Amplify's Community Advisory Group & Board
Amplify is a democratically led organization that distributes decision making processes across the organization. Our program participants, community advisory group, staff, and board collectively influence decisions related to how we can best support artists, organizers, and culture workers exploring liberatory ideas that move our community forward.
Community Advisory Group members influence Amplify’s efforts by providing feedback and examining working practices within the organization. Board members attend Community Advisory Group meetings and work together to uphold organizational systems that support evaluation and accountability.
Keep reading to learn more about Community Advisory Group and Board members!
Community Advisory Group Members:
Justin Alexander is a citizen of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska. Justin is a fabricator, collaborator and builder. He is an Exhibit Technician at the Kiewit Luminarium. Justin is also a member of the 2024 - 2025 Alternate Currents cohort.
Laghe Andrews is a multitalented artist, writer, and business owner who has made it her mission to take all her talents, past experiences, and passions and focus them on equipping the individuals in her community with the capacity-building tools to grow and excel in their craft. She works to build positive representation from within the entertainment community by putting collaboration, sustainability, and longevity and the center of her practice.
Corson Androski is an artist, exhibition designer, and conservationist based in Omaha, Nebraska. Their interdisciplinary practice utilizes archival research, community engagement, and immersion in the overlooked ecologies that persist in the seams of our patchwork flyover states. Resulting work has focused on local public parks, our watershed, and the entanglement of the arts with conservation and colonialism.
Karin Campbell is the Phil Willson Curator of Contemporary Art at Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska. Since joining the Museum in 2012, Campbell has curated several major exhibitions, including "30 Americans," "Word/Play: Prints, Photographs, and Paintings by Ed Ruscha," and "Sheila Hicks: Material Voices." She oversees Joslyn’s collection of contemporary art and is the principal curator for the Karen and Doug Riley Contemporary Artists Project (CAP) Gallery, the first space in the museum’s history dedicated specifically to living artists. Campbell completed her Bachelor of Arts in art history and political science at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA in 2006 and her Master of Arts in curatorial studies at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY in 2011. From 2006 to 2009, she served as curatorial assistant in the contemporary art department at Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, where she helped organize Life on Mars, the 55th Carnegie International. Before moving to Omaha, Campbell curated the 2011—12 installment of Espai 13, an annual exhibition series at the Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona.
Caitlin Cass is an artist and cartoonist who teaches Studio Art and Illustration at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Her art has won awards from the Nebraska Arts Council, The New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the author and illustrator of Suffrage Song: The Haunted History of Gender, Race, And Voting Rights in the U.S. (Fantagraphics, 2024). She is also a co-founder of Alt Pub Omaha and helps run a zine fair in Omaha each year. Caitlin first became involved with Amplify Arts in 2022 as part of the Alternate Currents Working Group.
Maritza N. Estrada was born in Toppenish, Washington, to Mexican parents. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at Arizona State University and served as the inaugural 2020 – 2021 Artistic Development & Research Assistant for the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands at ASU, created, directed by Pulitzer Poetry Prize winner Natalie Diaz. Estrada is a 2020 CantoMundo Fellow. Her honors and awards include the 2024 CantoMundo residency, 2022 Fortuna artist residency in Mexico City, 2021 Swarthout Award in Poetry, Amplify Arts Micro Grant, 2021/2019 Virginia G. Piper Creative Research Fellowship & 2019 Creative Engagement Fellowship, winner of the Aleida Rodriguez Memorial Award, Mabelle A. Lyon Poetry Award, alumna in the 2019 Tin House Winter Workshop, and 2018 Winter Tangerine workshop at Poets House. Her work can be found in the Academy of American Poets, Narrative Magazine, The Offing, Pidgeonholes, Blue Mesa Review, Río Grande Review. Estrada calls Phoenix, Mexico City, and Paris, home.
Abby Fogle-Erickson is an arts administrator living in Omaha. She is currently the Community Experience + Engagement Manger at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Born in Houston and having lived briefly in New York City and London, she returned to Omaha in 2018. Abby earned a BA in art history from Creighton University and an MA in history of art from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She serves on the Greater Omaha Chamber's Young Professionals Leadership Committee and as the Rising Leader Institute Chair on the board of the Young Non-profit Professionals Network of Greater Omaha. Abby lives in a 100-year-old home in the Field Club neighborhood with her husband John and their cat Dorothy.
