2018 WESTAF Cohort

Andre Carbonell, Colorado

Andre Carbonell, Colorado

Antoine Girard Los Angeles, California

Antoine Girard Los Angeles, California

VSA - TOURS | The Broad

Antoine Girard is a museum educator at the Broad Museum, leading personalized visitor experiences and encouraging new audience development through on-site and digital programming. Girard’s personal and professional trajectories, along with the successes he has had with community engaged arts administration—have informed his commitment to answering a call to representation by developing a more inclusive environment around art conversations. Throughout his career, he has pursued the creation of an accessible starting point to engage youth and underrepresented cultures through arts education and is passionate about stewarding a community-first perspective. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Girard graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he came to know the power of the arts to make transformative social change. Girard earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from Howard University in Washington, D.C.. 

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Laili Gohartaj She/Her/Hers, Bay Area, California

Laili Gohartaj She/Her/Hers, Bay Area, California

Fundraiser

Laili Gohartaj is passionate about equity and access to arts opportunities for people who have been excluded or marginalized, especially in the performing arts field. As a professional fundraiser, Gohartaj works to support arts organizations in the Oakland and East Bay community, while pushing funders to acknowledge and dismantle white supremacy in philanthropy. She also supports the arts community as a grant panelist, volunteer and board member of the Mahealani Uchiyama Center for International Dance, and the Berkeley Art Center. Gohartaj was selected as a San Francisco Emerging Arts Professionals Fellow in 2017. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music, clarinet performance, and a master’s degree in English with a focus on creative nonfiction and poetry. Gohartaj’s creative practice includes pottery, collage, mosaic, glass fusing, writing, and baking. She has shown in a few exhibitions locally but finds the most joy in the process of creating. When she isn’t making art or supporting the arts, she is often found experimenting with new recipes, tending the flowers in her garden, or out on Lake Merritt, where she rows competitively.

 

Follow: Linkedin ; www.lailibug.com

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Victoria Paige Gonzalez She/Her/Hers, Denver, Colorado

Victoria Paige Gonzalez She/Her/Hers, Denver, Colorado

Marketing and Events Coordinator | Latino Cultural Arts Center

Victoria Paige Gonzalez is the Latino Cultural Arts Center’s (LCAC) marketing and events coordinator. She is working collaboratively to develop LCAC’s identity and build brand awareness during the development of the integrated cultural campus. The academic component of the project, “Las Bodegas,” will open in January 2022. She manages public relations, marketing content, and event logistics. As a five-year experienced art administrator, artist, curator, and cultural producer, Gonzalez has acquired the talent and leadership skills needed to cultivate creative spaces, collaborate with artists, and achieve organizational goals. She has a bachelor’s degree in digital media and interdisciplinary art from the University of Houston. Her work has appeared in Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, and the Smithsonian’s Latino Art Now Conference. She sits on the board for Colorado Jobs with Justice.

Follow: @Nopaldua (Personal Blog)

Affiliations: Danza Divina, Latino Art Now

Skills & Interests: Community-based art, digital, cameraless and alternative photography, curatorial work, paper making, event planning, herbalism, community farming, community healing, biking, cooking, and hiking.

Tara Keanuenue Gumapac She/Her/Hers, Kaneohe, Hawaiʻi

Tara Keanuenue Gumapac She/Her/Hers, Kaneohe, Hawaiʻi

Artist

Tara Keanuenue Gumapac is a Kanaka Maoli artist that grew up in Kanēʻohe, Hawaiʻi. As an artist, Gumapac gained many experiences in the arts but currently she has been working as an engraver, illustrator, and painter. Gumapac was a fellow with the 2017 Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) and a participant in the Tears of Dukwibahl International Gathering of Indigenous Visual Artists of the Pacific Rim. She currently works as the Fine Arts Department head at Kalāheo High School and is an active participant with the PAʻI Foundation and Maoli Arts Movement. Gumapac currently has an artist showcase with POW WOW HAWAIʻI and Hawaiian Airlines, has her work in the Sunshine Arts Gallery at the Waikiki Marriott, and has illustrated two books in Hawaiian language. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in studio art in 2008 and a master’s of education degree in teaching from the Hoʻokulaiwi Program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa in 2010.  

