Our Reach
Two Chairs Projects strive to make equality part of their objectives. We work with local organizations to insure that our programs reach the communities that need them the most by offering programs that are assessable to all and by making available free tickets and engagement programs where ever possible.
Our Board
Melissa Hibbard
Founder and President. Melissa Hibbard has produced documentary films BREAKING BREAD (2000), SIR ALFRED OF CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT (2001), SHAHRBANOO (2002) and produced and wrote the award-winning THE GLASS HOUSE in association with the Sundance Channel (2008). Recently she collaborated on an illustrated translation and adaptation of Persian mythology called SHAHNAMEH: THE EPIC OF THE PERSIAN KINGS (2013) as the Editorial Director.
Negin Moss
Negin Moss is a New York based artist and curator. She is fascinated by the interplay of systems from the individual body to broader history, using a range of mediums including animation, live-action short films and photography. Her works has been reviewed in the Huffington Post, the New York Times, Art Report, Herald Sun, Global Voices, Artribune, Art World Women and Art View. In New York, She has been on the board of South Asian Women Creative Collective and a curator at Alwan Center for the Arts.
Ram Devineni
Ram Devineni is a filmmaker, publisher and founder of Rattapallax films and magazine. He produced The Russian Woodpecker, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. His most recent film, The Karma Killings, about the Nithari serial killings is out exclusively on Netflix worldwide. He is the creator of the comic book, Priya's Shakti and Priya's Mirror, which received the Tribeca Film Institute New Media Fund from the Ford Foundation and supported by the World Bank, and showcased at 2016 New York Film Festival. For creating India's first female superhero who is a rape survivor, he was named a "gender equality champion" by UN Women and named by Fast Company magazine as one of the most creative people in business in 2017.
Two Chairs Current Artists
Hamid Rahmanian
Hamid Rahmanian is a 2014 John Guggenheim Fellow. His work centers on theater, moving image, and graphic arts. Over the past 10 years he has created a body of work around the Persian epic poem Shahnameh. (www.fictionvillestudio.com)
J Hann
A puppeteer, fiber artist, and mover, J Hann's textural work draws inspiration from the past and is centered in the weird, wonderful, and whimsical. They have been a resident artist at Governor's Island and The Object Movement Festival. When not performing or making, they teach puppetry and fiber arts workshops for all ages, including past workshops at: the Museum of Arts and Design, Arts Connection, and The Jim Henson Foundation among others.
Simon Arizpe
A paper engineer based in New York City, his award winning pop-up works have earned him an honorable mention from the Society of Illustrators and the Museum of Comic Book Art, Cartooning inaugural Award of Excellence and the Meggendorffer Award.
Louisa Merino
Louisa Merino studied Documentary Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy, graduating with honors. Her film FAMILIES LIKE MINE was selected as part of Mexico’s Women in Film and Television Showcase for 2013, among other festivals worldwide; and her film LIFELINE was part of the official selection of the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival for 2013. Louisa works as Senior Editor, Story Producer and Consultant for the David Lynch Foundation TV.