Cézanne Charles, Director of Creative Industries, is responsible for co-leading the design and implementation of Creative Many’s creative industries research, reporting and supporting efforts to define public policy strategies, sector supports and investment priorities. Charles directs Creative Many’s statewide programs providing the knowledge, networks and advocacy needed to help empower the practices of artists, designers, makers and creative technologists within the state. She is also a member of the Creative Economy Coalition of the National Creativity Network engaged in the development of a creative economy public policy agenda for the US and North America. She joined Creative Many in 2008.

Charles also co-directs rootoftwo, LLC, a hybrid design studio founded with John Marshall in 1998. rootoftwo, based in metro Detroit, makes hybrid design projects, social objects, experiences and works for the public realm – typically at the scale of devices, furniture or small buildings – to encourage interaction and engagement. Their experimental objects and experiences attempt to disrupt and expose existing systems of social behavior through humor, play, interaction and participation. Recent project, Whithervanes – commissioned by The Creative Foundation for the Folkestone Triennial 2014 was featured in Wired, Dezeen, and Fast Company. The duo were also part of the Detroit editorial and conceptual team for Near Future Lab’s “To Be Designed” Catalog. Their projects create a condition where we can perceive ourselves; the here and now; and perhaps the future, differently. http://www.rootoftwo.com

Oliver Blank is an English artist, designer, and composer. His artwork brings a sense of wonder to our public spaces, and his design projects focus on the prevention of suffering.

Connecting audiences through sound and fictional narratives, Oliver's artwork coaxes his audience out of the quotidian and into unforgettable experiences that instill a shared romance and heightened sense of place. Past installations include fabricating a fake bureau dedicated to fictionalising a city’s history, composing orchestral music for long forgotten buildings, and generating a sonic wildlife habitat in the centre of an Italian city.

Oliver is a Senior Designer at Google. In the past he has made innovative things for Nokia, EA, Lego, T-Mobile, HP, Marvel Comics, and many others. Oliver loves making things: civic things for nonprofits, cloud-based things for developing countries, thoughtful things for museums, useful things for communities during hurricanes.

Oliver gives public talks about technology and innovation for humanitarian crisis response, and designing within extreme constraints. You may have caught him on the BBC, The New York Times, Gigaom, or CNN. Oliver’s artwork has appeared at venues including Tate Gallery, London's Design Museum, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

He currently resides in San Francisco but variously calls Helsinki, London, Manchester, and New Orleans home.