BIOS
Who | Why
E. Zoe Schutzman
...grew up in Seville (Spain), from whence she moved to Connecticut to complete her undergraduate degree in Chinese philosophy and architectural design at Wesleyan University. After spending time living and traveling in the far east, she pursued graduate studies in linguistics at the CUNY Graduate Center, translation and interpretation studies at Hunter College (in NYC), whilst seeking to more fully understand the essence of human communicative creativity. She is a published author, mentor, performer, presenter, researcher, trainer, insightful discerner...who has held a number of leadership roles and tirelessly nurtures lasting avenues for creative, multidisciplinary, and impactful partnerships. As of 2023, she also manages Jazz Kissa Trio | A Renewal Space, a project founded by her soulmate and Cloud 18 partner in crime, İlker.
İlker Işıkyakar
...studied civil engineering and city planning in another life! Upon graduating from Istanbul Technical University, he worked in multimedia for several years and moved to Boston to pursue his passion for music and the drums. In Boston, he earned a degree in music production and sound engineering from Berklee College of Music and relocated to New York City, where he pursued Kyma programing studies at NYU and film editing at The Edit Center. Since his plunge into the Big Apple scene, then New Mexico, California and of late South Carolina, he has composed, performed, taught, produced music and films…always stretching the limits of reality through collaborative endeavors with fellow creatives. In 2023 he founded Jazz Kissa Trio | A Renewal Space, a Cloud 18 creative project that aims to bring the Great American Songbook classics to local audiences, old and young alike.
Cloud 18
Story
Get to Know Us
The story of Cloud 18 is one of hope, vision, diving in, at times of holding back, and…most importantly, of relentlessness, of never giving up. Only in the journeying has the story taken the varied turns it has, wherein the details of how and what and where and when are just that, the details. Tis about the why. The striving, via process, for an everlasting realization of the highest possible order. Every moment of every day. With the living and the dead.