Chief Entertainment Officer, CASA ALTA LLC

Lynne Hardy, originally from Arizona, currently resides in Provo, Utah. She earned a Bachelor of Arts with a minor in entrepreneurship.

Her work, created using digital drawing and painting in Adobe Fresco, is described as colorful, modern depictions of her Navajo people and culture. Inspired by her ancestors, Hardy strives to preserve their stories. Authenticity, Native representation, and inclusion are central to her creations, as she aims to share her culture and combat harmful Native stereotypes.

In 2020, Hardy launched her small online business, Ajoobaasani, where she sells self-designed Navajo products, including stickers, prints, and apparel. The success of Ajoobaasani opened doors for her to collaborate with Native-led organizations and companies seeking Native art, enabling her to become a full-time illustrator.

Hardy hopes to continue growing her art career and business while working with clients who value Native culture.

Discipline: Folklife/Traditional Arts

Magdalen Santos is an emerging bead-maker from Talabwogh, also known as Tanapag. She is learning her craft through the guidance of her maternal aunts and relatives, whose knowledge deeply shapes her journey. Through bead-making, she connects with her cultural roots and contributes to the preservation of her community’s traditions. Her growing practice is both a personal exploration and a tribute to the history, skills, and resilience passed down through generations.

Maka/Keixe Yaxti, a Tlingit woman from Yaakwdaat, carries a rich heritage rooted in her clan’s migration along the Copper River from the North. Based in Southeast Alaska, Yaakwdaat is where her ancestors have lived and stewarded the land for hundreds of years.

Monture belongs to the Raven moiety of the Copper River Clan, the House of the Owl, and she is a child of the Kanien’kehá:ka people. Her early education was shaped by the land itself, with her maternal grandparents serving as interpreters. Her understanding of humanity has been profoundly influenced by traditional practices, including harvest, song and dance, language, ceremony, and genealogy.

 

Maka’s creative work stems from the intersection of storytelling and a vision for radical abundance. She remains a lifelong student of Tlingit history and art.

Mallika Singh is a poet, farmer, and cook based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their chapbook, Retrieval, was published in 2020 by Wendy’s Subway. This season, they are growing okra, marigolds, hibiscus, and more alongside their coworkers at Ashokra Farm.

You can find them out in the field or by the river.

Discipline: Music

Malosi Tanielu Lui is happy to communicate with the community with his talent. Growing up, music was instilled through church choir, youth, and Sunday school. Started playing piano at the age of 10, and since then he was able to use the God given talent in high school choirs— Leone High Taumafai Swing Choir & Samoana High Tautua Choir. He was also blessed with the opportunity to play for American Samoa’s Choir at the Festival Arts of the Pacific this past summer.

Discipline: Folklife/Traditional Music

Mancos Creative District Inc.

Mandate Project Impact, Inc.

Discipline: Photography

Marcella Fitisone, a proud daughter of Samoa, is the visionary owner of Sinavemafiti Photography and Creative Studios. Her creative work is a tribute to two core values that define her life: family and culture. Through her lens, she captures the essence of the Samoan way of life and strong bonds of family, creating timeless photos that tell stories of heritage and love. From birthdays to weddings, family faalavelaves, and the beautiful landscapes of American Samoa, Fitisone believes that preserving these moments through photography is a gift to future generations and a tangible documentation of living narratives.

Margarita Dancel DBA World Theater Productions

Executive Director and Curator, Coleman Center for the Arts

Dr. Marguerite Hinrichs is an innovative, energetic leader with over 20 years of experience as a higher education administrator, public relations/marketing consultant, and social media marketing professor before relocating to the Black Belt from Oakland, California to serve as the Executive Director of the Coleman Center for the Arts. Dr. Hinrichs brings with her a wealth of arts and entertainment, public relations and marketing, and community engagement experience. She She holds a B.A. in Communication, an M.S. in Recreation and Tourism, and an Ed.D. in Education, with an emphasis in Educational Leadership for Social Justice. A lifelong performing artist with an art-centered family, Dr. Hinrichs is committed to empowering and transforming the community through arts education and admmistration.

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Mari Griffin is an artist, spoken word performer, and entrepreneur dedicated to uplifting Black and BIPOC creatives. As the founder and event director of Black Night Market, she curates cultural experiences that celebrate art, music, and community.

Through her leadership, Griffin has produced events such as the Soul Food Festival, Poetry After Dark, and the Black Art Soiree, providing platforms for artists to thrive. Her work empowers emerging talent while promoting economic and social equity.

Griffin was honored as a recipient of the Creative West Artist Fund in 2025. She continues to inspire through storytelling, event production, and artistic expression.

Discipline: Folklife/Traditional Arts

Maria “”Lia”” Barcinas is an indigenous Chamorro fiber artist from the Mariana Islands. Her art seeks to celebrate the Oceanic legacies of utilizing the environment for both sustainability and art.

Maria Nancy Thomas is a photographer born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and based in South Phoenix, Arizona. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

Thomas’ photographs reflect the acculturation of her Mexican and American experiences. Focusing on portraiture, her work examines gender roles, stereotypes, cultural parallels, and social issues.

 

Her artwork has been exhibited at Arizona State University’s Gallery 100, the New School for the Arts and Academics, Yuma Art Center, Phoenix Center for the Arts, the Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center, the Alice Gallery in Washington, and other venues.

Discipline: Visual Arts

Benito is a member of the Houpolowat clan and canoehouse, Utt Wenimai. He also belongs to Utt Hopweilal. Benito was educated in the Weriyang school of navigation and as a child studied under some of the most famous and revered old-time navigators from Polowat, including Hipour Edward and Manipy Rapung. As an adult, Benito studied with the late Teo Onopey and Rainam Edward.

A long time cameraman, photographer, and archivist of Polowat images based in Saipan, Benito was the lead photographer for the documentary “Sacred Vessels: Navigating Tradition and Identity in Micronesia” (1997) and shot for many visiting documentary teams over the past two decades. Benito serves as an informal ambassador of Polowat seafarers in Saipan, served as one of the coordinators and translators in the building of the Lien Polowat in 2012 and its sail to Guam and final resting place at the Oceanic Culture Museum in Okinawa in 2013. In 2016, Benito was one of five navigators ordained by Grandmaster Navigator Rainam Edward of Polowat.

In 2023, Benito sailed from Palau to the CNMI and in 2024, in Hawaiʻi during the Festival of the Pacific Arts and Culture. Benito teaches Basic Traditional Navigation at 500 Sails in Saipan.

Marissel holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies from The Graduate Center, CUNY. She is a Black Puerto Rican Independent Scholar and Afrofeminist currently serving as a Senior Program Associate at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI). Marissel is one of the recipients of the prestigious 2022 Soros Equality Fellowship for her project Saberes Afrorriqueños, a digital project that seeks to advance racial equity through art and culture She is also the founder and coordinator of the projects De coco y anís. Proyecto Cortijo Marissel has presented her work in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Brazil and the United States. She also relates to a general audience through op-eds published in the newspapers Claridad, Revista Marea, Afroféminas y Afrocubanas, and La Revista, addressing issues of racism and anti-racism and Blackness in Puerto Rico. Among her passion for music, food, Brazilian literature, and sci-fi, is her activism to eradicate racism by dismantling the established narrative.