Nylah Byrd, Host
Kayla Henry-Griffin, Host
Assistant Conservator of Objects and Programs Assistant at Balboa Art Conservation Center
Nylah (she/her/hers) is an early career conservator with an interest in the intersections of social justice and Art Conservation. She is a founding member of the Black Art Conservators group and is particularly passionate about public engagement and community connections within art conservation and cultural heritage institutions in the United States. Nylah believes in museums as community centers and looks forward to seeing that come to fruition as de-colonization efforts in museums continue. Her research interests include equity and inclusion in conservation, preserving ephemera, and fabrication of inorganic objects. Nylah is a strong advocate for people-centered conservation practice. Nylah earned her M.S. in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/ University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation in 2022 and her B.A. with Honors in Archaeology from Stanford University in 2018.
Kayla Henry-Griffin (they/them) received their Master’s from New York University’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program, where they studied digital preservation and the philosophy behind community archiving. Kayla wrote their thesis on the ever-changing topics in video game preservation from 2013 to the present and produced plans for a second iteration of Pressing Restart, a 2013 video game preservation conference hosted by New York University. Their preservation and conservation experience spans across a myriad of small and large collections- from cataloging and assessing magnetic media to conducting digital preservation on time-based media artworks. Fun fact- the game, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, is the game that made Kayla want to pursue moving image conservation and preservation.
Urbanist Media, Producer
Urbanist Media is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to preserve place through story. Founded by Deqah Hussein-Wetzel in 2021, Urbanist Media uses storytelling and art-based media to uplift marginalized peoples and actively works to bridge racial divides in historic preservation, architecture, and urban planning. They amplify Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ stories that have been lost to posterity and seek to raise awareness about—and inspire/connect—others doing similar work around the country.
Urbanist Media’s production team members are Deqah Hussein-Wetzel, Andrew Callaway, and Vanessa Quirk.
UCLA Racial & Social Justice (RSJ) Seed Grant Award Co-PI’s:
- Anya Dani, Director of Community Engagement and Inclusive Practice, UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage
- Justin Dunnavant, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, UCLA
Other Black Art Conservators Podcast Team Members:
- Valinda Carroll, Contract Conservator, Indiana State Library
- Rita Cofield, Getty/City’s Office of Historic Resources – African American Historic Places, LA Project
- Frederick Wallace, Chief Conservator, Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Student Researchers
- Ariadin Jones, UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
- Makayla Rawlins, UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage
RSJ Grant Advisors:
Stacy Williams, Librarian, UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center
Glenn Wharton, Lore and Gerald Cunard Chair, UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage and Professor of Art History and Conservation of Material Culture
Black Art Conservators 