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Kate Lesta is a Cultural Practitioner dedicated to fostering emergent creativity through grassroots community organizing. I consider this work to be cultural activism and my own method of artistic practice. Since starting an arts collective at age 16, I have produced and/or curated hundreds of events, festivals, exhibitions, workshops and residencies over the last 20 years with a focus on cutting edge, new media and cross-disciplinary work while supporting artists as they embark on their careers. Much of my work has taken place in the American West, with projects in NYC, Montreal, Berlin, Krakow, Belgrade and globally via touring of performances, workshops and exhibitions. My dedication to breaking down borders led me to establishing a network of nonprofit organizations who share values and goals, direct a 2 year collaborative touring residency program that bridged creative communities in Serbia and The United States, and offer consultation and bureaucratic support for performing artists visa applications. From 2015 - 2016 I provided critical leadership in the construction of Meow Wolf’s flagship facility in Santa Fe, and following the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland I managed the Oakland Fire Fund program overseeing the dispersement of $1.3M wherein I co-created an unprecedented qualification plan that ensured funding would flow to marginalized, at-risk and under-represented individuals. In recent years I have focused my time on LGBTQ+ and feminist cultural movements, and have been known to DJ ambient music on rare occasions in the out-of-doors for friends and family. |
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