Lewis Black: Globally acclaimed stand-up comic instantly recognizable for his cathartic, passionately pissed-off style and incisive, topical wit
Billy Bragg: British singer/songwriter who fused folk, punk and personal-storytelling to become one of the most popular artists of the last two decades
Staceyann Chin: Spoken-word artist, performer, poet and LGBT rights activist widely known as a co-writer and performer in the Tony Award-winning “Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam”
Chuck D: Rapper, author and founder of pioneering rap group Public Enemy, who brought hip-hop to the fore as music with a message
Edwidge Danticat: Award-winning novelist who draws on her Haitian-American background to write about themes swirling through our times: emigration, culture, gender and the entwining of past, present and future
Stephen Duncombe: Professor of history at NYU, who thinks and writes about media, culture and their intersection with politics
Eve Ensler: Tony Award-winning playwright, performer and activist renown for her long-running play “The Vagina Monologues” and her growing V-Day Global Movement to End Violence Against Women
Shepard Fairey: One of the most popular and influential street artists of our times, known for his provocative artworks, grass-roots posters and resisting all categorization
Tommy Guerrero: San Francisco skateboard legend – and member of the Bones Brigade skate team in the 1980s – turned recording artist with a slew of critically acclaimed albums
Suheir Hammad: Palestinian-American poet and political activist who came to the fore with her bracingly honest spoken word performances on Def Poetry Jam
Sean Hayes: Indie singer/songwriter known for his raw, earthy style
Eugene Hutz: Ukrainian-born front man of the critically acclaimed gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello
Van Jones: Pioneer in clean energy and human rights, champion of the middle class, founder of non-profits focused on people-powered innovation, author and former adviser to the Obama administration
Wayne Kramer: Co-founder of the seminal Detroit rock band MC5, which continues to be a major influence on current music, and ranked as one of the greatest guitarists of all time
Hari Kunzru: British novelist and journalist, known for daring works of fiction exploring themes of today’s globalized world
Ian MacKaye: Founder of the influential hard-core band Minor Threat, the self-managed bands Fugazi and The Evens, a duo with Amy Farina that performs in non-traditional spaces
El Meswy: Brooklyn-based, Spanish-born hip-hop artist who is part of the rapidly growing Spanish hip-hop scene and known for his raw storytelling style
Tom Morello: One of today’s most outspoken musicians who has made an indelible mark on current music in such bands as Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and The Nightwatchman
John Sayles: Indie film writer, director and most of all, storyteller, who has made a diverse roster of iconoclastic, unexpected and socially complex movies that chronicle American life
D.J. Spooky: Hip-hop musician, turntablist, producer, author, professor, philosopher and artist; currently Resident Artist at the Metropolitan Museum of New York
Elizabeth Streb: Sought-after contemporary choreographer and “Genius grant” recipient, who mesmerizes audiences with her fierce, acrobatic, perspective-challenging works
Richard D. Wolff: Professor of Economics known for his innovative ideas about class and capitalist crises