TEAM BIOS

Painter, photographer and Realtor-Broker consultant, Gail Bloom has been applying her creativity, sales and management experience to regional development and "community" arts objectives since 2001. Her numerous committee affiliations include the Freedom's Way-Heritage Park Association (board of directors), Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, and Fitchburg Cultural Alliance. The City of Fitchburg Mayor's Office established Gail as the "Millennium Community Artist" in 2001 and cited her as a city "Image Maker." She received the "Founding Artist Award" from Fitchburg's Millennium Community Committee in 2002.

Allegra Boverman returned to Nashua, NH last fall after completing a master's degree in photography and visual communication at the University of Pennsylvania and has been freelancing for New Hampshire and Massachusetts news publications. She has won awards for her photography, particularly sports, from the New York State Publishers' Association and was a member of her college newspaper's editorial staff when it won a Pacemaker award. She is a member of the National Press Photographers Association.

Allan J. Brackett is a Sturbridge firefighter and photographer. He has had photos published in Firehouse Magazine.

Robert Burns is a staff photographer at the Sentinel & Enterprise. He graduated in 1998 from the University of Florida, Gainesville. He has been recognized by the New England Press Association for spot news photography and is a member of the National Press Photographers Association.

Julia Cheng freelances for the Associated Press in central Massachusetts. She began her photojournalism career with a Telegram & Gazette internship, continuing with programs at the Los Angeles Times and the Greenwich (CT) Time. While on staff at the Sentinel & Enterprise, she covered six Longsjo Classics. She will join her husband, Duluth News Tribune editorial page editor Robin Washington, in Minnesota after the project. A member of the National Press Photographers Association and the Asian American Journalists Association, she is also secretary of the Fitchburg Cultural Alliance.