The Kresge Foundation’s Creative Practice Site Visit: Oakland 2024

Ruthie Dineen

East Bay Center for the Performing Arts
Executive Director

Ruthie Dineen is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, pianist, and composer. Ruthie grew up in the Bay Area; her mother’s family is Salvadoran and her father’s Irish-American, bilingual in Spanish and English. Ruthie has a BA in music and history from UC Berkeley, her master’s degree in social work from Cal State East Bay, and her BM in piano and jazz studies from the California Jazz Conservatory. Ruthie is also a founding member and co-leader of two original music ensembles, Negative Press Project and RDL+, with whom she performs, tours, arranges, and composes regularly. Dineen also performs with a wide range of jazz, Latin, salsa, and classical musicians and groups in the Bay Area, including Bululú. Ruthie has worked at East Bay Center for the Performing Arts since 2009 and believes strongly in the Center’s mission, vision, and values, including the transformative power of the arts. Ruthie has been involved in several community-driven initiatives, including serving on the Executive, Sustainability, and Steering Committees of Healthy Contra Costa, as well as a member of the Invest in Youth Coalition in Richmond, and the planning group for the Blueprint to Prevent Interpersonal Violence in Contra Costa County.

Shorin Estell

Program Director 
TONE

Amy Honjiyo

Japanese American Cultural & Community Center/Sustainable Little Tokyo
Cycles of Food Coordinator

Amy Honjiyo serves as the Cycles of Food Coordinator for Sustainable Little Tokyo (SLT), a community-driven initiative working to ensure a healthy, equitable, and culturally rich Little Tokyo for generations to come. Amy grew up in Little Tokyo and has been actively involved in the community for years and holds a Master of Science degree in Healthcare Administration. Amy is the lead organizer for Hiro’s Bokashi Workshops and Little Tokyo Composts. She also helps organize the Sustainable Little Tokyo Garden Committee. Her approach to sustainability is rooted in building community and guided by the Zen philosophy of “mottainai” (a Japanese phrase loosely translating to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Respect).

Kamahanahokulani Farrar

Senior Director of Finance & Operations
Wing Luke Museum

Ken Ikeda

Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST)
CEO

Ken Ikeda (he/him) brings an extensive background in management and media to CAST. He has led a range of organizations, including BAVC Media, The Association of Independents in Radio, the International Documentary Association, Public Radio Capital, Public Media Company and Youth Sounds. Organizations under Ken’s direction have leveraged private equity for nonprofit capital, managed loan funds, and navigate mergers and acquisitions to sustain and grow the reach of arts and media. Ken is an active podcast producer (Cooking By Ear, Self Evident, Viewers Like Us), former restaurateur, co-founded the youth Hip Hop label BUMP Records, and co-architected the video streaming service, Vuhaus, now known as NPR Live Sessions. Amanda Wiles is an artist and producer who has spent nearly two decades supporting visionary artists and organizations in creative collaborations that bring people together in purpose and practice. She is the Director of S.O.U.R.C.E Studio – an organization that she co-founded along with award-winning artist Mel Chin –producing projects and artist-guided sites of exchange that connect, build curiosity, and propel empathy and justice. Prior to this role she was the Director of Fundred Project – an artist-led initiative connecting residents, especially children, to policy makers through art making and creative advocacy for lead poisoning prevention. Wiles currently serves on the board of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in Asheville, NC. She holds an MFA from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and BFA from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.

Grace Kwon

Cultural Work Manager
Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO)

Grace Kwon (she/her) is the Cultural Work Manager at the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) in the traditional lands of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River (Portland, OR). Grace studied Visual Art at the University of Oregon and was a longtime community artist and organizer working with APANO before becoming Manager. Through APANO, she currently leads the East Portland Art and Justice Lab’s “Open Studios”, a free, BIPOC-only, drop-in art-making time for people to explore liberated creativity. She also convenes the Orchard of 82nd Art Crew, a BIPOC creative collective made up of both artists and Jade District neighbors making art about the issues and needs in this cultural district through creative, socially-engaged community engagement. In her off time, she leads Kimchi Fullness, an art project about remixing Korean rituals in collaboration with local Korean artists.

Stephanie McKee

Executive/Artistic Director
Junebug Productions, Inc.

Matthew McTire

Director of Events and Programming
Community Arts Stabilization Trust

Jessica Paz-Cedillos

School of Arts and Culture at MHP
Co-Executive Director

Jessica Paz-Cedillos is the daughter of immigrant parents from Mexico and El Salvador. She was born and raised in East Oakland and knows firsthand the impact that arts and culture can have to build pride, preserve our heritage, and fuel community and economic development. Jessica has dedicated her career to the public sector, working for organizations like the ACLU and SOMOS Mayfair, where she helped to double the organization’s budget. Jessica is excited to be leading the Mexican Heritage Plaza — a vibrant, cultural institution in East San Jose — and looks forward to continuing her work in the Mayfair community.

