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Kisha Vaughan has been a vibrant presence in Seattle’s hip-hop dance scene for more than 20 years. As the creative director of Dope Girl Movement, she develops platforms to showcase the artistic essence of hip-hop dance, celebrating its uniqueness while providing local dancers with visibility and professional opportunities.

Her choreography has been featured at major festivals, dance shows, and competitions, including Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival, her self-produced show House Party at MOB Studios, and singer Brittany Davis’ TikTok campaign and live performance at the Paramount Theatre with Stone Gossard’s Loosegroove Records.

A former backup dancer for Macklemore, Vaughan has toured across the U.S. and Canada, performing on Showtime at the Apollo, Conan O’Brien, MTV, and the Billboard Music Awards. She has taught throughout the Pacific Northwest, works as a fitness coach, and serves as a Lululemon ambassador. Vaughn was honored as a 2025 Seattle Office of Arts & Culture CityArtist award recipient.

She also hosts Booties & Bottles, her signature fundraiser blending hip-hop dance, joy, and community.

Discipline: Literature

Kit Julianto, Yooti, is an enrolled member of the Shoshone Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation and a descendent of the Navajo Nation. He holds a BFA in Studio Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts of Santa Fe, New Mexico (2010) and a MFA in Secondary Education from the Grand Canyon University (2018). He is an Art teacher for grades Pre-K to 12th at the Owyhee Combined School in the Elko County School District. Kit is a powwow singer and Native American Flute player, and works in different mediums and techniques that include pottery, drawing, sculpting, carving, and is mostly known for painting with acrylics. His works reflect upon Native American culture, music, tradition, and storytelling, through various mediums, vibrant colors, and texture.
I am very honored and humbled to receive the WESTAF BIPOC Award. I look forward to creating more art and sharing with my community and expanding my connections.
Thank you very much, this is a great blessing.
-Kit

Kitka, Inc.

Kodiak Arts Council

Kootenai Heritage Council, Inc.

Discipline: Multidisciplinary

Discipline: Dance

Tuifa’asisina Korina Seiuli Lee currently resides in American Samoa but hails from the mighty villages of Apia, Faleasi’u, Papauta, Solosolo, Papa Sataua and Sa’asa’ai Savai’i. Her life has always been infused with the Samoan performing arts for many years. Proudly coming from the musically renowned Le Au Salamo Family where she holds the High Chief Title of Tuifa’asisina. Tuifa’asisina serves as founder, owner, director and choreographer of Le Taupou Manaia Academy of Traditional Samoan Dance, Music & Arts in Pago Pago, American Samoa, Auckland, New Zealand, & Apia, Samoa. In the pageantry realm, she is co-gounder of Manaia Events est. 2016, which, for eight consecutive years, has managed the Miss Samoa Pageant, and has helped numerous former Miss Samoa, Miss American Samoa, Miss Samoa Utah, and Miss Pacific Islands contestants in the Talent and Traditional Attire Category. Tuifa’asisina has also choreographed numerous opening numbers for Miss Samoa, Miss American Samoa, and the Miss Pacific Islands pageants. Tuifa’asisina is the owner and manager of Measina Samoa Creations in American Samoa. This past year, Tuifa’asisina showcased 20 traditional laei samoa designs at the Utah Pacific Fashion Show. She is also a Certified Fitness Professional for the American Council on Exercise, and a mother to her beautiful daughter Lorrina. One of Tuifa’asisina’s greatest accomplishments as a Master Tuiga Fafau artist, is creating a one of a kind 3-stick tuiga in which the lave is covered with plain u’a and hand painted with natural dyes on a siapo-mamanu by Tupito Gadalla – the late Mary Pritchard’s granddaughter. This intricate tuiga fafau is now housed at the Auckland War Memorial Museum in Auckland, New Zealand.

Kriss Jackson-Harper (they/he) is a Seattle-based interdisciplinary artist, educator and cultural strategist whose work bridges storytelling, identity and public health. As founder and executive director of Positively Positive Education Productions (Posi Pos Music), Jackson-Harper leads trauma-informed programs and creative projects centering Black, queer, trans and HIV-positive experiences.

Their Posi Pos Media Lab: Trans Joy & Black Queer Survivor Storytelling Hub amplifies underrepresented voices through arts writing, photography and digital publishing. Previous projects include “HIV Stigma 101 & 102,” “Polysecure… But What About Us?,” and “From Pain to Power,” produced with Jack Straw Cultural Center, 4Culture and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Their work bridges creative direction, education and advocacy, transforming lived experience into public dialogue and systemic critique.

Jackson-Harper holds a bachelor’s in sociology from Washington State University and a graduate degree from the University of Washington’s IslandWood program. They also conducted ethnographic research on HIV stigma with UNAIDS and the University of Ghana.

Born to the Yeʼii Diné Táchiiʼnii clan. Born for Béésh bichʼaii clan. Always a bit out there, but never boring; Kris Pfeiffer is a dedicated musician, leader, artist and linguist who is passionate about a wide array of fields. First getting his taste and love of all things life has to offer as a child on the Navajo Nation, he accredits his grandmother and mother for igniting that passion of all things Diné. Basketry, culinary arts, music, language, he was never shy of setting his aspirations high and consistently was encouraged to seek a higher education, climb the ladder of success, seeking out knowledge to questions he had. He loves to draw with chalk pastels, play the piano, cook, and share his Navajo (Diné) language and culture with everyone. He is an accomplished hoop dancer and current student at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.

Discipline: Film

L Sam Zhang is the author and illustrator of the The First Chinese Festivals series of children’s books. Behind each festival lies a fantastic tale steeped in history and legends thousands of years old. She aims to make these stories available in English so more people can enjoy the festivities throughout the year in a meaningful way. These colorful books also help children better understand themselves and the world around them in our increasingly global environment.

Sam was born in Shanghai and grew up in Buffalo, NY. After getting a BS in Biology from Cornell and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan, she spent a decade on the West Coast doing branding and outreach for startups, research institutes, and nonprofits. Sam now lives in Michigan, and is the Executive Director of the Kalamazoo Chinese Academy, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing Chinese language and cultural experiences to youth from all backgrounds.

Ladies Musical Club

Discipline: Folklife/Traditional Arts

Neech Yaanagut Yéil yoo xhát duwasáak. Yéil áyá xhát.Teeyhítaan naax xhát site. Kagwaantan yádi áyá xhát. Laine Rinehart’s Tlingit name is Neech Yaanagut Yéil. He is of the Teeyhítan clan from Wrangell, Alaska, and is a child of the Kagwaantan through his father’s side. Maternally, he descends from Taos Pueblo on his mother’s side.

In the summer of 2010, Rinehart began weaving in Kay Parker’s Ravenstail class and has since worked with Lily Hope and her mother, Clarissa Rizal. He is deeply grateful for the opportunity to participate in a tradition that is typically unavailable to men and strives to honor the practices and traditions of Chilkat weaving. Using materials such as mountain goat hair (jaanwu) and yellow cedar bark, Rinehart crafts a weaving style that reflects respect for and dedication to this cultural art form.