Audio Engineering, School Partnerships
Edward "Amani" Conley is an accomplished interdisciplinary artist, educator, and manager from the South Side of Chicago. Subscribing to the philosophy that all art is an intimate and collaborative process he has continuously sought out new and exciting opportunities for creative exchange. While he has focused primarily on disciplines involving movement and music, he has collaborated across numerous fields and disciplines.
His forays into music and sound design have led to an extensive career in the recording arts. In high school, he was one of the original members of the world-renowned hip hop collective founded by Pugs Atomz, “The NacroBatz”, and In 1996, he joined the Peanut Gallery Network, a then L.A-based Hip Hop collective formed by the award-winning published recording artist and cultural ambassador Anacron Allen, to help establish a Chicago Chapter of the Gallery Network. In 2002 he co-founded and operated Frontline Entertainment LLC, a full-service recording studio and record label where he was instrumental in the release, promotion, and distribution of numerous projects.
As a movement artist, he draws upon 20-plus years of experience practicing and teaching the Afro-Brazilian art form, Capoeira. Under the tutelage of Mestra Marisa Cordeiro of Gingarte Capoeira Chicago, he received the rank of Professor in 2018. During his many years of teaching and training he has worn many other hats within the Gingarte Capoeira organization, such as stage and production manager, choreographer, playwright, and performance director and has traveled nationally and internationally to participate in and conduct seminars and workshops in the artform.
Additionally, Amani has developed and led S.T.E.A.M-focused curricula for the Chicago Public Schools, The University of Chicago Charter School System, After-School Matters, the Better Boys Foundation (BBF), the Children's Home and Aid Society and served as the education services manager with the Dusable Museum of African-American History for 3 years.
Currently, he is serving as a: Teaching Artist and Audio Engineer Instructor for the Old Town School of Folk Music: researcher, archivist, and associate producer for 278Medias documentary project "Midway:The story of Chicago Hip Hop; Program Manager for Gingarte Capoeira Chicago; and Executive Producer, Label Manager and Recording Engineer for the Peanut Gallery Network.
Started at the Old Town School in January of 2024
