The Longest Day Fundraiser 2024 – Round 1 Interview Announcements

As mentioned, on Thursday, June 20, 2024, I’m participating in “The Longest Day”, a fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Association, where I plan on livestreaming podcast interviews as long as I can.

The first round of interviewees include an illustrator, a dancer/journalist, and a television producer.

First up is illustrator Echo Chernik. Echo Chernik is a top-tier illustrator with 30-year experience and dozens of accolades and awards. Her client list includes Celestial Seasonings, Miller beer, rock stars, the US Postal Service, retail chains, grocery chains, small and major publishers, sci-fi and fantasy games, and many more. Since 2016, Echo has been the coordinating judge for Illustrators of the Future, a prestigious global competition for illustrators early in their career.

I’ve done brief interviews with her before in my coverage of the contest (see them here), but this will be the first time I’ve done a long interview with her. I plan on talking about her work as an illustrator, how it’s changed since she began, and more.

Next is Emmaly Wiederholt. Emmaly is a dance artist and arts journalist based in Albuquerque, NM. She is the founder and editor of Stance on Dance, a dance journalism nonprofit that produces an online and print publication distributed to college dance programs and other dance learning spaces throughout the US. Her first book, Beauty is Experience: Dancing 50 and Beyond, was published in 2017, and her second book, Breadth of Bodies: Discussing Disability in Dance, was published in 2022.

Emmaly is a founding member of the dance advocacy nonprofit ABQ Dance Connect, to which she has been integral in creating opportunities and platforms for Albuquerque dance artists. Emmaly is also a master DanceAbility instructor. She has facilitated movement groups at senior centers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and currently leads weekly groups at the University of New Mexico Hospital adult psychiatric center through the arts-in-medicine program. Most recently, she taught a college course at the University of New Mexico in disability and dance.

We knew each other when I went to USC for my Master’s in Specialized Journalism: The Arts. I plan on talking to her about her books, dancing, and journalism.

The last one of this round is Gary Kordan. In 2016, Gary won an Art Directors Guild Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his work on the hit series Key & Peele. Gary’s Production Design credits include: Miracle Workers, The Prank Panel, Atsuko Okatsuka: The Intruder, Kenan, @midnight, Workaholics, Just Add Magic, Betas and 2022 Emmy Nominee for Art Direction, The Barbarian and the Troll.

Gary resides in Los Angeles with his photographer wife, Justine Ungaro. Together they own three photo and film studios with standing sets, including a storefront/ event space all under the name ‘StuSpaceLA’.

I interviewed Gary very briefly at WonderCon 2024 about the “2nd Annual Scene Breakdown: Behind the Camera of Film and TV Shows” panel he was on.

The livestream will be on Riverside and YouTube. To see a full schedule of the day and to donate, visit www.angiefsutton.com/tld.