Rejoice Diaspora Dance Theater

Discipline: Folklife/Traditional Crafts&Visual Arts

From the villages of Aoloau and Fagasa, Renisha Reid now resides in Vaitogi with her husband Tyrone and their four children—Jordan, Janae, Jesalyn, and Jrue. Her cultural journey began with music and dance and has grown into creating clothing, accessories, and crafts that reflect Samoan values and beauty. Inspired by the women in her life—her mother, sisters, aunts, and close friends—Reid blends creativity with community, honoring family, uplifting traditions, and sharing cultural pride with the next generation.

Robert Martinez, born in Riverton, Wyoming, draws profound inspiration from his Chicano and Northern Arapaho heritage. He graduated from the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design in just three years, making him one of the youngest graduates at the time.

Martinez’s work merges Indigenous Plains Ledger Art traditions with graphite-rendered figures, bold airbrushed acrylics, and brushed highlights on antique paper, resulting in powerful visual statements. Drawing inspiration from the hardworking people of the West, his art serves as a bridge between the past and present.

A recipient of Wyoming’s Governor’s Art Award, his work is part of the permanent collections at The Plains Indian Museum at the Center of the West, The Brinton Museum, The Wyoming State Museum, The Nic, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Program Associate/ Volunteer Coordinator, Tieton Arts and Humanities

Customer Service Associate, ANIMARTERENO Collective Program Coordinator

Discipline: Photography

Rudy Rivera is a Chamoru cultural practitioner raised in Santa Rita, Guam, who also specializes in graphic design, video, and photography. From his involvement within the different guma, he increased his traditional knowledge which led him to utilize his graphical skills to further promote his indigenous heritage.

His preferred art medium is photography His photos capture stories of the CHamoru people, its cultural practices and traditions, as well as the beautiful scenery and its lanmarks around the Marianas Islands. Through his photos, he aims to encourage and safeguard the CHamoru culture, its image, and traditions practices.

Discipline: Visual Arts

Ruta’ Tauiliili-Mahuka is a painter and crafter from Tafuna, American Samoa. Trained in painting by her grandfather, she focuses on island seascapes as well as close ups of island flora and fauna. She is also a crafter and creates wire jewelry that incorporates coconut, lava and shell beads as well as sea glass harvested from local beaches. Her work aims at raising awareness about environmental issues by using nature as both subject and materials. Her goal is to engage the viewer and to try and strengthen their relationship with island environments from the tropical forests to marine ecosystems.

Discipline: Photography

Samantha Teleso is a wife and a mother who photographs creative portraits in her free time. Raised as a U.S. Army brat, she moved to her ancestral home of American Samoa at 29 and ran a family photography business for several years before pausing to focus on her growing family. Teleso fulfills her passion of directing and photographing creative portraits that highlights American Samoa’s empowering women, breathtaking landscapes, and natural elements. Her goal to host a creative portrait event in American Samoa deems to connect its photography community and local businesses all for the sake of creating art.