Tommy Archuleta | Poet Laureate, City of Santa Fe (Santa Fe, NM)  

Tommy Archuleta works as a therapist at The Life Link, a local non-profit agency that has served for over twenty years the unhoused and migrant communities of Santa Fe, New Mexico, his hometown. His poems have appeared in numerous print and online literary journals. Susto, his full-length debut collection, published April 2023 by the Center for Literary Publishing, is featured in the November/December 2023 issue of Poets & Writers as part of the magazine’s annual, 5 Over 50 column. He is the seventh poet to serve as laureate for the City of Santa Fe and is a 2025 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow.
 

Leila Awadallah | Co-Artistic Director, Body Watani (Minneapolis, MN)
 

Noelle Awadallah | Co-Artistic Director, Body Watani (Minneapolis, MN)
 

Leila and Noelle Awadallah—daughters of a Palestinian refugee lineage—center Palestine in their lives and artistry. They hold Body Watani, a space to research, investigate, and create performances from an embodied relation with the watan, or homeland, inside our bodies. The knowledge they cultivate flows from ancestral digs, present realities, and future visions of liberation that carry dancing bodies across terrains of grief, rage, sumud, and love for Palestinian Aliveness. 

Roberto Bedoya | Cultural Strategist (Oakland, CA) 

[Bio coming soon!]

William Belcher | Chief of Advancement, Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT)

William Belcher is the Chief of Advancement at Vermont Studio Center and the former President and Executive Director of Ucross Foundation (2022–2024). Prior to Ucross, he served as Director of Development at MASS MoCA. He is also the Founder and President of Wordhorse Strategies, a consulting firm focused on helping nonprofit arts organizations with development, strategic planning, and storytelling. Writing as W.B. Belcher, his work has appeared in Post Road, Entropy, and other publications. He is the author of the novel Lay Down Your Weary Tune (Other Press). 

Tressa Berman, PhD | Principal Consultant-Curator, Institute for Inter-Cultural Practice (Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Tressa Berman, PhD, is Principal Consultant and Curator of the Institute for Inter-Cultural Practice and affiliated faculty at the University of New Mexico. Her exhibitions range from Los Angeles to New York and her community-based projects span northern Australia to rural North Dakota. Her publications include books and catalogues essays, and she is the recipient of numerous awards including a Social Justice Scholarship at Fine Arts Work Center, a Judy Chicago Art Education Award, and Mellon and Rockefeller residency fellowships.

Christy Bolingbroke | Executive/Artistic Director, National Center for Choreography-Akron (Akron, OH)

Christy Bolingbroke, the Founding Executive/Artistic Director for the National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron (NCCAkron), is responsible for setting the curatorial vision and sustainable business model to foster research and development in dance. Previously, she served as the Deputy Director for Advancement at ODC in San Francisco, overseeing curation and performance programming as well as marketing and development organization-wide. A key aspect of her position included managing a unique three-year artist-in-residence program for dance artists, guiding and advising them in all aspects of creative development and administration. Prior to ODC, she was the Director of Marketing at the Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn, NY.

Kate Bowen | Executive Director, ACRE (Steuben, WI / Chicago, IL)

Kate Bowen is an artist, curator, and teacher living and working in Chicago. She is the Acting Executive Director at ACRE (Artists' Cooperative Residency & Exhibitions) and the Video Programming Coordinator at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. She received her MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2011.

Alden Burke | Lead Organizer, Chicago Arts Census (Chicago, IL)

[Bio coming soon!]

Xan Burley | Choreographer; Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance, University of Florida (Gainsville, FL)

Alex Springer | Choreographer; Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance, University of Florida (Gainsville, FL)

Xan Burley and Alex Springer are dance artists, performers, and Assistant Professors of Contemporary Dance at the University of Florida. Formerly New York–based, they have collaborated with artists such as Alexandra Beller, Jeanine Durning, Angie Hauser and Doug Varone. They co-direct Every Body Meeting, an interdisciplinary performance collective working across choreography, sound, sculpture, film, media art, and community practice. Their choreography has been presented nationally and internationally through residencies, immersive performance, gallery exhibitions, and cross-disciplinary research.
[Photo by Derek Fowles]

Mario Caro, PhD | Director, MFA in Studio Arts, Institute of American Indian Arts (Santa Fe, NM)

Mario Caro, PhD, is a researcher, curator, and critic of contemporary art, having published widely on the history, theory, and criticism of contemporary Indigenous arts. He is the Institute of American Indian Arts, MFA Studio Arts Director.

Edward Carrion | Theater and Facilities Director, Keshet Center for the Arts (Albuquerque, NM)

Edward Carrion is the Keshet Center for the Arts Theater and Facilities Director, infusing each project with his easy going approach and technical know-how. Carrion’s lifelong commitment to supporting artists has led to finding a fulfilling career doing what he loves. With a diverse background spanning roles at Cirque Du Soleil, the City of Albuquerque, Tricklock Company, and North 4th Arts Center, among others, Carrion lends a wealth of experience to his role bringing art to life.

Avis Charley | IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts Mellon Fellow (Santa Fe, NM)

Avis Charley (Spirit Lake Dakota and Diné) ’18, MFA ’25, is a visual artist in ledger drawing, oil painting, installation, and sculpture. She offers a Native woman’s perspective on traditional and contemporary artistic practices, emphasizing Native women as storytellers, sources of strength, and agents of change. Her work explores Native identity’s evolution from ancestral lands to urban settings, with recent projects highlighting her mother and grandmother’s generation—Native women who moved to cities in the 1960s and 1970s seeking opportunities. Charley’s art is part of the permanent collections at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA).

