2024 UETF Artist Resiliency Residency Projects

Adrian Pijoan - FUSION
Adrian Pijoan is producing a new short film inspired by 1960s experiments on plant sentience and psychic communication with humans. Through a humorous approach, the film delves into humanity's evolving relationship with nature and technology amidst technological and climate changes. Adrian is seeking additional funding to expand the project, and aims to assemble a diverse team, continue community engagement, and address pressing contemporary themes in a larger-scale production.


Akilah Martinez- Katharsis Media
Akilah Martinez is an interdisciplinary artist, creating an Indigenized video art series and augmented reality experiences, to digitally preserve Navajo language and culture. Projects include "Diné Bizaad Plant-Based Cooking Show" to promote sustainable practices and address food injustices, and AR experiences showcasing Navajo Constellations with sound and storytelling elements. Collaborating with cultural bearers and a marketing team, she seeks to amplify community impact and secure future funding for broader cultural revitalization efforts.

Alonso Indacochea // Dust Wave- Katharsis Media
Alonso Indacochea is one of the members of the Dust Wave Collective, a group of filmmakers interested in producing work that is experimental and fun, and presenting it in ways that are unconventional and immersive. For the second iteration of the Fronteras Micro-Film Festival, the organizers plan to utilize the entire FUSION campus, allowing for a longer exhibition period and double the number of installations and films, particularly highlighting New Mexico filmmakers. Increased funding aims to boost compensation for artists and cover expenses for top awarded filmmakers, inviting out-of-town creators to enrich Albuquerque's creative community. With expanded marketing efforts, including outreach to Spanish speakers and collaboration with activist groups, the goal is to double attendance, merchandise sales, and community partnerships for a more ambitious and inclusive festival experience in May/June 2025.


Andrés Salazar - Working Classroom
Andrés Salazar is a filmmaker working on a short film with collaborator Christiana Burnett-Murphy. The short film project delves into the rich tapestry of dance in New Mexico, highlighting its diverse influences and community-centric nature, from Indigenous to Spanish, Romas, African American, and Moorish styles. The project aims to shift the narrative to local artists and explore the communal and spiritual significance of dance, addressing modern challenges such as isolation and anxiety. With three phases, including interviews with various dance scholars and artists, collaborative choreography sessions, and film production, the project seeks to showcase the beauty and therapeutic power of New Mexico's dance heritage through screenings, festival submissions, and community engagement activities.

Check out the funding page for Andrés and Christiana's project.


Beth Hansen - Katharsis Media
Following the dry Rio Grande riverbed of the last two summers, Beth Hansen, a filmmaker, seeks to capture the urgency of the climate crisis through a short experimental documentary. Shot on 16mm film and blending experimental and documentary styles, the film aims to evoke reflection and preserve the essence of the river's struggle amidst human intervention. Through tactile techniques and natural materials, the project aims to bridge the gap between abstract environmental concerns and personal, emotional engagement, giving viewers a visceral connection to the fragile ecosystem.


Carlos Menchaca - National Institute of Flamenco
Carlos Menchaca plans on exploring three choreographies deeply rooted in the Cafes Cantantes tradition. Inspired by the late 19th and early 20th-century Spanish flamenco nightclubs, the choreographies will draw from traditional forms such as Fandango Grande, Fandango de Huelva, Zorongo, and Bulerias. Additionally, the project aims to delve into the expressive potential of the Bata de Cola skirt, a hallmark of flamenco attire, in choreographing the Cantiñas, a skirt typically worn by female flamenco dancers. Through intergenerational collaboration, including renowned artists like Flamenco singer Vicente Griego and master teacher Mario Febres alongside emerging talents, the project seeks to push the boundaries of traditional flamenco composition and explore experimental movement vocabularies. With a commitment to challenging heteronormative canons present in flamenco, Carlos envisions public presentations around Albuquerque. The expanded budget will enable compensation for artists and musicians, facilitating the realization of the choreographies while fostering a deeper impact on the local flamenco community.


Celine Gordon - Working Classroom
Celine Gordon is crafting a tarot deck using earth pigment watercolors, personally foraged and crafted, emphasizing sustainability and eco-friendliness. The deck will showcase landscapes where the pigments are sourced, fostering a deep connection between process and art. Departing from traditional fortune-telling, the deck aims to facilitate self-reflection and exploration of humanity's relationship with nature, featuring illustrations of people in harmony with the natural world. Celine is also offering workshops on earth pigments, drawing on their experience as a teaching artist to foster community engagement and diverse perspectives within their practice.


claudia hermano- Working Classroom
claudia hermano is conducting a photographic survey of the non-binary community in Albuquerque, capturing portraits on medium format color film to highlight the permanence of non-binary existence. Through one-on-one conversations with subjects, the project aims to document a diverse range of experiences and perspectives on gender, with plans to expand outreach and collaboration within the community. Drawing from a recent collaboration between claudia and Amanda Curreri, the final presentation will include a photography book as well as a mural-size photographic quilt, both serve to emphasize the communal support and abundance of non-binary existence.


