SCW Staff

Andy, Coordinator and Social Movements Liaison

Andy is a longtime fellow traveler of SCW who joined the staff in August 2014. A longtime community organizer, Andy uses those skills to build our wholesale business as well as work on marketing. Before coming to SCW, Andy spent two years working on the Two row py-3 Wampum Renewal Campaign, an inspiring project for Native American rights and environmental protection, which is featured on the cover of the 2015 Peace Calendar. Before that Andy worked on the staff of the Syracuse Peace Council, playing a key role in the revitalization of the oldest, local, independent peace and social justice organization in the country (also the organization out of which SCW was born). A war resister since his teen years, Andy lives in Syracuse with his partner Cheri their nearly-adult son Eli and various four-legged friends. He loves spending time outdoors, hiking, cross country skiing, playing basketball, ultimate frisbee and futbol. Andy enjoys gardening, cooking and baking. Andy is currently active with the Syracuse Peace Council, Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation and the newly created RiseUp for Social Action Training and Education Project.

Dik, Publisher

Dik, founder and owner of Syracuse Cultural Workers (SCW), grew up in Central NY and admits to having had an anti-authoritarian attitude early on, fueled by injustice in his high school. By his second year in college, influenced by parents of a roommate, he had begun to think more critically about the world. In 1964 he decided to give up his college deferment from the draft and oppose the Viet Nam war. It was clear that he didn't intend to serve US foreign policy in the military. He refused to accept the legitimacy of the Selective Service System and ultimately did two years in three different federal prisons. By the time he was released in December, 1968, some federal judges were congratulating resisters for opposing the illegal, immoral war. Times were changing.

His parole plan was to work at a local pharmaceutical company but after several months, his parole officer, sympathetic to his anti-war stance, allowed him to get a job he really wanted. He began working in the Syracuse Peace Council (SPC) collective in 1970. For eleven years one of his main interests there was to create the Peace Calendar. He knew the calendars were a great year-long educational vehicle, so it was possible to include pieces about the Viet Nam war and in a larger sense, on US militarism, imperialism, racism, sexism and more.

In 1982 he and a few friends, including Art Director Karen Kerney, began what was then called the Syracuse Cultural Workers Project (SCWP) to continue publishing the Peace Calendar. Dik had left the SPC staff in 1981 and the Peace Council had discontinued publishing the Peace Calendar after 11 editions. SCWP, under Dik's leadership, expanded the publishing to posters, notecards, holiday cards, postcards and bookmarks. Over the years T-shirts have been included, along with buttons and bumperstickers, books and more. The company was housed in various locations before moving to its current building, a former Italian restaurant owned by 3 sisters in a beautiful gay and lesbian-friendly neighborhood on the near northside of Syracuse.

Dik has lived collectively for most of his adult life. He has helped to raise six children, including his own beloved daughter Cora who was born in 1994. Other members of his collective include his partner Karen Mihalyi, Jack Manno and Cindy Squillace. Extended neighborhood family includes Pam Walker and Mary Rosa Morris-Walker, and Marie Summerwood who also works at SCW.

A new project of Dik's and SCW is the CORA Foundation, whose first offering is ArtRage - The Norton Putter Gallery. ArtRage, which opened in 2008, is no ordinary gallery. Its mission is to exhibit progressive art that inspires resistance and promotes social justice. It challenges preconceptions and encourages cultural change. It doesn’t stop there. Each exhibit is in collaboration with one or more community organizations in an effort to expand the traditional viewing “audience,” to offer support and become a catalyst for organized action among working people. By 2010, ArtRage had become an integral part of the progressive Central NY community.

Looks like Dik will be at it for a long time to come – rabblerousing for peace and justice.

Karen, Art Director

An SCW founder, organic farmer, artist and activist, Karen enjoys the opportunities for collaboration and community that SCW affords. Among the chorus of voices here, hers always speaks for the small-scale, hands-on solution to any problem.

Zoë, Design & Production Coordinator

Zoë is new to the Syracuse Cultural Workers team! Zoë is a Syracuse local with a background in studio arts and animation. Zoë is invested in local activism and community building, she doesn’t belong to just one organization, but instead likes to show up when and where she is needed. She was drawn to this position because she has a strong belief that art can affect change and she is always looking for ways to put that belief into practice.

John, Business Manager

Imagine the ‘buttoned up’ Business Manager. ‘Buttoned up’ doesn’t describe John but he is the strong, silent type with a wicked-cool sense of humor. Devoted to his family, he shepherds his daughters to school each day and coaches their sports teams.

Rose, Shipperations Manager

Rose has worked at SCW since 1997. She is the operations supervisor who handles all the little snags and conundrums that befall customers from time to time. Her reassuring laugh and good nature help customers through moments of panic that their packages won't get there in time.... Her friendly voice has been heard by the multitude of SCW supporters over the years and now she is overseeing web orders to make sure all goes smoothly.

Randy, Shipperations

Randy started out as a temporary SCW employee in the Shipping Department over 18 years ago. He was the Shipping Dept Supervisor for 15 years before stepping down to Shipping Assistant. Thanks to Randy, customers’ packages get shipped safely and quickly (most of the time) and he has kept SCW green by using mostly recycled boxes and packing materials.

Lisa, Framer/ Shipperations/E-marketing Design

Lisa is our wonderful in-house framer. Our customers appreciate her framing talents so much, they often send notes to thank her. Lisa has many cool interests. She has entertained our staff at parties with her hot Argentine Tango dancing, and the portrait she painted of her cat, Mona (get it? Mona Lisa), which was featured in the 2008 Women Artists Datebook. Lisa also painted Sportee, the "Horses On Parade" horse in front of the Syracuse Chiefs home stadium.

Kimberley, Shipperations

Kimberley is a graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in Art History. She is very much involved in the Syracuse arts. When she is not at SCW she is working and organizing at ArtRage Gallery. Kimberley enjoys making cupcakes and we enjoy when she shares them with us.

Chris, Web Weaver

Chris started working at SCW in the fall of 2016 and jumped in during the busy season as part of a difficult transition. Chris' thoughtful nature, attention to the many details of the website and design skills have played an important part in SCW's recent growth.

Lisa, Assistant Bookkeeper

A recent addition to the Syracuse Cultural Workers staff, Lisa is a long time CNY resident, graduating from Nottingham High School over 40 years ago. She is a co-owner of Wildflowers Armory in downtown Syracuse and sells her photographs there as well. Lisa loves to spend her free time outdoors with her camera and her kayak.

Zeke, Shipperations

"I like to play my banjo and listen to Pete Seeger and other folk musicians." Zeke has been working and helping out at Cultural Workers for over ten years. He especially enjoys lunch and our annual staff picnic and holiday party.

Donna, Book Editor

Donna was born in Rome, NY. She worked in corporate America for 15 years and disengaged from that world by joining a remarkable whole grain bakery and women’s collective (On The Rise) in 1993. She came to Syracuse Cultural Workers as a temp holiday worker in the fall of 1997, was first wholesale sales manager, then associate publisher, and now book editor. She still finds the work absorbing. In her spare time she likes to bake (e.g. Irish Soda Bread currantly, pun intended) & enjoys jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli. These two things may or may not be done simultaneously, though Grappelli's music more often conjures up wonderful memories of old & vodka tonics. Donna has moved to Buffalo, NY but continues to help us produce the Peace Calendars and Women Artists Datebooks.