Discipline: Folklife/Traditional Crafts&Visual Arts
Adina Zamora is a cultural artisan born in California and raised in Harmon, Dededo, Guam. Of Chamorro heritage, she is the eldest of 21 siblings and grew up helping raise her family. Inspired as a teenager by her Palauan neighbors, Zamora developed a passion for coconut leaf weaving, later learning from Samoan, Yapese, and Chamorro teachers. She creates handmade shell jewelry and hopes to open a shop in Chamorro Village where she can sell her work and teach weaving to all ages—preserving a fading cultural tradition and sharing it with the next generation.
The founder of Marianas Visuals is a dedicated videographer and filmmaker from the Northern Mariana Islands. Their work is deeply rooted in capturing and preserving the rich cultural heritage of the CNMI through documentaries on traditional practices, local artists, and cultural events.
Primarily self-taught with a 2004 film school certification, they also contribute to cultural and language preservation as a media specialist at the Chamorro Carolinian Language Policy Commission. Beyond cultural documentation, their diverse portfolio includes sports and special events, product commercials, hotel promotions, family portraits, and wildlife photography. Through Marianas Visuals, they actively uplift Pacific traditions and connect with their community by sharing its unique stories and beauty.
Amanda King is a classic singer of standards and jazz, celebrated as a true chanteuse with a straight-ahead style steeped in tradition.
Praised by The New York Times critic Stephen Holden as one of the nightclub world’s “exceptional rising talents,” King dives deep into the treasure trove of musical history, honoring the stories, songs, and legends that shaped the rich tapestry of early American popular music and jazz.
Having recently made her international debut, she is currently touring across the United States, captivating audiences with her smooth voice and confident style. Her performances, infused with the sophistication of a bygone era while resonating with contemporary vibrancy, have earned her the affectionate moniker “Las Vegas’ Queen of Swing.”
In 2024, she was featured on “Standards Deluxe,” an album by the Rob Dixon/Steve Allee Quintet. The record spent 18 weeks on the JazzWeek Top 50 chart.
American Samoa Council on Arts, Culture, and Humanities
TourWest
2025
Pago Pago, American Samoa
American Samoa Council on Arts, Culture, and Humanities
Hakeem Furious (Andre Carbonell) is a wordsmith from Jacksonville, Florida, with roots in the Rocky Mountains. He graduated from a Southern performing arts high school as a theater major and developed a passion for words through the spoken word community at Florida A&M University, a historically Black college and university that deepened his understanding, appreciation, and preservation of Black culture and resilience.
Currently, he travels the country performing poetry and comedy, curating shows, and writing curriculum and grants as CEO of the #UltraTerrestrialTour.
Angelica Trimble-Yanu, born and raised in Oakland, California, is an enrolled member of the Oglála Lakȟóta Sioux Nation from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Trimble-Yanu’s work has been exhibited at venues including the De Young Museum, MarinMOCA, and the Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello during the 2022 Venice Art Biennale. That same year, she was nominated for the SFMOMA SECA Award following her first solo exhibition, BLACK SUN, at San Francisco’s MRKT Gallery.
Her interdisciplinary and community-based practice has led to numerous public residencies and artist talks with institutions such as Google, the De Young Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art SF, the Berkeley Art Center, the Museum of Archaeology at South Alabama University, Oregon State University, and Santa Clara University.
Anpa’o Locke is an Afro-Indigenous writer, filmmaker, and curator. She is Húŋkpapȟa Lakota and Ahtna Dené (Village of Tazlina), born in the Standing Rock Nation and now residing in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
She was a 2023 Native Lab Fellow and a 2022 Full Circle Fellow at the Sundance Institute, where she developed her upcoming short film, “Kawá,” which follows an Afro-Indigenous teen reconnecting with her Native roots. Her work is focused on amplifying Indigenous narratives in cinema.
In 2023, Locke co-curated “Imagining Indigenous Cinema” at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. This groundbreaking series showcased more than 40 films by U.S.-based Indigenous artists in the post-Standing Rock era. She has also worked as a writer for PBS Digital Studios’ “Sovereign Innovations” and as an associate producer for Best Case Studios.
Antonette Tudela Labausa is an Indigenous Chamoru/Chamorro shell carver from Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. Using Mariånas spondylus, clam (hima), and other shells gathered along the coastlines of the Mariånas, she shapes each piece as a tribute to her heritage. Her work carries the spirit of traditional Chamoru shell carving—honoring ancestral knowledge, promoting cultural pride, and fostering a mindful connection between land and sea.
April Repeki is a cultural dancer, educator, and tradition bearer from Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. She began her dance journey at the age of six, studying Chamorro and Spanish dance under the guidance of Frances Sablan. In sixth grade, she began training with Jonas Barcinas, a first-generation dancer with the Taotao Tano dance group, who introduced her to Polynesian styles and deepened her understanding of the cultural ties across the Pacific. Through Barcinas, Repeki was also mentored by Frank Rabon, the founder of Chamorro cultural dance, Taotao Tano dance group and one of its most influential figures. These mentors instilled in her a deep passion for honoring ancestral stories through movement. For her, dance became more than performance, it became a vessel for memory, identity, and pride.
With over two decades of experience, Repeki has taught more than 300 students, many of whom have performed on Saipan and internationally. She has proudly represented her community at the Festival of Pacific Arts (FestPAC) in Guam (2016) and Hawai‘i (2024), performing alongside her students as proud cultural ambassadors. Today, Repeki remains committed to nurturing the next generation through dance that celebrates heritage, strengthens identity, and keeps island traditions alive.
