Artist Members
Rye Lanae Boothe is a poet, director, and multidisciplinary artist. Her childhood was spent onstage in the KC youth theater scene. While attending a ministry school in California, she also studied acting, dance, and spoken word poetry. She has hosted for Poetic Underground KC and Paradox KC. She has produced/directed a number of immersive art experiences, most recently Gummy Vitamins: A cross disciplinary collaborative queer art show designed to nourish the community. Her poetry chapbook "I Have a Crush on Everyone and Everyone has a Crush on Me" debuted in 2019. Her project Magic Typewriter is ongoing and is part writing, part performance, where in Rye writes you a snapshot of your soul on her typewriter. Rye Lanae believes in making art to heal herself and heal the world.
Luke “Skippy” Harbur is a performer, producer, and educator whose project, musicbyskippy, creates arts experiences for multigenerational audiences. Through beatboxing and other artistic skills, his work celebrates authenticity and combats social isolation.
As an educator he’s hosted workshops and classes focused on beatboxing, personal branding, marketing strategy, empowerment through non-verbal movement, and how to market and produce original shows.
Surviving four near-death experiences motivates him daily, making performances, productions, and educational opportunities testaments to how he’s living his fifth chance at life to the fullest.
Nita Hughley (She/Her) is a personal growth facilitator, life coach, and founder of Unruly Growth, a self-development brand. With a background in mental and behavioral health and the arts, she brings a creative and holistic approach to helping others recognize their value and potential. She also works as a Small Business Specialist and presenter with Square One Small Business Center, where she specializes in professional development
Saxophonist Nick May is sought after as “a highly expressive, virtuosic, and fresh performer” (David Del Tredici, Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer) that “knows no boundaries, neither technically nor emotionally” (AM:plified Magazine). Since his solo debut at the age of eighteen with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra, May’s career has taken him throughout the United States, Singapore, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, appearing recurrently as a soloist; including multiple performances in Carnegie Hall. Additionally, May is the founder of the I Exist Project, which advocates for and celebrates the multifaceted aspects of queer life, culture, and artistry through collaboration, creation, and visibility of queer repertoire.
James Masters is a Licensed Unity Teacher and the Program Coordinator for Folx with Faith, supporting queer and trans spiritual resilience. He also collaborates with Unity Arts Ministry and writes about healing, embodiment, and the sacred creativity. His watercolor and ink work leans bold and symbolic, exploring transformation, belonging, and the beauty of living authentically. James creates art that feels alive—color-soaked, emotional, and rooted in the stories queer folks carry and reclaim.
Substack, FB & Ko-Fi: inspired2be
IG: inspired2be_james
Adriana Paez
Adriana Paez is an artist, educator, social worker, voting rights activist, founder, entrepreneur, & mother of 2.
She spent the first decade of her career working with youth & young adults in behavioral health settings, and then spent the next decade in higher education, working and teaching in both 2 and 4-year public colleges in Kansas City, Missouri.
In 2025, she founded Studio Paez, LLC, which includes AP Zines and Grown Ass Art Club. Studio Paez, LLC provides creative services and solutions to individuals, communities, and organizations working in solidarity towards a more just future.
MJ Puderbaugh is an artist who grew up in Topeka, KS. They spent their early childhood watching their sisters onstage, and was inspired to join them. From there they spent all their time trying to get themself onstage, whether in the spotlight or behind the scenes. In May 2020 they graduated with a BA in Theatre Performance from The University of Kansas. Afterwards they continued their passions as a working artist, forming the performance company, The Oddity Collective, in 2022. Since then they have been producing original shows for fantasy/nerd spaces, having worked venues such as The Kansas City Renaissance Festival, Bluffwoods Renaissance Festival, and ReRoll Tavern. Their goal as an artist is to create whimsical experiences for every audience that allow every individual to feel seen in fantasy, regardless of identity or ability.
Joel Anthony Walley is a composer and performer who is passionate about new, collaborative, and theatrical music. Drawing inspiration from Romantic, Jazz, and Modernist musical practices, previous work includes A Campbell Family Christmas, a one act musical written with Soph Marsh and produced at TTIP; music for The Head of Medusa a devised work with Inside the Trojan Horse theatre company; dance and incidental music for For Such a Time as This by Bethany Vermillion; and song settings for Southwest Baptist University’s production of Brecht’s The Exception and the Rule. In development is a new musical setting of the story of Narcissus and Echo. He was last seen performing in Mother of Monsters by Elaine Clifford and Shelly Verden. joelwalley.com