UCDA : connecting, inspiring, and supporting a creative community in education

UCDA Creative Summit

Apr 26 - Apr 27, 2022

Live Virtual Event



Inspiration can fuel your imagination, spark the next big idea, or be the catalyst to respond to change. But for that to happen, we need to allow ourselves the time to discover, create, and connect. The UCDA Creative Summit—spanning two invigorating days (mid-day hours)—will provide you that creative outlet.

Engage virtually in an intimate setting with design professionals across North America. These illustrators, filmmakers, lettering designers, printers, and creative thinkers will be sharing their work and stories, with a hands-on creative exercise. Roll up your sleeves and come prepared to learn, share, and grow your creative potential. You’ll walk away with a unique keepsake, new ideas, and a tight-knit community to support you along the way!

TOP REASONS TO ATTEND IN THIS SUMMIT

Education—Six carefully curated sessions from five speakers over two days to help you engage and spark your creativity.

Community—UCDA: Creating community for creative professionals in education. Connect with the folks who do what you do so you can charge your creative battery.

Affordable—Without the need for travel or lodging, the UCDA Creative Summit is very affordable—plus, there is no registration fee. Both members and non-members may attend live absolutely free. 



Kate Bingaman-Burt, Illustrator, Author, and Educator, Outlet
Lora DiFranco, Founder, Free Period Press
Ken Lashley, Artist, Marvel Entertainment
Rudy Valdez, Filmmaker
Cymone Wilder, Lettering Artist and Designer, Simon and Moose

Full speaker bios can be found below

 

 

  






The schedule below can help you protect and preserve your time. Note that all times are in North America Eastern Time.

Registration/Check-in: Monday, April 25—11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET
Live Event: Tuesday, April 26—11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET
Live Event: Wednesday, April 27—11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET

We start mid-morning at 11 a.m. Eastern (we have found this is the best overall time to allow different time zones to join us). Given this start time, we have only scheduled short breaks (no long lunch break), so plan to have water, coffee, and snacks on hand.

 

 

MONDAY, APRIL 25

Registration / Check-in

TUESDAY, APRIL 26

1. Finding My Voice Through Imposter Syndrome —Cymone Wilder
Imposter syndrome is the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills. Join Cymone as she takes a look into her struggle with feelings of imposter syndrome, and how it helped her find and define her voice as a lettering artist.

2. Live Drawing and Q&A—Ken Lashley
Join comic artist Ken Lashley as he does a live drawing of a fan-favorite comic book character and takes questions from the audience. Ken (also known as Ledkilla) will share a glimpse into his illustration process and what it's like to work for Marvel, DC, and Hasbro.

3. Failure From My Point of View—Rudy Valdez
Every voice deserves to be heard. Stories from a filmmaker who believes that everyone should be the hero of their own story. Rudy will discuss his relationship with failure—and how he has evolved with it—and the importance of your individual point of view.

Bonus: Creative Summit Mixer
Come chat with other summit attendees to discuss what you've learned, and share your insights on new ideas, and where you find your creative spark.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27

4. Balancing Ambition and Self-Care: Advice for Overachieving Creatives —Lora DiFranco
How do we accomplish big, audacious goals without burning out in the process? While she certainly doesn’t claim to have all the answers, Lora will walk through her process of growing her indie publishing business while balancing her personal life and practicing self-care. You’ll leave the session with a list of prompts to develop your own self-care plan.

5. Collage Workshop: Cut, Paste, Unplug—Lora DiFranco
Join us for a session of creative collaging! Lora, founder of Free Period Press and publisher of the Collage Kit, will walk through collage tips, techniques, and inspiration. Please bring old magazines/catalogs, a glue stick, scissors, or an X-acto knife to the workshop. If you don't have any old magazines, you can download and print these sample pages from Free Period Press's Collage Kit: https://bit.ly/collagekitsample. No past collaging experience is needed!

6. 3rd Spaces, Making Places, Mac and Cheese, Zines, and a Risograph Machine Named Barbara—Kate Bingaman-Burt
Come and join Kate process the pandemic through the lens of operating a very in-person and hands-on community risograph print shop called Outlet and how she perhaps coped with the stress and regressed by making even more zines and why finishing a sketchbook seemed to elude and even taunt her for the first 40 years of her life.