Dewey Devivi - Katharsis Media
"Anomalous Radio" is a proposed audio-drama series designed to mimic uncovered lost media from various eras, that questions our relationship with media in a post-truth world. The project involves creating a six-episode season with distribution planned on major podcast platforms. Dewey is also planning a public gallery installation that will offer an immersive experience, featuring a special seventh episode, with efforts to broadcast the series on Albuquerque's public radio.


Dominic Fraire - Katharsis Media
Dominic Fraire is acting as the director and producer of "Fates Artist" -- a multidisciplinary performance art piece that explores the mysteries of fate and the human experience through a collaboration of dancers, musicians, sculptors, and filmmakers, culminating in a live performance in early 2024. Additionally, the artist will produce a short documentary as part of a series on Indigenous trans voices, focusing on Luna Dryad, a trans-femme drag performer, to be showcased at film festivals. Lastly, the project includes organizing a community film showcase to highlight local talent, fostering an inclusive platform for New Mexico's filmmakers to share their creative works.


Eliot Anderberg - Working Classroom
Eliot Anderberg is a textile artist and quilter whose Residency project is a continuation of the work done on The Euphoria Quilt: a collaborative quilting project that invites LGBTQIA2S+ community members to contribute blocks expressing "gender-expansive joy.” The project includes holding quilting bees in Albuquerque and other states, particularly those with laws adversely affecting trans and queer people, to sew the quilt top to the backing fabric by hand. Collaborating with an archivist to document the submissions, the project aims to preserve this archive online and in a physical location, culminating in a public and online exhibition in Albuquerque that highlights the patterns and meanings of gender-expansive joy.

Elizabeth Garland – FUSION
Elizabeth Garland is creating a new composition for the New Mexico Philharmonic, highlighting the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the plight of kidnapped Ukrainian children. Financial support is essential for covering expenses such as printing scores, mastering recordings, and organizing industry engagement events. Elizabeth also works in TV and film scoring, and is also currently working with a French director on a documentary.

Emily Wright - Working Classroom
Emily Wright’s project is a series of personalized quilted vests, designed as wearable symbols of love and security for those fearing discrimination or violence due to their identity. Inspired by the silhouette of bulletproof vests, these soft, quilted vests are adorned with talismans and embroidered icons, tailored to the specific needs of each recipient, offering comfort and symbolic protection. Emily will with Albuquerque's queer community by hosting queer quilting and sewing events; fostering craft skills, support networks, and safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ individuals, their families, friends, and allies.

Endion Schichtel - Katharsis Media
Endion Schichtel is the director of Conservation Carnivale, a circus group that teaches the importance of the Rio Grande ecosystem, ecology, and sustainability. Part of the funding will go towards professional development and training for members of the group, and towards hosting the praised BeeLesque pollinator-themed burlesque show in summer 2024. They also plan to participate in Dust City Opera’s Haunted Folk Formal, integrating environmental education into alternative music culture. Any remaining funds will allow them to bring the Conservation Carnivale to underserved communities in Albuquerque, such as Ancora Transitional Services, to offer free performances.

Gael Luna - Katharsis Media
Community leaders and elected officials in Albuquerque have long worked to make New Mexico welcoming for queer and trans people, emphasizing the importance of dialogue about experiences and identities. In Gael Luna’s next solo show, they are expanding their Trans Luchador series with a Luchador Art Show at their gym, featuring trans characters, masks, capes, and a wrestling ring mural of local trans and queer athletes. During the Residency, Gael plans to design three luchador masks and capes representing trans athletes from Albuquerque, collaborating with participants and a printmaking artist to share stories and designs at an art event that will include screenprinting.


J P 제피 – Katharsis Media
J P 제피 is using the Residency funding and support to work on a larger Public Art Project: “My Story is Golden” -- an immersive, multimedia installation that honors the APIDA community through storytelling and soundscapes. They will collaborate with participants of story-sharing circles, and integrate their voices into the installation, weaving sound, video, rope, and other materials to express collective experiences of rooting and belonging. J P 제피 is also working with the city to secure a suitable location for the installation and address logistical challenges, aiming to create a communal artwork that connects the community's past and present.

