Danny Simmons is a painter and poet author.  He also heads two NYC galleries Rush Arts in Chelsea and Corridor Gallery in Brooklyn. He is the Founder and Co-Chair of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation which provides opportunities to emerging artists and runs Rush Education which provides Arts Education in five NYC schools and Saturday programs for the Rush Kids in the Corridor Gallery.  He is the author of six published books of fiction and poetry and creator of the series Def Poetry Jam which won both a Tony and a Peabody Award. He is the Former Chairman of the NYS Council on the Arts and a Board Member of The Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) among other boards. He holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration and a Honorary Phd in Arts. He has recently relocated to Philadelphia and is opening a third gallery there.