I have been devoted to promoting and designing art that serves as a means of unifying and bridging communities. My passion for promoting inclusivity and education for marginalized groups has driven me to craft programs that are specifically designed to facilitate collaboration and inclusive community.

Artists and designers set in the Art World are oftentimes distanced from the people they aimed to serve or address in their works. As a result, my socially engaged design philosophy was born out of the desire to explore how creative strategies could serve as the foundation for unification and empowerment.

These programs, which I have designed, organized, and developed in New York City, the Bronx, Boulder, the outskirts of Paris, and Northern Ethiopia, span a range of durations from single-day events to multi-year initiatives. They have successfully integrated adults with developmental disabilities into the gallery and street art scene, invited martial arts and wellness groups to take center stage, and brought together street performers such as Peruvian and African musicians and jewelry vendors with experimental audiovisual artists in a squat.

My community art programs have also engaged teens to become advocates for youth and raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic through art activism, collaborated with pregnant women experiencing homelessness on public sustainability projects, and invited parents and their children to build immersive interactive worlds. Furthermore, I have led initiatives that have encouraged teens at risk and young adults who have exited gangs or were on probation to express their struggles through media arts.

These initiatives serve as a testament to the efficacy of art and design as effective strategies for achieving unity, inclusivity, and community.