Bonus: Creative Summit Mixer / Closing
Continue the conversations and share your collages with other summit attendees. Share your summit experience and what takeaways you'll be taking back to your day-to-day activities.

 

 

Thank you to all our program partners. To be a partner for this year’s program, please email info@ucda.com.



SUMMIT PASS
(all prices in USD)
Regular

UCDA Member (Professional, Associate, or Faculty)
Become a member
$147 FREE

UCDA Partner Member

$197 FREE
Non-member/Subscriber $247 FREE

Student $97 FREE

 


See UCDA’s Cancellation Policy
See UCDA's Inclusiveness, Code of Conduct, and Anti-harassment Policy.

 

PROGRAM CHAIRS


PROGRAM CHAIR
Alex Parsons
Creative Director
Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

Michigan State University
PROGRAM CO-CHAIR
Ryan Sprowl
Art Director 
Office of Communications

Oberlin College

 


Featured Speakers

Kate Bingaman-Burt
Kate Bingaman-Burt
Kate Bingaman-Burt mostly draws, letters, documents, and collects, but she also does a lot of other things that involve energy, conversation, and exchange. Kate is a full-time educator and makes illustrations for all sorts of clients all around the world. Since 2008, she has worked at Portland State University and …

Kate Bingaman-Burt mostly draws, letters, documents, and collects, but she also does a lot of other things that involve energy, conversation, and exchange. Kate is a full-time educator and makes illustrations for all sorts of clients all around the world. Since 2008, she has worked at Portland State University and now holds the rank of Professor of Graphic Design. She opened Outlet in 2017, which hosts workshops, pop-up events, and a fully operational risograph print studio. Kate She also sits on the board of Design Portland and has been scheming with them since 2012. She updates instagram WAY more than her websites, so if you want to see what I am working on, please check out http://instagram.com/katebingburt and http://instagram.com/outletpdx.

Full Description

Lora DeFranco
Lora DeFranco
Lora DiFranco is the founder of Free Period Press, a self-care publisher based in Cleveland, Ohio. She's previously worked at Little Jacket, American Greetings, and LAND studio. Lora studied environmental studies at Oberlin College and has an MBA from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management. You can visit …

Lora DiFranco is the founder of Free Period Press, a self-care publisher based in Cleveland, Ohio. She's previously worked at Little Jacket, American Greetings, and LAND studio. Lora studied environmental studies at Oberlin College and has an MBA from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management.


You can visit Free Period Press here: https://freeperiodpress.com/

Full Description

Ken Lashley
Ken Lashley
Ken Lashley is a comic book veteran and one of comics go-to cover artists. Ken has always loved comics from when he was a young boy growing up in Toronto. His mother bought him his first book…Black Panther. Ken is pretty sure his mom never read the issue before she …

Ken Lashley is a comic book veteran and one of comics go-to cover artists. Ken has always loved comics from when he was a young boy growing up in Toronto. His mother bought him his first book…Black Panther. Ken is pretty sure his mom never read the issue before she gave it to Ken…it was the Black Panther vs the KKK. A few years into his career Ken was given the opportunity to draw Black Panther with Hollywood producer Reggie Hudlin doing the writing. It was considered one the best runs in Black Panther history.


Ken has been a comic book veteran working on such titles as Excalibur, X-caliber age of Apocalypse, Black Panther, Xmen, Spiderman, Flash, JLA, Superman, Superman- DOOMED, and others. Outside of comics ken has worked for Hasbro, Lucasfilm, Mattel, and Fox Sports, creating designs for such lines as G.I Joe, Transformers, Spiderman, Avengers, and Star Wars. The work created for Fox Sports was nominated for an Emmy.

