Grantees & Fellows

Co-Owner, Tri-Phoenix Media

My creative professional journey began as a youth. I am a creative professional and community and cultural advocate. In 2010 My company Tri-Phoenix Group, LLC was created and have since worked on a number of solo and collaborative projects. I use visual art to express my work. I am also a writer/poet/speaker and mixed media artist. I started the business to assist Independent artists and DJ’s with branding, social media, promotions, personal/professional development, artist management and PR. The company was also a platform for me to perform poetry and speaking skills. I have had the pleasure of writing blogs, newsletters and plays. In addition to my work I own and operate an internet radio station, and host a weekly YouTube show.

From small, solo projects to creative collaborations, I’m always looking for the chance to explore new techniques and learn something new that I can apply to my work. When I learn and cultivate something, I want to share with others. I believe in being a service to people. I can serve with artistic expression and skill.

Abigail Gómez is a Latine visual artist, teaching artist, arts advocate, nonprofit founder, and the owner and artist at Pretty Girl Painting, LLC. She earned a BFA from Virginia Tech in 2007. She studied at Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy in 2003. In December 2015 she was awarded an MFA in painting from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco CA.

Abigail teaches art in the community through Pretty Girl Painting, Fremont Street Nursery, and Arte Libre VA. She is also a Professor of Art and Design at Shenandoah University. At SU she is developing a BA program in Art and Design within an equity framework. She is also a COIL Fellow, Shenandoah Conversations Fellow, recipient of the 22/23 Faculty Development Grant, and leads study abroad trips for students to countries in Latin America.

Recently Abigail founded Arte Libre VA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization that empowers Latinx/e, Black, and Youth of Color through equitable access to quality arts education and programming. At Arte Libre VA, Abigail serves as the Executive Director and Chief Visionary, Maestra Principal. She facilitates and runs the visual arts-based programing offered tuition-free. She manages paid internships for Youth of the Global Majority, as well as the management and training of Teaching Artists and Assistant Teaching Artists, all of whom are paid. Through Arte Libre VA, Abigail has managed and facilitated over 30 collaborative and participatory public art projects and murals in the Northern Shenandoah Valley.

Education Manager, The Steel Yard

Adam Chuong is a Teochew American artist and educator whose work explores objects as containers for identity, grief, and care. As a child of refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia, the act of making heals their relationship to their cultural identity, once estranged by displacement and trauma.

Through the production of Taoist & Buddhist ritual and domestic objects, they seek to gain a deeper understanding of cultural practices and make new meanings from traditional forms. Queerness⁠—the agency to reinvent and rebirth⁠— mediates the recovery of their cultural identity; traditional patriarchal, colonial, and capitalist values are eschewed in favor of calls for softness, care, and intimacy.

Having been estranged from knowledge bearers of Asian culture, access to traditions is often through the lens of white appropriation and reinterpretation. Thus, publishing and circulation of zines is integral to their practice, in order to reclaim, circulate, and archive marginalized knowledges.

Writer, Performer, Comedian

Adonis Holmes is a Writer, Performer, and Comedian out of Chicago. Adonis graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and has been featured in several sketch shows throughout the city, including Chicago Sketch Fest and the Best of Annoyance sketch show. Adonis was a featured performer and writer for the Second City’s Black Excellence Revue, ‘Dance Like There Are Black People Watching’ and is currently acting as understudy for the Mainstage production of ‘Don’t Quit Your Daydream’. Along with Co-founding and directing of the All-Black improv show ‘Satirical Race Theory’, Adonis is a member of Devil’s Daughter Improv, the Improv trope The Mermaids, a 2022 Bob Curry Fellow, and is the Co-Artistic Director of the iO Theater.

Alexandra James, is a Southern Maine-born maker, mover and mother. As an independent artist, she’s engaged with improvisation and interdisciplinary investigation, the interrogation of pedagogy and craft, seeking liberation through the integrity of embodied knowledge and the sharing of practice. In addition to her role as BDF’s Director of Training Programs, Alexandra is a professor of dance at Bates, and artistic director of a youth Hip Hop company. Her work has been presented in Chicago, New York and South Africa, with a teaching practice that carries her nationally. She earned her BFA from the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago in 2009.

