Our Team

Founder & Artistic Director

Liza Politi is a producer, photographer, actor and teacher. As a freelance producer, her documentary and narrative full-length feature films have won a prestigious HUGO award, toured the festival circuits, and have been broadcast nationwide on PBS. Liza has produced “Impact On The Gulf,” a multimedia, action-oriented human rights festival that debuted in NYC for the world-renowned Culture Project; and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, her USO-style Gulf Coast tour, “Broadway on the Bayou”received national attention and was featured on MSNBC. For more than a decade, Liza worked with National Geographic and their legendary photographers, producing expeditions and photography workshops in more than 45 countries around the world.

She founded Statement Arts (2003), a New York City based non-profit that brings arts education and mentoring programs to marginalized urban youth. Designed to help them build the self-confidence and resiliency needed to realize their fullest potential, Statement Arts has received grants from Morgan Stanley, The Disney Corporation, The NY Department of Cultural Affairs, The Manhattan Borough President’s Office, The Rudin Foundation and has been featured on MSNBC, ABC News, and Fox 5.

With a strong background in crisis management, Liza spent nine months at Ground Zero as a volunteer rescue and relief worker with the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army. And in 2000, The Screen Actors Guild presented her with the Joseph P. Reilly Award in recognition for her efforts in resolving a national strike. Comfortable on both sides of the camera, she is also an award-winning actor and photographer. Liza graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, winning the Lee Strasberg Award for acting in her final year. She spent 15 years working as an actress in New York City and was a spokesperson for Sensodyne, Volvo, Gerber’s, Olive Garden, and has appeared in Martha Stewart Living, O!The Oprah Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, and Good Housekeeping.

Associate Director

Aidan Davis is an educator, performer, and speaker. He earned a triple B.A. at Indiana Wesleyan in Voice Performance/Music Theory & Composition/Church Music, then his M.M. in Voice Performance/Pedagogy at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Penn State (WE ARE!).

As an actor and singer, Aidan has appeared off-Broadway in numerous operatic and musical theater productions including Rent, Footloose, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Pirates of Penzance, Les ars florrisons, The Marriage of Figaro, and The Magic Flute. Aidan has also appeared in commercials for major brands like Axe and shows like Smash and Royal Pains.

Aidan has been teaching private voice for over ten years and enjoys working with students of all ages across multiple singing styles from pop to musical theater to opera. Aidan maintains a set of private students who sing on and off-Broadway, facilitates regular masterclasses, leads workshops on "Using Your Voice as a Differentiator" and "Emotional Intelligence," and serves as musical director for various musical theater non-profit programs, soloists, and theater companies throughout NYC. He is a founding member of Rooftop Musical Society, an immersive theater company that specializes in pop-up performances in non-traditional settings whose work has been featured in NYT, Broadway World, and the What Is New York TikTok/Instagram.

Aidan is thrilled to bring his diverse skill set to the team of Statement Arts as we prepare the next generation to change the world through arts education.

Program Coordinator

Lupe is a Latina woman based in NYC since 2001.

She has a BA in Liberal Arts and an MA in International Affairs from The New School University. Her studies concentrated on urban poverty in the US and Latin America.

Lupe earned her degrees at the same time as she worked as a professional model, a job that has taken her to work on many locations worldwide. The nature of this multifaceted work allowed her to become comfortable with interacting with many people on sets and able to adapt to changes and fast paced assignments.

Lupe has done internships in Argentina and the United States working closely with disenfranchised groups like students reintegrating into the school system (Buenos Aires) and women-led grassroots organizations and community groups that are fighting to have a voice in the decision making processes that affect their communities (Huairou Commission).

She is a mother with experience navigating the special needs education system in New York City, where she met the most wonderful, dedicated and selfless educators and service providers who help access a free and appropriate education to which all children in this city are entitled. This has inspired her to advise and help other families who are not native speakers or don’t have the time to learn the system to advocate for their children's rights.

Lupe loves interacting with children and admires the youth of today who want to express their souls creatively. She is proud to be part of an organization that does so much to help them fulfill their potential.