In January 2020, Hesse McGraw was appointed the 10th Executive Director of Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH), one of the oldest non-collecting contemporary art Museums in the United States. Hesse is a curator, writer, cultural leader, and passionate advocate for the essential role of artists in advancing society. He began his career in Kansas City 20 years ago, and most recently served as Partner of the cross-disciplinary architecture practice el dorado inc.; as Vice President for Exhibitions and Public Programs at San Francisco Art Institute; and Chief Curator of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Hesse’s curatorial practice and arts organization leadership are acclaimed for shifting organizations into springboards that expand the agency of artists beyond the gallery, reach new audiences, and embrace unexpected contexts. Currently, CAMH and Hesse are engaged in multiple cross-sector projects and public realm design initiatives beyond our walls that position artists as catalysts of cultural transformation by directly engaging issues such as water recycling, health and wellness, social justice, and equity.

Seba Raquel Suber has been a trusted thought partner and creative financial/business professional with over 15 years’ experience between nonprofit, government, and corporate sectors, with an emphasis in Black art and culture. Her diverse background spans business and strategic planning pursuits alongside a passion for community development, Black studies, social justice and performing and visual arts. As a former nonprofit consultant, Suber provides professional development for nonprofit leadership and joined faculty at John Hopkins University in the Museum Studies Master’s program. She is deeply committed to social change work and innovation from its simplest form. She has personally maintained a practice as a dance educator and jewelry designer alongside her professional life. She is the wife of artist and educator Anthony Suber, and mother of two daughters.

Felice Cleveland has served in leadership at CAMH since 2016. She is passionate about sharing the work of contemporary artists with the community, challenging the role of Museums in civic life, creating dynamic programs, and working to build sustainable partnerships. Prior to her current position she served at the Mattress Factory (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and the American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore, Maryland). Cleveland is also the co-founder and co-chair of the Houston Museum Education Roundtable (HMER). Originally from Washington state, she spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching English in a rural Cameroonian village and earned her Masters of Art + Design Education with a focus in Community Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, Rhode Island). In the moments between work and sleep she draws, makes zines, writes letters to friends around the globe, experiments with dye, supports her husband’s house plant habit, reads, walks around the East End, and plays with her sweet son, Milo.

713.284.8278

Cheryl Newcomb joined CAMH in January 2020 as the Director of Development, working with the Museum’s leadership, Board of Trustees, and a dynamic team to create and implement short and long-term fundraising plans and strategies. In her role, Cheryl oversees all aspects of the museum’s comprehensive development and membership programs. Prior to joining CAMH, Cheryl served as Director of Development and, later, Deputy Director at the ACLU of Texas. As Director of Development, Newcomb crafted and led the state’s affiliate’s major gift and grant writing efforts, more than tripling contributed revenue in a 5-year period. As Deputy Director, Newcomb oversaw the expansion of the state affiliate from three locations in Texas to five, and managed the affiliate’s interdisciplinary project teams toward strategic program goals. Newcomb also serves on the Stewardship Committee and as Chair of the Law Enforcement Committee of the Houston Against Hate, a group formed in 2017 to address and prevent hate crimes and incidents in the Houston region. Newcomb holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Houston, and has 25 years of experience in fundraising and non-profit leadership.

713.284.8277

Naomi B. Crawford joined CAMH in October 2021 as the Executive Administrator and Board Liaison. In this role, she works with CAMH’s leadership team and Board of Trustees to help facilitate a cohesive partnership and open up the line of communication for the Museum and its Board members. Prior to joining CAMH, Crawford completed an eight-year tenure as an Administrator for the City of Houston in Library Administration. Before joining the Houston Public Library, Crawford spent over 15 years at USAA working in different capacities. She holds a Bachelor of Administration Degree from the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio, Texas) and has accumulated over 25 years of combined experience in both the public and private sectors. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and baking for her husband, family, and friends; loving outdoor activities, she participates in an occasional tennis match and enjoys playing chase with their youngest daughter, Allison Joy.

713.284.8254

Alba Isabel De La Cruz joined the CAMH team in 2020 through the Silverline Company. De La Cruz loves teamwork and the spirit of respect and warmth she experiences at CAMH. When not at work she enjoys spending time in nature.