During her IAIA residency, Charley will analyze how visual messaging has created dependence and influenced perceptions of Indigenous women’s labor, care, and agency. She will examine how federally funded narratives have entered Indigenous institutions, educational systems, and cultural materials, questioning how imposed narratives have controlled Indigenous lives, especially for Indigenous women. She will also ask how Indigenous artists and communities have responded through critique, reinterpretation, and rejection.

Stuart Chase | Principal, S.A. Chase & Associates (Chimayo, NM)

Stuart Chase’s 40-year career in museum leadership has been marked by his commitment to engaging the public through accessible initiatives, supporting artists, and building collections that foster enduring legacies. His overarching objective is to ensure that deserving artists receive the recognition they merit, establishing a lasting digital presence and legacy within diverse organizational and private collections, while also providing expertise to private collections in organizing, conserving, and making their collections accessible.

Solana Chehtman | Director of Artist Programs, Joan Mitchell Foundation (New York, NY)

Solana Chehtman is a curator and cultural producer based in New York, originally from Argentina. Her work expands across performing and visual arts, and is driven by values of cultural self-determination, civic agency, and intersectional justice. As the Joan Mitchell Foundation's Director of Artist Programs, Chehtman creates and executes a programmatic vision centering artists as creative leaders and change agents. Before joining the Foundation, Chehtman was the inaugural Director of Creative Practice and Social Impact at The Shed and Vice President of Public Engagement at Friends of the High Line. She has collaborated with a range of cultural institutions, including Creative Time, the New Museum, the Queens Museum, and the Tribeca Film Institute. 

Burak Mert Çiloğlugil | Director, Gate 27 (Istanbul, Turkey)

Burak Mert Çiloğlugil lives in Istanbul and has been the Director of the Gate 27 international artist residency program since December 2022. A member of AICA and Social Value International, he previously held a ten-year tenure at Borusan Contemporary. His work spans audience engagement, exhibition production, and institutional communication. He moderated numerous artist talks, including Tim Flach, Mairi Pardalaki, and Nathalie Rey, and coordinated catalogs for Borusan Contemporary’s Water Reverie and Axel Hütte: Chronostasis exhibitions.

Lauren Conrad | Senior Consultant, ConnectUS (Grand Rapids, MI)

Lauren is the Senior Consultant at ConnectUS. She leads cross-sector projects focused on shifting and aligning systems to create equitable outcomes. Lauren has led the Arts and Culture Collective Grand Rapids (ACCGR) in collecting data to shape a comprehensive community-wide arts and culture planning effort.

Kimberleigh Costanzo | Senior Director of Grants and Operations, Howard Gilman Foundation (New York, NY) 

[Bio coming soon!]

Lily Cox-Richard | Visual artist; Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)

Lily Cox-Richard (she/her/LCR) makes sculptures and installations that take up details of cultural and material histories to explore porousness, energy exchange, and paths of resistance. LCR has been awarded an Artadia grant, a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, a postdoctoral fellowship in the University of Michigan’s Society of Fellows, and residencies at the Core Program, Artpace, RAIR Philadelphia, and the MacDowell Colony. Recent solo exhibitions include Yvonne (Guatemala City), The Blanton Museum of Art (Austin, TX), MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA), and Institute of Contemporary Art (Richmond, VA).

Mary Deleary | Director, IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM)

Mary Deleary, PhD, is Anishinaabe Kwe from Deshkan Ziibiing (Chippewas of the Thames First Nation). She is the Director of the Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (RCCNA) at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM. She earned a PhD in Native American Art History from the University of Oklahoma where her research focused on Anishinaabe practices of making and recovering Gete-Anishinaabeg—the old ones. Dr. Deleary maintains ties to her home First Nation as an elected member of the Deshkan Ziibiing Kinoomaagegamig Board of Education and is committed to supporting Native arts and Native Nations. 

Alison Dennis | Executive Director, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (Otis, OR)

Alison Dennis is Executive Director of the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, where artists, scientists and communities explore creativity and the natural world. Her passion for Sitka flows from a lifelong belief in the power of art and nature to inspire collective action. With a collaborative spirit and deep experience helping place-based organizations grow, Alison champions innovative residencies and programs. She holds a BA from Bennington College and an MBA from Portland State University.

Danielle Eady | Programs Director, Oak Spring Garden Foundation (Upperville, VA)

Danielle Eady serves as the Programs Director at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. An Austin, TX native, she began working at OSGF in August 2019. She holds a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin, and Masters in Arts Administration and Policy and Art History from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The themes in her professional and personal work are community, care and place. Past positions have included curatorial and educational roles in Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; and North Adams, MA.

Maria Elting | Program Manager, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (Otis, OR)

Maria Elting has worked in public programming, arts education, and medicinal and ornamental agriculture throughout Hawai'i and the West Coast. Her love of site reactive work and belief in the importance of place based experiences informs her approach to managing the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology's Residency, Workshop and Fellowship programs. She grew up on the island of O’ahu and has a BA in Art History from Hawai’i Pacific University.  

Carina Evangelista | Director, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art (Santa Fe, NM)

Carina Evangelista, Director at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art (Santa Fe, NM), has three decades of curatorial and publishing experience with a focus on contemporary art at institutions in the U.S. including Asia Society and its Global Artistic Programs, Cahiers d’Art Institute, Delaware Contemporary, The Museum of Modern Art, and Oklahoma Contemporary, as well as universities and museums in the Philippines. Also an artist, her creative practice includes work in film, theater, and the visual arts.

