From providing spaces of liberation and solidarity, to confronting power with creativity, to reimagining unjust systems, the California artists, culture bearers and civic innovators on this panel are creating opportunities for individuals and communities to define and advance racial and social justice. In this conversation, we will hear about their practices, explore where visions of justice converge and diverge, examine the multifaceted ways in which we might define justice and discuss what indicators or outcomes will let us know it is being advanced.
Panelists:
Sophina Brown, Executive Director, Support Black Theatre
Fabian Debora, Executive Director of Somos LA Homeboy Art Academy, Homeboy Industries
jason chu, Artist & Activist
Betty Marin, Program Manager, Alliance for California Traditional Arts
Erika Ninoyu, Legislative Assistant, Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Moderator:
Gustavo Herrera, Executive Director, Arts for LA
Sophina Brown has been a professional actor since moving to New York after the University of Michigan’s B.F.A. Theatre program. After working on Broadway and national tours for several years, she transitioned to Los Angeles to pursue a career in television, yet continued to remain passionately committed to the theatre. Favorite projects include Disney’s The Lion King, David Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People (La Mirada Theatre) and Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower (Long Wharf Theatre). In 2016, she began producing award-winning theatre in Los Angeles, with the goals of creating more opportunities for local Black artists and impactfully serving local Black audiences. She is also the Founder/Executive Director of Support Black Theatre, a service organization dedicated to capacity-building Black theatres, developing Black artists, and nurturing Black audiences throughout Los Angeles. In addition, Sophina serves as the Board Chair of Collaborative Artists Bloc and as an Advisory Board member of Creative Acts. She has also continued to work in television playing various series regular (Shark, Numb3rs), recurring and guest starring roles (Station 19, Grey’s Anatomy, The Orville, 9-1-1, Zoo, SWAT, Cherish the Day). Sophina is currently a series regular on Lena Waithe’s groundbreaking comedy series, Twenties, as well as the upcoming FX series, Kindred, based on Octavia E. Butler’s seminal novel.
Fabian Debora was born in El Paso, Texas and began his career in 1995 as a member of the East Los Angeles Streetscapers. He was mentored by many Chicano artists and muralists, and was introduced to creative expressions of all forms, from graffiti and murals to sketching and fine art painting.
Fabian’s work has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad, including Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Brooklyn, and throughout Latin America.
Fabian served as a counselor and the Director of Substance Abuses Services & Programming as well as a mentor at Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles for a decade. He then moved on to worked as Community Connection Director at Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, He is also a teaching artist for ACTA Alliance of traditional Arts, bringing arts to adult correctional facilities. He also works in collaboration with Latino Producers Action Network (LPAN) as the Art Director, and is an instructor for community artists and students throughout Boyle Heights, He has now returned to Homeboy Industries as the Founder and Executive Director of Homeboy Art Academy perusing and developing his vision to continue to serve greater Los Angeles area, and abroad.
jason chu, Rapper and Activist at GGE Media and Hate Is a Virus
jason chu is an Asian American rapper/activist jason chu makes music 'to speak hope and healing in a broken world', blending introspective lyricism with high energy live performances. jason is a 2022 Artists At Work Fellow at the Japanese American Museum. He has performed on the National Mall in Washington DC, shared poetry at the Obama White House, and been featured in the Chinese American Museum. His music has been heard on Warrior (HBO/Cinemax), Snowpiercer (TNT), and Wu-Assassins (Netflix), and recognized by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Beyond touring extensively, jason serves as Communications Director at Hate Is a Virus and is a member of the City of Los Angeles 1871 Chinatown Massacre Steering Committee. As an expert on Asian American identity and hip-hop culture, jason has spoken on the BBC, NBC, and at UPenn, Changemakers Youth Summit 2021, Stanford, NYU, and beyond. You can follow him everywhere @jasonchumusic and at www.jasonchumusic.com.
Betty Marín is a cultural worker from Wilmington, CA. Her work uses popular education and language justice to create spaces that encourage learning, dialogue, and solidarity between different communities. Currently some of this work happens with the LA Tenants Union, and previously with the language justice collective Antena LA, and several other independent projects. With the Alliance for California Traditional Arts she supports artist fellows to integrate the traditional arts and cultural practices in health equity campaigns, co-curates a roundtable series to share resources and create exchange between traditional artists, and co-manages a community based sound archive about stories of cultural belonging and struggle in Boyle Heights. She has contributed curriculum for ACTA’s Arts in Corrections program and will begin managing their Reentry program in 2022 integrating the traditional arts into facilities for people recently released from prison or transitioning out. She graduated with an MFA in Art and Social Practice from Portland State University. As a student, she edited a book titled Art and Education, centered on a conversation with artists and educators Pablo Helguera and Luis Camnitzer.
Erika Ninoyu transitioned from a ten-year career of teaching public schools, advising the superintendent on DEI issues, and serving as a community leader, into federal policymaking. While obtaining a Master’s in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University, she served as a consultant to Boston Public Schools on virtual education programming and the National Congress of American Indians in the development of their Climate Action Task Force. Erika currently serves as Congresswoman Barbara Lee's (D-CA) Legislative Assistant, focused on Health, Equity, Environment and Interior, Energy and Water, Agriculture, and Poverty. Previously serving another member of the House Appropriations Committee, Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY), as her Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) Congressional fellow, she worked to expand her education and civil rights portfolio, whose work led to the passage of the House Resolution 908 Condemning Anti-Asian Sentiment Due to COVID-19. Erika is invested in promoting U.S.-Japan relations as Chair of a U.S.-Japan Council (USJC) committees, the Founding President of the Japan Alaska Association, and more. A musician at heart, Erika continues to perform with the Mark H Rooney Taiko Connection throughout the DMV area.
Gustavo Herrera was appointed as Arts for LA’s Executive Director in December 2018. Previously, he was the Western Regional Director for Young Invincibles (YI), where he was responsible for leading YI’s California offices, including its West Coast expansion. As director, he set strategic direction and advanced YI’s policy priorities on health care, higher education, jobs, and civic engagement for the region. Before starting at Young Invincibles, Gustavo was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of L.A. Plaza de Cultura y Artes (LAPCA), overseeing the day-to-day operation of a county museum, including the oversight of a master plan committee responsible for strategically developing three acres of additional museum campus. From 2010-2012, Gustavo led the Maestro Foundation, a classical music and performance arts foundation, as the Director of Organizational Development. Between 2007-2010, he assessed and recommended business growth strategies in the US marketplace for the global Fortune 500 Company, American Honda Motors, Co. Gustavo holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from American Jewish University and a dual Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies with an emphasis in socio-politics and economics and Art History from the University of California Santa Barbara. Gustavo served on the Board of Directors of the Create: Fixate Arts Organization (2006-2010). He is a current Strong Workforce Implementation Advisory Board Member for the California Community Colleges, Advisory Board Member for the California Physician’s Alliance and founding Board Member of Silverlake Forward.