Droege (She / They) is an artist and cultural producer with a practice that’s hard to pin down. It floats between organizing and object making, while incorporating entrepreneurialism (because it’s useless if you can’t eat). Her work has been written about in the New York Times, ARTnews, Temporary Art Review, ARTSY, and most Pittsburgh publications.

Hannah Turpin
Managing Director

Hannah Turpin (She / They) is a curator who knows Good Art. As the Assistant Director of Casey Droege Cultural Productions, they co-pilot the ship with Droege, lead program planning for Pedantic Arts Residency, and manage CDCP’s crew. Prior to joining the team in 2021, Turpin earned their MA in Art History from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and worked at museums like Leslie Lohman Museum and Carnegie Museum of Art. Turpin has curated such shows as Heavenly Realms: works by Eriko Hattori (SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Los Angeles, 2023), Elle Pérez (Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 2021), Counterpressures (Carnegie Museum of Art, 2020), and The Self Realized: queering the art of self-portraiture (Brew House Association, 2019). Turpin is originally from Minnesota and is a big fan of its state fair, which is the second-largest in the country.

Candace Jane Opper
Finance + Operations Director

Opper (She / Her) is a writer, an artist, and a numbers person. Her first book, Certain and Impossible Events, was selected by Cheryl Strayed for the Kore Press Memoir Award and featured in NPR’s 2021 Books We Love. She has worked with a variety of organizations that strive to promote arts and culture as a means of connecting people across communities. In addition to her work with CDCP, she runs Fringe Benefits Bookkeeping, a small firm providing bookkeeping and organizational services to small businesses and nonprofits in the Pittsburgh region. In her free time, she enjoys embarking on tedious craft projects and making zines with her seven-year-old kiddo.

Eriko Hattori
Design & Communications Lead

Hattori (They / Them) is an artist and designer. Hattori makes work that draws from their experiences as a queer Japanese American and has exhibited their work in solo and group shows across the country in cities including Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Kingston, NY; New Orleans, LA; Pittsburgh, PA; Philadelphia, PA; Austin, TX; and more. They have done marketing and design work for numerous arts and social justice organizations. A homebody at heart, if Hattori isn’t with their boisterous cat Milo, they can be found at their printmaking studio in Troy Hill or out in the sun (if Pittsburgh allows.) Their favorite sound is the jingle for the Ikebukuro station on the JR Yamanote Line in Japan.

Dave Zak
Lead Art Handler and Cultural Producer

A former educator with Pittsburgh Public Schools, Zak (He / Him) is a Pittsburgh native working in the non-profit arts. From volunteer, to attendant, art handler, board member, curator, and project manager - no job was beyond reach. Loving a collaboration, Dave currently works as CDCP and TASC's Lead Art Handler and Cultural Producer, spearheading our art installation services and working with partner organizations to bring thought-provoking exhibitions to Pittsburgh. He holds a BA in English from Penn State University and loves a good time.

Hannah Colen
Marketing Manager

Colen (she/her) is a Korean-American photographer and creative whose work observes the modern world through the "female gaze." Outside of portraiture, she's passionate about shooting from a trauma-informed paradigm and uplifting marginalized voices in the projects she contributes to. She has worked with a variety of clients, including ESPN Andscape, Smithsonian museums, and the White House Historical Association. Colen holds a B.S. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Marketing and Studio Arts. In her free time, she's making the most out of her National Parks pass or eating something cheesy.

Tara Fay Coleman
Journal Contributor

Coleman (she / her) is a mother, conceptual artist, curator, writer, and arts worker from Buffalo, NY. She currently lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA. Fay’s work consists of a multidisciplinary praxis that is an exploration of identity, motherhood, Black womanhood, and taking up space. Through her practice, she mines her own lived experiences for subject matter, with a goal to intertwine her life with her work. Fay has curated exhibitions for various institutions, which include Phosphor Project Space and Brew House Association in Pittsburgh, PA; Denison Art Space at Denison University in Granville, OH; and Swivel Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Fay’s work has been exhibited at Carnegie Museum of Art, SPACE Gallery, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, and here Gallery.

Naomi Chambers
Creative Lead for WCDC

Naomi Chambers (she / her) is the creative lead in program development at WCDC with the artists we feature through the Art All Over project. Working as a painter and sculptor, Naomi graduated with a double degree from the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Studio Arts and Marketing in 2009. In 2017, she and her partner worked with a collective of artists to open FlowerHouse, a community art studio and creative space in Wilkinsburg where they offer workshops for the predominantly black community. In 2018, She had her first solo exhibition, Communal Futures at an arts institution, August Wilson Center: African American Cultural Center. She is currently Community Liason with Alisha Wormsley’s Sibyls Shrine, a residency for creative mamas.

Rhoda Yun
Operations and Project Assistant

Rhoda Yun (She / Her) supports all CDCP and TASC activities through logistical management and internal organization. Working alongside Leadership and Project Managers, Yun streamlines our systems through field research and implementation of new protocols to ensure we operate at high levels of efficiency, accuracy, and clarity. She holds a B.S. from Boston University in Journalism, where she made a focused transition to reporting on the local arts and music scene. Outside of work, Rhoda can be found indulging her inner grandmother by crocheting garments. She also identifies as a podcast enthusiast and chihuahua mom.

Ignacio Lopez
Project Assistant

Lopez (He / Him) was born and raised in Pittsburgh where he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Studio Arts and Creative Writing. In 2021 he formed a small screen print studio called Alchemic Print. His works can be found online at www.alchemicprint.com and in various member shows through Pittsburgh.

Kaylani Brown
Project Assistant

Kaylani Brown (they / them) is dotting I’s and crossing T’s for CDCP and TASC. They provide backup by organizing, reading the fine print, and bravely making phone calls. In 2021, they graduated from MICA with a BFA in General Fine Arts and Sequential Art. Kaylani is a New Yorker, a Capricorn, and an accessory-lover in that order. An avid notetaker, they always have a pen and paper in hand.

About CDCP

Selected Press

Our Staff

Casey Droege Executive Director / Owner

Hannah TurpinManaging Director

Candace Jane OpperFinance + Operations Director

Eriko HattoriDesign & Communications Lead

Dave ZakLead Art Handler and Cultural Producer

Hannah ColenMarketing Manager

Tara Fay ColemanJournal Contributor

Naomi ChambersCreative Lead for WCDC

Rhoda YunOperations and Project Assistant

Ignacio LopezProject Assistant

Kaylani BrownProject Assistant

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Casey Droege
Executive Director / Owner