Maia Filippi | AiR Program Manager, IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM)

Maia Filippi is an arts administrator with experience in program development, volunteer coordination, and hospitality. She currently serves as the Artist in Residence Program Manager at the Institute of American Indian Arts, where she supports and uplifts art and artists through programming embedded in community. Filippi has worked with international NGOs in volunteer management roles and brings a strong foundation in service and relationship-building from her background in hospitality. 

Ryan S. Flahive | Archivist, IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM)

Ryan S. Flahive is an archivist, educator, historian, and curator with more than two decades of experience advancing Indigenous cultural preservation, oral history, and community-based archives. Since 2009, he has served as Archivist and Museum Studies faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he leads a team of archivists in the Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts and teaches courses in museum studies, archives management, and oral history methods. 

Lisa Funderburke | President + CEO, Artist Communities Alliance (Baltimore, MD)

Lisa Funderburke is the president and CEO of the Artists Communities Alliance (ACA), the international service organization of artist residency programs. An analytical arts leader and a pioneer in helping organizations build their capacity, Funderburke is a sought-after advisor and public speaker who helps nonprofits worldwide grow in a just, equitable, and joyful manner for their employees and communities. She is known as a dynamic public speaker and coach who moves people and organizations to adopt transformational ideas. A scientist by training who began her career as a National Science Foundation Fellow, Funderburke was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Museum and Library Services Board. Funderburke received a Bachelor of Science in Botany and a Master of Science in Biology from Howard University.

Adrienne Garbini | Coordinator, San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project (Saguache, CO)

Adrienne Garbini is an artist, writer, curator, and researcher living in Saguache. She is the Executive Director of NOON Organization and a coordinator of the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project and The Range art space in Saguache. 

Joel Garcia | Co-Founder and Director, Meztli Projects (Montebello, CA)

Joel Garcia (Huichol) is an Indigenous artist, cultural organizer, co-founder, and Director of Meztli Projects, an Indigenous-based arts and culture collaborative centering Indigeneity into the creative practice of Los Angeles. In various roles, he has worked with Indigenous communities across borders in support of issues of land, access, and self-determination. His work explores healing and reconciliation, as well as memory and place. He’s a current Stanton Fellow and former fellow of Monument Lab, and co-facilitator of the Intercultural Leadership Institute which proposes to hold space for cultural production outside of white supremacist frameworks.

Eugene Gloria | Poet; Chair of English Department and Professor of Creative Writing, DePauw University (Greencastle, IN)

Eugene Gloria is the author of four books of poems—Sightseer in This Killing City (Penguin Random House, 2019), winner of an Indiana Authors Award; My Favorite Warlord (Penguin, 2012), winner of an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award; Hoodlum Birds (Penguin, 2006); and Drivers at the Short-Time Motel (Penguin, 2000), a National Poetry Series selection and winner of an Asian American Literary Award. His honors include a Fulbright Research Grant, a Pushcart Prize, a Poetry Society of America award, and a Fulbright Senior Visiting Fellowship, among others. He is the chair of the English Department and a professor of Creative Writing at DePauw University.
[Photo by Joanna Eldredge Morrissey]

Shira Greenberg | Founder and Artistic Director, Keshet Dance Company and Center for the Arts (Albuquerque, NM)

Shira Greenberg founded Keshet in 1996 focusing on the intersection of contemporary dance, community engagement, and systems-change advocacy. Her work is focused on accessibility and connectivity for artists and audiences, dance integration and advocacy within the juvenile justice ecosystem, the contemporary dance scene locally and globally, and supporting artists and economic development initiatives via arts entrepreneurship resources, audience development, and holistic artist residencies.

Stella Greendeer | AiR Program Assistant, IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM)

[Bio coming soon!]

Brandon Gryde | Former Director Presenting and Multidisciplinary Works, Artist Communities, and Challenge America, National Endowment for the Arts (Washington DC)

Brandon Gryde most recently served as director of Presenting and Multidisciplinary Works, Artist Communities, and Challenge America at the National Endowment for the Arts, overseeing the agency's grantmaking for those disciplines. Concurrently, he spent two years as Interim Senior Director of Multidisciplinary Arts and Equity, managing staff and working with leadership to develop strategies for funding in alignment with the agency's mission. Prior to the NEA, Brandon served as government affairs director for both Dance/USA and OPERA America, advocating for policies that supported the performing arts. In 2016, he created the inaugural role of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer at OPERA America, coordinating training and learning opportunities for the organization and field. Brandon lives with his husband in Washington, DC. 

Mayumi Hamanaka | Co-Executive Director, Kala Art Institute (Berkeley, CA)

Mayumi Hamanaka provides artistic vision and direction for Kala. She currently heads up communication (including the development of the annual marketing plan in collaboration with other staff members), oversees web design and maintenance, acts as the curator (organizing exhibitions, public programs, and related events at Kala gallery and outside venues), juries Kala’s fellowship and other artist-residency initiatives, and supervises arts education, art sales, and gallery programming. Originally from Japan, Mayumi is a visual artist, curator and educator. She is the recipient of the Murphy Fellowship Award, Taipei Artist Village Fellowship, and others. 

