2022-2024
As a Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture Creative Strategist with the Department of Aging and Disability services, I work with 4 different senior and community centers in Los Angeles County District 1 to integrate arts, culture, and creative practice into the everyday operations of the center.
East L.A. Community Center: We developed a series of workshops in order to build community buy-in for an intergenerational community garden. The workshops culminated in a garden build day and a community-created zine. Collaborators: Leo Alas, Forever Dominguez, Marlene Aguilar, Daisy Echeverri, MoonJar Designs, Joel Garcia
Potrero Heights Senior and Community Center: We supported the center’s arts events, brought in guest artists to activate the outdoor ampitheater area, and created a vinyl installation showcasing the vibrant participants and contributors to Potrero Heights Senior and Community Center. Collaborators: Leo Alas, Forever Dominguez, Freedom Drum Circles, Boone Nguyen
San Gabriel Valley Service Center: For our work with San Gabriel Valley Service Center, we were asked to help facilitate intercultural interactions between the Spanish speaking and Chinese speaking community. This resulted in a series of trilingual cooking classes, a trilingual community cookbook, a community feast with trilingual karaoke, and community interpreter training. Our work with this center is featured on a KCET Artbound episode. Collaborators: Leo Alas, jen hofer, Forever Dominguez
Centro Maravilla Service Center: We developed a youth summer program and worked with youth on center improvement projects in order to “create a space for teens” as part of fulfilling the center’s intergenerational goals. Inspired by conversations with elders, youth proposed 1) a garden project inspired by a senior’s plant collection, 2) a door decoration project to improve wayfinding in the center, and 3) an interactive puzzle mural inspired by a senior’s love of puzzles. Collaborators: Leo Alas, Forever Dominguez, Genelle Brooks-Petty.