Troy Jasmin, MBA has been a financial/business professional and non-profit consultant with over 30 years of experience between nonprofit and governmental accounting. Jasmin’s passion from the onset of her career has been working with non-profit organizations. She joined CAMH in 2021 and was the Chief Financial Officer for The Brookwood Community (Brookwood-Briarwood, Inc) prior. Jasmin is a veteran who served eight years with the Louisiana Army National Guard and worked for the Louisiana Military Department as a FEMA Grants Manager and Accounting Manager. During her career in Louisiana, she served as Chief Financial Officer for Great Expectations Foundation, In This Together, Inc as well as consulting for numerous non-profit organizations throughout the New Orleans area. When she is not working, she is bowling leagues and competitions not only in Texas, but throughout the United States. She serves as 2nd Vice President on the Board of Directors and the Finance Committee Chairman for the Greater Houston United States Bowling Congress-a non-profit organization.

713.284.8252

Michael Reed has worked in a variety of capacities at CAMH since 1991 including Administrator/Museum Manager and Assistant Director. His current role is Assistant Director of Facilities and Risk Management. Reed has also worked at Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Science Museum of Minnesota (Saint Paul), and Neuberger Museum of Art (Harrison, New York). He has also been employed by individual artists and galleries in the New York area to build exhibitions, coordinate shipments, design and construct large-scale artist sculptures and environments.

713.284.8271

Rebecca Matalon is Curator at CAMH, where she recently organized Garrett Bradley: American Rhapsody (2019), Wild Life: Elizabeth Murray & Jessi Reaves (2021), and the Houston presentation of the touring exhibition Cauleen Smith: We Already Have What We Need (2021). Previously, Matalon was Assistant Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), where she organized exhibitions including Tongues Untied (2015), Mickalene Thomas: Do I Look Like a Lady? (2016), Rick Owens: Furniture (2016), Welcome to the Dollhouse (2018), and Décor: Barbara Bloom, Andrea Fraser, Louise Lawler (2018). In 2018, she co-organized Zoe Leonard: Survey, a major mid-career retrospective of the work of Zoe Leonard, which debuted at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York before traveling to The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Matalon was a Co-Founder, and from 2015-2018, Curator at JOAN, a not-for-profit exhibition space in Los Angeles that is dedicated to presenting the work of emerging and under-represented artists. She has contributed writing to multiple publications and regularly lectures on contemporary art and curating. Matalon serves on the board of Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), and is on the Organizing Committee of Texas Talks Art, a multi-institutional initiative that launched in January 2021.

713.284.8279

Patricia Restrepo is the Exhibitions Manager and Assistant Curator at CAMH, where she has worked since 2014. Restrepo most recently co-curated Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City through Mutated Lenses (2020 and 2021), an interdisciplinary exhibition orbiting around DJ Screw’s process of material manipulation. She also curated Will Boone: The Highway Hex (2019–2020), which commissioned site-specific work and was the artist’s first solo exhibition, as well as Stage Environment: You Didn’t Have to Be There (2018), a celebration of CAMH’s history of championing performance. Restrepo has managed and contributed to the institution’s publications and orchestrated their digitization to increase accessibility to the museum’s significant scholarship. Fostering exhibitions as laboratories, her curatorial interests include the generative potential latent in archives, museology, and performative work. Prior to CAMH, she worked at art institutions and publications in Mexico, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Restrepo holds a Master’s degree in Cultural Studies from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium and Bachelor’s degrees from Rice University.

713.284.8256

Liyen Chong is an artist, community organizer, and arts advocate who joined CAMH in 2021. Prior to that, she co-founded Arts Accountability Houston alongside local artists to ensure all artists had a voice in public arts funding. She is currently involved in county and city-level discussions on arts funding. Chong initially established herself as an artist in Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu, New Zealand, winning grants and residencies both locally and internationally. A magpie with many creative interests and pursuits, she has had a varied and multi-episodic visual art practice. Her work can be found in prominent public collections back home in Australasia, such as the National Gallery of Australia and The Chartwell Collection in New Zealand. Her work was also recently acquired by the City of Houston Airport collection. Her love of travel and insatiable curiosity eventually brought her to Houston, where she has lived since 2016. She still calls Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu, New Zealand home, but she has grown to love the arts community in Houston.

713.284.8273

Kelly Dolan, native to Houston, joined CAMH’s team in 2021. Dolan has always maintained a huge passion for the arts throughout her career. Initially beginning her studies in Graphic Design, she eventually made the transition to Art History and Museum Studies. During her time spent interning with the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC), she learned the in’s and out’s of both Education and Curatorial museum practices. Dolan has also spent time working with the Rothko Chapel, one of her personal favorite spaces in all of Houston. In her spare time, she enjoys creating pointillist works of art, spending time with her family and friends, and indulging in reality television with her cat, Nadja.