Full Description

Rudy Valdez
Rudy Valdez
Rudy Valdez is an Emmy Award-winning Michigan-raised, New York City-based filmmaker committed to creating social, cultural, and political stories through a cinematic and meaningful lens. He got his start in film as a Camera Operator on the Peabody Award-winning, Sundance series Brick City and went onto direct a true passion …

Rudy Valdez is an Emmy Award-winning Michigan-raised, New York City-based filmmaker committed to creating social, cultural, and political stories through a cinematic and meaningful lens. He got his start in film as a Camera Operator on the Peabody Award-winning, Sundance series Brick City and went onto direct a true passion project, The Sentence (HBO). Shot and directed by Valdez over the course of a decade, this feature documentary tells the very personal story of his sister’s plight in the criminal justice system while tackling subjects like mandatory minimums and sentencing reform. For this work, the filmmaker won the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, US Documentary Audience Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was a 2018 Critics Choice Documentary Awards Best New Director nominee.


Prior to The Sentence, Valdez has worked as a Cinematographer on a multitude of projects including: The Last Patrol (HBO), directed by Academy Award-nominated Director Sebastian Junger; Whoopi Goldberg presents Moms Mabley: I Got Something To Tell You (HBO) produced and directed by Whoopi Goldberg, premiering at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival; Remembering the Artist, Robert De Niro, Sr., (HBO), premiering at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival; The Conversation Series, a New York Times OpDoc; the series Second Coming?: Will Black America Decide the 2012 Election? (BET); Prison Dogs, directed by Primetime Emmy Award-winning Director Geeta Gandbhir and Perri Peltz, premiering at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival; Buried Above Ground, directed by Ben Selkow, premiering at the Woodstock Film Festival; as well as, The Talk (PBS), directed by Academy Award-nominated Director Sam Pollard.


Valdez’s most recent project, ReOpening Night, a feature film about The Public Theater’s staging of a beloved New York City institution, Shakespeare in the Park, following the COVID-19 pandemic. It will premiere on HBO Max December 20. This summer, Breakaway, a feature film following WNBA superstar, Maya Moore and her fight for criminal justice reform, premiered on ESPN in July 2021 (produced by Rockin’ Robin Productions); and its complementary short, Make Him Known, premiered at the 2021 Miami Film Festival and made appearances at the Sarasota Film Festival, The Brooklyn Film Festival, Minneapolis Film Festival, and Nantucket Film Festival. His four-part docu-series, We Are: The Brooklyn Saints (produced by Imagine Documentaries), is currently streaming on Netflix. He also co-directed the premiere episode of Through Our Eyes (HBO) alongside Academy Award-winning director, Geeta Gandbhir, a four-part docu-series from Sesame Workshop that explores the lives of American families from the perspective of children; how they navigate their circumstances with their families and the world at large. He is also in production on the definitive feature documentary of Carlos Santana (produced by Imagine Documentaries) and Disney +’s CHOIR, a docu-series following the Detroit Youth Choir after their star turn on America’s Got Talent (also produced by Imagine Documentaries). Valdez’s repertoire now extends into the scripted arena as he recently sold a genre TV series he created to Amazon that is loosely based on his family and life experiences.

Full Description

Cymone Wilder
Cymone Wilder
Cymone Wilder is a lettering artist and designer at Simon and Moose—building brands through custom lettering and design. I’m represented by Co-Loop, a fresh, artist-forward agency built on the foundation of collaboration, community, and diverse creative content Currently, Cymone is full-time at Simon/Myers. Formerly, SmileDirectClub. Even formerly-er, She Reads Truth/He …

Cymone Wilder is a lettering artist and designer at Simon and Moose—building brands through custom lettering and design. I’m represented by Co-Loop, a fresh, artist-forward agency built on the foundation of collaboration, community, and diverse creative content


Currently, Cymone is full-time at Simon/Myers. Formerly, SmileDirectClub. Even formerly-er, She Reads Truth/He Reads Truth. She is fiercely passionate about producing meaningful and long-lasting work. In Cymone’s spare time she enjoys ~pretending~ she’s super outdoorsy, and laughing with friends around bonfires. She doesn’t enjoy running (in fact, she hates it), but does it a lot anyway.

Full Description

View all speakers

Date and Time

Tue, Apr 26 - Wed, Apr 27, 2022


Location

Live Virtual Event