Equity in the Arts

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.

Ruben (Ben) Reynoso

School of Theater, Film, & Television, BA
Information Science, BS

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.  

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.

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.

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.

Joseph Campos

School of Music, BFA

Project: Joseph is a native of Tucson and a 3^rd year undergraduate studying music production and audio engineering. Joseph’s project grows the relationship with local hip-hop artists that was seeded in 2022-23 by inaugural JustArts Fellow Josh Barbre. In collaboration with the Tucson Hip Hop Festival, he will create a series of events for UA students to gain direct experience in rapping and music production.  

Sophia Harrigan

School of Theater, Film, & Television, BA

Project: Sophia is a 3^rd year undergraduate double majoring in classics and film. Her project aims to raise student awareness about gender-based violence and bias in the filmmaking industry. She will organize opportunities for students to learn inclusive best practices that help prevent gender inequities, exclusions, and harm in film and theatre productions.  

Diego Gonzales

School of Dance, BFA

Project: Diego is a 3^rd year undergraduate dance major, was inspired by inaugural JustArts Fellow Arianna Aquino to use his artform to support student wellbeing. Diego will organize and facilitate a group of UA student volunteers to bring dance and movement into local schools. The project will share the healing and liberatory power of this art with youth who, because of society’s unrealistic body standards, gender expectations, or socioeconomic barriers, are often denied opportunities to express themselves through dance.  

Semoria Mosely

School of Art, MFA

Project: Semoria is a 2^nd year graduate student studying photography, video, and imaging. She conceived Outside the Network, an installation project that will foster intimacy and recognition between students from “different sides of the tracks.” Her installation will consist of three campus telephone booths that participants enter to record a message, but only after listening to the previous student’s message in its entirety. This interactive art experience will culminate in a campus-wide audio pop-up event where UA’s 40,000 students can hear one another.  

Anni Peng

Music Education, PhD

Project: Anni is a graduate-level music education major. Her Culturally Responsive Music project will go beyond the university campus to connect undergraduate student musicians with elders in the Chinese immigrant community of Tucson. Based on a needs assessment with the participants, Anni will design musical experiences to promote cultural exchange and social inclusion.

Dylan Crites

School of Theater, Film, & Television, BA

Project: Dylan will develop an accessible performance group to address the scarcity of theater opportunities for BIPOC and Queer students and those who live at the intersections of those identities.

Dylan Crites is a Junior studying Theatre and Computer Science. Originally from the El Paso-Juárez area, he is also an avid writer of plays, books, screenplays, and the occasional video game. Dylan has been heavily involved in the theatre scene at the U of A, and you might recognize them as Death from the Next Performance Collective rendition of Everybody by Brandon Jacobs Jenkins or from the Magic Hour 2022 short films. He is also an active member of InVisibility, taking part in their S.A.L.O.N. as an organizer and performer, and was one of many dramaturges the New Direction’s Festival.

Carlos Garcia Ramirez

School of Music, BFA

Project: In a project titled “Breaking borders, making bridges,” Carlos will increase awareness, knowledge, and understanding of Mexican music and culture in the borderlands.

Carlos Garcia is originally from the Yaqui tribe community in Sonora, Mexico, he was born and raised in Guaymas, Mexico. Carlos began his musical studies when he was 10 years old at Fray Ivo Toneck Arts Foundation in Guaymas. He became the principal bassoonist for The Young National Orchestra of Mexico (2009 – 2012). In 2012, he was a founding conductor of Orquesta Sinfonica Esperanza Azteca Sonora, he also conducted with famous cellist Carlos Prieto the Saint – Säenz cello concerto in A minor. Through 2012-2016, Carlos got the title of the youngest orchestra conductor of Mexico.

Dorthea Stephenson

School of Music, BFA

Project: Dorthea’s research-based project, “Beyond Europe,” will catalyze conversations about how to diversify and decolonize standard music repertoire.

Dorthea Stephenson is currently in her fourth year of a Bachelor’s of Music Degree in Viola Performance at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music, where she studies with Dr. Molly Gebrian. An avid advocate for underrepresented voices in classical music, Dorthea was part of a team of musicians from across the country to develop a database for underrepresented composers who have written viola repertoire. The database is currently on the American Viola Society website, and has over 500 composers and nearly 1600 pieces.

Arianna Aquino

School of Dance, MFA

Project: Arianna’s DEI Dance Gatherings are intended to create safe empowering spaces for student expression.

Arianna Aquino graduated with her BFA in dance from CalArts and is expecting to receive her MFA in dance from the University of Arizona in 2023. Both of which she also studied theater. She has had a professional dance and acting performance career on and off Broadway, in film, and television. For ten years in Brooklyn, NY, Arianna built, directed, and taught a Title I high school dance program. She served as the Chair of the Arts Department and was the Arts Instructional Coach.

Joshua Barbre

School of Music, PhD

Project: Joshua’s project connects the local hip-hop community with the University by organizing events to teach students graffiti, rap, and breaking. This will dovetail with the Tucson Hip-Hop festival. 

Joshua Barbre is a PhD student in musicology at the University of Arizona. His research interests include music of the United States, specifically hip-hop and music curriculum development. Currently his dissertation project is addressing the impact of breaking as an Olympic event in the 2024 Paris games for current dancers, calling into question what is the difference between dancer/artist/athlete and if current practitioners of hip-hop dance believe that breaking should be included in the Olympics.