Facilitators

CHANTAL BILODEAU is a Montreal-born, New York-based playwright whose work focuses on the intersection of science, policy, art, and climate change. She is the founder of the Arts & Climate Initiative and in her capacity as artistic director, has spearheaded local and global artistic initiatives for over a decade. She has been instrumental in getting the theatre and educational communities, as well as diverse audiences in the US and abroad, to engage in climate action through programming that includes live events, talks, publications, workshops, national and international convenings, and a worldwide distributed theatre festival that coincides with the United Nations COP meetings.

LANXING FU is a Chinese-American theater artist and co-director of Superhero Clubhouse. She is the playwright and co-creator of Mammelephant (The New Ohio / HERE Arts Center) the program director of The Living Stage NYC (University Settlement/ Meltzer Senior Center), a co-creator of PLUTO (The Brick) and JUPITER (La MaMa), and a lead teaching artist with Big Green Theater. Her essays "Building Possibility in the Age of Climate Change" and "The Birth of a Climate Commons" are published on HowlRound. She has been a facilitator and speaker with The New School, Asian American Arts Alliance, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, CESTEMER, and more. She is one of TCG’s 2020 Rising Leaders of Color.

Fellows

KENO BURCKHARDT, born and raised in the Lower East Side, is a sociocultural anthropologist with particular interest in issues of gentrification, environmental racism, climate change, and post-colonialism as they relate to the relationship between the United States and Latin America. Having worked with universities in Medellin, Colombia in 2019, Keno was set to return to Colombia on a Fulbright Scholarship, however it was postponed due to COVID-19. He is currently in the process of applying to Masters programs in democratization and human rights.

JENNIFER CHIAO currently lives in Chinatown/Two Bridges, where she is interested in community organizing work centered around workers, those who are undocumented, and youth. She fell in love with theater after taking Acting 1 her senior year of college. In her spare time, she loves to dance salsa, bachata, and practice her español.

FELICIA GORDON is a proud long-term LES resident. She is the TA President of 189 Allen- (Hernandez Houses) LESCCC council along with many other community-based titles. She loves her community and has a very active role in it. She is excited to partake in this new venture, as it merges two prevalent passions of hers: the arts and environmental concerns.

ANTÍGONA GONZÁLEZ is a Mexican theater maker, and a creator and performer. She has also been engaged in theater production, lighting design, and technical departments. Co-founder of Colectivo Aguardiente that develops community art projects based on the oral history interview process. Member of Teatro Linea de Sombra (Mexico) since 2007. She has collaborated with Cie Carabosse (Niort, France), The Commons Choir, FABnyc (NYC), among others. Artists-in-residence at Downtown Art, 2017 (NYC). She loves dancing, watching movies, reading, and spending time in nature by herself or with friends and family.

AMY LEE is a PhD candidate in the English Department at UC Berkeley. In addition to completing her dissertation on postcolonial and diasporic imaginations of China's entry onto the world stage, she teaches courses on race, precarity, climate change, and Chinatown. She grew up on the Lower East Side and much of her scholarship has been informed by that experience.

JONATHAN MARTINEZ is a lifelong Scholar and Educator native to New York City. Sinplicity, his first book of Poetry, was self published in the summer of 2018. He has been dubbed the “Street Art Historian” due to his recent work with respected members of the Graffiti and Urban Arts Movement in NYC, by way of his social media platforms. As an artist Jonathan is a self-taught photographer who also enjoys creating original paint and graffiti pieces. Jonathan is currently working on Vol 2 of Sinplicity along with the publication of other original comic books and graphic novels. 2018 also saw the foundation of the DeathWish Society Art Collective. The DeathWish Society Art Collective & Publishing House was founded with the intent of discovering, nurturing, and showcasing a variety of art styles. It promotes (but is not exclusive to), artists who work within the Lower East Side of New York City. The Collective’s resolve is driven by a passion to provide a means of exposure and free expression to individuals who would like to be involved, as well as create a community that will be dedicated to elevating one another to a higher level of artistic expression. Welcome to the future…

JOSHUA MARTINEZ has lived in NYC all his life and is currently studying theatre at Hunter College. He recently finished recording his first audio play Misfit America, written by Nelson Diaz-Marcano and directed by Charlie Chauca. It is to be released on Spotify on Halloween. He enjoys discovering what he is to do with the rest of his life.

MINNA PERINIVA is originally from Finland but she has found her true home in the Lower East Side of New York. Her work has been mostly in hospitality, and education in Creative Writing and Mythology. She is passionate about street and public art as well as visual storytelling and exploring new ways to bring art and environmental issues together.

SANDRA SANTANA is 51 years old and has lived in the Lower East Side her entire life. Being a mother is the first and most important job she has ever had and she is also a poet by heart.

TATYANNA SANTANA was raised in the Lower East Side and grew up loving theatre and community. Tatyanna started with Speyer Hall in The University Settlement right in her own neighborhood in the LES. She writes skits, poems, and can entertain. Tatyanna loves helping others when she can and usually writes skits and plays about community-based issues and/or the issues we as humans face in general. She’s worked with Roots and Branches theater, Tragedy in Spades, Sasha Soreff Dance theater, solo pieces in PLAY TANK by the Performance Project @ University Settlement and many more other talented artists. Tatyanna enjoys nature, loves cats, and adores making everyone smile: “a smile is the best medicine.”

The Lower East Side Coastal Community Fellowship is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Learning, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC. LMCC serves, connects, and makes space for artists and community.