Follow: www.tarakeanuenue.com, IG: @maolijewelry, @artinspiresus

Affiliations: POW WOW HAWAII, PAʻI Foundation, MAMo – Maoli Arts Movement, Koʻolau Aina Momona Academy

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Rezina Habtemariam, Washington

Rezina Habtemariam, Washington

Moana Palelei HoChing She/Her/Hers, Salt Lake City, Utah

Moana Palelei HoChing She/Her/Hers, Salt Lake City, Utah

Principal Designer | Crazyhorse Productions

Moana Palelei HoChing currently serves on the Zoo, Arts, and Park (ZAP) program Tier 1 Board, where she assists in directing 14.3 million of Utah taxpayer dollars to 22 arts and cultural nonprofits, as well as three zoos throughout the Salt Lake Valley. A graduate of Harvard University, HoChing left her policy job in 2019  to start her own production company, Crazyhorse Productions, an all women-owned company. She is a fierce advocate for indigenous affairs and has consulted on projects in Kisumu, Kenya; Waikato, Aotearoa; New Orleans; New York; Las Vegas; Denver; and throughout Indian Country. Previously, HoChing has served as an AmeriCorps VISTA, White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders E3! Ambassador (the Obama Administration), and Miss American Samoa United States (2014). 

Follow: www.crazyhorseproduction.com/

Affiliations: Creative Director, Pasifika First Fridays; President, Harvard Alumni for Oceania (HAO); Vice-Chair, Utah Zoo, Arts, and Parks (ZAP) Tier 1 Board; member, WESTAF Leaders of Color Advisory Committee 

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Jennifer Kleven She/Her/Hers, Las Vegas, Nevada

Jennifer Kleven She/Her/Hers, Las Vegas, Nevada

Grants and Gifts Manager | Neon Museum

Jennifer Kleven is a first generation, Asian American woman living and working in her home city of Las Vegas, Nevada. She operated Kleven Contemporary, a gallery exhibiting emerging artists in downtown Las Vegas, from 2010- 2013. Her own work has been exhibited in galleries at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, the Contemporary Arts Center, Winchester Cultural Center, and Sahara West Library. She is currently exploring ceramics as a new vehicle of artistic expression. As the grants and gifts manager at the Neon Museum, she seeks funding to help further the museum’s mission to collect, preserve, study, and exhibit iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts, and cultural enrichment. Her years of experience working in museums have given her a holistic approach to museum engagement with the local community. She is eager to reach new underserved audiences and mentor emerging professionals in museum and nonprofit work. In 2009, Kleven received bachelor’s degrees in art history and fine arts in studio art from the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Follow: @jenklev00

Affiliations: Co-Producer of Women Of Color Arts Festival 2019, 2018 Nevada Arts Council Inaugural Basin to Range Exchange (BRX) cohort, member of Nevada Museums Association 

Skills & Interests: Hobbies: ceramics, photography, collage, gardening, cacti, hiking, and cycling. Creative projects: part of artist collective GULCH.

Annette Luján She/Her/Hers, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Annette Luján She/Her/Hers, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Volunteer Coordinator | National Hispanic Cultural Center

A native of New Mexico, Annette Luján joined the staff at Explora while attending the University of New Mexico (UNM) and earning her bachelor’s degree in American studies. Luján worked with visitors of all ages in Explora’s many programs for more than six years. In 2013, she relocated to Denver to serve as an AmeriCorps member at an area nonprofit. She coordinated the organization’s fundraisers and events during her time there. She then joined the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where she led science and health programming for students and their families. Upon returning to Albuquerque, Luján supported the early childhood care and education system in New Mexico while working for UNM. She joined the team at National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) in 2016 as the volunteer coordinator, in this role she oversees volunteer data tracking, training, and recruitment, in addition to managing NHCC’s AmeriCorps VISTA project. She danced folklorico for many years and is always working on a new art or baking project. Her latest projects are cross-stitch and embroidery, but eventually she’ll get back to making ceramics.

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Skills & Interests: Baking and art projects.

