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.

Berkeley Society for the Preservation of Traditional Music dba The Freight

Discipline: Interdisciplinary

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.

Bo Shimmin, a lyric tenor and member of the Pueblo of Acoma, is known for performances on national and international stages. A graduate of the University of Michigan, DePauw University and Arizona State University, he brings both technical skill and expressive range to a wide repertoire. He is also committed to supporting the next generation of Indigenous artists through educational outreach and mentorship.

Shimmin is a two-time Fulbright Scholar to Italy, where he taught English and studied 20th-century Italian vocal chamber music. In 2022, he made his professional recital debut at the Lyceum Club in Florence, Italy. Most recently, he completed his second Wheels of Harmony tour with Opera Montana and appeared as Prince Charming in the company’s mainstage production of Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon.

In the upcoming season, Shimmin will perform with Arizona Opera, Passion Project: Opera, Renegade Opera and Wilmington Concert Opera. He is based in Tucson, Arizona.

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University