Discipline: Folklife/Traditional Arts

Angelina Ramirez is a flamenco dancer, teaching artist and producer living in Tucson, Arizona.Ramirez’s artistic work explores what it means to be a queer, latina flamenca, practicing in a traditional Roma/gitano form of dance.As a teaching artist, she is interested in the intersections of arts and healing, focusing on work with elders of all abilities and integrated flamenco with autistic individuals.She is devoted to promoting accessibility and eradicating ableism, racism and bigotry by practicing and promoting dialogue, acceptance and community participation.Ramirez is an original member of Yjastros, the American Flamenco Repertory Company and has toured with world-renowned, New York-based company Noche Flamenca. Ramirez is a 2022 Dance/USA Artist Fellow.In 2021, she received the Master-Apprentice Artist through Southwest Folklife Alliance for her dedication and commitment to flamenco arts. Ramirez is a National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures fellow.

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.

Executive Director, World Arts West

Dr. Anne Huang is the Executive Director of World Arts West, a 46 year old arts organization that supports cultural artists sustaining the world’s diverse dance traditions. In 2019 Dr. Huang was appointed the first person of color and cultural artist to lead World Arts West. Under Dr. Huang’s equity and inclusion focus, World Arts West has undergone a transformative equity journey. Huang is the former Executive Director of the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC), one of the largest pan-Asian cultural centers in the U.S. During her tenure, she transformed OACC from an organization in financial crisis into a thriving cultural institution serving 50,000 people per year. She has supported many key cultural institutions in California and beyond, such as Parangal, Cuicacalli, Arenas Dance Company, Afro Urban Society, Diamano Coura West African Dance, and others. As a thought leader with deep knowledge of challenges and solutions for cultural artists in the 21st century, Huang has presented for Grantmakers in the Arts, National Association of Latino Arts & Culture, Arts Administrator of Color Network, Northern California Grantmakers, International Association of Blacks in Dance, and other convenings. She is a NALAC Advocacy Leadership Institute Fellow, an Organizing Fellow for the Greater Bay Area Arts and Cultural Advocacy Coalition, and a member of the Dance/USA Board of Trustees.

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.

Anpa’o Locke is an Afro-Indigenous writer, filmmaker, and curator. She is Húŋkpapȟa Lakota and Ahtna Dené (Village of Tazlina), born in the Standing Rock Nation and now residing in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

She was a 2023 Native Lab Fellow and a 2022 Full Circle Fellow at the Sundance Institute, where she developed her upcoming short film, “Kawá,” which follows an Afro-Indigenous teen reconnecting with her Native roots. Her work is focused on amplifying Indigenous narratives in cinema.

In 2023, Locke co-curated “Imagining Indigenous Cinema” at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. This groundbreaking series showcased more than 40 films by U.S.-based Indigenous artists in the post-Standing Rock era. She has also worked as a writer for PBS Digital Studios’ “Sovereign Innovations” and as an associate producer for Best Case Studios.

Discipline: Media Arts

Antonette Tudela Labausa is an Indigenous Chamoru/Chamorro shell carver from Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. Using Mariånas spondylus, clam (hima), and other shells gathered along the coastlines of the Mariånas, she shapes each piece as a tribute to her heritage. Her work carries the spirit of traditional Chamoru shell carving—honoring ancestral knowledge, promoting cultural pride, and fostering a mindful connection between land and sea.

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.

Discipline: Dance

April Repeki is a cultural dancer, educator, and tradition bearer from Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. She began her dance journey at the age of six, studying Chamorro and Spanish dance under the guidance of Frances Sablan. In sixth grade, she began training with Jonas Barcinas, a first-generation dancer with the Taotao Tano dance group, who introduced her to Polynesian styles and deepened her understanding of the cultural ties across the Pacific. Through Barcinas, Repeki was also mentored by Frank Rabon, the founder of Chamorro cultural dance, Taotao Tano dance group and one of its most influential figures. These mentors instilled in her a deep passion for honoring ancestral stories through movement. For her, dance became more than performance, it became a vessel for memory, identity, and pride.

With over two decades of experience, Repeki has taught more than 300 students, many of whom have performed on Saipan and internationally. She has proudly represented her community at the Festival of Pacific Arts (FestPAC) in Guam (2016) and Hawai‘i (2024), performing alongside her students as proud cultural ambassadors. Today, Repeki remains committed to nurturing the next generation through dance that celebrates heritage, strengthens identity, and keeps island traditions alive.