713.284.8264

Faye Hosein is a Houston native who joined CAMH in 2021. She attended University of Houston Central and ultimately graduated from the Marilyn Davies College of Business at the University of Houston Downtown with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management. Hosein has been working in the Houston cultural arts community since 1999 with a focus on development for non-profits since 2003. She has a particular interest and experience in the performing arts. When not at work Hosein enjoys traveling, reading, paper crafts, and spending time with animals.

713.284.8260

Tim Barkley has been the Registrar at CAMH since 1994. Prior to his tenure at CAMH, he worked at Laura Carpenter Fine Art, Inc. (Santa Fe) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). Barkley has worked with a wide variety of artists including Robert Rauschenberg, James Turrell, and Maya Lin. He has also helped to coordinate traveling exhibitions to locations such as The Havana Biennial (Cinema Remixed & Reloaded), Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota (The Old, Weird America), and Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Hovikodden, Norway (Splat, Boom, Pow!). Barkley is a native Houstonian and studied at University of Tampa (Florida), Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts), and Baylor University (Waco, Texas). When not at work you might find him walking his two corgis in his neighborhood, spending time in the garden, or sailing down at Seabrook.

713.284.8266

Iva Kinnaird is an artist and has worked as a preparator at CAMH since 2019. She has done installation and carpentry for various local art organizations including Fotofest, Lawndale Art Center, Art League Houston, and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC). Kinnaird has spoken about her work in the Fort Worth Modern Lecture Series and her paintings have been included in New American Paintings. Most recently, Kinnaird’s artwork has been exhibited at Spring/Break Art Show in New York, New York and Maximillian William Gallery in London, England. In her free time, she enjoys renovating old houses, road trips, and pet sitting.

Jeff Shore has worked with CAMH’s installation team since 1996. Shore joined the team as a temporary part-time member of the preparations crew working on individual exhibitions and artist projects. In 2003, he joined the team full-time as Head Preparator. Currently, Shore leads the team on the overall design of exhibitions in CAMH’s gallery spaces, and the temporary modifications needed for an effective presentation. Shore is also an artist with a BFA in Painting and Drawing. He has exhibited in the U.S. and abroad.

713.284.8268

Adrianna Benavides is CAMH’s Teen Council and Tour Program Manager. She has been a dedicated educator at CAMH since 2017. Benavides is a Xicana art educator, designer, and stylist from Magnolia Park, Houston, Texas. She holds a BA in Studio Art and Art History from Occidental College (Los Angeles, California). Benavides utilizes contemporary art and streetwear as tools to make connections and create meaningful dialogue with her community. Her business, Audly Creative, is a platform for compassion, community art projects, and styling fearless and bold looks for all body shapes and sizes.

713.284.8276

Quincy Berry has been CAMH’s Visitor Engagement Coordinator since 2012. He coordinates training initiatives that enhance the skills and competencies of the Visitor Engagement Team. Berry is responsible for providing high-quality customer service to visitors while interacting with the public. Prior to his current position, Berry served as a Gallery Attendant since 2002. A native of Houston’s historic Fifth Ward community and graduate of the Fifth Ward Enrichment Program (FWEP), Berry was also a student at the Art Institute of Houston where he received a bachelor’s degree in Applied Science. In his spare time, he enjoys science fiction and fantasy entertainment from books to movies and 3D printing and painting models.

713.284.8270

A native of South Carolina, Kenya Evans has a dual role as Visitor Engagement Manager and Preparator for the installation team. He is a multidisciplinary artist who received a BA from Texas Southern University (Houston, Texas) with a concentration in Painting. Evans has exhibited at museums and galleries nationally, including The Menil Collection, Lawndale Art Center, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and most prominently the 2006 Whitney Biennial. His current creative practices include Islamic geometry, music production, and table design in woodworking. Evans enjoys good company and is a longtime leadership team member at Ibrahim Islamic Center.

713.284.8269

Victoria Nguyen is an artist from Houston, Texas. She received a BFA in Photography/Digital Media from University of Houston in 2019 and joined the team at CAMH as the Communications Coordinator in 2021. In this role, she manages the Museum’s website and social media. As an artist, Nguyen uses photography as a tool of introspection, often investigating various topics on mental health. Her work has been featured in both local and international group exhibitions. Nguyen’s series, Seeking Comfort in Confinement, received the Juror’s Award for Lawndale Art Center’s 2021 Big Show, which featured works by Houston artists and their interpretations of the COVID-19 pandemic. She also co-edited the second volume of The Staff, a catalogue of artwork by employees who work for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). She continues her art practice while holding her position at CAMH.

