Sun September 1st Open 11 AM–5 PM
The YBCA Fellows program brought together creative individuals from across the Bay Area–artists, activists, community members, and everyday people alike—to engage in a yearlong process of inquiry, dialogue, and project generation.
Past Fellowship cohorts explored and responded to a question that emerged from our annual YBCA 100 Summit and together they used art and culture to inspire community transformation. Together they developed projects that were open to the public to create participation, inspiration, and community. Fellows projects were presented during our Public Square and took the form of performance or visual presentations, writing, screenings, visual arts, workshops, etc. These projects provided platforms to share new ideas and information and drive new possibilities into the public imagination.
This was the central question of the 2019-2020 YBCA Fellows cohort. Through an open call in the fall of 2019, we selected 10 individuals whose work is deeply rooted in community practice to evolve an existing public-facing artistic project. Their proposals considered timely themes such as the 2020 Census, the upcoming elections, and how to participate safely while also uplifting our collective voices.
During the COVID-19 crisis, it took on an even deeper resonance, and our Fellows were responding, shaping the body of their work to the moment. In the summer of 2020, they shared their work as digital experiences for the people of the Bay Area and beyond.
2018-19 YBCA Fellows
How might we pursue and sustain collective safety?
Tierra Allen – Theater Artist, Teaching Artist, Activist
Blyth Barnow – Preacher & Advocate
Renata Barreto – Thinker, Writer, Changemaker
David Brazil – Pastor
Jody Chen – Artist
Jules Cowan – Artist & Designer
Claudia Escobar – Artist
Jonathan Garcia – Community Engagement & Inclusion Associate, Chief-of-Staff of the SOCIAL CLUB, author
Jorge Garcia – Catalyst, Educator, DJ,Photographer
Marcelo Garzo Montalvo – Educator, Activist, Musician, Dancer and PhD Candidate UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies
Inés Ixierda – Artist, Bruja
Annie Jupiter-Jones – Executive Director Loco Bloco, Artivist, Arts Administrator & Educator, Writer, Producer
Diana Li – Artist and Arts Organizer
Eliza Ramos – Community Activist & Healer
Jacob Rine – Artist
Yakira Teitel – Physician, Artist
Siciliana Trevino – Filmmaker
Helen Shewolfe Tseng – Artist, designer, witch
Kristina Williams – Artist, Educator
Priscilla Yuki Wilson – Artist
How might we re-imagine political power?
JessalynAaland – Artist & Educator
Jess Cook – Community Arts Facilitator & Multi-disciplinary Artist
Amber Crabbe – Artist, Transportation Policy Nerd
Susana Eslava Sáenz – Artist
Nicole Garzino – Foundation, Social Impact Director & Arts Administrator
Najib Joe Hakim – Photographer
Beatriz Herrera – Lead Organizer and City College Instructor
Leah King – Music Producer, Vocalist, Educational Arts Instructor
Alexis Litzky – Professor and Public Debater, City College of San Francisco
Sky Lowe – Organizer, gamer, and student
Shylah Pacheco Hamilton – Professor and Filmmaker
Joshua Park – Young Person
Juan Carlos Rodriguez Rivera – Visual Communicator
Neeka Salmasi – Educator, Artist, Writer, Singer
Brian Singer – Artist & Designer
Lauren Spencer – Actor, Director
Tosha Stimage – Artist, Educator
Evelyn Thorne – Community Arts Organizer & Creative Facilitator”
Tanna Tucker – Artist, Illustrator
Natalia Vasquez – Design strategist at Net Impact, Filmmaker, Choreographer. Futurist
Naudika Williams – Writer
2017-18 YBCA Fellows
How do we find and empower truth?
Stella Adelman – Program Director, Dance Mission, Performer, Dancer
Annie Albagli – Interdisciplinary Artist
Larry Arrington -Dance-Artist
Christy Chan – Artist, Writer
Lorrie Chang – Program Associate for Arts, Culture, and Equitable Development
Raphael Cohen -Writer, Performer, and Arts Educator
Courtney Donovan – Associate Professor In Geography, SFSU
Johanna Hoffman – Designer, Associate, Urban Fabrick, Founder, SHIFTWORKS
Alejandro Jimenez Jaramillo – Interdisciplinary Storyteller, Facilitator and community builder
SamLew – Editor of the Street Sheet Newspaper
Erica Molesworth – Artist/ Educator
Nkechi Njaka – Neuroscientist, Multi-Disciplinary Artist/ Choreographer + Meditation Guide
Adrienne Skye Roberts– Organizer and Educator
Erik Schmitt -Partner and Creative Director at studio1500
Vivien Sin – Artist, Product Manager at LinkedIn
Jacinda Townsend – Novelist, Professor
Ania Troszkiewicz – Artist & Designer
Jeremy Villaluz – Artist and Lecturer (San Francisco State University)
Rachel Wyley – Vocalist, Songwriter, Composer, International Performer
Where is our public imagination?
