D.GALE

Kristina McCarthy aka D.Gale, Next Level alum, (New York, NY) is a professional muralist, teaching artist, and community organizer based in East Harlem. Painting under the moniker “D.Gale,” she utilizes art as a powerful tool to build community, raise awareness about social and environmental justice issues, and heal collective trauma. Kristy is an alumnus of the Laundromat Project’s Create Change Fellowship and has centered her practice mainly around community-engaged artmaking. As a trauma-informed teaching artist, she has led various collaborative mural projects with youth, seniors, and adults with disabilities, partnering with organizations such as Groundswell, Creative Artworks, and Thrive Collective. She is co-founder of the Harlem Art Collective and co-producer of Fiesta de Colores, a socially engaged art festival that takes place annually in Ecuador. She served as an ECA Arts Envoy in La Paz, Bolivia, and as an aerosol artist-educator for Next Level Aerosol Edition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.