Membership and Operations Coordinator, Benvenuti Arts

Alicia Margarita Olivo (theythem) is a Houston-based Mexican American playwright, performer, and weather enjoyer, whose work focuses on the fiery interactions between identity, gender, rage, and memory. Alicia’s plays have been developed and received readings with Stages, Company One Theater, The Workshop Theater, Teatro Chelsea, Telatúlsa, AlterTheater, and The Inkwell Theater. Alicia is the Membership and Operations Coordinator at Benvenuti Arts, an arts consulting company for small and mighty arts orgs. B.A. Wellesley College. Alicia loves talking about comic books, good food, and the weather. @aliciamargaritx / amolivo.com

Community Capacity Building Nonprofit Professional

I am a Community Capacity Building nonprofit professional with experience in program design and strategy, ecosystem building, and art programming. I’m passionate about advocating for communities of color, women, queer, and poor working-class folks that have historically been on the margins. I’ve devoted much of my research and expertise to teams that enhance on-the-ground storytelling, arts, and community engagement to strengthen equity amongst large metropolitan areas from the East Coast to Mississippi. With a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Studies & Production and African American studies from Temple University, I have consistently made it my goal to tie in art creation and curation with collaborative problem-solving. I enjoy working with teams of people, mentoring high school students in film and directly servicing underserved communities. I also live for live soul music, roller skating, cycling and film.

With a decade of experience in the design field, Ámbar holds a BFA in Design & Digital Arts from the School of Fine Arts & Design of Puerto Rico (Escuela de Artes Plásticas & Diseño de Puerto Rico), graduating as Summa Cum Laude. Ámbar has been recognized with grants from organizations such as the Luis A. Ferré Foundation (Fundación Luis A Ferré) and Seguros Múltiples of Puerto Rico. She has also earned several awards, including the People’s Choice Award from the Collective Exhibition “El Bizarro” during the Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest. One of her artworks is featured in the Contemporary Puerto Rican Art Collection (Colección de Arte Puertorriqueño Contemporáneo). Her work has been displayed in respected galleries like Exhibixiones del Plata, Lorenzo Homar Gallery (Galería Lorenzo Homar) at the School of Fine Arts & Design of Puerto Rico, and the Museum of the Americas at the Ballajá Barracks (Museo Las Américas, Cuartel de Ballajá). She received the Audience Choice award at the 2021 Circus International Film Festival for her work in Sound Mixing and Film Editing on the short film “Isla Bonita Circus Tour” for the National Circus School of Puerto Rico. For a duration of two years, Ámbar served on the Faculty of the International School of Design & Architecture (Escuela Internacional de Diseño y Arquitectura) within the SUAGM (Sistema Universitario Ana. G. Méndez). Ámbar is also part of The Currier Collective board from the Currier Museum of Art, where she advocates for the recognition of diversity and culture in Manchester, New Hampshire. She currently works at BOLD as a Product Designer focusing on UI/UX and visual branding.

Amy June is the artist, activist and seed keeper behind Bluejacket Handcraft and Good Way Farm in Lawrence, KS. She also serves as Land Relations Specialist at the Land Institute, engaging in the cultural piece of agriculture. She was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area and relocated to Kansas in 2023, making her new home on Kaw, Osage and Kickapoo territories. While rooted heavily in photography, she enjoys a multidisciplinary approach to applied research and craft. Her work is largely informed by her mixed heritage as an enrolled member of the Eastern Shawnee Nation of Oklahoma and queer identity. Her work addresses themes of racial and social justice, Indigenous self-determination and food sovereignty.

Program Manager- Artists of Color Accelerate Fellowship, The 224 EcoSpace

Andre Rochester is a Fine Artist from the Greater Hartford region of Connecticut. He studied illustration at the University of Connecticut: School of Fine Arts and completed his BA in Studio Art at Charter Oak State College. He also earned a MS in Organizational Leadership from Quinnipiac University. His preferred medium is acrylic painting. Andre uses his art to make statements for which words are not enough, highlighting the underlying emotions connected to the subject. It is a combination of portraiture and conceptual works connected by narratives of his personal experiences. At a young age, art became a tool for healing and catalyst for connection. It developed into a way for Andre to let people know they are not alone in this journey through life.

In addition to working as a Fine Art Painter, Muralist, and Teaching Artist, Andre is the Program Manager for the Artists of Color Accelerate Fellowship. He is a board member at Windsor Art Center in Windsor, CT where he is the Curatorial Chair, board member at the Connecticut Arts Alliance, and Board Elector at Wadsworth Atheneum. He has also served on the City of Hartford Commission on Cultural Affairs (2014-2015). Andre also assists emerging artists with portfolio development, curation, and consultation for exhibits. He encourages young artists to develop their craft without losing focus on learning professionalism and business acumen. He believes that with every step forward, we must clear a path for others to join us.

