JOAN OSATO
Local NPN Partner Host, Youth Speaks

We couldn’t have done this conference without the vision, clear-headedness, and determination of Joan Osato, Producing Director at NPN Partner Youth Speaks, and the ringleader for bringing the annual conference to the Bay Area!

Osato has played a pivotal role in local and national theater for over two decades and has been a core member of Youth Speaks since 2001. At Youth Speaks she produces its live performance events including Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival and Life is Living. She’s brought her production and design chops to Living Word Project Repertory, as well as created work as an ensemble member of critically acclaimed theater group Campo Santo.

Osato’s talents have been recognized for multiple awards, including the San Francisco Arts Commission Artist and Communities Partnership Grant—as its inaugural recipient (2007), Theater Bay Area Award for Excellence in Video Design, and the Surdna Foundation’s Artists Engaged in Social Change Award (2015). She’s an amazing photographer, and has exhibited throughout the Bay Area since 2009. Osato is a proud board member of both NPN/VAN and CAATA (The Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists).

JOAN OSATO
Local NPN Partner Host, Youth Speaks

We couldn’t have done this conference without the vision, clear-headedness, and determination of Joan Osato, Producing Director at NPN Partner Youth Speaks, and the ringleader for bringing the annual conference to the Bay Area!

Osato has played a pivotal role in local and national theater for over two decades and has been a core member of Youth Speaks since 2001. At Youth Speaks she produces its live performance events including Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival and Life is Living. She’s brought her production and design chops to Living Word Project Repertory, as well as created work as an ensemble member of critically acclaimed theater group Campo Santo.

Osato’s talents have been recognized for multiple awards, including the San Francisco Arts Commission Artist and Communities Partnership Grant—as its inaugural recipient (2007), Theater Bay Area Award for Excellence in Video Design, and the Surdna Foundation’s Artists Engaged in Social Change Award (2015). She’s an amazing photographer, and has exhibited throughout the Bay Area since 2009. Osato is a proud board member of both NPN/VAN and CAATA (The Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists).

Sean Dorsey

SEAN DORSEY Artistic Director, Fresh Meat Productions Photo: Sayed Khaled "The NPN Annual Conference is like a giant family reunion—a gathering of awesome, social-justice-seeking artists, leaders, presenters, educators and funders. As a trans and queer dancemaker, I...

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Rio Yañez

RIO YAÑEZ Curator, Artist, Mural Tour Guide Born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission District, Rio is a curator and graphic artist. As a curator he is a frequent collaborator with his father, Rene Yañez, and the pair have been developing exhibits together since...

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Madison Cario

MADISON CARIO culture tourEmbodied Awareness: Re-Viewing Diversity and Inclusion; What our Facilities are Really Saying About Us Participants will tour the area around the hotel to explore how to identify and mitigate the psychological, emotional, and physical...

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Annual Conference Planning Team

ANNUAL CONFERENCE PLANNING TEAM "Planning this conference is hard and joyful work! It's always a pleasure getting to know the local community, and seeing the city through their eyes!" Annual Conference Planning Team during the last Bay Area site visit in September:...

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Brandon Santiago

BRANDON SANTIAGO Brandon Santiago is a Puerto Rican Poet, radical educator, radio host, and San Francisco native. He has been featured on programs such as Tedx Sand Univision's Despierta America. Brandon started as a youth participant and intern at Youth Speaks over...

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Scott Turner Schofield

SCOTT TURNER SCHOFIELD Actor Photo: Caedmon Grace “I feel like my life as a professional artist started at the 2005 Miami NPN annual conference. This is a community of people I proudly claim. I feel at home and supported and understood here. For a marginalized artist,...

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Sharon Bridgforth

SHARON BRIDGFORTH Interdisciplinary Artist “My first NPN Annual Meeting was in the early 90’s. Consistently and always at the gathering I am reunited with people that I adore, make a posse of new/life long friends, fuel up by the new works presentations, get my full...

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Sarah Guerra

SARAH GUERRA Annual Conference Bay Area Site Production Coordinator We are so happy to have Sarah Guerra on the Annual Conference planning team! NPN/VAN Partners will remember Sarah when she was program director at La Peña in Berkeley, and an active Partner...

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