Arizona Arts has selected six student leaders from across campus for the 2025/26 JustArts Fellowship cohort, who will design projects that expand access to the arts and spark change.
Now in its fourth year, the fellowship invites University of Arizona students to use the arts to confront challenges on campus and in the community. Fellows identify challenges, propose creative solutions and collaborate with peers and Arizona Arts mentors to bring their vision to life.
“The JustArts Fellowship brings together student artists from a wide range of majors,” said Dr. Amelia Kraehe, Arizona Arts’ associate vice president, organizational excellence and impact. “They share a passion for creative expression and a drive to use their craft as a force for good.
“Fellows gain mentors and networks of support, communication and problem-solving skills, and the confidence and resiliency that comes from bringing new ideas to life. Through their arts research, workshops, and outreach, these students serve as beacons of joy, connection, and hope for the University of Arizona and the world.”
Through a partnership with the University of Arizona’s Campus Sustainability Fund and generous donor support, this year the cohort includes students from six colleges.
2025/26 JustArts Fellowship Cohort
- Riqué Duhamell Escobedo
MA | Library and Information Science | College of Information Science - Joanna Labija
BA | Interdisciplinary Studies (Arts, Media, and Entertainment) | College of Humanities - Aaliyah Radebaugh
BFA | Studio Art (Illustration, Design, and Animation) | College of Fine Arts / School of Art - Nagasriya Ramisetty | W.A. Franke Honors College
BS | Physiology and Medical Sciences | College of Medicine
BA | Applied Humanities | College of Humanities - Niko Sanchez
PhD | Applied Intercultural Arts Research | Graduate College - Christopher Werner
DMA | Music Performance – Bassoon | College of Fine Arts / School of Music
“The JustArts fellows are storytelling changemakers,” said Ashley Martin-Casler, the new program coordinator.
“Many of this year’s fellows are using their platforms to uplift student voices through innovative realms, whether materially, visually, sonically or otherwise. The JustArts fellows are driven, and I am inspired by their desire to create experiences that enhance our campus environment.”
Martin-Casler (B.Ed. ’08, music education) is a doctoral student in Intercultural Arts Research and a member of the Graduate College’s 2024-25 University Fellows program. She holds a master’s in vocal performance from Northern Arizona University and spent nine years teaching music in the Tucson Unified School District, where she specialized in arts integration.
“I am excited to see each of the fellows’ project ideas come to fruition. Each fellow is unique in their areas of interest, yet they all share the goal of using the arts as a medium for connection.”
Riqué Duhamell Escobedo
Riqué Duhamell Escobedo is a second-year master’s student in library and information science in the School of Information. Their project, Common Threads, aims to create a space on campus where students can explore and express their identities through traditional and contemporary embroidery practices of Mexico and Latin America. Through stitching, participants will engage in storytelling that honors their heritage and personal experiences, fostering a sense of belonging, cultural rootedness and community on campus.
“The JustArts Fellowship lets me reconnect with the creativity I got to play with in my creative writing undergraduate that’s been woefully absent in pursuing my library science master’s. Embroidery has been a significant part of my life since I was 12, so to be able to bring the craft to the makerspace at my university and connect others to the art is a dream.”
Joanna Labija
Joanna Labija is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies, focusing on arts, media and entertainment in the College of Humanities. In Here to Stay, Labija will use qualitative data collection and photography to counteract real and perceived erasure of student cultural identity on campus. With key campus locations as the backdrop, she will create photos of student subjects, each representing themselves through their chosen garb, props and poses. The photo shoots themselves are opportunities for reflection, dialogue and action, as students from different backgrounds share and learn from each other’s stories.
“What makes the JustArts Fellowship meaningful to me is that it pushes me into spaces I once felt too afraid to enter. I’ve always carried ideas and stories within me, but fear and self-doubt often made me second-guess sharing them out loud. Through this fellowship, I now have the chance to turn that courage into impact: creating conversations and visuals that help other students feel seen, safe and understood. For me, it’s not just an opportunity, it’s a blessing that reminds me I am both deserving and capable. I’m learning to embrace the fact that my creativity isn’t just for me; it’s a way to build connections, foster healing and promote belonging for others, too.”
Aaliyah Radebaugh
Aaliyah Radebaugh is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art with an emphasis in illustration, design and animation in the College of Fine Arts. Reflecting on the past year, Radebaugh’s project, Wishing for Change, Creating Tomorrow, seeks to elevate student voices by creating film animations based on interviews that elicit student stories, concerns and aspirations for a better campus environment. A talk-back will follow a screening of the film animations, giving students a space in which to feel heard, care for one another and imagine change.
“The JustArts Fellowship is meaningful to me because it allows me to use art with purpose, lifting student voices into light, honoring cultural memory and creating spaces where justice and community can grow.”
Nagasriya Ramisetty
Nagasriya Ramisetty is a junior in the W.A. Franke Honors College completing a Bachelor of Science in physiology and medical sciences in the College of Medicine and a Bachelor of Arts in applied humanities in the College of Humanities. Her project, bit·ter·sweet, addresses mental health stigma among Asian Americans, a community that reports among the highest needs for mental health care services and resources. Ramisetty will engage audiences in new ways of hearing, feeling and thinking about mental health by creating an original poetry and art collection that weaves together statistical public health research with more humanizing, personal stories collected through interviews.
“The JustArts Fellowship has provided me with the unique opportunity to translate my interest and research in Asian American mental health stigma into real world change through the arts, uplifting the voices of my community in ways I could have never imagined. I sincerely appreciate being surrounded by a network of peers and a support system of creatives as we cheer each other on over the course of this next year.
“I am a healthcare student, hoping to pursue academic medicine and public health advocacy. Being able to celebrate and integrate my interdisciplinary background into this project means I now consider myself a poet, artist, leader, and future doctor in equal measure.”
Niko Sanchez
Niko Sanchez is a second-year Ph.D. student in applied intercultural arts research in the Graduate College. His project, PLAing with Trash: Turning 3D Printing Polylactic Acid Waste into Art, focuses on building a campuswide network of fabrication spaces to harvest 3D printing waste, failed prints and prototypes and using that material as the basis for creating sculptures and sculpture workshops.
“The JustArts Fellowship provides me with the opportunity to build transdisciplinary connections on campus and in community — and to PLA with trash.”
Christopher Werner
Christopher Werner is a graduate student working toward a Doctor of Musical Arts in bassoon performance in the School of Music. Their project, Queer Bassoon Music and the Queer Bassoon Coalition, aims to increase the recognition of LGBTQIA2S+ people, cultures and contributions to Western art music. They will collect testimonies and oral histories from queer-identifying bassoon players and composers and use them to build a coalition that will collaborate on commissioning new works for the bassoon by queer composers. The commissioned works will debut at a live public performance and be recorded for accessibility, posterity and advocacy.
“This fellowship means a lot because it supports not only the work I am doing, but the power of collaboration in arts communities across disciplines. With the level of support and encouragement JustArts provides, I know that I’ll be successful in reaching my goals.”