For Master Artists, AAW, Staff, Other cohorts for displaying in Queries
Narda Rivera is a dedicated community organizer, healer, and advocate born and raised in Nogales. Deeply influenced by her indigenous roots, her life’s work is rooted in a labor of love uplifting cultural foodways and the communities they nourish. She brings five years of experience with TMY, where her commitment to people and place continues … Read more
María Arvayo is a Tucson-based painter and member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. Working across oils, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, and encaustic, she draws her primary inspiration from the light and landscape of the Sonoran Desert and broader Southwest — forms and colors she describes as coming to her naturally. Her work spans landscapes, still lifes, … Read more
Kate Alexander is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Arizona specializing in the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality in North American social dance communities. She has helped bring lively and meaningful cultural performances to Tucson Meet Yourself for many years.
Kara Jones is a Senior Evaluation Associate & Research Manager at LeCroy & Milligan Associates with 15 years of experience in health and community development projects. Her work includes multi-year behavioral health, food systems, and economic development programs in Arizona, Central America, and the Pacific Islands, along with shorter-term strategic planning and design. Kara earned a … Read more
Denise is a writer, contemporary performance artist, and director who manages SFA’s services for artists, including the Master-Apprentice Artist Award, working to make these programs more accessible for all. A fourth-generation Japanese and Okinawan American, Denise is deeply interested in how we shape identity, culture, and social movements. Her work includes helping create the multidisciplinary … Read more
As a historian and fifth-generation Tucsonense, Alisha brings a distinctive lens to the socio-political landscape of the borderlands, pushing back against dominant narratives and centering voices that have been left out. She has taught across generations inside and outside the classroom, was shaped by punk rock, and co-directs the Mexican American Heritage and History Museum … Read more
Nelda is a community organizer, cultural worker, and folklorist from the Sonoran borderlands who has organized on Tucson’s southside for more than 15 years. She manages SFA’s participatory action research (PAR) projects and community-based documentation initiatives, and is co-founder of Regeneración, a grassroots collective focused on neighborhood leadership and advocacy. Nelda is a 2019 NALAC … Read more
Kimi is a writer, editor, folklorist, and multidisciplinary artist whose work illuminates kinship between people, cultures, plants, animals, and places. She manages SFA’s communications, curates programs and exhibits, and serves as a writer and editor for BorderLore, SFA’s online journal of borderlands culture and heritage. She is the author of The Lightest Object in the Universe (Algonquin Books, … Read more
Originally from Sinaloa, Mexico, Thania has been a proud Tucson resident for over two decades, immersing herself in the rich cultural life and community spirit of the city. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and an MBA from the University of Phoenix and brings extensive expertise from key accounting roles in the manufacturing … Read more
Peter was born in Tucson and raised in San Diego, where he developed a passion for art and community from an early age, painting murals under the mentorship of artist Victor Ochoa by age 14. He brings more than 24 years of administrative expertise in data and personnel management to his role at SFA, where … Read more