Vaimoana Oufi Khalil is an artist, educator, and performer whose work spans painting, mural-making, poetry, acting, and theater directing. Born in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, and raised in Hawaiʻi and Utah, she has spent more than 20 years teaching at colleges, universities, public schools, senior centers, and community centers across New York City.

Khalil earned her undergraduate degree in painting and performance from New York University, received the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship in painting and drawing at Yale University, and attended Columbia University’s graduate program in theater and acting.

She has created and led over 38 community murals around the world, including projects in Australia, Kenya, Jordan, New Zealand, Palestine, South Africa, and across the U.S. in California, New York, and Utah. She was a founding member of Mahina Movement (2000–2020), an all-BIPOC women’s music and poetry trio that performed on more than 700 stages in the U.S. and traveled to Ireland.

Khalil has written, performed in, and directed numerous theatrical productions at various venues, showcasing her dedication to storytelling and community art.

Vic is an artist originally from Michigan who moved to Vermont in late 2021. They have been involved in performing arts since their youth – ranging from dance, choir, band, theater and
DJing. No matter where they are located, Vic always strives to be a part of the community in some capacity through performing arts. Vic works as the Music Program Manager at BarnArts in Barnard, VT where they arrange a summer music series, music residencies, and school programs for rural schools. When not working, they enjoy attempting to teach themself instruments, crochet arts, and connecting with the land through gardening and communing with plants.

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Vogue M. Robinson is an author, poet, performer, teaching artist, and creativity enabler who deeply values people who put truth and heart into words. She inspires and empowers others by leading through example and providing resources that help artists create work they can take pride in.

Robinson served as Clark County, Nevada’s poet laureate from 2017 to 2019 and is the first Black woman to receive the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Silver Pen Award. She is the author of the poetry collection Vogue 3:16, Vol. 1. Her work is influenced by Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Patricia Smith, Suzi Q. Smith, Danez Smith, and her grandmother, Martina Carpenter.

Her poetry has been featured in numerous anthologies, including The Beautiful, Legs of Tumbleweeds, Wings of Lace, Sandstone and Silver, and A Change Is Gonna Come. Known for being humorous, vulnerable, and empowering, Robinson’s writing and performances resonate deeply with her audiences.

When she’s not writing, Robinson enjoys spending time with her family or experimenting with fluid art techniques. Learn more about her work at www.vogue316.com.

Arts Manager, Cheyenne River Youth Project

An enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. During the Indian Relocation Act, his Até (father) was sent to California, where Wakinyan was born and raised — and where he learned the art of graffiti, which inspired him to experiment with multiple disciplines, mediums, and styles. Over the years, Wakinyan has participated in multiple art shows and graffiti jams, taught graffiti workshops, designed and sold his personal art, and worked as a commissioned artist. He continues to enjoy painting graffiti and creating multimedia art.

In 2016 Wakinyan moved back to South Dakota to dedicate his life to the betterment of the Lakota people. For two years, he worked as a youth mentor with Generations Indigenous Ways, a year-round Lakota youth camp that strives to educate and empower Lakota youth with the knowledge and skills their ancestors possessed, incorporating those traditional ways and teachings with western science methodology. Wakinyan also has worked with the Oglala Lakota Cultural & Economic Revitalization Initiative, which hosted the Indigenous Wisdom & Permaculture Skills Convergence in Slim Buttes on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

As CRYP’s arts manager, Wakinyan is responsible for leading operations at the Waniyetu Wowapi Institute & Art Park, a multidisciplinary, community-based initiative that seeks to strengthen the connection of Lakota youth and the Cheyenne River community to traditional culture and life ways through art. The institute incorporates the Lakota Art Fellowship program, the Teen Art Internship program, the award-winning RedCan invitational graffiti jam, the free public art park, and a variety of community classes and events. Wakinyan has also led CRYP’s Food Sovereignty, Native Wellness, and Lakota Culture Internship.