PechaKucha 48

PechaKucha, Japanese for “chit chat,” is a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each (6 minutes and 40 seconds in total) keeping presentation concise, fast-paced, and powerful. Charleston Music Hall is proud to be the official venue and producer of PechaKucha Charleston. The Music Hall, with help from our collaborators Charleston Arts Festival and artist liaison Terry Fox, hopes to focus on developing a strong, interesting, and diverse presenter line up from an array of different artistic, creative, and entrepreneurial disciplines and encourage collaboration, communication, and support in Charleston’s creative community.

Arun Drummond is a Charleston-based multidisciplinary artist whose work draws from Gullah traditions, Southern history, and contemporary Black culture. His paintings—often created on linen canvas and layered with sweetgrass basketry—explore themes of ancestral memory, land, labor, and transformation.

A former gallery manager turned full-time painter, Drummond now runs the Drummond Studio Gallery on Charleston’s Eastside—a space dedicated to storytelling and the celebration of both emerging and established artists. His work is featured in the museum stores of the Gibbes Museum of Art and the International African American Museum in Charleston.

Josh Silverman has been a DJ in Charleston since 2003, blending old school, breakbeat, rare groove, and electronic dance tracks in a continuous mix of genres and generations, and he hosts parties and karaoke nights at venues throughout the city.

Josh also founded Charleston Event Pros, his family-run business focused on weddings, corporate event production, and high energy community programming.

Josh has been the house DJ for PechaKucha since the early days.

For more information visit @sounds.like.josh on Instagram or www.charlestoneventpros.com on the web.

Maura Hogan is an arts and culture writer and arts and culture editor at Charleston City Paper. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Gourmet, Garden & Gun, and many Charleston publications, among them The Post and Courier, where she was arts critic and columnist.

Maura has worked in staff positions in the creative services and marketing departments of The New Yorker, as a promotion director, as well as The New York Times, Vanity Fair and Gourmet. She also worked at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and as a consultant for the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

She has won numerous awards, among them South Carolina Press Association’s recognition twice for Best Column, and twice for Review Portfolio; the national Alternative Newsmedia first place for her review portfolio on behalf of Charleston City Paper.

Raised in Charleston, she earned a B.A. in English from the College of Charleston and an M. Phil in creative writing from Trinity College Dublin.

Jenny Ferrara & Michael Bourke are the Co-Founders and Lead Booktenders of Philosophers & Fools, a cozy neighborhood bookstore bar in Charleston, SC. Philosophers & Fools opened its doors in March of 2024 and sells new books across a variety of genres as well as providing a space to build community, hang out and enjoy a glass of sustainable wine or a craft beer.

Kate Boyette started in N.Y.C. with independent film production, which led her to L.A. to work at Creative Artist Agency. Underwhelmed teaching celebrities how to drive their Priuses, she left CAA and enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu. Since then, her culinary pursuits and events took her from Texas to Park City, Utah, to eventually, Charleston, S.C. as the first editor-in-chief of the culinary publication, The Local Palate. She recently launched her boutique cookbook publishing company, Mise En Place Publishing, which published the female literary magazine, REVISIONIST in 2025, and earned her MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, thus combining her two loves—cooking and storytelling. Currently, she’s seeking representation for her first novel and writing essays about motherhood, divorce, and culinary on her Substack page, “unpublished.”

Lee Barbour is a musician from Charleston, SC. As a guitarist, he has performed/recorded with several international artists, including guitar legend Joe Beck (Miles Davis), Fred Wesley (James Brown), Earl Klugh, Chris Bullock and Justin Stanton (Snarky Puppy), Cody Wright (Joe Bonamassa, Peter Erskine), John Blackwell (Prince, D’Angelo) Quentin Baxter (Ranky Tanky, Rene Marie) Jeff Sipe, Kebbi Williams (Tedeschi Trucks Band), Elise Testone (American Idol), Ellis Hall, and Cary Ann Hearst (Shovels and Rope). He has been reviewed in Jazz Times and had appearances in Spin Magazine and the New York Times.

As a composer, he has written music for trailers, documentaries, animation, commercials and feature film. Lee taught guitar at The New York City Guitar School and The College of Charleston and continues to teach privately. He performs regularly with several different projects and tours with Jazz is Phish. He currently lives in paradise, Charleston, SC.

Mena Mark Hanna, General Manager and CEO of Spoleto Festival USA

We are Nameless Numberhead, a comedy production outfit based in Charleston, SC. We work in the film and television industry by day and produce live comedy events at night.

From training at the world-renowned comedy institutions of Chicago (The Second City, iO, and The Annoyance), to performing Off-Broadway, or even touring nationally; Nameless Numberhead has developed a highly acclaimed comedy brand in the southeast.

We draw upon our years of experience to cultivate the best creative projects using the teachings and philosophy of Chicago style improvisation.

Quiana Parler, lead vocalist, composer, and lyricist for the two-time Grammy-winning, internationally acclaimed roots music group Ranky Tanky, continues to captivate
audiences worldwide. Her music, showcasing the rich Gullah Geechee cultural heritage, has garnered critical acclaim and topped Billboard, iTunes, and Amazon Jazz & Gospel charts.

From sold-out performances at prestigious venues like The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Molde Jazz Festival to educational initiatives featured at the Library of Congress and the International African American Museum, Parler is deeply committed to preserving and promoting her culture. Recently recognized as one of only 24 global artists selected to create and teach the Musical Explorers curriculum at Carnegie Hall, she also serves on the advisory council for the Gullah Roots Historical Foundation.

Described by Jazziz Magazine as a vocalist “whose power, dexterity and expressiveness convey the breadth and strength of the material’s emotional content,” Parler has worked with renowned producers David Foster, Walter Afanasieff, and Kipper Eldridge. She has also toured and recorded with major artists including Kelly
Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Renée Olstead, and many more.

Sharon Graci is a multi-disciplinary director, creator of new work for the stage, and community builder who believes in the radical power of live performance, especially in the American South. She’s the co-founder and Artistic Director of Charleston’s acclaimed PURE Theatre, where she’s led for over two decades building a company heralded for its bold artistic vision, commitment to new work, and loyal, ever-growing audience.

Under her leadership, PURE has become a nationally recognized home for consequential theatre and a creative hub for artists and audiences who crave connection, embrace curiosity, and value craft. She’s directed over 60 plays, developed dozens of world premieres, and created programs that make the arts more accessible — from live-streamed performances to cross-generational education in Title 1 schools.

Sharon is a Liberty Fellow with the Aspen Institute/Aspen Global Leadership Network, a member of the renowned Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and a South Carolina Arts Commission Fellow in Acting. Under her leadership, PURE Theatre has received the SC Theatre Association’s Theatre of Distinction Award and national support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has earned numerous accolades, including Charleston City Paper’s Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Play, and Best One-Person Play, and most diverse theatre company. She has been recognized on multiple notable lists, including Charleston’s Most Progressive, in Charleston City Paper, among women making local history, and featured in Charleston Women Magazine for her role as an arts visionary and community builder.

When she’s not making theatre, Sharon’s probably making dinner for five kids, a brand new grandbaby, and whoever else shows up, all while considering the ways that art makes us more human and, most importantly, more humane.