Jen DePaolo - Keshet Center for the Arts
Jen DePaolo’s project "By Hand" honors the helpers, laborers, nurturers, healers, teachers, cooks, growers, and makers by casting their hands and recording their stories. This ceramic installation will feature the plaster cast hands alongside audio recordings, showcasing the participants' experiences of struggle, survival, and healing. After the exhibition, the ceramic hands will be given to the participants in gratitude, with UETF funding helping to cover the costs of production, exhibition, documentation, and distribution of the artworks.

Juliana Coles – Working Classroom
For her new experimental work, Juliana Coles plans to create a large mapping installation using eight 8’ x 4’ cradled birch panels, arranged to work together or separately. She is working to explore new terrain and develop a new visual vocabulary through trial and error. Additionally, Juliana intends to host salons at her studio to foster lively discussions and camaraderie among fellow artists, embracing the influence, inspiration, and feedback of peers in shaping her evolving artistic journey.

Julianna Kirwin – FUSION
Julianna Kirwin’s Residency work will consist of two stages: first, dedicating time to gain proficiency with the Pronto plate technique in Albuquerque and at a month-long residency at Kala Arts in Berkeley, California. The focus will be on learning to use multiple layers of color, following the Tamarind model, to create complex images. The second stage involves sharing knowledge and skills within the Albuquerque community through printmaking classes and hosting youth from the Mayor’s Creative Youth Corps, culminating in a final exhibit showcasing prints that continue to tell autobiographical stories and evoke personal connections, building on the success and resonance of previous work.

Julianna Massa – Keshet Center for the Arts
Julianna Massa is continuing their previous Residency project by staging "here, in this place" at a new Albuquerque Open Space area, integrating performance, installation, and community building practices. Collaborating with organizations like Working Classroom or Keshet Dance, they plan to host free workshops for youth, focusing on site-specific performance, art as public practice, and climate science, with participants designing audience interaction stations. Through this, they aim to develop an arts integration curriculum that can be utilized by other instructors and themselves.

Karl Orozco - Working Classroom
The UETF Resiliency Residency will support the creation of the second volume of "Prep School," a graphic novel written by Isha Aran and illustrated by Resident artist Karl Orozco. Over 18 months, the residency will be divided into conceptualization, production, publishing, and presentation phases, with the goal of completing 5 new chapters spanning 45 pages. This includes holding focus group sessions with Albuquerque's youth and community organizers, drawing new pages shared on Instagram, printing 200 books at a community risograph studio, organizing community events such as a reading and book launch at an independent bookstore, and a youth comics-making workshop.

Katie Dukes Walker – Katharsis Media
Katie Dukes Walker is a core member of the Amity Trio which is currently developing “Oliverso,” a multilingual children’s opera exploring the theme of borders through a space pirate's cosmic journey. With a commitment to performance and education, the trio will engage with the Albuquerque community through events, workshops, and performances at local schools. Collaborating with experts in visual arts, performance, and education, they will create portable sets, educational guides, engaging costumes, and cutting-edge technology for a digital set, fostering connections and community engagement over the 18-month timeline.

Katie Farmin – Katharsis Media
Katie Farmin is a theatre artist and playwrite who is using the Residency to deepen the exploration of her clown character through her collaboration with Terribly Wrong and Horribly Embarrassing, remounting "Longer and Brighter," and developing a new show inspired by the same character. Drawing from her background in devised theatre and techniques such as Viewpoints, Suzuki, and Grotowski, the residency's first half will focus on developing the new show, blending researched stories with stream-of-consciousness writing and devised theatre tactics. The second half will involve rehearsals for both shows, beginning with remounting "Longer and Brighter" to reconnect with the characters and then workshopping the new show's outline with characters from the previous production, inspired by the myth of the Smalls Lighthouse in Wales.

Lidón Patiño Berjas - National Institute of Flamenco
Lidón’s project focuses on choreographing a Farruca piece as part of a future show, delving into its origin, structure, and character. Collaborating with guitarist José Almarcha and vocalist Roberto Lorente, the choreography will be accompanied by original music. Through studying cantaores and dancers of Farruca, the aim is to create a unique choreography reflecting personal artistic qualities and emotions, culminating in a fully produced video as well as a public performance.