Leslie Hirst | Visual Artist; Professor of Experimental and Foundation Studies, Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI)

Leslie Hirst is a visual artist working across disciplines to examine the forces that shape social histories and place. Hirst’s solo exhibitions include Museo del Merletto at the 56th Internazionale Biennale di Venezia, (Italy); Kunstverein Baden (Austria); and Pavel Zoubok Gallery (NY). Her work has been presented in group exhibitions internationally and is in public and private collections. Hirst received an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the RISD Museum, the Rhode Island Foundation's MacColl Johnson Fellowship, and two Fellowships in Drawing and Printmaking from the Rhode Island Council on the Arts. 

Asa Jackson | President and CEO, McColl Center (Charlotte, NC) 

Asa Jackson is an American artist and arts leader based in North Carolina. As a multidisciplinary artist, Jackson’s work explores the cross section of textile from various countries, peoples, time periods, and personal histories. He has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including a career-defining solo exhibition at the Samuel Owen Gallery (Greenwich, CT), MoCA (Arlington, VA), Hodges Taylor Gallery (Charlotte, NC), Virginia MoCA (Virginia Beach, VA), and Harvy B. Gantt Center (Charlotte, NC). His work is a part of various prominent collections at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Mint Museum, and The Rockwell Museum. Jackson is the co-founder of the CAN Foundation, a not-for-profit arts organization in Newport News, VA, with a focus on building sustainable careers for the creative class. He served on the board of the Virginia Commission for the Arts from 2018- 2023. In January 2025, he became President and CEO of the McColl Center in Charlotte, NC.

yrécha gay Jheneall | Artist-Centered Program Associate, Joan Mitchell Center (New Orleans, LA)

yrécha gay Jheneall is a transdisciplinary fluid artist born and raised in Jamaica. Between childhood and adolescence, their life oscillated between Kingston and Portmore. Now living in New Orleans, Louisiana, their creative practice considers Afro-Caribbean people's movement, memories, and homemaking rituals as practice toward a liberatory consciousness. yrécha aims to signify collective and individual notions of belonging, nativity, and embodiment through various modalities of wata, video, sound, Nonperformance, performance, and installation—clarifying the relationship between the body, water, and the land, activated within rituals and processes of labor, survival, death, and living.

Brian Johnson | IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts Mellon Fellow (Santa Fe, NM) 

Brian Johnson (Monacan Indian Nation) is an award-winning designer and partner at Polymode Studio, where he works to amplify marginalized and overlooked voices through poetic research, experiential learning, and impactful design. His work includes teaching, curating, and designing, with recent exhibitions like Reverberations: Lineages in Design History at the Ford Foundation Gallery and Designed to Be Red: Native American and Indigenous Posters at Poster House, New York. He founded BIPOC Design History and has collaborated with institutions such as the New York Times Magazine, MIT Press, Nike, MoMA, and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. Johnson’s scholarship and design work promote Indigenous presence in the design field, focusing on humanity, the environment, and decolonial approaches.

During his residency at IAIA, Johnson will conduct detailed research and writing to support the upcoming book Designed to Be Red: Native American Graphic Works with DelMonico Books and will develop the exhibition Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Poster Works at Poster House, opening September 24, 2026, in New York. The project will explore a variety of printed materials—posters, flyers, campaign ephemera, and other design artifacts—not just as aesthetic objects but as political and cultural tools.

Elsie Kagan | Founder and Director, Interlude Artist Residency (Hudson, NY)

Elsie Kagan is the Founder and Director of Interlude Artist Residency, a groundbreaking non-profit program in Upstate New York that serves the needs of artist parents. Identifying a critical gap in accessibility and opportunity for artists who are caregivers, Kagan created this essential resource to address an under-served community in the arts. Interlude operates year-round, providing nurturing and fully funded residency sessions to about 20 artists and their families per year.

Kimba D. King | Senior Director of Human Resources, Adrienne Arsht Center (Miami, FL)

Kimba D. King is the Senior Director of Human Resources at the Adrienne Arsht Center (Miami, FL) and an experienced HR Consultant. She co-created Florida’s first state-certified Technical Theater Apprenticeship program, expanding opportunities for historically marginalized communities in the field of technical theater. A champion of holistic wellness, Kimba is passionate about building workplace cultures where people are truly heard, supported, and empowered to thrive.

Joseph Kunkel | Principal and Director, Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab, MASS Design Group (Boston, MA)

Joseph Kunkel, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, is a community designer and educator focused on sustainable development practices for Indigenous communities. As a Principal at MASS Design Group, Joseph directs the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab in O’ghe P’oghe (Santa Fe, NM). Joseph’s work includes exemplary Indian housing projects, such as the Wa-Di Housing Project, a 41-unit affordable housing development supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and ArtPlace America. His research on affordable housing was developed into emerging best practices, leading to an online Healthy Homes Road Map for tribal housing development, funded by HUD’s PD&R Office.

Colette LaBouff | Executive Director, Black Mountain Institute, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)

Colette LaBouff is Executive Director at Black Mountain Institute. Prior to this, she was Executive Director at Taos Center for the Arts. From 2001–2011 she was Associate Director, and Interim Acting Director, International Center for Writing and Translation at UC Irvine. She is the author of Mean (U. of Chicago Press, 2008), prose poems, and “Holdings,” a text-object (Container Press, 2019). She has a PhD in English and MFA in Poetry from UC Irvine.

Ellen Lake | Co-Executive Director, Kala Art Institute (Berkeley, CA)

Ellen Lake is an interdisciplinary artist living in Oakland, CA and the Co-Executive Director of Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA. Her art practice experiments with technology and materials, explores archives and collections, returns time and again to process, and ranges from public art to site-specific installation. As an arts administrator, she is passionate about supporting artists and building creative communities. Working at Kala since 2008, Ellen's expertise spans development, strategic planning, financial management, grant writing, fundraising, and building community partnerships. 

