fado artist Lina in Lisbon, and played with Pandit V.M. Bhatt in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
Jeremy Burke
Jeremy Burke is a nonprofit professional with more than 20 years of experience in financial leadership of mission-driven organizations, currently serving as Controller for The Paley Center for Media.
Previously, he has served as the Director of Finance and Accounting for StoryCorps, an award-winning public media organization, and Chief Operating Officer of Cambridge in America, where he was responsible for managing financial and business operations to support fundraising, alumni relations, and outreach to U.S. alumni of the University of Cambridge.
He also served as Director of Finance and Operations overseeing operations in New York and China for Trace Foundation, a private foundation supporting the continuity and development of Tibetan communities in China.
Kurt Korthals
Kurt Korthals was born and raised in the region of southeast Alaska, where he grew up with Alaskan natives and their indigenous art and culture, which shaped him immensely. Gravitating towards a love of music, he formally learned to play the clarinet, jazz guitar, formed the town’s only punk band, and eventually discovered electronic music, with which he became completely enthralled.
In the late nineties, Kurt moved to Austin, Texas to further his music and education. There he became a regular disc jockey at 91.7FM KVRX Austin and Free Radio Austin, was technical supervisor for Cinematexas Short Film Festival, released music on small labels around the globe, co-founded a small record label (Notenuf), organized and facilitated a myriad of music and art events, and eventually received a BS degree in computer sciences.
Today Kurt is based in Berlin and works as a music software engineer while maintaining an obscure output of electronic music mingling between avant-garde and left-field dance music. He has been invited to give presentations and perform at Mooste Külalis Stuudio (MoKS) in Estonia, Carnival of e-Creativity (CeC) in India, and continuous to perform and DJ at numerous locations throughout Europe and America.
Amita Vempati
Amita Vempati is a musician, writer, curator, and arts professional. A lifelong performer with training in South Asian, Persianate/Central Asian, and East European traditions, she uses her passions for social justice and art to connect with communities all over the world.
Amita completed her B.A. in Government, History, and Russian Studies at the University of Texas and her M.A. in Central Eurasian Studies (focusing on post-Soviet Central Asia) at Indiana University.
Prior to her professional pivot to the arts, Amita was a Senior Program Officer for the Western Balkans and Moldova at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative. She also worked with the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center and American Councils for International Education directing outreach programming based in the United States and Central Asia.
Amita currently serves as the Development Manager at the Brooklyn-based Artistic Freedom Initiative, an organization directly assisting artists who have experienced persecution, censorship, or other restrictions on their freedom of expression. In addition to her role at AFI, she works with the East European Folklife Center to uplift Balkan arts in the United States and leads the Uncovered/Recovered series at Brooklyn Raga Massive to platform underrepresented voices in South Asian music.
Countless Contributors
We are also immeasurably grateful to the many friends (old and new) who have lent a hand or an ear along the years, including:
Field Production
Khalid Agli Yasser Belaiachi Aziz Bouyabrine Sully Chamand Mhammed Elyadini Bajram (Kafu) Kinolli Eno Zangoun Fatima El Azadi Soraya Joundy
Video Editing
Abla Benyahia Michelle Chen Nina Jordan Souki Mehdaoui Will Truesdell Sya Warfield
Translation
Khalid Agli Khalid Belyamani Kenza Bensaid Meryem Bensouda Fatima El Azadi Fatima Matousse Yang Shuo Esraa Warda
Manufacturing
Youssef Aziz El-Idrissi Daniel Giffin
Graphic Design
Arian Behzadi Shawn Feeney Danielle Regan
Lighting Design
Antonin Bouvier Andres Karu
Cameras
Khalid Agli Hamza Atifi Youness Aziz El Idrissi Yahya Badaoui Yassine Bellamine Mourad Belouadi Abla Benyahia Antonin Bouvier Sephira Fierce Jordan Fletcher Mohamed Gara Hassan Houari Aicha Jabour Nina Jordan Andres Karu Barjam (Kafu) Kinolli Souki Mehdaoui Sophia Menni Richard Milligan Yasmine Yata Sya Warfield
Communication
Kenza Bensaid Amina Bensouda Casey Karr Layal Rhanem Amita Vempati
Sample Production
Amino Belyamani Hatim Belyamani Michelle Chen Souki Mehdaoui Michael Silverstein Will Truesdell Tyler Wood
Recording
Ed Bentley Bajram (Kafu) Kinolli Aziz Nashat Derek Nievergelt Tyler Wood
Mixing
Tyler Wood
Mastering
Josh Bonati Joe Lambert Tyler Wood
Fundraising
Jordan Fletcher Mounir Kabbaj Barbara Toy
Events
Darby Beck Natalie Cohen Shawn Feeney Daniel Giffin Altay Guvench Scott Hawley Maryann Hulsman Michelle Lobo Mark and Alexis Mian Maria Ruhe Maha Elmadi Esraa Warda