Gregory Crewdson (born in Brooklyn, 1962) is a graduate of the Yale School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut, where he is now director of graduate studies in photography. His series Beneath the Roses is subject of the 2012 documentary Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters. Crewdson's awards include the Skowhegan Medal for Photography, National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship, and Aaron Siskind Foundation Fellowship. His prior books include Twilight (2002), Beneath the Roses (2008), Cathedral of the Pines (Aperture, 2016), and An Eclipse of Moths (Aperture, 2020). Crewdson is represented internationally by Gagosian Gallery.

Joyce Carol Oates is an author and poet whose books, short stories, and collected writings have been recognized via the National Book Award, O. Henry Award, National Humanities Medal, Norman Mailer Prize for Lifetime Achievement, and PEN/Malamud Award, among others. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, New Jersey, and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Cate Blanchett is an actor, producer, artistic director, and humanitarian. In addition to her two Academy Awards and three British Academy Film Awards, she served as jury president of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and the 2020 Venice International Film Festival. She was appointed a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French minister of culture, has been awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia in the General Division, and serves as a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).