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.

Johnnierenee Nelson

Johnnierenee Nelson

Johnnierenee Nelson

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Johnnierenee Nelson

San Diego County

Award-winning poet and playwright Johnnierenee Nia Nelson, aka the Kwanzaa Poet, has written and published six books of poetry. Ms. Nelson is a poet/teacher with California Poets in the Schools and San Diego's Border Voices Project and a performance poet who has presented readings and workshops from Cairo, Egypt, to Vancouver, British Columbia. She also appeared in the Emmy-Award-winning documentary "Lighting the Way." In 2017, Nelson received a Fellowship from the Livingkindness Foundation to attend the International Women Writers Guild's 40th Annual Summer Conference in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She serves as the San Diego County Area Coordinator for California Poets in the Schools and as Poet Laureate of the World Beat Cultural Center in San Diego's Balboa Park.

Maxx Moses

Maxx Moses

Maxx Moses

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Maxx Moses

San Diego County

Maxx Moses, an international muralist, is also known as Pose2, a world-renowned graffiti writer. His distinct style in urban art and corporate commissions and inspiring messages that connect to communities worldwide have garnered him global recognition from South Africa to South America. His projects promote an environment of longevity, growth, wholeness, and spiritual well-being. Awareness centers, therapeutic facilities, and spas embellished with this artist's work have received awards for beautification, experienced increased enrollment, and inspired several published articles. As a professor, his curriculum is innovative, engaging, and geared toward student success. Moses' insightfulness inspires young minds, while his experience motivates people to act. His encouragement sustains the discouraged and guides them toward achievement.

Paul Valdivia

Paul Valdivia

Paul Valdivia

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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.

Kendrick "Mr. Lyrical Groove" Dial

Kendrick "Mr. Lyrical Groove" Dial

Kendrick "Mr. Lyrical Groove" Dial

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Kendrick "Mr. Lyrical Groove" Dial

San Diego County

Kendrick Dial, also known as Mr. Lyrical Groove, is a renaissance man with a mission to blend mental health and social justice art. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Africana Studies/Psychology from San Diego State University and a Master's in Social Work from the University of South California. Dial is an accomplished spoken word artist who published his first poetry book, Da JOYNT, in 2005. He has worked with the poetry collective Collective Purpose for over ten years, hosting one of Southern California's highest-attended open mic events, ELEVATED. He has collaborated with several arts-based organizations to perform and produce shows that inspire, challenge, educate, and entertain, including BkSoul, Playwrights Project, and Ira Aldridge Theatre. He is also a teaching artist with the Old Globe and recently completed a veteran playwriting workshop with the La Jolla Playhouse, where he is working on his two-person production.

Kelsey Daniels

Kelsey Daniels

Kelsey Daniels

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Kelsey Daniels

San Diego County

Kelsey O. Daniels is an artist organizer and baddie scholar from Southeast San Diego. Her work centers on storytelling, world-building, and dreamwork as tools for liberation. As a fat Black queer disabled femme, Kelsey's work is rooted in a commitment to honoring her ancestors and descendants by revoking consent from the failed experiment of white supremacy and dreaming up worlds that are affirming and lit. She explores themes of identity, imagination, and ancestral memory through poetry, performance, and mixed media. She is an internationally ranked slam poet whose work has been platformed on VAST Press and as an opening act for Rupi Kaur's world tour. Kelsey founded Check, Please: an open mic experiment, a transformative platform that reimagines creative community by prioritizing connection over perfection. Additionally, Kelsey curates the Black Dream Experiment, a creative universe that explores Black dreaming as a collective ancestral, wellness, and liberation practice.

Evan Apodaca

Evan Apodaca

Evan Apodaca

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Evan Apodaca

San Diego County

Evan Apodaca received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is best for his film "Que Lejos Estoy," which streamed nationally on PBS in 2016. His work has been screened and exhibited at museums and galleries nationally, including the San Diego International Airport, the New Americans Museum, The New Children's Museum, and the University of New Mexico. In 2018, he was the Associate Producer and Animator for "Singing My Way to Freedom," an award-winning feature film about musician and civil-rights activist Ramon "Chunky" Sanchez. His films have been screened at the Chicano International Film Festival (LA), the Tijuana Film Festival, and the San Diego Latino Film Festival. Apodaca was a 2019 San Diego Foundation Creative Catalyst fellow and recipient of the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture's Border Narrative Change Grant in 2021.

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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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