Deputy Director of Operations & Strategic Partnerships, Indiana Arts Commission

André Zhang Sonera joined the Indiana Arts Commission in July 2022 as Deputy Director of Operations and Strategic Partnerships. Originally from San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, André received his Master in Public Affairs in Policy Analysis from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University in 2021. His previous work experiences at the White House, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Operations, the Office of the Indiana Lt. Governor, and the City of Indianapolis Mayor’s Office have nurtured his passion for public service and government.

In his spare time, he proudly serves as a Big Brother for BBBS of Central Indiana and sits on the IndyHub Foundation Boards of Directors.

Arts Education Manager, Breckenridge Creative Arts

Andrea Edwards (artistically known as Drea E.) was born, bred and educated in Seattle, Washington. She graduated Cum Laude from Seattle University earning a Bachelors of Fine Arts of Photography. In college she spent a semester abroad studying art & national identity in New Delhi, India. Post graduation, she spent a year serving in AmeriCorps at Youth Villages Inner Harbor campus, a treatment facility for youth with severe emotional and behavioral challenges. There, she led teenagers in a project linking themes of compassion, art and service. Following her service year, she participated in a 6 month artist residency in Navasota, Texas, creating a body of work about Mance Lipscomb, a local black sharecropper and blues musician turned small town folk hero; responsible for Navasota being dubbed as the “”Blues Capital of Texas””. In 2017, Andrea moved to Colorado to take a seasonal job as a Craft Shop Supervisor for the YMCA of the Rockies Snow Mountain Ranch. From there, she found part time employment at Breckenridge Creative Arts where she was quickly promoted to full time positions as part of their programming team. In her own art practice, Andrea has shifted from photography to more interdisciplinary work. Due to the loss of her mother in February 2019, she’s recently been exploring themes of grief as handled across varying cultures, working paper as an affordable medium but also symbolically paralleling humanity in many respects. https://www.dreae.com/Mixed-Media

Associate Educator of Teen Programs,, Milwaukee Art Museum

Anika Kowalik, Associate Educator of Teen Programs, coordinates the Teen Internship program and works directly with teens. Kowalik is a Black and Queer Multidisciplinary Artist residing in Milwaukee. They hold a BFA in Printmaking from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. In their practice, they address creating safe space, representation and acknowledgement of disadvantaged communities, and programming encompassing these themes. They have a myriad of ties within communities that MAM directly serves as a result of years of interfacing with these communities as an artist. They’ve championed intersectional, anti-racist, and holistic care practices for local organizations such as Cactus Club Milwaukee, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and the Milwaukee Art Museum. Kowalik completed training from the Clinical & Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin for a Childhood Development certification in early 2022 and has experience in public health evaluation as a Project Assistant for Jael Solutions LLC for the Kresge Foundation’s Climate Change, Health and Equity Grantees. The multiplicity and richness within their background brings a needs-based approach to teen programs reflective of equity driven approaches to education. Overall, they want teens to see themselves in art careers by providing a fulfilling experience for all involved.

Community Engagement Coordinator, American Players Theatre

Anna Gonzalez (she/her) is the Community Engagement Coordinator at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Anna holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Lawrence University, a Masters of Arts in Shakespeare Studies from the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, and an MFA in Shakespeare in Performance at Mary Baldwin University. Previous theatre production experience includes working as Wardrobe Supervisor at Glimmerglass Opera, American Shakespeare Center, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Before returning to the Midwest, Anna worked as a First Grade Teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada for eight years teaching 6-years-olds how to read and be kind. Anna strives to support inclusion, representation, and belonging in order to make theatre more accessible for historically excluded audiences and is passionate about engaging in collaboration to bring audiences into community together around the shared experience of theatre.

Curator and Founder, Prisma Art Projects

Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, 1987. Finished a Bachelor’s in Graphics Arts from the University of Puerto Rico in Carolina and graduated with a Masters in Fine Art with concentration in Photography from Miami International University of Art and Design.

Started her career as independent curator and arts administrator at Vargas Gallery, FL in 2012. Has served as project coordinator and grant writer at Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico for the past 6 years. Saldaña is the founder of Prisma Art Projects, artist-run organization focused on supporting contemporary emerging artists through curated exhibitions and events. As arts administrator has participated in various professional development programs such as NALAC’s Leadership Institute. Has introduced two international art and photography movements to the PR community: 24hourproject and Free Art Fridays.