Meg Leary | Founder, ArtsFIRST Chicago (Chicago, IL)

Meg Leary (she/they) is the founder of ArtsFIRST Chicago a newly formed not-for-profit providing funding, resources, and advocacy for Chicagoland artists and arts organizations. ArtsFIRST Chicago is conceived to be the city of Chicago’s first community foundation dedicated exclusively to Arts and Culture. By focusing on the unique needs and interests of Chicago-based artists and arts organizations, this new entity aims to inspire philanthropic and civic engagement in Chicago’s arts and culture sector, uplift the leadership of artists, and illuminate the breadth and richness of the arts that exists across Chicago’s neighborhoods and cultural communities.

Stephanie Lerma | Artist (Albuquerque, NM)

Stephanie Lerma is a papermaker and a sculptor from New Mexico. Her making interests are informed by cultural and gender issues—particularly as they relate to motherhood. A wide ranging artist, she has degrees in English and Women’s Studies from SUNY Albany and a certification in piano pedagogue from L’Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. Her works are in public and private collections and exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States, China, and South Korea. 

Ana Lopes Arechiga | Director of Programming and Engagement, Keshet Center for the Arts (Albuquerque, NM)

Ana Lopes Arechiga is originally from Mexico and has a BA in Contemporary Dance and Psychology, with honors summa cum laude in Psychology, magna cum laude in Dance, from the University of New Mexico. She is a dancer, choreographer, and arts administrator. Since 2021 she has been adjunct faculty in the Theater & Dance Department at UNM. She has been part of Keshet's team since 2014, and is currently part of Keshet’s leadership team as Director of Programming and Engagement.

Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo | Rapper, Producer, and David S. Josephson Assistant Professor of Music, Brown University (Providence, RI)

[Bio coming soon!]

Aurora Martinez | Teaching Artist, San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project (Monte Vista, CO)

Aurora Martinez is a Monte Vista based artist and teacher born in Center, Colorado. She is retired from a career in public school teaching. She came to colcha embroidery through the San Luis stitching group in 2017, and grew up around the women in Center who participated in the Artes del Valle group that worked at the San Juan Arts Center in La Garita in the 1970s and 80s.

Elsa Menendez | Deputy Director, City of Albuquerque Department of Arts and Culture (Albuquerque, NM)

[Bio coming soon!]

Deanna M. Miera | Residency Manager, Ragdale (Lake Forest, IL)

Deanna M. Miera is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist and arts administrator from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She serves as Residency Manager at Ragdale (Lake Forest, Illinois), one of the largest interdisciplinary artist residencies in the United States, where she supports upwards of 150 artists and writers annually. She has been a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has received a residency and merit scholarship award from New Works’ Nave Proyecto, an artist-run residency in Guayllabamba, Ecuador.

Roger Montoya | Creative Director and Co-Founder, Moving Arts Española (Ohkay Owingeh, NM)

Roger Montoya is an American humanitarian recognized in 2019 as a CNN Hero for the visionary programming at Moving Arts Española. Montoya is an accomplished self-taught landscape painter, producer, choreographer, and founding member of Moving People Dance Santa Fe. From 1998–2007, he founded and coordinated the Arts in the Schools program for the Española Public School District that served 12 elementary schools and 3,000+ K–6 students. Montoya co-founded the La Tierra Montessori School for the Arts and Sciences Charter School in 2012. He serves as a guest teacher/lecturer at the New Mexico School for the Arts charter high school and the UNM dance department, as well as being an advisory board member at Moving Arts Española.

Naomi Natale | Artist (Albuquerque, NM)

[Bio coming soon!]

Antonio Necuze | Managing Director of Finance and Operations, Artist Communities Alliance; President, A&M Business Consultants (Miami, FL) 

Antonio Necuze, is a finance executive with more than seventeen years of experience leading high performance teams in non-profit and arts communities. Necuze opened the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, where he served as their Accounting Director. After a decade in that role, he moved to the New World Symphony as their Financial Controller. He also worked as the Senior Vice President at Big Brothers Big Sisters overseeing Finance, HR, and Operations. Currently, Necuze serves as President of A&M Business Consultants, where he helps small- to mid-size non-profits with their financial and operational needs, and the Managing Director of Finance and Operations at Artist Communities Alliance. 

James Ojascastro, PhD | Field Botany Program Manager, Atlanta Botanical Gardens (Atlanta, GA)

[Bio coming soon!]

Chrissie Orr | Artist and Co-Founder, SeedBroadcast Collective (Anton Chico, NM)

Chrissie Orr was born in Scotland, a descendant of the Picts (the painted ones). She is an artist, animateur, and creative investigator who has created innovative, provocative community-based art projects in diverse areas of the world and is recognized internationally for her pioneering work. She is the recipient of the Santa Fe Mayors Award for Excellence in the Arts and she is a co-founder of the SeedBroadcast Collective. She is the co-founder of the Academy for the Love of Learning’s EL Otro Lado Project and the Institute for Living Story and is presently the Academy’s Creative Practice Fellow. She has kept a journal for more years than she can remember, their broken worn spines line her bookshelves and contain her secret memory lines. One day she might share these. In her spare time she grows ancient varieties of corn and beans to learn new ways of being in this world and loves to instigate beautiful trouble.

