Round I Projects

PROJECT

Town Hall

Social justice

PROJECT FOCUS AREA:

Social justice and community engagement

ZIP CODE(S):

92105, 92102, 91950

CONTRIBUTOR(S):

Zaquia Mahler Salinas

Town Hall campaign objective is to gather, reflect, amplify, document and hold individual stories within the community that speak to the Far South/Border North focus areas. The goal is to demonstrate the power of personal and collective narratives and their role in supporting a healthier dance ecology in San Diego. The campaign aims to collect stories, bring people together and gather resources through a three-part process. This includes collecting and processing stories, hosting a Town Hall event that features sharing, reflection, dialogue, movement and action plan development, followed by an action and accountability phase. This approach seeks to illuminate and archive the stories of local movement artists, dancers, choreographers, administrators and community members. It aims to identify the triumphs and challenges of the current local dance ecology and design a path forward to activate and interconnect the community. Ultimately, the campaign intends to engage and collaborate with the community to revive interest in developing the local dance ecology.

LEARN ABOUT THE ARTIST + CULTURAL PRACTITIONERS

Zaquia Mahler Salinas

Zaquia Mahler Salinas is a dance artist invested in movement-art as an act of reclamation and world-building. She has worked with many organizations in San Diego in various artistic, administrative, and teaching capacities. Zaquia has had the opportunity to engage dance communities worldwide, including a 2019 residency in Bethlehem, Palestine, focusing on dance as a form of cultural, embodied resistance. In 2018, she founded DISCO RIOT, a nonprofit movement-arts organization that supports local dance and provides creative possibilities for advancing the scene in San Diego. Zaquia is a lifelong learner and holds a bachelor's in Dance with honors from the University of California Santa Barbara (2011), a Master's in Dance: Creative Practice with honors from Saint Mary's College of California (2017), a certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of San Diego (2021), and a California Single Subject Teaching Credential for Dance (2022).

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