Justin Carder – Designer, Founder at Wolfman Books
Sarolta Jane Cump – Conjuror at Chimera Obscura
Juliana Delgado Lopera – Writer/ Community-Organizer/ Historian
Samantha “SAMMAY” Dizon – Interdisciplinary Artist; Activist; Kinetic Storyteller; Founder of URBAN x INDIGENOUS
Courtney Ferris – Design & Engagement
Claire Fitzsimmons – Co-Founder and Director, Storefront Institute
Britney (Brit) Frazier – Actor/ Director/Educator
Yolanda Hippensteele – Social Change Strategist, Organizer and convener
Cynthia Hua – Artist and Researcher
Kayla Jones – Designer, Visual Artist & Art Director
Margaret McCarthy -Performance artist, San Francisco Neo-Futurist
Moksha Osgood – Designer and Builder of small dwellings
Paul Pillitteri – Designer, Contributor, Thinker, Maker
Jesikah Maria Ross – Media Artist & Senior Community Engagement Strategist, Capital Public Radio
Zoe Samudzi – Writer, PhD student in Sociology at University of California, San Francisco
Anna Sergeeva – Artist
Kate Spacek – Artist / Facilitator / Producer
Thuy Tran – Artist | Events Producer, Public Programs Coordinator, JCCSF
Alex Werth – Geographer & DJ
Can we make creative dissent matter?
Caroline Sinders – Designer, Researcher, Artist
Molly Dow – MPA Candidate, Columbia University
Imri Rivas – Anarchist Organizer and Writer
Rachel Weidinger – Artist, Researcher, Community Organizer
Gerald Henderson – High School Teacher
Karly Stark – Experimental Filmmaker, Curator, and Lecturer at San Francisco State University
Anna Xu – Designer and Activist
Anna Muessig – Founder of West Coast Women Unite, Project Manager at Gehl
Yula Paluy – Recovering academic and aspiring Renaissance woman
Raphael Villet – Artist, Publisher
Maia Nunes – Artist
Randy Reyes – choreographer-dance artist-curanderx
Sophia Sobko – Artist and Educator; PhD Student, Education, UC Berkeley
Ellen Pong – UC Berkeley
Jear Keokham – UC Berkeley
Ethan Silver – UC Berkeley
Kavleen Singh – UC Berkeley
Paige Davis – UC Berkeley
Julia Scheinman – UC Berkeley
Stacy Kellner – UC Berkeley
Stefanie McGinnis – UC Berkeley
Lieyah Dagan – UC Berkeley
Jennifer Brandel – CCA
Beatriz Escobar – CCA
Camilla Hammer – CCA
Misha Abbas – CCA
Jackie Katz – CCA
River Black – CCA
Xenia Moseley – CCA
Jamie Turner – CCA
Patricia Duarte – CCA
Juan Ocasio – CCA
Cynthia M Beltran-Islas – SFSU
Mary Petersen – SFSU
Austin Inman – SFSU
Maria Isabel Zamarron – SFSU
Holly Nguyen – SFSU
Mickey Belmer – SFSU
Allyson Fuentes – SFSU
Catia Romero – SFSU
Vanessa Zagaroli – SFSU
Yvette Marthell – SFAI
Barrett Cooney – SFAI
Katie Curry – SFAI
Julia Blume – SFAI
Carlos Alberto Mayer – SFAI
Chaye Pagel – SFAI
Joanna Ruckman – SFAI
Suzanne Russell – SFAI
Bradley Smith – SFAI
2016-17 YBCA Fellows
Can we design freedom?
Gerald Casel – Dancer, Educator
Sara Bahat – Senior Lecturer, Economics, California College of the ARTS DMBA, Founder, Good Money
Liat Berdugo – Artist; Assistant Professor in Art + Architecture, University of San Francisco
Keith Brower Brown – Musician for Trails and Ways, Bio Services, Director of Float
Brandon Brown – Software Developer
Katie Bush – Installation Artist
Xxavier Carter – Head Artist & Engineer HA/E, G-D|100% FOR SURE
Tongo Eisen-Martin – Poet
Lisa Evans – Community Engagement Manager, California Shakespeare Theater, Co-founder, How Spirit Moves Us Project
Stephen Funk – Creative Director, veteranartists.org
Ray Gilstrap – Information Technologist / Musician
Kelly J Gregory – Social Architect
Jamil Hellu – Visual Artist
Nicole Hirsch – Dancer, PhD Candidate, Sociology, Harvard University
Veronica Jackson – Interpretative Exhibit Designer with an Emphasis on Visual and Critical Studies
Cecilia Cissell Lucas – Social Justice Educator, Artist, Activist, Seekr
Reetu Mody – Equire
Hope Mohr – Choreographer and Curator
Keenan Norries – Professor, Editor, Writer
Leslie Rabine – Professor Emerita, Women’s Studies and French, UC Davis
Vivian Sming – Artist
Heather Smith – Co-Founder, Shipping + Receiving, Staff Writer at grist.org
Brett Snyder – Architect/ Designer, Partner, Cheng+Snyder and Assistant Professor, UC Davis
Ernesto Sopprani – Executive Director, AIRspace Queer Performance Incubator
Shushan Tesfuzigta – Interdisciplinary Artist & Designer
Eduardo Valadez-Arena – Teaching Artist and Creative Practitioner
Weidong Yang – Scientist, Director, Kinetech Arts
Pilar Zaragoza – Creative Technologist and UX Researcher
What does equity look like?