Phillip Pyle, II is the Graphic Designer and Retail Manager at CAMH. He is also a visual artist, photographer, and agitator based in Houston, Texas. Pyle’s primary interests are race, humor, advertising, sports, and popular culture. Mining imagery from sources diverse as mass consumer culture, contemporary advertising, to ephemera, historical imagery, and hip-hop, Pyle introduces a complex vision that derives from a robust comedic foundation while also looking at the abstraction and transience of our values, and beliefs. Pyle has interned for Congress, cut film at River Oaks Theatre, toured the south with a Punk Rock/Rap band, produced a sketch comedy show on Houston Public Media, and most recently was selected for the 2021 Texas Biennial. Pyle is married to Leah Binkovitz who is currently working on her PhD in Sociology at Rice University. They have two daughters.

713.284.8259

Michael Robinson is the Communications and Marketing Manager at CAMH. Prior to this, he worked as the Associate Creative Director at Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS) from 2018 to 2022. He is a co-founder and current curator for HCAS’ regional short film competition, Borders | No Borders. Michael also co-founded the monthly nomadic queer film series, The Big Queer Picture Show, where he programs short and feature-length films. He previously was the Co-Artistic Director and Shorts Programmer for QFest, Houston’s International LGBTQ+ Film Festival from 2017 to 2021 and worked at Society for the Performing Arts as the Education Coordinator. Michael received his BA in Anthropology and Film at Rice University.

713.284.8255

YET Torres is the Public Programs and CAMHLAB Manager at CAMH. She holds dual BFAs in Drawing & Painting and Fashion Design from the University of North Texas (Denton), was named one of Houston’s “Top 100 Creatives” by the Houston Press in 2011, and inaugurated into the Houston Music and Arts Hall of Fame in 2016. A longtime educator, professional performer, and model, she has gained extensive experience creating digital content for movement students, through multi-media collaborations, and for performative design work. An active member of the education and public programs team at CAMH since 2013, Torres combines her experience as an arts educator, performance artist, and movement instructor to create approachable hands-on and performative programming.

713.284.8274

Andres Alcoser has served on CAMH’s Visitor Engagement team since 2017. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Art at the University of Houston (UH), and later received his Graduate Certificate in Aquaculture and Fish Health from the University of Florida (UF). In his time studying at UH, Alcoser learned many forms of visual art including ceramics and pottery. He continues to produce artwork on the side of his professional life. Reflected by his later education at UF, Alcoser is also an avid aquarist, who has kept and researched many aquatic animals. He likes to integrate his divergent educational background by frequently incorporating piscine and other marine motifs into his ceramic forms. Aside from this, he likes to sketch, read, and go fishing whenever the weather permits.

Victoria Armenta has been a part of the Visitor Engagement team since January 2022. She is personable, passionate, and charismatic while engaging with the team and also with the arts outside of work. She is committed to developing and solidifying connections and skills in the art community. Before her position at CAMH, she served as a volunteer assistant of Contemporary Art Gallery at Houston Baptist University and the YMCA educational after school program (Houston, Texas). She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Studio Arts from Houston Baptist University. In between the two jobs she paints, draws, woodcrafts sculptures for her upcoming portfolio to continue her education of Masters in Fine Arts, climbing the opportunity ladder to achieve her goal of being a Curator in a museum or art gallery. She is deeply committed to social change work and innovation from its simplest form.

Over the last decade, multidisciplinary artist Markus Cone has ardently deciphered analogous liaisons amidst both image and sound. Employing the use of diverse multitudes of auxiliary percussion and electronics both analogue and digital, his aural-visual play a special role in the varied forms of media that it accompanies. Currently, Cone is incorporating speculative transrealism into the visual and sonic arts.

Michael Cox has been working at CAMH since 2009. He has also worked at Writers in the Schools and Communities in the Schools (CIS). He is a writer, actor, and photographer. Under the tutelage of William L. Pope, Michael performed Pope L.’s piece Costume Made of Nothing for the entirety of Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art which was curated by Valerie Cassel Oliver in 2012. A great lover of Instagram, he’s always adding photographs to his page. Cox graduated Summa Cum Laude from The University of Houston – Downtown in 2018 with a degree in English and Creative Writing. He spends his free time viewing Euro Horror films and listening to music.