As an artist, Saldaña has participated in many exhibitions in Puerto Rico, United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, and Germany, including her latest solo show at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture in Chicago and group shows such as Bienal SalaFAR at Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Bienal de Fotografía at Museo de Las Americas in San Juan, Miami Independent Thinkers in Miami and PINTA Art Fair in London.

Antonio Camacho Martinez (Tony) is of Puerto Rican and Taino descent, and currently serves as the Program Director at p:ear, an organization in Portland, Oregon that creatively mentors homeless youth, ages 15-25, through education, music and art, as well as wilderness recreation. Tony provides essential services to youth experiencing homelessness while leading the development of p:ear’s programs to provide empowering and accessible spaces to build community, offer support, and create opportunities for exploration and personal growth. After earning a BA from Valparaiso University, he moved to Portland in 2007 from Indiana to serve as an AmeriCorps member as the Development Coordinator at Impact NW, beginning his now 15-year career empowering underserved youth in Multnomah County. Over the years, Tony has mentored, advocated for, and helped youth navigate systems as a Social Services Navigator at a pediatric clinic, and as a Youth Advocate and Career Skills Coach at NAYA Youth and Family Center. Tony is a graduate of the Conflict Resolution program at Portland State University, earning a graduate degree and certificates in interpersonal neurobiology, as well as youth and family counseling, and uses his degree in helping others move through conflict via conflict coaching, workshop facilitation, and mediation, with a focus on advancing equity and promoting cross-cultural education.

Executive Director, Teachers & Writers Collaborative

Asari Beale is an Afro-Latina writer, educator, and leader deeply committed to children’s literacy. Since 2019, she has served as the executive director of Teachers & Writers Collaborative, one of the oldest writers-in-the-schools organizations in the country. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable, and a steering committee member of LitNet, a network serving America’s literary community. She has taught literature and creative writing at Hunter College, Brooklyn College, and Fordham University. Prior to joining Teachers & Writers, she served as the Director of Communications and Community Relations at LSA Family Health Service and as Communications Manager at Reach Out and Read of Greater New York. Ms. Beale holds a BA from New York University and an MFA from Brooklyn College. She lives, loves, and writes out of Harlem, New York City.

Asya P. Webster is one of two of the Program Officer for Grants and Public Programs for the Arkansas Humanities Council. Webster is an Arkansan who was raised in rural Wrightsville but considers it close enough to call herself a Little Rock city native. She has always been involved in humanities even from a young age, performing in dance at the Tidwell Centre for the Dancarts for 7 years and student theater for 4 years. Webster completed her undergraduate experience with a B.A. in English Literature at Philander Smith College. She also served as the President of the Creatives, an organization for students interested in the visual and performing arts. Webster’s play, Waiting on Sunrise, is a three-act play consisting of seven individual 10-minute plays. The last segment of Waiting on Sunrise was selected to be a part of ACANSA’s Third Annual 10-Minute Play Showcase. She also taught high school English at a rural underserved school. Webster’s passion is making more space for and having the arts be more accessible for disadvantaged/overlooked populations in Arkansas. She is currently co-founding the Next Gen(eration) Humanities Conference through the Arkansas Humanities Council.

Atabey Sánchez-Haiman is a Puerto Rican artist, biologist, trainee mindfulness teacher and small business owner. Atabey owns Giraffes and Robots Pop Art Studio, which is located in artsy, quirky, small but mighty Rhode Island. Atabey loves to explore different ways of making art, she combines different mediums and techniques (drawing on paper, painting on canvas, collage, photo illustrations) to create her pop art. Atabey intentionally uses a palette of red, yellow and orange because these colors make you smile and cultivate joy. Atabey is currently training at Brown University and at the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation to teach Mindfulness with a view of combining art and mindfulness to create safe spaces for marginalized communities to come together to create, heal, recharge, cultivate joy and effect change. Atabey believes that by becoming aware of social constructs and the hurdles that they unfairly impose on marginalized communities, possibilities and opportunities can arise and these obstacles can then be challenged creatively and peacefully from a place of centered, rooted awareness. The fact that communities of color value collectivity is an asset and Atabey wants to harness this skill that people of color share through their upbringing and experiences and start moving society away from its current individualistic, self centered focus towards a more compassionate, humane, community oriented direction. Art and mindfulness as activism and vehicles for personal and societal change.