Discipline: Visual Arts

April Werle is a narrative painter, whose works investigate how culture is internalized and negotiated as a mixed-race person. Influenced by her Filipino heritage and multicultural upbringing, Werle’s works explore themes of mixed-race identity, family, and belonging.

Her paintings have been exhibited at notable venues, including the Holter Museum of Art, Missoula Art Museum, and The Other Art Fair Los Angeles. Her work has been featured in publications like New Visionary Magazine and Kapwa Magazine.

Werle is an advocate for multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue. She has been invited to speak about her work, including a keynote speech at Montana State University with the Asian Student Interracial Association.

April Werle has received recognition for her contributions, including an ARPA Grant and a Strategic Investment Grant from the Montana Arts Council.

Founder & Executive Director, Arts.co.lab

Arturo Méndez-Reyes is a performing arts producer working in areas of development/fundraising, communication, event production/curation, community organizing, and cultural diplomacy in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, and Puebla, Mexico, for over 10 years. His work strives to curate and preserve spaces for political empowerment and community healing through cultural equity and intersectional representation. “La Cultura es una herramienta indispensable para la Dignidad de los Pueblos” He is the creator and current Executive Director of Arts.Co.Lab, ‘La Diáspora Festival’ and a curator of the ‘Mission Arts and Performance Project’, formerly working at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. He has produced shows for Harvard and Cornell University and the United Nations, as well as the Mexican Consulate in SF and the Secretary of Culture of Puebla, Mexico. He has participated in different Fellowships such as the Policy Fellowship with WESTAF (’24), the Advocacy Leadership Institute (’23), the Intercultural Leadership Institute (’22), and the Arts Leadership Institute (’21) by NALAC, Emergent Arts Professionals of SF and Seeding Reciprocity with the San Francisco Arts Commission (’20). His commitment to telling stories about immigrants and underrepresented groups is an endless source of inspiration in the search for justice and dignity for all. “Culture is an essential tool to grant dignity for all people”.

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.

Discipline: Dance

Ashli St. Armant is a vocalist, writer, arts educator, playwright, and composer. A professionally trained singer and actor with 25 years of experience in education and performing arts, her work includes original music, books, and theatrical productions. Her debut musical, NORTH, explores Black American life during the antebellum period and is celebrating its second national tour with rave reviews. St. Armant is also the founder of Leaping Lizards Music, an arts education program for students, and she tours with her band, Jazzy Ash and the Leaping Lizards, performing jazz for young audiences. Together they have performed at numerous venues including Lincoln Center and Sprout Network (NBC), have produced six albums, and have been featured by NPR and LA Times. Her mystery series, Viva Durant, features a teen girl who solves mysteries in New Orleans. The first book in the series, Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons, is a national best-seller with over 10,000 reviews.

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.

Associate Artistic Director, Cornerstone Theater Company

Bruce Lemon is a storyteller born and raised in Watts, CA. As a child, his father made him write stories and read them aloud in the hallway as punishment for lies and mischief. He’s still in trouble.
Recent credits: Actor in the short film HALLELUJAH, an Official Selection of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Director of THE ANONYMOUS LOVER at the LA Opera.
Associate Artistic Director/Ensemble with Cornerstone Theater Company, Co-Artistic Director of Watts Village, Company member of Illyrian Players and Collaborative Artists Bloc.
BruceALemonJr.com
@balemonjr

Bruna Massadas (b. 1985, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a painter based in Bozeman, Montana. Her work has recently been exhibited at de boer, Los Angeles; The Pit, Los Angeles; Bozomag, Los Angeles; My Pet Ram, New York; McClain Gallery, Houston; and Gallery 16, San Francisco.

Massadas has also participated in two-person shows with Raymie Iadevaia at Bozomag and Daniel Gibson at Some.Time.Salon. From 2018 to 2021, she exhibited with Binder of Women, and from 2016 to 2018, she was a member of the CTRL+SHFT collective.

Massadas earned her MFA from California College of the Arts.

View Website

Camas Logue is a multidisciplinary artist and an enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes, representing the Ewksiknii, Modokish, and Numu people. Logue’s practice spans painting, carving, graphic design, and performance art.