Courtney Ozaki-Durgin (She/Her) is the Creative Producer for Off Center, the immersive theater arm of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.  She is also founder of the Japanese Arts Network -  a national resource supporting and advancing the work of Japanese artists and culture in America, she is a professional taiko drummer with over 30 years of experience, and is an independent creative producer who creates and develops interdisciplinary and immersive programs and productions.  Recent work includes an original immersive theatre piece, ZOTTO - A Supernatural Japanese Folktale, co-produced and devised with Theatre Artibus and Luster Productions.  Courtney holds a BSM from CU Denver where she was honored with the 2023 College of Arts and Media Distinguished Alumni Award.  She received her MFA in performing arts management from Brooklyn College and has worked as a producer for new and touring works with The Joyce Theater and ADH Theatricals in NYC.  Courtney serves on the executive committee for the Board of Directors for the Western Arts Alliance where she co-founded Hyphen+Asian, a collective AAPINH community space for artists and administrators in the field; she is Chair of the U.S. Japan Council Mountain Region, and is on the Advisory Board for the Creative Independent Producers Alliance.  Motivated by the impetus that an inclusive arts culture leads to a more productive and empathetic society, Courtney was the recipient of the 2024 JEDI Denver Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Arts and Culture and is passionate about the melding of ideas, and the integration and interdependence of arts sectors.

Etta Sandry (she/her) is an artist, educator, and facilitator currently based in Boulder, Colorado. Rooted in weaving, her interdisciplinary work is situated in the expanded material practices field between craft, contemporary art, and creative research. She has exhibited her work in the United States and Canada and was the 2022 Experimental Weaver in Residence at the Unstable Design Lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder where she now conducts research as a PhD student. Etta completed her MFA in the Fibre & Material Practices program at Concordia University in 2021 where she also held positions teaching fiber structures and critical thinking & writing. She has worked as an organizer and administrator in arts communities for over ten years, including roles as a board member at the artist-run centre articule in Montreal and as a volunteer staff in ACRE Residency’s fibre studio in Wisconsin.

Celesté Martinez (she/her/ella) is a Queer Chicana- born in Santa Cruz, California, raised in San Antonio, Texas, and now calling Denver, Colorado home for well over a decade. Her experience from working as an organizer to nonprofit director taught Celesté invaluable lessons, which she draws upon to meet the needs of her clients through her coaching, facilitation, and consulting business Celestial Alegria. Celesté is also highly involved in the Colorado music scene with her Latin Feminist Punk project Soy Celesté and as the band leader of The Villanas in support of Katiria -who is a renowned Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and composer. You can most commonly find Celesté performing with her bandmates, writing poetry, hanging at community events, and loving on her two chihuahua pups.

Franklin Cruz (they/he) is a queer latin dancer, poet and environmental nerd born in Idaho, raised Texan and polished in Denver. Born from an immigrant family their work has placed them in science museums, as an emcee for dance & poetry competitions, conferences and environmental spaces. A Tedx Mile High performer and Nature of Cities residency, he worked throughout the southwest, Peru, Puerto Rico for universities and environmental leadership camps. Their work encompasses self love, immigration, culture, conservation and more.  Franklin always aims to address intersectional liberation, confronting our complicity to privilege and oppression and the lesson of specificity over simplicity.

Instagram: @fcruz_unido

Rebecca Peebles (she/her) is HOL SUM, another way of saying “wholesome,” and is all about self integration through creative, contemplative practice. Extending beyond her artworks and wearable art, she hosts intimate events, workshops, and exhibitions and curates personal collections under the name Home Safe Projects. Formerly, Rebecca founded and ran GroundSwell Gallery (2011-2014) with Danette Montoya.  As of 2004, Rebecca lives and works in Denver, CO and is originally from Richmond, VA.

Early in her art career, Rebecca realized her art practice and dedication to her craft techniques is a form of contemplative practice. Setting about making with intention has grown into crafting weavings, sculpture, beadwork and sometimes drawings or paintings as dedications of merit for the natural heroism of human being.

“My wish is for those who wear my beadwork or collect my art to see and connect with their own true story and embody that truth with a sense of self respect and gratitude for their unique life journey.” Rebecca’s own hardships and joys are reflected in her art.  She believes that her contemplative based artwork are projections of self-compassion that can be shared empathically with others.  Merit for life’s gross, chaotic unpredictable reality is the kind of merit that is often under-recognized, but HOL SUM is about extending care and gratitude to the whole person’s heroic journey throughout the spectrum of life’s awesome intensities.

When it comes to workshops and sharing contemplative craft with others, Rebecca finds joy in the process and is described as “next level patient” with learners. Home Safe workshops aim to create access to individuals’ own creative flow while initiating and fostering creativity as a personal practice of mental health and healing.

Olivia Abtahi (she/her) is a film director and writer based in Denver, Colorado. Born to an Iranian father and an Argentine mother, she is a melting pot of distinct cultures. Growing up in the DC area, Olivia always had a passion for cinema and storytelling. She is a graduate of NYU Film School and VCU Brandcenter, and has lived in New York, San Francisco, Richmond Virginia, and Dublin, Ireland. She holds a BFA and MaSC.

Kate M. Nicholson (she/her) is a civil rights attorney, arts activist, and the founder and Executive Director of the National Pain Advocacy Center, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the health and human rights of people with pain. She has spoken at TED, universities, and think tanks, testified in state legislatures, and briefed the U.S. Congress. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Hill, STAT, and MedPage Today. Her advocacy has been featured by the New York Times, Guardian, Washington Post, NBC, Scientific American, BBC, Newsweek, NPR, the ACLU’s At Liberty, and elsewhere.  She previously served on the collecting committee at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Advisory Board of the University of Colorado Art Museum in Boulder, and she currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Ulrich Museum. Nicholson was a founding board member of Tilt West and edits its written responses to roundtables.

Marty Spellerberg (he/him) is the director of Spellerberg Projects, a cultural incubator in Lockhart, Texas. He has 20 years experience in interactive design and development, including a decade working specifically with cultural institutions. He is the co-lead of the National Museum Website Visitor Motivation Study and co-author of the resulting paper in the Journal of Digital and Social Media Marketing. He presents regularly at industry conferences such as Museum Computer Network, Museums and the Web, SXSW Interactive and WordCamp. He has worked with the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History; and the Toronto International Film Festival, among others. He is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art & Design, Toronto.

Joel Swanson (he/him) is a text-based interdisciplinary artist exploring the intersection of language and technology. As an Associate Professor at the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder, he directs the TYPO Lab, an experimental art and design space exploring text-based technologies. He earned his Master of Fine Arts at the University of California, San Diego with a focus on Computing and the Arts. Website