ADVISORY COUNCIL

Kim Anno
Marna Braunstein Clark
Betsy Edasery
Mildred Howard
Kerri Hurado

Daniel Nevers
Kelsey Nicholson
Natani Notah
Kathryn Reasoner
Dorothy R. Santos

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thet Shein Win, President
Jess Tschirki, Vice President & Secretary
Natnael Amare, Treasurer
Galen Melchert

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Cristine Blanco
champoy
Jackie Im
Svea Lin Sol

Simon Tran
Minoosh Zomorodinia

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

THET SHEIN WIN, PRESIDENT

Thet Shein Win (she/her) is a Burmese-American writer, artist, teacher, child of immigrants, and mother. Her training is in visual art (M.F.A. Mills) and cultural anthropology (M.A./Ph.D. Candidate ABD Stanford). Professionally, Thet has exhibited and taught sculpture, curated art exhibitions, written about the brain and developed online courses for a neuroscience startup, and researched and presented academic papers at cultural anthropology conferences. Today, she leads intimate writing circles for BIPOC communities.

NATNAEL AMAR, TREASURER

Natnael Amare is a scientist and change-maker with a strong commitment to fostering creativity and community engagement through the arts. In addition to a twenty-three-year career in process engineering in the pharma industry, Natnael is a leader and strategist in Diversity, Equity, and Belonging. He believes in the transformative power of art to inspire us, reflect on our experiences and memories, expand our imagination, and move us to connect with others. Drawing on his experience in building connections amongst global communities, expanding access to life-saving medicines, Natnael is dedicated to advancing the center’s mission of promoting artistic expression and cultural dialogue.

JESS TSCHIRKI, Vice President & SECRETARY

Jessica Tschirki fosters happy, engaged, design-driven teams by emphasizing trust, accountability, and creativity. Jess is interested in learning more about the intersectionality between data and intuition, and how those two elements influence design to create truly delightful, yet utility-based interaction models. Her specialties include User Experience, Experience Design, Mobile Apps, Integrated / Campaign Marketing, Brand Marketing, Brand Development, Identity Systems, Environment / Event Design, and Creative Direction.

GALEN MELCHERT

Galen Melchert found his calling in the merger of his technical expertise with his love for art. Currently working in the design-build sector, he collaborates with artists and builders to craft bespoke spaces. With a mechanical engineering degree from CU Boulder, experience in Bay Area startups, and creative expertise across ceramic tile, wood, and digital, he has designed and built multiple large-scale art commissions. His artistic passion has been enriched by a four-year collaboration with his grandfather, renowned artist Jim Melchert. As a third-generation participant in the Oakland and Berkeley art scenes, Galen is not just preserving family tradition, but actively contributing to his community's cultural fabric.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

CRISTINE BLANCO

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Cristine Blanco is an interdisciplinary artist who works in sculpture, video, and installation. Her works take environmental injustices, the precarity of resources, and familial stories as her starting point. Inspired by her grandmother’s home in the Philippines, she explores the impact of rising sea levels and considers how human connectivity and adaptation are essential to recovery and transformation. Cristine is a 2020 MFA Mills College graduate. She has exhibited works at Root Division, SOMArts Cultural Center, Depart Foundation, and Slide Space 123. She is the co-founder of Far House Gallery.

CHAMPOY

champoy (pronouns THEY/THEM ) was born in the highlands of Bukidnon, a landlocked province in the island of Mindanao, which is located in the Southern Philippines. They have been based in the US/Turtle Island since 2002. Their work integrates found and fabricated objects through installation, line, video, and performance with auto-ethnographic elements that play with the complexities that come with being both within and outside of empire. champoy's approach is rooted in being able to locate themself within the historical narratives that define Filipinos as a people. Free play, colonial interrogations, and world-making happen in their improvisations with material and process. They received their MFA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley in 2021 and were a graduate fellow at the Headlands Center for the Arts.

Jackie Im

Jackie Im is a curator, writer, and editor based in Oakland, CA. She is the co-founder and Director of Et al. and Et al. etc. in San Francisco, alongside Aaron Harbour. She also currently serves as the Associate Curator at the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) Galleries. She has organized exhibitions at the Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art, Queens Nails, The Lab, Important Projects, Royal NoneSuch Gallery, MacArthur B Arthur, and SFAC Galleries. Her writing has appeared in Fillip Magazine, Art Practical, Curiously Direct, SFAQ, and various exhibition catalogues. She holds a BA in Art History from Mills College and a MA in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts.

SVEA LIN SOLL

Svea Lin Soll has spent twenty-five years working in the art world as a gallery owner, exhibition director, and art consultant. Svea started her career working in community-based nonprofit arts organizations, facilitating exhibitions and public programming. She ran her own gallery and studio space that functioned as an experimental platform for contemporary artists working across all mediums and genres. Over the past 10+ years, Svea has helped countless private clients find art for residential, hospitality, and corporate spaces. She has spent her career cultivating enduring relationships with artists, marked by sustained collaborations and a shared commitment to supporting creatives in the Bay Area. She is currently the principal of Swarm Projects, an arts agency that offers private art consulting and professional development support for working artists.

SIMON TRAN

Simon Tran is a painter from Long Beach who now resides in Menlo Park. He has a BA in art practice from UC Berkeley. He is a visual artist and educator who manages the Artists in Education program at Southern Exposure, an artist-centered non-profit, in San Francisco, CA. He works with Bay Area youth and teaching artists to create exhibitions for Southern Exposure through various art enrichment programs. He has created large-scale painted murals and installations for Meta, Chapter 510, and Montage Health. His website is ghostghostteeth.com

MINOOSH ZOMORODINIA

Minoosh Zomorodinia is an Iranian-born interdisciplinary artist who makes visible the emotional and psychological reflections of her mind's eye inspired by nature and her environments. Zomorodinia earned her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and holds a maste’s degree in graphic design and a BA in Photography from Azad University in Tehran. She has received several awards, residences, and grants including the Kala Media Fellowship Award, Headlands Center for the Arts, Recology San Francisco, and the California Arts Council. Minoosh has exhibited locally and internationally.