Carolina Porras Monroy | Senior Manager, Studios at MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA)

Carolina Porras Monroy (she/ella) is the current Senior Manager at the Studios at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) Residency in North Adams, Massachusetts.  Previously, she was Executive Director at Elsewhere Studios, a grassroots community organization and artist residency space in western Colorado. Porras Monroy is also co-founder of Piney Wood Atlas, a collaborative artist residency research project highlighting DIY and unconventional residency spaces throughout the United States through regional road trips. Currently, her creative practice involves working with her hands in any way through drawing, textile work, or trying new recipes.

Megha Ralapati | Independent Curator (Chicago, IL)

Megha Ralapati is an independent curator and arts leader in Chicago, who seeks to amplify artists’ practice through cultural exchange and transnational dialogue. In her current role as Program Director for CEC ArtsLink, a platform dedicated to international connection and mobility for artists, she oversees programs and fellowships, as well as leads the annually anticipated ArtsLink Assembly, a transnational convening of practitioners, which has taken place in New York, Warsaw, and Chicago in November 2023. Prior to this, Megha spent a decade shaping the Jackman Goldwasser Residency at Hyde Park Art Center, where she curated artists from across the world, bringing them to Chicago to deepen engagement locally, and reciprocally created pathways for Chicago artists to spend time at global cultural institutions to grow their practices and networks. She is currently a board member of Artist Communities Alliance, Enrich Chicago, and a member of SpaceShift, an interdisciplinary art collective.

Mary Anne Redding | Senior Curator, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Appalachian University (Boone, NC)

[Bio coming soon!]

Meaghan Ritchey | Co-Founder and Director, Parts and Labor San Antonio (San Antonio, TX)

Meaghan Ritchey helps build arts organizations and their potential audiences. She is the co-founder and director of the Parts & Labor artist residency in San Antonio, Texas. She also works with the Foundation for Spirituality and the Arts, Mockingbird, and the HEB Foundation. She has directed communications and programming for Bridge Projects, Image Journal, Commonweal, Baylor University, and the International Arts Movement.

Steff Rosalez | CEO, Grandville Arts and Humanities (Grand Rapids, MI)

Steff Rosalez is the CEO of Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities and a Co-Chair for ACCGR. She brings deep experience in youth development, arts equity, and community-driven programming, and is a key voice in shaping the region’s arts and culture strategy.

Dr. Shelle Sanchez | Director, City of Albuquerque Department of Arts and Culture (Albuquerque, NM)

[Bio coming soon!]

Eleanor Savage | President and CEO, Jerome Foundation (St Paul, MN) 

[Bio coming soon!]

Suzanne Sbarge | Artist (Albuquerque, NM) 

Suzanne Sbarge is a visual artist who worked as a nonprofit arts leader for close to 30 years. She founded the contemporary art museum 516 ARTS in Albuquerque and produced many major projects on the environment. Her current artwork focuses on the animals of Antelope Island in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. She holds a BA in Art History and Studio Arts from Barnard College and an MA in Art Education from UNM.

Trent Segura | Coordinator, San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project (Denver, CO)

Trent Segura is an artist, researcher, and writer based in Denver and Saguache, Colorado. Trent coordinates the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project and NOON Organization programs. Trent came to colcha embroidery through his great aunt Tiva Trujillo who lived and worked in Saguache. He is a member of the contemporary art collective M12 Studio. 

Kieran Sequoia | Mobile Artist in Residence, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (Santa Fe, NM)

[Bio coming soon!]

Sanjit Sethi | Artist and Cultural Academic Leader (Bali, Indonesia)

Sanjit Sethi has two decades of experience as an artist and cultural academic leader. Sanjit served as the first Director of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University, where he oversaw the reestablishment of the historic art and design college as it integrated with the University, and served as the President of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design from 2019-2025. His previous positions include serving as Director of the MFA program at the Memphis College of Art; Director of the Center for Art and Public Life, Barclay Simpson Professor, and Chair of Community Arts at the California College of the Arts; and Executive Director of the Santa Fe Art Institute. Additionally, Sanjit has lectured and taught at the Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology in Bangalore; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and Saint Mary’s College in London.

Kelly Sicat | Director, Lucas Artists Programs, Montalvo Arts Center (Saratoga, CA)

Kelly Sicat sets vision, direction, and programming priorities for the Lucas Artists Residency Program and Montalvo Arts Center’s artistic programming. Since joining Montalvo in 2007, she has curated sixteen major thematic artistic programs, commissioning over sixty-five new works in multiple disciplines and engaging hundreds of local, national, and international artists with the LAP. During her tenure, she has built dozens of strategic partnerships throughout Silicon Valley for the program.

Henry J. Simonds | Founder, Pedantic Arts Residency (Pittsburgh, PA) 

Henry J. Simonds is an artist, curator, and filmmaker. He has shown in Pittsburgh, PA, Vermont, and New York, and has written, edited, and produced both feature films and documentaries for the screen and television. Simonds is a graduate of Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT) and received his MFA in Visual Art from the Vermont College of Fine Art (Montpelier, VT) in 2020. He is the co-founder and co-director of the Pedantic Arts Residency.

Katie Sonnenborn | Co-Director, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (Madison, ME)

[Bio coming soon!]

Thaddeus Squire | Chief Commons Steward, Social Impact Commons (Philadelphia, PA)

Thaddeus Squire, Chief Commons Steward at Social Impact Commons, has more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit management field, focusing on arts and cultural heritage. He founded Peregrine Arts in 2004, a multi-arts producer, followed by Hidden City Philadelphia, among other curatorial projects. In 2010 he shifted his practice to focus on shared nonprofit infrastructure, founding CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia in 2010, the first comprehensive fiscal sponsor focusing on arts and heritage in the country. In 2020, he co-founded Social Impact Commons, the first nonprofit supporting organization and field builder for the national fiscal sponsorship community.

