Contemporary Art Tutor mentoring young artists in and outside of academia

Firstly, I am a graduate with a Masters in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths University; also, a degree holder from Tufts University and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with a BFA focused on documentary filmmaking, video and installation. In addition, I was founder and co-curator of ‘Sweety’s’ (active between 2013 and 2018), an artist-run curatorial collective dedicated to the presence and work of Queer artists of colour. With my team (Sweety’s), I became able to master gallery space/administrative management, budgeting and research in a fast/varying paced environment; a quality perhaps vital to the demands of The White Cube. Collectively, we were able to source funding from partnering institutions such as the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, MA and Artist Alliance Inc. in New York, to program exhibitions, screenings, parties, concerts and panel discussions;working with artists such as Carlos Martiel, Elia Alba and Terence Nance.

As a curator, educator and maker, I have always sought to develop ways of effecting social change through active civic engagement and critical pedagogical practices. Part of my work in the last few years has been to translate research and event planning into actionable strategies that can create measurable impact in my community. For instance, I coordinated programming for a talk-show/podcast called ‘Sweety's Radio,’ a subproject of Sweety's where we invited artists of colour working in different mediums to discuss their craft; inside an environment we built to resemble a talk-show set, together with a live audience. I was then an Education Manager at Socrates Sculpture Park, in New York City where I worked in public programming with youth and adults, developing fine-art workshops---in collaboration with the park’s resident artists; such as Shellyne Rodriguez and Shaun Leonardo. Prior to this, I was a part-time Activity Specialist at East Side House Settlement (a literacy-focused after-school program), where I designed creative activities/lesson plans for a group of middle-school students living in high-poverty communities in the Bronx, New York; centering film and performance art as our leading vehicles.

Here, I intend to use my experience in curation, public programming, education and as a maker, to give students a well rounded approach to mentoring their artistic direction and build them with confidence.