Our Team
Henry J. Simonds
Board President and Co-Founder
Simonds (He / Him) is the visionary, building owner, and catalyst behind Pedantic. He actively participates in the program events, facilitates resident connections, forges partnerships with local organizations and oversees fundraising efforts. Simonds is an artist, collector, curator, and filmmaker. He is the president of Headwater Films/Media, which he founded in 2001 to develop and finance independent documentary and narrative films and other media ventures. He has worked as a writer, editor, and producer on over a dozen films. As a visual artist, he works in photography, sculpture, and mixed media. In 2022, he completed the redevelopment of his former studio into a new 4-story creative hub in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield/Garfield neighborhood.
Casey Droege
Co-Founder
Droege (She / They) shaped and defined the unique parameters of Pedantic and its programming. She serves as a general supervisor of the program’s operations and activities. Droege is an artist and cultural producer with a practice that’s hard to pin down. It floats between organizing and object making, while incorporating entrepreneurialism (because it’s useless if you can’t eat). Her work has been written about in the New York Times, ARTnews, Temporary Art Review, ARTSY, and most Pittsburgh publications.
Our Staff
Kaylani Brown
Program Assistant of Pedantic Arts Residency, Project Assistant and WCDC Associate of CDCP
Brown (They / Them) provides program support in many capacities – kindly gathering residents, coordinating dinners, and being a warm smile at Pedantic events. Brown is a Black Nuyorican mixed-media artist, storyteller, and night-sky enthusiast. In 2021, they graduated from MICA with a BFA in General Fine Arts. They participated in Bunker Projects’ Residency in 2025, and Brew House’s Distillery 25-26 program. Brown is a New Yorker, a Capricorn, and an accessory-lover in that order. An avid notetaker, they often have a pen and paper in hand.
Eriko Hattori
Program Administrator of Pedantic Arts Residency, Design + Communications Lead of CDCP
Hattori (They / Them) runs the communications side of Pedantic Arts, overseeing and managing media relations, the website, social media, and newsletters. They make sure that everything front-facing for the organization is running smoothly and that news is reaching all the right audiences. Hattori is a Japanese American artist working in printmaking and painting. They graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013 and have been in Pittsburgh since 2017. As an artist they’ve been included in numerous solo and group shows across the country in cities including New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; New Orleans, LA; Philadelphia, PA; Cleveland, OH; Pittsburgh, PA; and internationally in Mexico City, MX. A homebody at heart, Hattori is likely drawing at their desk to music while being harassed by their cat, Hugo.
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors includes arts professionals, workers, and supporters from the Pittsburgh region
Henry J. Simonds – Board Director
Brett Ashley Crawford – Vice President
Kris Rockwell – Secretary
Matt Newton – Treasurer