April Griess is an artist and archivist with over a decade of experience collaborating, coordinating, and researching community-based performance art practices. Under the name april vendetta, they create work that explores themes of control, labor, punishment, and surveillance to examine the physicality and resilience of the body. In 2015, they founded Human Trash Dump, an online, open-source, collaborative archive of digital media. Their’ 2021 M.A. thesis outlines the process of archiving and preserving a home movie collection of audiovisual material that documents the art and life of their late uncle, Kent Bellows.
Sara Jacobson is a creative consultant and entrepreneur based in Omaha, working with design, curation, research and user experience in various forms. She owns and operates the shop Family of Things, consults remotely with the NBA in NY doing UX design research, and conceptualized & curated Omaha's Kiewit Luminarium Gift Shop. After 13 years in California, NYC and Chicago, she relocated back to Omaha in 2020 with the intention to open Family of Things. She earned a Masters in Designed Objects from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, providing the foundation for her interest in the conceptual side of design, the value of craft, and human behavior in relation to design. She now brings these interests together in all of her varied work to create intentional, engaging experiences.
Gabriela Hernández Medina (b. 1994, Omaha, Nebraska) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work reflects a deep engagement with themes of human connection, vulnerability, and the influence of everyday spaces on personal stories. A graduate of the Autonomous University of Querétaro with a Bachelor of Visual Arts specializing in Graphic Design (2020), Gabriela's practice spans illustration, painting, photography, installation, and video art. Her bicultural upbringing between Guanajuato, Mexico, and Nebraska, USA, informs her exploration of identity and the inner world. Gabriela's artistic journey includes hosting Vida & Arte, a podcast celebrating the creative process, and directing the documentary Los Judas de Mi Pueblo (2022), which honors her family's traditions. Currently, she delves into themes of feminine energy and self-knowledge through her series Inner Worlds, using dreams, writing, and material experimentation to uncover new perspectives and connections.
Penny Molesso is a transmedia artist, writer, and arts educator based in Omaha, Nebraska. They received their MFA at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2023. Penny was a Lambda Literary Foundation fellow in screenwriting in 2023. Their work has been published in Painted Bride Quarterly, muzzle, WMN Zine, and Fraction Magazine.
Alex O’Hanlon lives in Omaha, Nebraska. She works as the Engagement Manager for One Omaha, where she provides support for residents seeking to create change by organizing projects on the neighborhood level. A neighborhood organizer herself, she helps to coordinate projects for Free Farm Syndicate, a cooperative project dedicated to creating an infrastructure for the production and distribution of fresh produce in Omaha. She also helps to run the Blazing Star Seed Cooperative which provides education and coordinates the growing, processing and distribution of locally adapted seed varieties.
Ameen Wahba is a multidisciplinary artist living in Omaha, NE. He has released a chapbook of poems and photos entitled Bear Witness To That Which Is as well as toured nationally with the band Thick Paint. Ameen has performed at Conspire Music and Arts Festival, DIO Festival, Omaha Under the Radar Festival, Experimental Sound Studio’s Quarantine Concerts series, and was responsible for sound and booking for the volunteer-run Gifford Park Neighborhood Market (2017-2019). He was a Culture Work Fellow for Artstock, and a presenter for Omaha Under the Radar’s Soundry experimental music workshop series (2022). He is currently practicing psychotherapy in Omaha.
Corinne Wardian is a boomerang to Omaha having left for a number of year only to return at the end of 2020. With a passion for creative and inclusive spaces, she transitioned her career to work within the built environment making a few quick moves from an urban design non-profit to a few developments in town that focus on community. Outside of work, Corinne likes to stay involved in her community, serving on the City's Public Art Commission and volunteering with the Women's Fund. Corinne is a proud cat mom and can be found rummaging through estate sales on the weekend.
Cindy Weil is an artist, designer and founder of I80West, the Wallpaper Collective and the Immigrant Yarn Project. Her work is characterized by a keen interest in the materiality and history of wool and its use in the exploration of feminist themes, liminality, and transformation. Cindy completed a residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and the Icelandic Textile Center in Blonduos, Iceland. She has an MFA from the New York School of Interior Design and a BA in history from Creighton University. Cindy has partnered with the National Park Service and the International Rescue Committee in a major public installation of her work, and she has placed pieces in major collections around the country, including the Museum of Nebraska Art.
