Arizona Arts is proud to announce the 2026–27 JustArts Fellowship cohort, featuring five students, selected from a record-breaking pool of applicants, using arts as a vehicle for meaningful change at the University of Arizona.
JustArts Fellows deliver student-led solutions to complex societal topics, leveraging creative expression to address sensory access, climate resilience, grief, homelessness, and community health
Inspired by the vision to create positive impact beyond silos and disciplinary boundaries, this year’s cohort brings together the College of Fine Arts, Wyant College of Optical Sciences, College of Engineering, College of Medicine, and the W.A. Franke Honors College to represent the full spectrum of university talent.
- Christian Paris Blue | MFA candidate, School of Dance (College of Fine Arts)
- Jake Brumley | Junior pursuing BS degrees in optical sciences (Wyant College of Optical Sciences) and engineering (College of Engineering)
- Andy Julo | Ph.D. candidate, Art and Visual Culture Education, School of Art (College of Fine Arts)
- Taylor Raney | Senior in the W.A. Franke Honors College completing a B.S. in health sciences degree in physiology and medical sciences (College of Medicine)
- Felicia Zhang | Junior in the W.A. Franke Honors College completing a B.S. in health sciences degree in physiology and medical sciences (College of Medicine)
“The JustArts Fellowship highlights the incredible capacity of U of A students to lead with vision and empathy,” says Amy Kraehe, vice dean of Arizona Arts. “The fellows channel their art-making directly into leadership, using creative expression and out-of-the-box thinking to spark change across our campus and community.”
Now in its fifth year, the JustArts Fellowship for Student Leaders in the Arts continues to grow as one of the most compelling student opportunities at the University of Arizona. For this cycle, the fellowship received applications from students across the university, a 159% increase over the previous year.
Meet the 2026–27 JustArts Fellows
Christian Paris Blue | MFA candidate, School of Dance
Through his project, “Arts for All,” Blue will address sensory barriers that prevent many audience members from participating in the arts. He will partner with accessibility experts and production teams across the College of Fine Arts to stage a sensory-inclusive performance where neurodiverse audience members can experience live arts without sensory distress. Blue will work towards establishing a sustainable model of inclusive venue practices, a repeatable accessibility framework for College of Fine Arts productions.
Jake Brumley | Sophomore, College of Engineering, College of Optical Sciences
Brumley’s project, “Artistic Albedo: Cooling Campus Through Community Muralism,” merges Tucson’s rich mural tradition with the world of science to address one of Tucson’s most pressing challenges — the urban heat island effect. He will use thermal imaging to measure heat on busy U of A walkways and host community paint days to install a highly reflective mural that lowers temperatures, improving our campus environment, while serving as a blueprint for campus sustainability.
Andy Julo | Ph.D. candidate, School of Art, College of Fine Arts
Julo’s project, “Creativity is Resilience: Collaborative Artmaking at the Edges of Home,” creates a space of exchange and empowerment by bringing together unhoused adults in Tucson and U of A students for a creative workshop series at a transitional living facility. Through shared artmaking, Julo will build bridges across lived experiences to help reimagine what community can look like at the edges of home.
Taylor Raney | Senior, W.A. Franke Honors College, College of Medicine
Raney’s project, “Phosphene Collective,” explores grief through collective art making, reflection and conversation. Shewill lead collage workshops for the U of A and Tucson communities to create a shared art installation and living archive. Ultimately, the project will affirm that memory-keeping is an act of love and sharing our stories helps us heal.
Felicia Zhang | Junior, W.A. Franke Honors College, College of Medicine
“Rooted in Wellness” is a multimedia art experience exploring a universal story of healing. Through collaborative community research, natural remedies, and visual storytelling, Zhang will use repurposed materials and video to showcase traditional medicine practices. In collaboration with Indigenous herbalists and student groups, she will create an opportunity for people across cultures to gather, share, and heal together.
Together, these five fellows embody the JustArts Fellowship’s founding belief: that student artists and creative thinkers (regardless of their major, background, or discipline) have creative answers to make the University of Arizona and the world a better place.
New Cohort Leadership
The 2026–27 cohort takes on challenges that are both intimately local and globally urgent. Sensory inclusion in live performance spaces, the urban heat crisis, housing insecurity, collective grief, and culturally informed healthcare are not abstract concepts, but lived realities felt in Tucson, across the Southwest, and around the world.
Matt Denney returns as the program’s coordinator. For the past three years, Denney has served as the recruitment coordinator for the college. This fall he begins a new assignment as assistant professor at the School of Theatre, Film & Television in live and screened performance.
“Having Matt Denney return to JustArts is a wonderful milestone for the program,” says Kraehe. “Matt’s deep expertise in higher education and the student experience, paired with his background in theater and strong roots in Tucson’s arts community, ensures our fellows have extraordinary support as they turn creative ideas into impactful works of art.”
Denney will guide the JustArts Fellows from concept to project completion.
“The JustArts Fellows this year have captivating, innovative, and creative ways of applying art to areas of health, wellbeing, and community,” he said. “This cohort truly embodies how we envision arts and culture impacting all facets of life.”
A Growing Movement
The numbers speak for themselves. Applications to the JustArts Fellowship increased by 159% compared to the previous year. The surge reflects a growing interest in student opportunities that reinforce their passion for positive change.
As arts-based research continues to demonstrate its value alongside STEM fields, the JustArts Fellowship stands at the forefront of a new model in higher education. Creating programs that recognize creativity as essential to innovation, empathy as intrinsic to public health, and the arts as essential to problem solving. With each passing year, more students are submitting their ideas and proving that the most pressing problems of our time call not only on technical solutions, but for human ones.
Visit Arizona Arts Connect to learn more about the JustArts Fellowship.