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Nikki Moon Anderson is an artist from Santa Cruz, CA. In the last 5 years she co-founded and now serves as Director for the past 4 years of the non-profit called Move Youth Arts. For Move, Nikki teaches foundational art techniques, yoga, and nutrition classes. She has been teaching these arts to youth at alternative education schools, juvenile hall, group homes, and at a community center in downtown Santa Cruz.
She has been oil painting since the age of eight and continues to explore and express through painting, drawing and new mediums like jewelry, ceramics and photography. Nikki has a BA. in Fine Arts from UCSC with a focus in painting and drawing. She was honored as a California Art Scholar and continues to have art shows, teach, performance paint, offer workshops and take classes to deepen her work in the arts.
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Elijah Pfotenhauer was born in Santa Cruz, California in 1980. He studied art and animation at Cal Arts, Valencia and Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz. His works have been shown at a variety of galleries in the greater Bay Area including: The Hide Gallery, Mama Buzz, and 4th Street Triumph, with murals across California as well as in Europe and Asia. He currently lives in Santa Cruz at the Art Space Tannery Lofts, painting canvas, murals, and teaching art in the Greater Bay Area.
Elijah personally utilizes painting and visual arts to engage and uplift the community. He believes that through the Arts, the public can actively participate in the transformation of society. Through the creation of public works, the community can take pride in the area and engage in prevalent social issues. Elijah also believes that art is a tool to unite people across lines of age, race, gender and general socio-economic background. The Arts open a new doorway for Move participants to engage in new and unknown opportunities.
Gitana has traveled extensively and has integrated various fitness practices, dance styles, and healing techniques into her teaching method. She is an Integrated Fitness Therapist that combines her background of bodywork therapy modalities, Personal Training / Pilates certifications, and a bachelor's degree in Transformational Healing Arts. She is dedicated to the facilitation of each individualís personal growth, optimal fitness, and integrative health.
Spencer Wilkinson is a media educator, documentary filmmaker and community organizer. He has educated youth in documentary filmmaking for a decade in the Bay Area and Santa Cruz. He currently serves as Operations Manager at Community Media Access Partnership and coordinates youth programs and community productions.
Spencer has been teaching youth with Move Youth Arts since 2007 and a documentary produced by youth participating in Spencer's Move class was presented at the 2009 Santa Cruz Film Festival. In 2008, Spencer Wilkinson completed an award-winning documentary film about development in Mexico and Central America, called “Pass Me the Map”.
Amber has a B.A. in Community Studies and a minor in Electronic Music. She has been training in music, especially Brazilian percussion, for 15 years, and has been teaching extensively for seven years. She lived and worked in Dida Escola da Musica in Bahia, Brazil. She directed Goddess of Funk, an all women's Brazilian Drum Troupe, and has led many workshops for youth and adults alike. Amber is bilingual in Portuguese and English.
Molly Rose Lehman has been playing Capoeira Angola for 11 years, including three years of study in Brazil with Mestre Joao Pequeno. She has also studied Afro Brazilian dance in Brazil for two years. She has experience teaching young children Capoeria Angola, dance and creative movement. She has been a vocalist and drummer in Goddess of Funk, a local all-woman's drum empowerment troupe and musical ensemble. She is bilingual in Portuguese and English.
Tawn is a community organizer, poet, teacher, visual artist, and self-trained vocal percussionist. He has performed locally for the past two years, and continues to develop an array of vocal skills. Tawn has taught in a variety of subject areas including poetry, vocal hip hop skills, shadow puppetry, environmental education, mathematics, and facilitation and organization techniques. He has also been training as a life coach. Tawn divides his time between various community projects focused on personal and social transformation through creativity, collaboration and compassionate action. Tawn holds a BA in Community Studies from UCSC.
Mira Michelle has taught visual art in the public schools for the last ten years. She has worked internationally with Tibetan youth in India and young women in Nepal. Locally she has facilitated Art and Leadership programs with youth in Watsonville and Santa Cruz through Move and Mariposa's Art. She established a girls program in San Francisco entitled Girlosophy that focused on confidence building and positive self-expression. Mira is also an accomplished visual artist who works in oil, acrylic and mixed media. She has shown her paintings in over 20 exhibitions through out the Bay Area.
Mira was the Museum Pick for the International Museum of Women in 2010. She is currently an exhibiting member of the San Francisco Women's Artist Gallery. Her artwork has been published in the We'Moon date book and calendar. She holds a degree in Art from UCSC. Mira believes strongly in the principles of youth development and the capacity for artistic expression to create positive transformation in the lives of our youth.
Marya Stark is a classically trained, multi-instrument playing singer/songwriter/actress who has written over 300 pieces for the stage. She holds a B.A. in Music Therapy form Chapman Conservatory of Music and is currently completing her masters at the international Institute of Medical Qigong Therapy. She has been facilitating music and theater groups for youth for over 5 years, and is currently developing alternative education programs incorporating music and qigong for youth. She is a conceptual designer for "Out of the Silence", a documentary about sound healing and the role of sound and music in global health, consciousness, and spiritual evolution.
Marya has been song writing and performing since she was five and has composed 3 separate concept albums directed and facilitating healing in several different settings including addiction recovery, hospice care, and at-risk youth. She is the co-founder of "Mystic Fools Theater", a collective of artists who uses improvisational theater as a means of ceremony and personal transformation. She is currently in the studio recording her second full-length album.