Shalini Agrawal – Director, CCA’s Center for Art + Public Life
Kristy Alfieri Higares – Director of Administration and Strategic Initiatives, The Crucible
Trisha Barua – PhD Candidate, Cultural Studies, UC Davis
A’Darius Bell – Artist, Musician, Innovator, Entrepreneur
Alex Bledsoe – Writer, Co-Founder, Breaktide Productions
Katherin Canton – Co-Director, Emerging Arts Professionals/San Francisco Bay Area; Organizer, Arts for a Better Bay Area
Fay Darmawi – Founder and Executive Producer, SF Urban Film Fest
Ugo Edu – Postdoctoral Fellow, Health Equity Institute; Playwright
Saideh Eftekhari – Musician & Educator
Hunter Franks – Artist; Founder, League of Creative Interventionists
Noah Frigault – Policy Analyst, San Francisco Human Rights Commission; Tenant Representative, Oakland Housing Residential Rent and Relocation Board
Malcolm Gin – Activist and Writer, Technical Worker/Strategist
Juan Carlos Ibarra – Attorney / Mediator / Consultant / Educator
Niema Jordan – Journalist and Filmmaker with an MPH
Mansi Kakkar – Change Warrior, Curious Nomad, Amateur Goddess
Joan Tarika Lewis – Visual Artist / Jazz Violinist
Eli Marienthal – Poet, Scholar, Youth Mentor
Hoi-Fei Mok – Environmentalist, Artist, Changemaker
Rebecca Novick – Theater Director
Fran Osborne – Artist, Independent Curator and Exhibition Designer
Mariah Rankine-Landers – Educator at Large, Director of the Integrated Learning Specialist Program, Co-founder, Canerow
Candace Roberts – Singer/Songwriter/ Filmmaker/Performance Artist
Jennifer Tacheff – VP of Business Development & Partnerships @ Women Who Code
Lauren Marie Taylor – Social Practice Artist
Justin Warren – Creative Strategist, Experience Designer, Multimedia Storyteller
Marvin K. White – Public Poet, Preacher, Artist and Theologian
Chelsea Wills – Artist, Writer, Educator
Why citizenship?
Luiza Berthoud – Art Historian, Writer
Lukas Brekke-Miesner – Writer, Educator, Oakland Culture Keeper
Yueqi Chen – Curator, Writer, Artist
Roberta D’Alois– Playwright and Artistic Director of Jump! Theatre
Amelia Evans – Filmmaker and Human Rights Lawyer
Maria Faini – Artist, PhD candidate in Ethnic Studies and Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley
Cristiana Giordano – Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Davis
Rufaro Gwarada – Development & Communications Manager, Mobilize the Immigrant Vote; Writer
Chris Hamamoto – designer
Chris Hambrick – Reporter/ Producer
Sabereh Kashi – Documentary Filmmaker/Digital Content Producer
Paul Loper – Mover, Performer, Facilitator
Candi Martinez – Carthen – Event Producer, Publicist, Community Organizer & Curator
E. “Oscar” Maynard – Artist, Educator
Marléna Mendoza Mendoza – Artist, Activist, Poet
David Moren – Bay Area Executive Director Generation Citizen
Takeshi Moro – Artist, Curator; Assistant Professor in Studio Art, Santa Clara University
Lex Non Scripta – Artist, Agitator
Rebecca Ora – Artist/performer/filmmaker/scholar; PhD Candidate in Film and Digital Media, UC Santa Cruz
Katina Papson-Rigby – Educator & Interdisciplinary Artist
Devon Sampson – Agroecologist and Food Systems Researcher
Dorothy Santos – Artist, Writer, Curator
Suzanne Schmidt – literary scholar of craft, professor, writer
Jonel Seon – Community Projects Facilitator
Sameena Sitabkhan – Architect
Emma Tramposch – Writer, Producer, Archivist, Managing Director of La Pocha Nostra
Shamsher Virk – program designer and communications strategist, ZERO1 American Arts Incubator
Miriam Wolodarski – Artist and Organizer