David Donar (animator/musician) is a professor at Clemson University in the Digital Arts Production graduate program. His art career spans many different venues, industries, and mediums.  He started as a political cartoonist in college and then drew professionally for daily and weekly newspapers in the early 1990s. Then he discovered the technology to pursue satire in the animation realm.  David relocated from the Midwest to the west coast to pursue animation studies at Cal Arts and then to work for the Cartoon Network, MTV, Disney Interactive, and Nickelodeon.  He continued with independent films that were broadcast on MTV, PBS, the Independent Film Channel, Tech TV, and screened in film festivals in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Tokyo, Berlin, and Sao Paulo. His political animations have been published on The New York Times, CNN, CBC and the Wall Street Journal.

David found his way to the Church Street project through recommendation by a Clemson art department colleague as the team sought to add someone with his unique skill set. He studied all available materials on the history of Church Street and participated in team interviews with “The Black Pioneers.” From that, he reimagined Church Street through the decades in an animated short film. David also worked with Steve McGaha to write, perform and produce music appropriate to each decade to accompany the film.