Program Director, Dreams of Hope

Bekezela Mguni is a queer Trinidadian artist, radical librarian, community organizer, and educator. She holds an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh and participated in the first Librarians and Archivists with Palestine delegation in June of 2013. She completed her first micro-residency at the Pittsburgh creative hub Boom Concepts and was featured in the 2015 Open Engagement Conference. She was a 2015-2016 member of the Penn Ave Creative Accelerator Program with the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater and launched the Black Unicorn Library and Archive Project. The Black Unicorn Library Project is a Black feminist independent community library and archive. She also served as the 2016 Sophia Smith Archive Activist-in-Residence at Smith College. Bekezela was selected as an Emerging Artist in the 2016 Three Rivers Arts Festival and won the Juror’s Choice award for her visual artwork. She was a featured artist of the 2017 Activist Print Project, a partnership between, Artist Image Resource, BOOM concepts, and the Andy Warhol Museum. Bekezela is a Boom Concepts studio member, a community space and gallery dedicated to the development of artists and creative entrepreneurs. She was most recently artist in residence at Artist Image Resource, focusing on screenprinting, collage, experimental design, and building her creative portfolio. Bekezela also serves as the Education Program Director at Dreams of Hope which affirms the voices and leadership of LGBTQ youth through the arts.

Director of Dance & Movement, Griot Arts

As a native of Cleveland, MS, I am a graduate of East Side High School, Mississippi Delta Community College, and Delta State University. I served 11 years as a dance educator and arts consultant in the Clarksdale Municipal School District and three years with Memphis/Shelby County School District teaching grades kindergarten through 8th. Throughout my life, education and dance have always been in step. I began my dance education at Lynn Pace Dance School at age four. I continued my dance aspirations as a member and senior captain of the Golden Dolls Majorette Squad at East Side High School, as a Delta Dancer at Mississippi Delta Community College, and as captain and co-captain of the Delta Belles at Delta State University. I spent much of my spare time enhancing the lives and dance aspirations of young people through the Delta Arts Alliance in Cleveland, MS, and Griot Arts after-school program in Clarksdale, MS. I served as the artistic director and choreographer of the Jazzy Divas Dance Studio where we performed in several competitions and community events in the state of Mississippi and other states. I also have choreographed routines for pageants, middle/high school dance teams, and community college dance teams.

communications & community oranizer, Indigenous Land Alliance

Big Wind is a Two Spirit member of the Northern Arapaho tribe from the Wind River Reservation. At a young age, Big Wind recognized many injustices and degrees of oppression within their community. They became involved in youth & climate organizing at the age of 13 when they learned of environmental racism happening near their home. Since then, they have worked on numerous campaigns throughout “”Indian Country””, utilizing art as a storytelling mechanism inside and around movement spaces. As a multi-faceted artist, they have utilized video, audio, and social media to highlight injustices, with the success of their debut mixtape in late 2019, they Currently they are working on their debut EP with two singles released this year, totaling over 30,000 streams across platforms.

Artist, Activist, Educator, The Lawrence Arts Center

Blanca Herrada is a Queer, Mexican American Artist and Activist living and working in Lawrence, Kansas, and her pronouns are she/they. In 2014 Blanca received a Bachelor of Fine Art with an emphasis in Painting and a minor in Art History from Emporia State University. Since that time, she has shown her work regionally and locally. Her work often focuses on her life experiences, friends, and family. Blanca enjoys working on large-scale oil paintings that they often combine with mixed media to create contemporary pieces that combine traditional and new methods. Blanca enjoys working within the intersections of art and activism and is passionate about her community. They have been privileged to coordinate and work on several public art projects and currently teach classes at the Lawrence Arts Center. She formerly taught workshops to adults with cognitive and physical disabilities through Douglas County Day Services. Blanca enjoys working with diverse communities to spread her love for the arts and strives to make art spaces more accessible and welcoming to everyone.

Grant Programs Manager, Arkansas Arts Council

My name is Brazierdene Watts, I live in Maumelle, Arkansas. I have three children and four grandchildren. I have a Master of Arts Degree in Philosophy. I have enjoyed working with arts organizations throughout the state of Arkansas for over 12 years. I was the grants administrator for the Arkansas Arts Council for 12 years and I was recently promoted to Grants Manager. I am mostly interested in making sure that funding is provided in underreached areas that lack resources but have just as many great artists and creatives as other areas. I would like to ensure access to arts programming in communities that are really in need of these awesome resources but have lacked the guidance and opportunity to receive them.