Jennifer Stein | Team Leader/Account Executive, Commercial Lines, Risk Strategies (New York, NY)

Jennifer Stein joined Risk Strategies in 2023. She is an account executive with more than two decades of experience in commercial insurance. She has handled countless mid-large sized business accounts, managing every aspect of their insurance needs. Prior to Risk Strategies, Jen held the roles of commercial lines manager and senior account manager at other brokerages.

Anthony Stepter | Program Director, ACRE (Chicago, IL)

[Bio coming soon!]

Hope Sullivan | Executive Director, Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT)

Hope Sullivan is the Executive Director of Vermont Studio Center, where she champions creativity as a force for community, connection, and global exchange. Since joining VSC in 2023, she has advanced its vision of expanding access and deepening impact for artists and writers worldwide. Her career blends leadership in fundraising, program development, and the arts, following roles at Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Berkshire Arts Center, Sharpe Partners, and Goldman Sachs.

Adam Swanson | Literary Arts Fellow, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (Otis, OR)

Adam Swanson is a writer and suicidologist. His work has appeared in Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, Khôra, and elsewhere. He’s received fellowships from Emerson College, Lambda Literary, and Writing by Writers. In 2024, he was named the inaugural Literary Arts Fellow at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. Adam is the Senior Technical Assistance and State Partnerships Advisor for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center at EDC, a global nonprofit dedicated to health and education initiatives.

Natalie Sweet | Executive Director, Brew House Arts (Pittsburgh, PA)

Natalie Sweet is a cultural worker and curator based in Pittsburgh, PA, whose work primarily explores socially engaged artistic practices. She currently serves as Executive Director of Brew House Arts, a non-profit art center that hosts community driven fine art exhibitions, artist studios, and residency programs. Natalie earned a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and has been involved in collaborations with various organizations including Contemporary Craft, the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Equity Impact Center. 

Adia Sykes | Lead Organizer, Chicago Arts Census (Chicago, IL)

[Bio coming soon!]

J. Matthew Thomas | Executive Director, The Paseo Project (Taos, NM)

J. Matthew Thomas is an artist, architect, and community organizer based in Taos, New Mexico. As Executive Director of The Paseo Project, he leads an immersive, place-based arts festival and year-round programs that activate community, culture, and landscape. Drawing on his background in architecture and urban design, Thomas creates ecosystems of support for artists and audiences alike, fostering connection through public art, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and community transformation.  

Toccarra Thomas | Executive Director, Santa Fe Art Institute (Santa Fe, NM)

Toccarra Thomas, originally from New Haven, CT, is a media and performance artist, film programmer, and arts administrator with extensive experience in leading and innovating within the arts and cultural sector. She has held prominent leadership roles, including Director of the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, a program of the Joan Mitchell Foundation. As the inaugural general manager of Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY, and the inaugural managing director of SPACE in Portland, ME, she played a pivotal role in strengthening operations and administration, expanding community engagement, and aligning organizational missions with artistic values.In addition to her professional roles, Toccarra serves as an advisory member for Indigo Arts Alliance, a BIPOC-run residency program dedicated to supporting Black and Brown artists. She has also curated and produced numerous cultural projects, including film series and multidisciplinary art events that elevate diverse voices and address pressing societal issues.

Guy Thorne | Arts Residency Programs Coordinator, Division of the Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, WI)

Guy Thorne, MBA, is an award-winning dancer, choreographer, and multi-media artist. Known for his work with Garth Fagan Dance and as the co-creator of FuturPointe Dance, he blends Caribbean movement and classical techniques. Thorne currently manages Arts Residency Programs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts. With an international career as a performer and facilitator, he brings a unique blend of embodied inquiry, movement, and creative strategy for artists and administrators alike.

Brandi Turner | Co-Founder, Sipp Culture (Utica, MS)

[Bio coming soon!]

Kate Turner | Artist and Educator, Eastern New Mexico University (Roswell, NM) 

Kate Turner is a visual artist and educator from West Chester, Ohio. She uses sculpture, installation, film, fashion, and performance to abstract memories and experiences reflecting on what it was like forging an identity as a transracial adoptee. Through storytelling, she examines contemporary issues surrounding identity, race, and gender. She received a BFA from Bowling Green State University, and a MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in sculpture and extended media. She is former RAiR resident and current faculty of art at Eastern New Mexico University.

Hannah Turpin | Program Manager, Pedantic Arts Residency (Pittsburgh, PA)

Hannah Turpin is a Pittsburgh-based independent curator and arts worker currently employed by Casey Droege Cultural Productions and the O'Brien Art Foundation. As Program Manager for Pedantic Arts Residency, Turpin leads program planning and day-to-day operations. Their curatorial practice examines art history through a queer lens, seen in their recent project, When the Lights Come On: Queer Nightlife as Emergent Space (2025). Turpin holds an MA in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York, and previously worked at the Carnegie Museum of Art and Leslie Lohman Museum.

