Artists + Practitioners + Organizations

Meet the artists, practitioners, and organizations! Far South/Border North awarded funding to support artists and cultural practitioners working in disciplines from performing arts, visual arts, music, film and media, and literature to multidisciplinary and socially engaged forms.

Far South/Border North Round I Grant Recipients

Our Round I grant recipients include about 60 artists and cultural practitioners from San Diego and Imperial counties. Round I grant recipients began developing their campaigns in June 2023, and are now implemented those campaigns through May 2024.

Ciara Dominique Gutierrez

San Diego County

Ciara Dominique is a multi-disciplinary artist but a storyteller at her core. Wearing many hats as an award-winning documentarian, published author, working producer, and festival DJ, she aims to revolutionize the conventional pathways of artistic practice and success. With a heightened focus on community engagement and tangible results, she works primarily with under-represented and under-funded communities to make joy, art, and understanding accessible.

Paul Valdivia

Imperial County

Paul Valdivia is the Communications Coordinator for the Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee. A graduate of the University of California Los Angeles, he specialized in History with a minor in Film, Television, and Digital Media Studies. His role is multifaceted and includes videography and photography focused on social issues. Valdivia uses art to advocate for social reform. His primary goal is to continue driving impactful change in his community. Valdivia is firmly grounded in his beliefs and translates his convictions into tangible action, aiming to create a more equitable society through his work.

Sarah Garcia

San Diego County

Sarah Garcia is a visual artist from San Diego, working predominantly with clay and found organic materials. Her practice is rooted in exploring personal and shared connections developed, maintained, and altered through her life experiences. Objects are a focal point of her work, reflecting individual and collective experiences, histories, hopes, dreams, and intentions. Sarah creates opportunities for play and experimentation with clay for students of all ages and abilities, intending to facilitate meaningful access to expressive material deeply rooted in shared human experience. Through her collaborations with other artists, educators, and community activists, she works to develop community-centered projects, exhibitions, and workshops focused on art as public expression, engagement, and service. Garcia works in the San Diego City College art department and is an MFA candidate at San Diego State University.

Katie Ruiz

San Diego County

Katie Ruiz is a Chicana artist born and raised in Southern California. She is an interdisciplinary artist, making work in painting and fiber sculpture. Ruiz is the creator of the Pompom Project, a community art project that invites participants to make pompoms for larger art installations. She is known for her activism work with refugees and the children's book "Brian the Wildflower." Ruiz has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Northern Arizona University and a Master of Fine Art from The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture in New York City.

Ernesto "Pisado" Gonzalez

San Diego County

A transborder artist, Ernesto Gonzalez is activated by the cultural energy surrounding his community of South San Diego, acknowledging that his practice takes place on Kumeyaay land. Motivated to create meaningful change, he has dedicated his career to building a [digital] voice to broadcast his community's need for justice, equality, and inclusion. Gonzalez is passionate about filmmaking, music, and new media art, and he uses these mediums as anchors in his artistic process and exploration. Through his work as Executive Director of BLK Box Gallery & Creative Center in the borderlands of San Ysidro, he works to engage and support artists through community-centered programming. He received a Bachelor's in Visual Arts: Media (film) from the University of California San Diego and a Master's in Film from San Diego State University. His work as a creative is inspired, informed, and fueled by his Mexican heritage, family, struggles, blessings, and community.

Ryan Perez

Imperial County

Ryan Joseph Perez is an independent filmmaker, videographer, and writer. He lives and works in the desert community of Niland in Imperial County. Perez won an award for his entry at the Salton Sea Film Festival (2021) and worked as an art director on a soundstage for Awesomeness TV. As a writer, director, and editor, he continues to develop his craft while meeting and collaborating with people in and out of the industry.

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Far South/Border North Round II Grant Recipients

Our Round II grant recipients include 18 San Diego and Imperial County organizations. In fall 2023, they hired artists and cultural practitioners and began working alongside them to develop their campaigns, and implemented them through August 2024.

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