Khalil Bleux (he/him)
REGION: INLAND EMPIRE
HOST ORGANIZATION: Riverside Art Museum
BIO: Khalil Bleux is an artist, activist, and educator from Southeast San Diego. He is the founder of The SOULcial Workers, a creative development collective supporting youth and communities through social education and emotional development. Khalil is also the Producing Artistic Director for Agency 515; The Social Education Theatre, a local non-profit that focuses on mental health, social education, and emotional development through the arts.
Sarah Guerra (she/her)
REGION: BAY AREA (Oakland/Richmond)
HOST ORGANIZATION: The Richmond Art Center
BIO: Sarah Guerra is a queer native Tejana who has dedicated her life to supporting and leveraging the arts as a tool for education, political and social justice. A Bay Area resident since 2001, she is a seasoned program manager that has overseen the creation, implementation, and evolution of commissioning programs and artist residencies focused on uplifting Black and Brown queer and trans people for Brava!, Women in the Arts, Queer Cultural Center, and La Peña Cultural Center. She has provided direct support and feedback for eight Natural Queer Arts Festivals and is currently, the Production Manager for the Queer Cultural Center.
Luisa Martínez (we/they/she)
REGION: SAN DIEGO AREA
HOST ORGANIZATION: The Museum of Us
BIO: Luisa Martínez is a transfronteriza cultural organizer, artist, and educator. Their practice develops from the trans-border context of so-called Tijuana-San Diego, but looks to understand borders, and their imminent destruction, beyond geographical parameters. Much of her work focuses on tenderness, intimacy, and radical imagination as strategies of resistance and solidarity. Luisa, in collaboration with others, assembles spaces that center communities – past co-conspirators include IMPERFECTU, Out Here, Nett Nett, Las Fotos Project, Casa Tamarindo, Burn All Books, and Ruidosón artists to name a few. Luisa currently collaborates with Tijuana Zine Fest, Homegrown Youth Collaborative, Otros Dreams en Acción (ODA), and The Aja Project.
Betty Nguyễn (she/her)
REGION: BAY AREA (SAN JOSÉ)
HOST ORGANIZATION: Red Ladder
BIO: Betty Nguyễn plays with any available mediums as she reckons with discomfort and displacement. Carrying memories of her mother’s motherland (Việt Nam), she moves with acknowledgment of the borrowed Ohlone land that is her hometown (San José). She received her B.S. in Biology at Stanford University and is pursuing an M.A. in Arts in Medicine from the University of Florida, where she insists on art as a practice of survival for communities of color.
Javier Stell-Frésquez (she/he)
REGION: BAY AREA (SAN FRANCISCO)
HOST ORGANIZATION: World Arts West
BIO: Javier Stell-Frésquez (Piru & Tigua Native American from El Paso, Texas) serves Indigenous communities of the San Francisco Bay, with the BAAIT-S Two-Spirits Powwow. As a House Artist at Counterpulse SF, she co-presented Weaving Spirits Two-Spirit Performance Festival, the first festival of its kind, and co-authored the two grants that supported it (Rainin New Works, and SF Arts Commission OPG). He has life-long experience in many dance forms including, more recently, Indigenous contemporary, vogue, and performance art. She consults for various arts organizations and has a B.S. in Environmental Science with honors in Chican@ Studies from Standford University.
Theodore Davis (he/him)
REGION: CENTRAL VALLEY
HOST ORGANIZATION: Arte Americas
BIO: Theodore Davis is an artist-philosopher born and raised in the Central Valley. Theodore studied modern western philosophy at the University of San Diego for his undergraduate degree and received his M.A. in Philosophy at San Francisco State University. Currently, he is pursuing his Ph.D. in Philosophy at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, where his research focuses on the intersection of philosophy and art.
Nanette Kelley (she/her)
REGION: GREATER NORTHERN REGION (UPSTATE)
HOST ORGANIZATION: Ink People Center for the Arts
BIO: A lifelong traveler, Nanette Kelley divides her time between her Osage and Cherokee homelands in Oklahoma and California's Redwood Coast. As a first daughter of the Wahzhazhe Nikashe (Osage Nation) Eagle Clan, she was named Hxutha Doin (Looking at the Eagle), and simply put, her birth role is to learn from seeing and making a plan of action for the people. To ensure access to regional culture, language, and traditional arts, she builds cultural bridges among peoples and organizations. She is pursuing an M.A. in Indigenous Education & Policy at Arizona State University with an emphasis in regional art, cultural and natural history community-based curriculum.
Eric Mora (he/him)
REGION: CENTRAL COAST
HOST ORGANIZATION: Santa Cruz MAH
BIO: Eric Mora was born in Salinas, CA, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. He is currently a Master of Public Administration candidate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), where he is specializing in Monitoring, Evaluation, and Design. Prior to enrolling at MIIS, Eric worked for several nonprofit organizations in various marketing, development, and community engagement roles. Passionate about the arts, LGBTQ+ issues, and community building, Eric has served on the board of directors of Salinas Valley Pride Celebrations since 2018 and the Arts Council for Monterey County since 2017. In his spare time, he enjoys reading poetry, creative nonfiction, and contemporary literature.
Jade Puga (she/her)
REGION: GREATER LOS ANGELES
HOST ORGANIZATION: Avenue 50 Studio
BIO: Jade Puga grew up a stone's throw away from the US/MX border. With only two television channels available, the environment was ripe for creativity and imagination. A graduate from USC School of Theater, she co-founded Safada Y Sano Productions, a film and media company that combines Jade's passion for arts and social justice. Currently, Jade is the Development Director and Program Manager, TeAda Productions.
Beatrice Thomas (she/they)
REGION: GREATER NORTHERN REGION (CAPITAL)
HOST ORGANIZATION: Sol Collective
BIO: Beatrice Thomas, star and creator of Black Benatar’s Black Magic Cabaret and principal of Authentic Arts & Media, is a national multi-disciplinary artist, cultural strategist, social justice drag queen, and creative producer. Whether through creative production; consulting; or equity, diversity, and inclusion workshops, Mx. Thomas' focus is on uplifting and centering queer, transgender, and POC voices, with special attention to creating queer-inclusive family programming. They also serve on the national board of directors for the Association of Performing Arts Professionals and have been named a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist for 2020.