From technology to science and dance, the 2024-2025 JustArts Fellowship cohort aims to create a space for groups who have been overlooked.
The fellows have to identify a problem within the campus and broader Tucson community and propose solutions using the arts to encourage positive change. This year’s cohort can expect hands-on experience in project planning.
“The JustArts Fellowship is a unique co-curricular opportunity offered through the Arizona Arts office of Equity in the Arts,” said Amy Kraehe, associate vice president for equity in the arts. “At JustArts, we cultivate students’ imagination, a creative and critical skillset that the world sorely needs. What I see in this year’s cohort is an imagination moored in compassion and solidarity. The Fellows use the art forms they love to create new spaces, opportunities, and ways of engaging difference on campus and beyond. Their projects have tangible benefits for them, their peers, and the university as a whole.”
This year’s Fellows are Nicolette “Niko” Gomez (School of Art), Ruben “Ben” Reynoso (School of Theatre, Film & Television), Mackenzie “Kenzie” Roberts (School of Dance), Taryn Williamson (School of Music), and Chris Zatarain (Applied Intercultural Arts Research).
“These students in this cohort continually inspire me due to their ability to blend tangible projects, arts-based research, and community knowledge together to create a product,” said Matt Denney, program coordinator. “Activating dialogue within their own community, who have not had the chance to share their voice, is a prominent theme.”
The fellowship aims to advance diversity and inclusion within the arts. It was co-conceived by students serving on the Arizona Arts Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
New JustArts Fellows are all about change
Nicolette “Niko” Gomez
School of Art, BA
Nicolette (Niko) Gomez (Yaqui) is a senior completing a B.A. in Design Arts and Practice at the School of Art with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Eller College of Management. Leveraging her passion for technology in the arts, her project, “Digital Art Inspired by Indigenous Tradition,” introduces Indigenous students at the U of A to technology and cultural expression using Dall-E, an AI-powered image generator. Participants create digital art for social good that fosters relationships with and within tribal communities.
Gomez leads an innovative program called Yaqui-Tech Innovation Lab and is the founder of Nopalito Network.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to share my story…Meeting the other JustArts Fellows has made me even more excited about the journey ahead,” she said.
Her project, “Digital Art Inspired by Indigenous Tradition,” enhances Indigenous representation at the university level by creating culturally significant art for campus-wide display.
“The goal of my project is to create visual reminders across various mediums that reinforce Indigenous presence at the University of Arizona,” Gomez said.
Gomez is passionate about leveraging technology to enhance the economic advancements of the Pascua Yaqui community. With experience with Startup Tucson and Project Dreamcatcher, she is dedicated to nurturing the entrepreneurial skills and technological proficiency within her community.
“As a senior at UA, I see this as an essential step in translating my ideas into real-world projects with timeliness, budgets, and deliverables,” Gomez said. “Being a part of this cohort allows me to bring those projects to life with guidance and support of professionals in the field.”
Ruben “Ben” Reynoso
School of Theatre, Film & Television, BA
Ruben (Ben) Reynoso is a senior in the W. A. Franke Honors College completing a B.S. in Information Science and a B.A. in Film and Television. His project, “Tucson Zines Online – Creating a Digital Archive of Tucson Zines Throughout the Years,” will make the zine art form more accessible to students and audiences worldwide by producing an online archive of zines as well as zine-making workshops for students at the U of A.
“For me, being a JustArts Fellow is about being a part of a creative, collaborative, community of fellow dedicated artists and activists,” Reynoso said.
Reynoso’s project, “Tucson Zines Online – Creating a Digital Archive of Tucson Zines Throughout the Years,” focuses on increasing the accessibility of Tucson’s magazine culture by creating a digital archive.
“Tucson has a rich history of zine-making…however these zines are unfortunately not available online,” he said. “I work to bridge the gap between the physical and digital.”
Tucson magazine-making attracts marginalized writers, artists, and activists due to the inexpensive production costs and the freedom of self-publishing. By creating a digital archive and hosting free workshops, Reynoso hopes to preserve the magazine culture in Tucson and make it more readily available.
“I’m surrounded by other students and faculty committed to their projects and bringing their vision for change to the table,” Reynoso said.
