NPN Partner Indigenous Leaders/Leaders of Color Awarded Conference Scholarships
November 20, 2019 • 5 minute read
NPN awarded 11 Annual Conference scholarships to indigenous leaders/leaders of color staff from NPN Partner organizations. Recipients are doing amazing work in their communities across the country. We are happy to welcome them to the Annual Conference in New Orleans!
Alexandra James
Director of Admissions/Operations Manager
Bates Dance Fest
Alexandra is a dance maker, educator and performer based in Southern Maine. She has appeared in the work of Victoria Marks, Trisha Brown, Lisa Gonzales, Betsy Miller, interdisciplinary work of her own creation, as well as in s h i f t, a contemporary dance making duo. She presents work in New York, Chicago, Maine, Boston & South Africa, teaches nationally, and with the dance department at Bates College. Alexandra received her BFA from Columbia College Chicago in 2009, and currently serves as an Artistic Director with Portland Youth Dance and Admissions Director/Operations Manager for the Bates Dance Festival.
Angela Two Stars
All My Relations Arts Director
Native American Community Development Institute
Angela is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. She is the Director of All My Relations Arts, a project of the Native American Community Development Institute in Minneapolis, MN. Angela is a public artist and curator and received her BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design. Her role at All My Relations Arts focuses on highlighting the strength of contemporary Native American artists in the Twin Cities and the midwest region, as well as developing high quality art exhibitions that contributes to creating a cultural destination on the American Indian Cultural Corridor.
Corian Ellisor
Artistic / Education Associate
7 Stages
Artist, activist, and dancer with 15+ years of experience, Corian is devoted to marginalized communities, like the LGBTQ+ community, ethnic minority groups, and women. He is an expert in interdisciplinary movement, world dance forms, and storytelling. He is currently touring his original work, MY PEOPLE: A Movement Conversation Between Two Queer Human Bodies of Color. He is delighted to be a part the Education Associate team at 7 Stages, creating artistic responses with students and artists, examining how we re-direct monstrous behavior and re-define stereotypes of pretty as part of his new work, Charmed Ones.
Esmeralda (Liz) Salinas
Program Director
MECA
Liz has worked for MECA for 40+ years. MECA’s mission is to provide positive opportunities for students and adults through quality and cultural arts education. As a product of the inner-city and underserved community, Liz represents a life of a positive and successful outcome.
Isabel Cruz
Performing Arts Engagement Coordinator
MACLA
Born and raised in California, Isabel became involved in theater and the performing arts at El Teatro Campesino, in San Juan Bautista, more than twenty years ago. Isabel is a first-generation college student, attending community college in South Santa Clara County, then transferring to UC Berkeley, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Performance Studies. In June, she graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a Master of Arts in Theater Arts. For her thesis project, she adapted a 100-year-old Irish play, setting it in 19th century Alta California. It will be produced this Spring at Gavilan College.
Joshua Bristow
Development and Marketing Associate
The Yard
Joshua is a graduate of College of Charleston with a Bachelor of Arts in Arts Management. Originally from Irmo, South Carolina, he discovered the performing arts later in life, performing in his first production at 16. During his time in Charleston, he served as an Artist Services and Special Events Apprentice for Spoleto Festival USA, and a Management Intern for Charleston Stage Theatre Company.
Kisha Rockett
Youth Director
The Carpetbag Theatre Inc
Kisha is the Youth Director for The Carpetbag Theatre whose mission is to train the youth to reclaim the hidden stories of African Americans and empower its communities through music and theatre.
Maya White
Program Assistant
DiverseWorks
Maya is Program Assistant for DiverseWorks, Houston. She is also an event photographer and anthropology student. Born in Las Vegas, Nevada and raised in Houston, Maya has been involved with organizations such as M.O.C.A.H (Museum of Cultural Arts Houston), Read3Zero, Sacred Sites Quest and Mack Performing Arts Collective, where she discovered the positive power behind creativity. Today you can find her photographing for organizations such as Aurora Picture Show, SoFar Sounds and, of course, assisting with DiverseWorks’s exhibitions, performances, and community projects.
Michelle Grant-Murray
Faculty Task Force Member
MDC Live Arts
Michelle, a Georgia Peach-Hybrid Florida Mango, is an Associate Professor of Dance at Miami Dade College. She serves as Faculty Task Force Member with MDC Live Arts and is Faculty Lead Facilitator with the Miami Dade College/Florida International University Humanities Edge program. Michelle is Coordinator of Dance at MDC Kendall, Founder and Artistic Director of MDC Jubilation Dance Ensemble and Olujimi Dance Theatre. She is the author of “Beyond the Surface: An Inclusive American Dance History.” Michelle is a leading choreographer, dance educator, arts advocate, teaching artist and mentor.
Ravi Windom
Education and Programs Manager
Hammonds House Museum
From Decatur, GA, Ravi is a graduate of Howard University (BA Journalism). She has worked in arts and culture with the National Black Arts Festival, City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, Atlanta Public Schools, and currently Hammonds House Museum where she serves as the Education and Programs Manager. Ravi is also am the Chair of Events and Programming for the Howard University Alumni Club of Atlanta.
Van Pham
Grants Associate
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
Van is an artist and cultural worker whose artistic practice and research centers on the interactions between culture, people, and spaces. She runs Arcada, an independent grant writing, research, and operational strategy consultancy, is a grants associate for PICA, and co-runs the documentary project Xhurches, devoted to profiling the creative, secular uses of religious buildings. She holds a Master of Arts in Cultural Policy, Relations, and Diplomacy from Goldsmiths College of London, and is an alumna of National Arts Strategies’ Creative Community Fellowship, and the Trampery Republica’s Creative Pioneers program.