Mia DeBakker is a Visitor Engagement Team Member at CAMH and has been with the Museum since the fall of 2019; having moved to Houston, Texas following the completion of her Masters in Media Arts Cultures in 2018. Prior to settling in Houston, DeBakker was living and studying abroad, exploring all the international digital arts scene has to offer from Austria to Hong Kong. DeBakker has worked in arts organizations in Houston and abroad as an archivist, educator, filmmaker, and writer. She enjoys creating films and photography in her free time and as a Colorado native, finds her greatest inspiration in the outdoors. She loves skiing, hiking, being on the water, and sunny days (Houston weather permitting!). DeBakker feels lucky to spend so much time with each exhibition and the museum’s visitors, to her, CAMH is the perfect place to learn and share.

Justice has been a part of CAMH since 2022. She is excited to be a part of a community that explores the art of today. Justice is an artist that dives deep into her psyche. Through her art, she provides an opportunity to reflect on contemporary society and the issues relevant to ourselves, the world around us, and for herself. Justice has a passion for self-expression and is a self-taught artist. She’s a poet, an abstract painter, and more. One of her life goals is to explore every possible field that involves art. Justice is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and attended the same art magnet high school as the well-known Southern hip-hop group OutKast. In addition to having been inspired by Outkast and her hometown art community, art is an essential part of her daily life.

Anthony Morales is a Visitor Engagement Team Member and also provides tours of exhibitions at CAMH. He has been part of the CAMH team since 2018. Currently, Morales is pursuing an education in the medical field to become a Medical Assistant with X-Ray. When not at CAMH, he is most likely jamming out on his guitar coming up with different sounds, riffs, and learning to play some of his favorite songs. He also loves to write poetry and attend art shows.

Mars W.E. is a Visitor Engagement Team Member and Retail Associate and you may also catch them leading a Museum tour. Mars enjoys talking to people and doing various kinds of arts.

Dana Caldera is an artist and arts educator. Caldera joined the FAQ Team at CAMH in 2018. She previously taught middle and high school studio classes and is currently an adjunct arts professor at two local colleges. In her artistic work, Caldera works in mixed-media; her pieces combine found collage material, textiles, and mark making.

Rosemary Cantu is originally from El Paso, Texas. She has a BFA from Texas A&M at Corpus Christi and received her Masters at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She has been a lifelong advocate for the arts, volunteering at Title One schools, working at art camps, painting murals, and giving back to her community. Cantu has been living in Houston, Texas since 2002. She is an art instructor at Lone Star College and San Jacinto College. She has exhibited her sculptures and drawings in national and juried shows. On Cantu’s free nights she enjoys doing meditative one-hour blind contour drawing of musicians that inspire her work and playing with clay. She dedicates her life to her amazing daughter Gracie and her two dogs, Ruby and Max.

Gaby Hurtado-Ramos is an artist and printmaker making zines, posters, and illustrations dedicated to queer place-making and immigration justice. A graduate of Oberlin College (Ohio), Hurtado-Ramos grew up in Houston, Texas and lived in Tucson, Arizona and later, Providence, Rhode Island to live at the Dirt Palace as an artist-in-residence before returning back to Texas in 2020. Hurtado-Ramos was a fall 2021 artist-in-residence at The Printing Museum (Houston, Texas) and continues to work in letterpress and risograph printing at their studio. Her illustration work has been commissioned by ProPublica, the Highlander Research and Education Center, the Tucson Jewish Museum (Arizona), Borderlands Theater (Tucson, Arizona), and Girls for Gender Equity NYC. She currently teaches classes at the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as an art consultant, along with zine and print workshops at Art League Houston and The Printing Museum. Hurtado-Ramos joined CAMH’s FAQ team in 2021. Along with arts education and printmaking, they enjoy a pick-up soccer game and going on long, winding road trips.

Tony “Rocky” Perez has been with the CAMH since 2020. He graduated from the University of Houston-Central campus, where he earned a scholarship for “most influential artist.” Perez has also participated in Via Colori—a street painting festival to raise money for the Center for Hearing and Speech. He has also worked with the Texas French Alliance for the Arts as an educator and facilitator for Be the Peace, Be the Hope, a program that educates students and teachers about social and emotional tools to succeed in life. As a student photographer, he also participated as a guest artist for Project Row Houses. Currently, Perez works with English Language Learners at Milby High School. He has worked in the community as a photography instructor, youth leader, rugby coach, face painter, and event photographer. He is also working on a project to document row houses in the Magnolia and Pecan Park districts of Houston. Perez enjoys working with learners of all ages and his love for all art forms is something he is passionate about sharing with others.