Lindsey Fromm – Working Classroom
The "Drawing Society" project will establish a regular space for artists to come together, draw, and converse, fostering community and creative exchange. Monthly meetups will offer opportunities for artists to explore different environments, from art spaces to public places, enriching their drawing experiences. Alongside these gatherings, Lindsey plans on holding critique sessions where diverse perspectives will lead to collaborative growth. The culminating exhibition, "Say Less," will showcase a series of drawings that delve into the intricacies of communication and societal norms, aiming to initiate dialogue and reflection on the complexities of expression in today's world.

mai doan – National Institute of Flamenco
mai’s Residency work includes weekly written visual documentation, organizing meetups with grief workers and artists, and completing the final workshops for the "13 Names for Grief" series. Additionally, mai plans to develop and lead a writing workshop series in collaboration with a community organization serving marginalized youth. She is organizing writing retreats to generate new material and prepare for a culminating public reading or workshop, where she will share a printed zine or excerpt from a longer book project. mai’s approach emphasizes allowing the work to unfold organically while maintaining a balance of structure, rest, and care for sustainability and intentionality.

Marco D Rivera - Working Classroom
In his residency, Marco is creating an innovative assistive technology for artists with limited mobility, enabling them to create expansive visual art. Collaborating with FUSE Makerspace, Marco plans to develop a device controlled by a joystick, facilitating painting on large canvases. Engagement with the DDSD community ensures the technology meets their unique needs, while partnerships with art spaces like the Off Center and Bright Horizons Day Hab provide platforms for public presentations. Inspired by his personal connection to disability, this project aims to empower artists with disabilities and contribute to the discourse on assistive technology.

Mary Lumley - Katharsis Media
In "Forsythian Dwellers Club," Mary is diving into production for her debut feature film, a story that originated as a living room play. Over the past five years, Mary has overseen multiple productions, including an award-winning Fringe Fest run, and she is passionate about bringing this witty and surreal tale to the screen. The film explores the pressures on young artists and society's link between self-worth and success, drawing from her own experiences and observations in the industry. With a talented team of local up-and-coming artists, Mary aims to create a safe and inspiring environment while collaborating with Katharis Media to offer training and educational opportunities, realizing her dream of sharing the journey with others.

Raven I Bright - Keshet Center for the Arts
Raven, a dance and visual artist, is producing "From One to Another": a multi-dimensional artistic endeavor rooted in Navajo culture, showcasing the practice of running as a form of mindfulness and ancestral respect. Divided into four parts, the project includes a gallery exhibition by photographer Michelle Sanchez, an educational performance by a Hip-Hop duo, a representation of Navajo teachings by the artist's father, and a contemporary dance performance by Raven, blending Indigenous Futurism with Hip-Hop. The goal is to exhibit this collective work initially in Albuquerque and beyond, fostering cultural appreciation and offering mentorship to youth exploring their heritage through the arts. Through its evolution, "From One to Another" amplifies Indigenous voices, serving as a bridge between generations and cultures.

Robert Bollinger – FUSION
For his 2024 UETF Artist Resiliency Residency, Robert plans to use repurposed photographs from Ukraine to explore themes related to the Russian-Ukrainian War. Departing from previous projects focused on American culture, this endeavor will employ a multi-layered painting technique to capture the essence of conflict and violence. The final pieces will be exhibited in mid-2025 at Fusion, offering viewers a unique perspective on the human experience amid turmoil.

Sarah Hogland-Gurulé – Working Classroom
Sarah is the choreographer and director of "UNBOUND:" a performance ritual and community project that sheds light on the history of Genízaros, enslaved native people in New Mexico, often overlooked in local and American history. Created in collaboration with historian Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, it aims to bring catharsis, healing, and truth to living descendants by blending dance, theater, and video projection. Through a pre-show ceremony, performance, and reflection circles, UNBOUND seeks to elevate Genízaro history as central to the American narrative and disrupt misconceptions about New Mexico's colonial past.

Stephanie Baness - Katharsis Media
During the residency, Stephanie will immerse herself in the Bosque, recording its changes through digital media to inspire sculptures, wall hangings, and a central installation. The goal is to convey the Bosque experience comprehensively, raising awareness of its importance and fragility. Ultimately, she aims to exhibit the large work in public spaces like galleries, schools, and potentially even within the Bosque itself, advocating for its preservation and appreciation.

Vanessa Alvarado - Working Classroom
Vanessa’s mural project at La Academia de Esperanza Charter High School aims to visually promote education about gun violence with the theme "Put Down the Guns, Pick Up the Books." Engaging student collaborators, the mural will depict a child choosing books over a toy gun, serving as a powerful message for the community. Through discussions and artistic expression, students will honor those lost to gun violence while advocating for change and empowerment through education. This project seeks to inspire reflection and dialogue, offering an alternative vision for a safer and brighter future.