Janet Rodriguez

CEO & Founder
SoHarlem

Janet Rodriguez, SoHarlem Inc, Founder and CEO, has more than twenty years of experience in policy and grantmaking positions in public, private, and corporate philanthropy. That, along with a personal understanding of the critical role the arts play in child and community development, led her to serve on boards, manage institutions, initiate change, and become a social entrepreneur. She established SoHarlem in 2011 to ensure creative and local people participate in the economic development in the Manhattanville Factory District. SoHarlem supports racial equity and employment in Harlem by incubating creative enterprises, mentoring emerging designers and provide job training for the local community. Prior to establishing SoHarlem, she served as Vice President of the JPMorgan Chase Global Philanthropy Group and was responsible for providing leadership and support to the National Community Relations team charged with developing and implementing philanthropic strategies in their local communities.

She was also the proprietor of Straight Out of Harlem, the sole creative outlet among retail stores and bodegas in Sugar Hill section of Harlem which produced public programs, exhibitions, and salons that explored contemporary cultural issues, and promoted and sold the work of more than 250 local and global artists. Other professional experiences include: Program Officer with the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; Managing Director of the Aaron Davis Hall; New York Philharmonic’s Music Assistance Fund and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Program Director for the Kentucky Arts Council; and Co-Founder of Latin American Music in Alternative Spaces. Rodriguez is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of the Arts, MFA in Arts Administration; Columbia University’s Teachers College, MA in Art Education; and New York University, BS, Art Education. She has served on many boards, among them the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, the World Media Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and Grantmakers in the Arts.

Nia Umoja

Lead Organizer/Creative Director
Co-op New West Jackson

Angela Two Stars

NACDI/All My Relations Arts
All My Relations Arts Director

Angela Two Stars (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Dakota) is the director of All My Relations Arts, a project of the Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) in Minneapolis, MN. All My Relations Arts is an urban art gallery and arts program that works to highlight the strength and visibility of contemporary American Indian artists. Located along the American Indian Cultural Corridor, All My Relations Arts is a major regional hub for Native contemporary art, artists, and arts professionals. Angela’s professional arts career began at All My Relations Arts gallery as an exhibiting artist, which then led to further opportunities including her first curatorial role for the exhibition titled, Bring Her Home, Stolen Daughters of Turtle Island, a powerful exhibition highlighting the ongoing epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Angela is a practicing visual artist with a focus on public art. Angela’s public art graces the shores of Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis and shares the Dakota language through visual accessibility. Her most recent public art commission, Okciyapi, is installed at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, an acquisition of the Walker Art Center. Angela’s public artworks also include commissions for the City of Minneapolis, the Saint Paul Port Authority through a project with Forecast Public Art, and the Ordway Center for Performing Arts. Angela was a featured artist in the summer of 2023 for the inaugural Wakpa Triennial Art Festival with Public Art Saint Paul.

Mark Valdez

Mixed Blood
Artistic Director

Mark Valdez is the artistic director of Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, where he partners with communities, organizations, civic institutions, and others, using theater and creative tools to address community needs and lift community voices and stories. His work has been seen at the Alliance Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company, East West Players, La Peña Cultural Center, Mixed Blood, the Ricardo Montalban Theater/CTG, and Trinity Rep, among others. Recent projects include the animated short film The Curious Cardinal, Detained by France-Luce Benson, and The Most Beautiful Home…Maybe, an interactive performance about affordable housing that toured the U.S. With Mixed Blood, he commissioned 12 artists to create new performances with/for 12 Twin Cities communities. The project, 12×12, culminates in day long festival of all 12 performances.Mark was the founding Executive Director of the Network of Ensemble Theaters, a collective of artists committed to co-creation. He is the recipient of the Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities, the Zelda Fichandler Award, and the California Arts Council’s Legacy Artist Fellowship.

Amanda Wiles

SOURCE Studio
Director

Amanda Wiles is an artist and producer who has spent nearly two decades supporting visionary artists and organizations in creative collaborations that bring people together in purpose and practice. She is the Director of S.O.U.R.C.E Studio – an organization that she co-founded along with award winning artist Mel Chin –producing projects and artist-guided sites of exchange that connect, build curiosity, and propel empathy and justice. Prior to this role she was the Director of Fundred Project – an artist led initiative connecting residents, especially children, to policy makers through art making and creative advocacy for lead poisoning prevention. Wiles currently serves on the board of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in Asheville, NC. She holds an MFA from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and BFA from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.