Alexis Pye is a part of the FAQ Team and assists with the Teen Council. She is a working artist creating portraiture. She uses this tradition of painting to unveil the fantastical and truths about the relationship between art history and race. Exploring portraiture as a way to express the Black body outside of its social constructs. Pye was born in Michigan and uses family members, friends, and strangers as subject matter in portraits dealing with race. She also uses references from print and modern media to depict different identities in the diaspora. She graduated from University of Houston with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2019.

Julia Rossel joined the FAQ team in 2021, she is currently pursuing a BFA in Sculpture at the University of Houston. In between classes you’ll find her working at a vintage clothing store, making pieces in her studio, giving tours, or hosting drop-in experiences at CAMH. Alongside her usual jobs, she also manages a self-published online store (HotelChlorine.Com) where she sells her art in the more accessible form of handmade clothes and jewelry. When her partner comes home from band practice they love to cook elaborate vegan dinners together, bicycle around their neighborhood in Second Ward, and pamper their kitty cats, Mima and Gumball.

Rea Christina Sampilo serves as a CAMH FAQ Team Member and Educator since 2019. Sampilo is a second generation Filipina-American, emerging interdisciplinary artist, dancer, and community leader. She hails from New Brunswick, New Jersey and resides in Houston, Texas. She holds a BS in Sociology and MA in Performance Studies with a focus on dance studies, Filipino-American culture, and diasporic performances from Texas A&M University. Her works question and explore the concept of play, movement, embodied behavior, and the Filipinx/o/a body. Her work was shown at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), in Houston community spaces, the Houston Asian American Archive, and recently, a collaborative performance at the Texas Biennale in San Antonio. Sampilo was the former founding member and Co-President of UniPro TX and is an active member of Filipinx Arts of Houston and Filipino American National Historical Society Houston. She collaborates to program events and workshops for the AAPI, Filipinx-American, and BIPOC communities in Houston. Sampilo believes in the interstitial spaces of art and performance as sites for deeper dialogue, identity, and healing.

Dillon Scalzo is a poet and translator with a passion for working back and forth between the mediums of Spanish and English. While based on the U.S./Mexico border in San Diego, California/Tijuana y Tecate, Baja California, he completed a BA in English and Spanish at the University of San Diego and later an MFA in Creative Writing at San Diego State University. He has studied in México, Spain, and in 2016 completed a U.S. Fulbright grant in Uruguay where he taught Creative Writing in Spanish and English. Dillon is interested in all things transfronterizo, especially the movement of poetry and art across physical and imaginal borderlands. He currently teaches Creative Writing for Writers in the Schools Houston, ESL for adults at Adult Education Center Texas, and is a translator and FAQ Team Museum Educator at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH).

Olivia Vargas has been involved with CAMH since she was a teenager, taking part in CAMH’s Teen Council while in high school. As a current member of the FAQ Team, she continues to foster her passion for sharing and discussing the arts with such a diverse and ever-changing city. As a Houstonian with roots in Miami, Florida, Vargas has enjoyed celebrating and facilitating both contemporary and cultural art events in both communities. She is currently enrolled at the University of Houston, and in her free time can be found practicing a myriad of instruments, growing her private music collection, or loving on her two beloved cats.

Arnea Williams has been a member of the FAQ Team at CAMH since 2019. She is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice primarily explores themes of memory and consciousness as it pertains to gender, race, sexual orientation, and class. A native of Beaumont, Texas, she now lives, works, and collaborates in Houston, Texas. Earning a Bachelor of Arts in Photography and Journalism from Sam Houston State University, she later received a Master of Fine Arts in Photography and Digital Media at the University of Houston, with an emphasis on contemporary methods in relation to art and history. Williams’ hunger for unraveling the Black experience has led her to create unapologetic series’ of works such as N-Tension. Using photography layered with external design and text elements, she situates herself within the framework of a minority subculture and explores how the cultivation of identity is continually recast through the course of experiences. In May 2020, Williams launched LAYERED KIN, a culture-centric platform that continues to combat erasure, through apparel and visual storytelling.