Board Members:
Ang R. Bennett is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, model, and non-binary queer activist. Ang has won several awards for their contributions to the art community, including two Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards - one for Outstanding Emerging Visual Artist and another for Outstanding Non-Traditional Presentation for the curation of Unapologetic Me: A Celebration of Black, Queer Art. They were a 2020 Young, Black, and Influential Award recipient for creativity.
Their work examines identities they hold as queer, Black, and agender through academic text and societal depictions. In addition to their only solo exhibition, colored Black., at Petshop Gallery in 2020, Ang’s work has been displayed in Split Gallery, Hot Shops Art Center, Apollon Art Space, RBR G, and Michael Phipps Gallery. In June 2022, Ang won a national competition where their artwork was selected to go on the inaugural membership card for the Stonewall National Visitor's Center, set to open in New York in June 2024. The original artwork will be on permanent display inside the center. Ang made their theatre stage debut in November 2022, as the lead character of Fiona who transitions to Adrian in the Voices in Alliance production of Rotterdam, a play written by Jon Brittain.
Tess Houser is an Omaha-born artist and community advocate, most recently serving as awards program management at Front Porch Investments. Before joining FPI, Houser’s most recent work included administration of several grant programs through the Omaha Community Foundation, as well as development and grant writing experience in years prior at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Her arts and nonprofit background also includes gallery roles with Anderson O’Brien Fine Art and the University of Nebraska Art Gallery; working as an associate director for a national dance competition; and graphic design for Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue. Between years of schooling, Houser volunteered with a national performing arts nonprofit, teaching and performing in cities throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan as part of the group’s music outreach tours. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Arts and a minor in art history from the University of Nebraska Omaha, is a graduate of the Rising Leaders Institute through NAM/ynpnGO, and serves as a Mini Grant reviewer for the Nebraska Arts Council.
Amanda Q. Kephart is a born and bred Nebraskan. Her love of creativity was nurtured by her family and teachers. She is a proud graduate of MCC Nebraska (Associate of Arts - with Honors) and the University of Nebraska Omaha (B.Sc. History). In 2020 her love of yoga took her to a Colorado ashram where she became a yoga teacher (RYT200). In 2022 she was awarded one of the inaugural scholarships to the American Alliance of Museums Conference. She is a member of the National Council for Public History, the Coordinating Council for Women in History, and the American Alliance of Museums. Amanda is an advocate for advancement of the individual - both in spirit and within their communities. She is a natural leader who urges others to be better versions of themselves. More personally, she is interested in the intersection of repetitious thought and movement with creativity. She is also aware of the need for our community to create and honor more spaces that seek joy, the ability to play, and to engage in artistic expression. She is looking forward to seeing what 2023 has in store!
Aspen Monet Laboy is a gender nonconforming, Black, and Puerto Rican artist from Omaha, Nebraska. They are a student at Metropolitan Community College who is working towards their Liberal Arts Degree. At KANEKO, they are a Lead Gallery Supervisor and co-host a poetry workshop called Corner’s Space held in the KANEKO-UNO Library. Aspen is a poet, a glass sculptor, and an installation artist. Their first book "Spirit" was published in 2017, followed by "The Quiet Lion" in 2018, and recently published "I Matter" in 2022. So far, Aspen has had two solo shows, "Los Flores" at Goldsmith Silversmith and "El Baño" at Fleabane Gallery. Their visual work has also been shown in communal spaces such as Everyday Performances, BLUEBARN Theatre, and Radial Arts Center.
Diana Martinez, PhD is a Program Associate at the Weitz Family Foundation in Omaha. In her former roles at Film Streams and The Union for Contemporary Art, Diana learned firsthand the time and effort it takes to create vibrant and impactful programming, as well as the leadership needed to guide equitable and effective organizations. She is passionate about making Omaha a great place to work and live.
Diana has more than a decade of experience as a scholar, educator, and nonprofit arts administrator. Originally from Southern California, Diana has called Omaha home since 2016. She received her PhD from the University of Oregon.