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: 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

Art Show Coordinator, Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum

Discipline: Visual Arts

A Polynesian weaver, marine scientist, and artist..born and raised in Amerika Samoa, Casidhe (Cassie) Mahuka graduated from Chaminade University of Honolulu with a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Studies. Casidhe currently works full-time as the Marine Invasive Species Coordinator for the Coral Reef Advisory Group (CRAG), house by the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR). Casidhe is also the sole proprietor of Launiu Life, promoting the art and traditional skills of weaving handicrafts from coconut fronds (ig: @launiulife). “Launiu” is the Samoan word for coconut fronds, and I use the term “Life” to mean vital or to survive. Launiu Life seeks to connect people with nature and heritage by adopting traditional Samoan weaving techniques for modern-day wear, uses, and aesthetics. . Through these endeavors, I aspire to grow Launiu Life and contribute meaningfully to our cultural narrative and community resilience.

Discipline: Opera/Musical Theatre

I’m truly honored and grateful for this opportunity. My hope with this to build a better foundation for my own longevity and build connections within the artist community. It’s truly amazing how one can take a picture in a way that’s completely different than anyone else looking at the same thing. I describe my photography as sincere, intimate and artful and to be able to do what I truly enjoy just makes my heart full of gratitude.

Name: Chastity Williams. Title: Founder of Spotlight Our Youth, Drama Director at Franklin Middle School.
Chastity Williams was born and raised in Illinois. She moved to Iowa, where she studied Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa and currently attends the University of Dubuque for Elementary Education, to integrate her arts experience in an educational setting. Chastity served as Miss Northeast Iowa 2023 where she continued to amplify the value of the arts. She is an advocate for arts education through her initiative “Spotlight Our Youth – Educate, Engage, and Emerge in Arts Education”. The arts help children find their voice and develop skills that help them become leaders. Her initiative is about sustaining artistic opportunities for kids so they can create their own stories. She has done work with Englert Theater in Iowa City and Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Illinois. She has also been on stage in productions across Iowa, some for other states. Chastity serves as a teaching associate and drama director in the Cedar Rapids School District and is a fan of anime. She’s excited to be a part of this fellowship and learn how to bring inclusivity into the arts!

Public Programs and Outreach Coordinator, Plains Art Museum

My name is Chelsea Steffes and I work at the Plains Art Museum as the Public Programs and Outreach Coordinator, a Teaching Artist, and a Senior Visitor Services Associate. I am a mixed race Filipino American who dedicates her time primarily towards the community that myself and my institution can serve. I got my Bachelor’s degree in Heritage and Museum Studies & Pre-professional Studio Art from Concordia College, Moorhead in 2019. Rather than specialize in a particular artistic medium, I focused on learning multiple artistic skills/practices and becoming an accessible and engaging informal arts educator. I have worked at my current institution since 2018 and have jumped at every opportunity that I can to improve myself and in turn, how I can serve my community. My goal is to make all arts community spaces an accessible and inclusive experience for anyone who visits. I make efforts to engage with our visitors and the local Fargo/Moorhead community through visitor experience, teaching classes, giving gallery tours, and participating in local community events by providing free art activities.

Event Coordinator, Arts Council of Big Sky

A self-described introvert with a very public profession, Dasan Ahanu is a North Carolina-based cultural organizer, artist, and scholar. As an accomplished cultural leader and poet, Dasan has appeared on NPR, TV One’s Verses and Flow, and the documentary Poet Son, among other features. He is a resident artist with the St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation/Hayti Heritage Center, co-founder and managing director of Black Poetry Theatre, and a visiting professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, teaching Hip-Hop and Black culture courses. A respected recording artist, Dasan has collaborated with many Jazz, Soul, and Hip-Hop artists in North Carolina. He is an alumnus of the Nasir Jones Fellowship with the Hip Hop Archive at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. In 2023, he was named the 15th Piedmont Laureate for poetry. He has published extensively and is the author of five poetry collections. Dasan also works with organizations as a strategist and builder who uses art & culture as a foundation and framework for creative solutions to internal and external needs. An imagination worker, he develops programs, collaborates on projects, helps map out initiatives, coordinates resources, and fosters ideation with groups looking to increase impact and embrace possibilities.

Dance Director, Michigan Dance Council

Clara Martinez is the Dance Director at Everett High School in the Lansing School District. A lifelong dancer with a passion for community organizing, she views her role at Everett as arts educator and community leader. She is a proud union representative and advocates for students and educators in the Lansing Schools Education Association. Clara won Best Dance Instructor in Lansing’s City Pulse Top of the Town 2020 Contest. She is Chair of Michigan Dance Council and Board Member for All Of The Above Hip Hop Academy and Cultural Advocacy Network of Michigan. Clara was recognized as a Rising Leader in the Arts and selected for the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs’ Rising Leaders 2021-2022 Cohort. Clara is pursuing her Masters of Social Work (MSW) in Organization & Community Leadership at Michigan State University. Clara received her Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance from The Ohio State University.