Payton Johnson

Payton Johnson (he/him) is the founder and co-curator of the Shades of Discourse event series, where he brings Black organizers, artists, and scholars into dialogue to highlight the transformative power of cultural production and its potential for radical movement building.

Payton is also a sociologist, completing his PhD at New York University, where his research explores gentrification in his hometown of Denver and how the process disrupts the everyday lives of Black legacy residents. Outside of his curation and scholarship, Payton is a music producer under the alias “buddy.not.bud,” part of the NYC-based music collective No Label.