Mackenzie “Kenzie” Roberts
School of Dance, MFA
Second-year graduate student Mackenzie (Kenzie) Roberts is completing an M.F.A. in Dance. Passionate about creating spaces where everyone can express their art freely, her project, “Harmonizing Movement: Inclusive Improv Jams,” invites all artists—dancers, musicians, and creatives alike—to come together, explore their art, and dance for the pure joy of it. In collaboration with the Disability Resource Center and the community, the monthly jams are designed to be fully accessible, especially for students with disabilities, and to allow everyone in attendance to grow in their understanding of diverse needs and adaptive movement techniques.
“The support and collaboration within the cohort encourage me to push boundaries and use my skills to shape the arts in a way that reflects our ever-changing world,” she said.
With experience working one-on-one with FFA students with disabilities, collaborating with Ember Book, and more, Roberts has become dedicated to creating a more inclusive dance community.
“My goal is to make lasting changes within our community by building partnerships and offering a platform for people to connect, create, and experience,” she said. “This project isn’t just about this moment; it’s about creating a movement that will continue to grow and evolve.”
Her project aims to ensure equal access to dance education and activities for individuals with disabilities, fostering a sense of belonging in the dance community.
“I believe that together we can create something larger than ourselves. I’m deeply committed to expanding the world of the arts and ensuring its accessibility to everyone,” Roberts said.
Taryn Williamson
School of Music, BA
Taryn Williamson is a third-year undergraduate completing a dual B.A. in Music and Live and Screened Performance. In her project, “The Body of a Performer,” she aims to change how people in the performing arts view their bodies, abilities, and roles. Through speaker events, workshops, and community building, her project will connect students with tools and resources to claim their bodies, build confidence and resilience, and use their experiences to express themselves wholly, regardless of how others might view them.
Williamson realized that seeing women in technologically savvy positions was encouraging. She said it was important for her to be a part of this cohort because she is a non-traditional student.
“I can see that it’s because of the language I have and particular life experiences I’ve had, not because it was made accessible to everyone in my position,” she said.
Willamson’s project is dedicated to making recording and sound technology skills more accessible to women on campus as well as aiming to change how people in performing arts view their bodies, abilities, and roles.
“I hope to create a more inclusive environment in the performing arts that celebrates…to express the arts is to showcase all human experience,” she said.
Her project will include keynote speaker events, workshops, and community building events for networking and long-term sufficiency.
She believes that audio engineering skills can be key for staying true to artistic visions and offers valuable employment skills for women working on their creative endeavors.
“It’s exciting to me that we get to collaborate in an open-minded setting, where we can all be free to dream big, imaging changes that will impact students beyond our time here,” Williamson said.
Chris Zatarain
Applied Intercultural Arts Research, MA
Chris Zatarain is a second-year M.A. student in the Graduate Interdisciplinary Degree Program in Applied Intercultural Arts Research. His project, “Imagining Climate Futures: Worldmaking through Community-Based Narrative Storytelling and Climate Fiction,” invites U of A and Tucson community members coming from diverse backgrounds and abilities to explore issues related to climate change through creative storytelling. The project encourages participants to see themselves as individuals with agency and a say in shaping our collective futures.
Zatarain interests lie with environmental arts and humanities. He has a background in Music, studying oboe here at the University of Arizona.
“In many ways, the mission of the JustArts is aligned with the type of work and research that my program is focused on,” he said. “So it feels synergistic.”
He has been a member of the 2021-2022 cohort of the Diana Liverman Scholars and has been a correspondent and senior correspondent at Planet Forward, where he was able to share creative works of environmental storytelling.
His project is centered around bringing the Tucson community together to explore issues related to climate change through creative storytelling.
“I am hoping to generate a dialogue about climate change in our communities and inspire people to see themselves in the process of shaping their futures,” he said.
Zatarain hopes to leverage the transformative abilities of the arts to aid in shifting public ideas about climate change, to build a more just and resilient future.
“Our cohort this year, as in past years, is made up of a diverse group of people who are clearly passionate about their art forms and who come with their own perspectives and skill sets.”