Sharon Ullman | Strategy and Execution Specialist (New York, NY)

Dynamic, innovative, and deeply collaborative, Sharon Ullman partners with creative organizations across the artistic, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors. A forward thinker who offers a unique blend of strategic insight, hands-on implementation, and a far-reaching network that enables her to assemble the right mix of professionals to get the job done. From putting structures in place for start-ups to organizing the legal and financial details for estates, legacies, and philanthropic organizations to staff planning and recruitment for new programs, Ullman can be counted on to drive projects efficiently while maximizing resources and saving time. 

Carlie Waganer | Residency Program Manager, Bemis Center For Contemporary Arts (Omaha, NE)

Carlie Waganer joined the Bemis Residency team in 2023. In her role, she oversees all administrative aspects of Bemis’s internationally renowned residency program and supports community building within the residency program and the greater public. Waganer considers herself an “artistic administrator,” where the support of artists and the realization of their goals are integral to her own artistic fulfillment.

Elly Weisenberg Kelly | Manager of Public Programs and Residencies, The Pocantico Center (Tarrytown, NY)

Elly Weisenberg Kelly (she/her) is manager of public programs and residencies at The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She is responsible for the production and curation of public programming, the artist-in-residence program, and community engagement. Prior to RBF, Elly enjoyed a career in public relations, communications and non-profit management. Elly is passionate about community building, supporting artists in the creative process, and making the arts inclusive and accessible for all.

Emily Weiss Schaffer | Vice President and Team Leader, Fine Arts Practice, Risk Strategies (New York, NY)

Emily Weiss Schaffer has over 14 years of experience providing insurance solutions for some of the largest and most complex collectors, galleries, dealers, artist studios, foundations, museum, auction houses and packer/shipper accounts at Risk Strategies. Emily was awarded Power Broker by Risk & Insurance magazine, which recognizes insurance brokers who stand out amongst their peers in industry knowledge, problem solving skills and exceptional client service in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2023. She was recognized as one of the Top 40 Brokers under 40 for 2016, 2017 and 2020.  Emily has also been featured in Fortune Magazine and the New York Times Vocations section.

Billy White | Musician, The Heart is Awake (Albuquerque, NM)

Billy White (aka The Heart is Awake) has been leading healing sound journeys for over 20 years. Using a collection of exotic instruments from many traditions such as singing bowls, flutes, percussion, didgeridoo, harmonium, tuning forks and overtone voice, participants are led through a deeply relaxing, gentle yet powerful listening experience, sometimes including simple breathing and vocalizing exercises. A powerful antidote to stress and anxiety and an aid to better sleep and physical wellbeing. Wonderful for clearing and blessing a space and bringing harmony and openness to a gathering of friends, a ceremony or special occasion.

Lesley Williamson | Executive Director, Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts (Ithaca, NY)

Lesley Williamson is the executive director of the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts in Ithaca, New York, an organization dedicated to New York State artists and writers. Since beginning her tenure in late 2011, she has focused much of her efforts on making the residency more accessible and inclusive by eliminating barriers to entry. Her accomplishments include a six-year effort to build an accessible studio and living space, which was completed in 2021. She led Saltonstall’s effort to eliminate their residency application fee and initiated an anonymous jurying process, shorter residencies, and residencies specifically for parents. 

Mark Woltman | Managing Director, ConnectUS (Grand Rapids, MI)

Mark Woltman is the Managing Director with ConnectUS. With a background in policy analysis and impact measurement, Woltman supports collective movements in using data to drive decision-making and build narratives that shift power and resources.

Christine Wong Yap | Visual Artist and Social Practitioner (San Francisco, CA)

Christine Wong Yap is a visual artist and social practitioner who works in community engagement, drawing, printmaking, publishing, textiles, and public art. Through her hyperlocal participatory research projects, she gathers and amplifies grassroots perspectives on belonging, resilience, and mental well being. She is a 2025 Creative Capital Awardee. She has served as Neighborhood Visiting Artist at Stanford University (Stanford, CA) and Creative Citizenship Fellow at the California College of the Arts (San Francisco, CA).

Jenni Wu | Chief of Staff, MacDowell (Peterborough, NH)

Jenni Wu (she/her/hers) is the Chief of Staff at MacDowell. In this role, she leads HR functions, manages cross-departmental projects, and helps to maintain a healthy and inclusive workplace culture. Jenni studied art history and French at Grinnell College and has a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Artist Community Alliance and enjoys spending time with her dog Marvin, reading, and painting.

Charlotte Wyatt | Associate Director of Programs, Black Mountain Institute, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)

Charlotte Wyatt is the Associate Director of Programs for Black Mountain Institute. She has an MFA in fiction from the University of Houston, where she won an Inprint Donald Barthelme Prize. She worked for the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference for nine years, where she directed admissions and the fiction program. Her resume includes zookeeping, wine-country hospitality, and supernatural tourism. Her creative work can be found in Chautauqua, The Potomac Review, Joyland, and others.

Kibra A Yohannes | Senior Program Associate, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (New York, NY)

As the founding Executive Director, Kibra drove the programming, administration, and operations of AFRICA'SOUT!, a nonprofit organization that honors, supports and defends artists who radically change the narrative around Africa and its Diaspora, first and foremost, for themselves. Before joining AFRICA’SOUT! Kibra was the Director of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies at Long Island University, where she managed and designed children’s programs and accredited adult education, non-traditional and professional programs. Previously she served as Director of Operations and Director of Programs, respectively, at Arts Engine, Inc. a film production company producing social-issue documentaries of consequence, and programs such as the Media That Matters Film Festival, MediaRights and Filmmaker Services. Kibra holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Virginia and is a candidate for an MA Social Science, with a Graduate Certificate in United Nations Studies, from Long Island University.