Liza Monroy (author) is a writer in Brooklyn, New York. Her first novel, Mexican High was published by Spiegel & Grau and she is currently at work on a memoir. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, the L.A. Times, Newsweek, Village Voice, Jane, Self, Bust and other publications. The daughter of a U.S. Foreign Service officer (her mother), she has lived and worked in Mexico, Italy, Holland, the Czech Republic, Greece, and the United States. Her writing has also appeared in anthologies: One Big Happy Family, edited by Rebecca Walker, The New York Times’ Best of Modern Love, the travelogues Mexico, A Love Story and Greece, A Love Story from Seal Press, Nerve.com’s Sex Advice From… and others. She teaches essay writing at Columbia University, where she is an MFA candidate, and at Mediabistro. More information: www.lizamonroy.com

David Pablos (director, La canción de los niños muertos (The Song Of The Death Children) lived in Tijuana, B.C. until he was eighteen years old. He is currently finishing his studies in film direction at the CCC film school in Mexico City.

Karla Castañeda (director, Jacinta) graduated with a degree in Communications from Mexico City’s Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO). She has participated in several stop motion animated projects, including independent and commercial films. As a director, she has also made Melquíades and Un sueño, shot in video. Jacinta won an Ariel (Mexico’s national film award) for best animated short in 2009.

Elisa Miller (director, Roma) studied filmmaking at the CCC Film School. Roma is her thesis film. She studied English Literature at the UNAM. Her short film Ver llover won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and traveled to many film festivals around the world in 2007. She is currently writing her first feature film.

Bernardo Arellano (director, Zoogocho) studied Anthropology and, later, Film directing in the CCC film school.

Born in Mexico City, Magos Herrera is considered one of the most active vocalists on the contemporary Latin American jazz scene. A graduate of the "Musicians Institute" in Los Angeles, California, Herrera has performed for over 12 years in international performing arts centers, festivals, and concert halls such as Lincoln Center, Knitting Factory and Jazz Standard in NYC, Millenium Park in Chicago, Teatro de la Ciudad de Mexico and Sala Galileo Galilei in Madrid, among many  others. She was nominated in 2006 for ”Lunas del Auditorio Nacional” in Mexico for the best jazz concert.

She has 5 CD recordings including “ Cajuina”, “Orqhideas Susurrantes,” “Pais Maravilla” , “Todo Puede Inspirar,” and” Soliluna” and two international compilations for Brazil and Japan, and is part of the acclaimed “Mexican Divas” cd series. She also produced and hosted two TV shows for Mexico’s Channel 22.Based in New York since  2007, Magos Herrera has recorded with saxofonist Tim Ries for “The Rolling Stones Jazz Project II” and for contemporary  composer Paola Prestini  for Traveling songs “VIA project”. In spring 2009, Herrera released her newest CD” Distancia” (Sunnyside Records), which is by Tim Ries, and features guitarist Lionel Loueke, pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Ricky Rodriguez and drummer Alex Kautz. More information www.magosherrera.com

Sweet Electra was formed in 2002 by Giovanni Escalera, a key figure in Guadalajara’s electronic music scene. That same year, EMI/Nopal Beat signed the band and released its debut album: “Lying to be Sweet.” A mixture of electronic and instrumental sounds, “Lying to be Sweet” advances house music conventions by including elements of down tempo, drum-and-bass and jazz, with lyrics in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.  Sweet Electra went on to participate in several international festivals, including Celebrate Mexico Now in New York, Romerias de Mayo in Cuba, Festival Vive Latino in Mexico City, and DJ MOTO Motorola in Mexico and Europe.  Several tracks on “Lying to be Sweet” were released on compilations produced in South Africa, Spain, Germany, England, The United States, and Japan, and remixed by DJs such as Ben Watt, EBGT, David Alvarado and Wally Lopéz. In 2006, Escalera recruited a new line-up to record Sweet Electra’s second album. With singer Nardiz Cooke, he released “Cama,” a disc with a distinctly more indie-rock sound than the first album. Now living in New York, Escalera and Cooke just released the band’s third album, “When We Abandoned Earth.”

Radio Jarocho is the only New York City-based project devoted entirely to the son jarocho and fandango traditions from southern Veracruz, Mexico. Formerly know as Semilla, the group has performed in notable events dedicated to Mexican and Latin American folk arts in the state of New York and Washington D.C. These include: Celebrate Mexico Now! Brooklyn Folk Music Festival, National Geographic's All Roads Film Festival, Lincoln Center's La Casita, and Brooklyn Botanical Garden's Chili Fest, where they shared the bill with folk music legend Pete Seeger. With their old moniker they have also performed in clubs like Banjo Jim's and Jalopy Theater. On the artist's roster in organizations like Brooklyn Arts Council, Mano a Mano, City Lore, and the Americas Society, they have promoted son jarocho in public schools and community events throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Radio Jarocho is committed to extending their research within the array of influences that have permeated this genre of Mexican music for nearly 300 years, and bring son jarocho’s exciting and joyful sounds everywhere they go. The group's first recording: Radio Jarocho, produced by Gabriel Guzman and Carlos Salazar and recorded at the Cutting Room in New York City, was released in June 2009.

Natalia Almada (director, El General) is an award-winning documentary director and producer. Her experimental documentary All Water Has A Perfect Memory was an official selection of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival; the film also won best short documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival and a gold plaque award at the Chicago International Film Festival. It is currently distributed by Women Make Movies and has been broadcast on the Sundance Channel. In 2003 Almada received a New York State Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in film; she has also won two grants from the New York State Council on the Arts. Almada received her MFA at the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently working as a freelance filmmaker in New York. In addition to El General, she has directed and produced Al Otro Lado - To The Other Side, a documentary that looks at immigration and drug trafficking through Mexico’s tradition of Corrido music. Al Otro Lado was a selection at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. More Information: www.altamurafilms.com

Carlos A. Cruz Velázquez (choreographer/dancer) was born in Puebla, México, and began his dance training at age six with classes in Mexican folk dance. He became a member of the Mexican Folk Dance Company of the American School of Puebla, in which he was a principal dancer for almost ten years, touring nationally and internationally. He then transitioned to contemporary dance, performing for Compañía Sunny Savoy, Cava~Parker Dance, Raw Delivery, Patricia Noworol Dance, among other dance companies. He has also performed works by Eugenio Cueto Barragán, Ruby Gámez, Laura Ríos, Terrie West Poore, Lourdes Peláez, Jennifer Monson, Pavel Zustiak, Jan Erkert, Camille A. Brown, Scott Lyons, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, and Meredith Monk. Carlos holds a BFA and a BA from the University of the Americas, Puebla; and a MFA in Dance from NYU-Tisch School of the Arts. He is a Fulbright fellow and a Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes grantee.