Refreshments at our lecture are sponsored by:
Fort Point Beer Company and Winery Sixteen 600

All photos © Brenda Kenneally

Brenda Ann Kenneally is a mother, teacher, multi-platform documentary worker, Guggenheim Fellow, and Pulitzer Prize Nominee. Kenneally’s lived experience with incarceration, homeless and poverty in her youth, has shaped thirty years of immersive image-based collaborations in community with kindred spirits across America. Situated in image-based historical context, her work debunks the myth of “Bootstrap America” and exists as an antidote to internalized shame for those who “fail” to achieve it. Brenda explodes the “dangerous” fly on the wall myth of documentary work by harnessing the transformative power of photography to build counter narratives.

Brenda’s "Upstate Girls" project led her to form A Little Creative Class, Inc.  The non-profit arts organization with a mission to address the obstacles that deter marginalized communities from engaging in creative expression. Kenneally has received institutional recognition including; Fellowships from The Soros and Warhol Foundations, The NEA, The W Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography, World  and National Press Awards, New York State Council for the Arts, NYFA and Humanities Council Funding, Canon. Getty and Mother Jones Grants. Kenneally says that some of the most important documentary work she has ever done led to a collaboration with her desert community to replace her best friend Sun Shine’s condemnable house trailer. Among other feats of documentary magic Kenneally has been blessed to pull off, was a cross-country trip from Upstate New York to Bombay Beach California with six teens who struggled with trauma based social anxieties  Kenneally funded, produced, documented and drove the bus for that trip. In 2025, Kenneally expanded The Scrapbook Project movement that she founded in 2008, to include an ongoing collaboration with The Skid Row Artist Community in Downtown Los Angeles.

All photos © Jett Lara

Jett Lara is a photographic artist living in Los Angeles, California since 2016. Lara is known for his work in Los Angeles and his deep connection to his subjects, shaped through chance encounters and orchestrated images with the people in his world. The world he invents through images was shaped by years of lived experience and self-taught photography. His photographs are an exploration of hard truths, challenging the viewer into deeper layers of seeing.

Lara’s self-published debut monograph, Dreams & Nightmares, was released by Norkwwd in 2025. It is an intimate exploration of Downtown Los Angeles and its surrounding neighborhoods, uncovering the inner core of survival within the city’s restless landscape. It is a parallel depiction of one of the most complex neighborhoods in Los Angeles where beauty and brutality coexist.

Winery Sixteen 600 is a vineyard-focused winery founded in 2007 by Phil Coturri, along with his wife Arden Kremer and sons, Max and Sam.

The winery produces small-batch, single-vineyard wines exclusively from certified organic vineyards farmed by Phil and his vineyard management company, Enterprise Vineyards. Their portfolio includes wines they love to drink and collect—Grenache, Rhône varietals, field blends, as well as Cabernet and Zinfandel, honoring Sonoma’s rich heritage.

Sixteen 600’s success is built on the dedication of its exceptional team, particularly the vineyard crew, winery staff, and the passionate individuals who work alongside Sam in the office and tasting house.

Fort Point was inspired by a love for San Francisco and a desire to make craft beer more accessible. Over the years, it has grown to become one of the city’s best-known independent producers, creating a wide range of new beers and even a line of ciders along the way. No matter the favorite Fort Point brew, one thing remains true — every can hits that sweet spot between interesting and easy to love.