Humberto Marquez Mendez He/Him/His, Portland, Oregon

Humberto Marquez Mendez He/Him/His, Portland, Oregon

Community Engagement Manager | Metro

Humberto Marquez Mendez is a queer, indigenous immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico. He has worked at various intersections of equity within the nonprofit sector including arts and culture, education, and social services. He currently works at Metro, the regional government agency in the Portland metro area, as a senior public affairs specialist for the 2019 parks and nature bond measure, designing and implementing engagement strategies with racial equity and climate resiliency at the forefront. Previously, he worked at the Regional Arts and Culture Council as the community engagement manager, where he implemented a community engagement plan that prioritized collaboration and resource distribution for artists of color. Though not a practicing artist, Marquez Mendez grew up surrounded by artists and cultural bearers that influenced the development of his cultural and racial identity. His experience amplifies his deep love for the creativity of BIPOC and immigrant communities whose resiliency continues to thrive despite the systems created to erase them. Marquez Mendez attended Willamette University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and minors in American ethnic studies and Spanish. 

Follow: Linkedin

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Renato Olmedo-González He/Him/His, Salt Lake City, Utah

Renato Olmedo-González He/Him/His, Salt Lake City, Utah

Manager of Annual Giving | Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Renato Olmedo-González currently serves as manager of annual giving at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA). In this role, he leads the Museum’s annual fund efforts, manages key relationships with a diverse portfolio of individual donors, and oversees the UMFA Art Lovers, the Museum’s signature society for individual annual giving. Olmedo-González is a proud queer immigrant who is passionate about the arts and social change. Born and raised in Guadalajara, México, he immigrated to the United when he was 15 years old. Olmedo-González began his career in the arts with two Utah-based cultural organizations, Artes de México en Utah and Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts, where he created community-oriented art projects throughout the state, in addition to organizing and curating more than a dozen exhibitions exploring issues of race, gender, sexuality, personal identity, and cultural citizenship. After almost a decade of being an undocumented immigrant, Olmedo-González received his green card in 2015. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Consulate of Mexico in Salt Lake City as head of the Community Affairs Department, a role in which he implemented programming designed to empower Latinx immigrant communities in Utah and western Wyoming. Olmedo-González holds dual bachelor’s degrees in art history and Latin American studies from the University of Utah.

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Affiliations: Board member for Comunides Unidas and Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts

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Elisa García-Radcliffe They/Them/Theirs, Phoenix, Arizona

Elisa García-Radcliffe They/Them/Theirs, Phoenix, Arizona

Dance Educator | Phoenix Union High School District

Elisa García-Radcliffe is an arts administrator, educator, and movement artist who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. García-Radcliffe has more than 12 years of experience working as a dance educator in the Phoenix Union High School District. Through their involvement in public education, they’ve witnessed firsthand how important access to quality creative and cultural activities is for students. They have a strong belief that dance and art can, and should, be grounded in the community it serves. García-Radcliffe is currently the arts learning manager at the Arizona Commission on the Arts, overseeing the Arts Commission’s comprehensive slate of arts learning grantmaking, programs, partnerships, and strategic initiatives. They serve as a board member for RE:FRAME Youth Arts Center, a place for and by young folx to artistically resist the decentering of their power, rights, and identities. García-Radcliffe is currently a performer in Liz Lerman’s Wicked Bodies.

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Affiliations: Arizona Commission on the Arts; RE:FRAME Youth Arts Center 

Skills & Interests: Dance, flamenco, and birding.

Nathalie Sanchez She/Her/Hers, Los Angeles, California

Nathalie Sanchez She/Her/Hers, Los Angeles, California

Interim Education Program Coordinator | Vincent Price Art Museum

Raised and rooted in Los Angeles, Nathalie Sanchez is an interdisciplinary artist, social justice arts educator, museum worker, and arts advocate. Sanchez firmly believes in the transformative power of arts education and community. She has developed and led visual arts, museum education, and professional development programming at ArtworxLA; Avenue 50 Studio; ESMoA; Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA); and P.S. ARTS. In 2016, she founded Art Education + Social Justice Book Club, which has more than 300 members internationally. Currently, Sanchez serves as the interim education program coordinator at the Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM). She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in art history and studio arts, with an emphasis in education, from Loyola Marymount University and received her master’s degree in public practice from Otis College of Art and Design.   

Follow: Personal IG: @nathaliesanchezart; Professional IG: @nati.studio; LinkedIn

Affiliations: Art Education + Social Justice Book Club (Founder), Nati Studio (Founder)

Skills & Interests: “Voteria: Presidents and Props California Edition” (virtual voting game, collaborative art project), crocheting jewelry, and currently working towards a virtual culturally-responsive visual art curriculum and instructional coaching business.