Written by Leva Zand

After nine years as Founder and Executive Director of ARTogether, I will be stepping down on June 30, 2026.

I’ve been sitting with how to write this, and I keep coming back to the same feeling: gratitude, and a quiet, steady sense of rightness.

Why I Started

ARTogether was born in early 2017, in the turbulent aftermath of the US election. I came to the United States from Iran as a refugee in 2003. My professional life had been spent working on women’s leadership and gender issues across the Middle East and North Africa. But that election cracked something open in me. For the first time, I felt deeply, urgently American and I knew I wanted to bring my skills home.

The rise in anti-refugee and anti-immigrant rhetoric frightened me. And the more I looked, the clearer it became: beyond the three months of resettlement services, there was almost nothing designed to help refugees actually belong. I remembered my own family’s experience; how my parents spent years in isolation and depression before finally finding community. What they needed wasn’t just logistics. It was connection.

Art was the answer because it asks nothing of your language. It opens a door that bureaucracy keeps closed. It felt natural to choose arts as the medium for connection when languages fail. 

What We Built Together

ARTogether grew from a small, hopeful project into a cultural institution. I feel proud of all of our achievements.  

We opened a permanent home in downtown Oakland. We launched arts programs in public schools, residencies and fellowships for refugee and immigrant artists, community wellness workshops, large-scale public murals, and media projects that told stories the mainstream often ignores. We survived funding cuts, a global pandemic, and every structural challenge the nonprofit sector could throw at us.

We kept going because the community kept showing up.

None of this was mine alone. It was built by artists, youth, families, staff, board members, donors, and partners who believed that belonging is not something to be earned. It is something we create together and that’s what I am most proud of: the spirit of the collaborative work, the team of the most dedicated staff that made all of these possible. 

Why I’m Leaving

Because this is what a healthy transition looks like.

I never imagined staying in this role forever, and I never wanted to. I am proud that ARTogether has grown stable and resilient enough that stepping back is not a risk;  it is a natural next chapter. This transition has been planned carefully, in close conversation with our board and staff. It is amicable, intentional, and rooted in love for this organization.

I also believe in change as a generative force. The political and cultural moment that sparked ARTogether has evolved. The organization deserves a leader whose fresh energy meets this new landscape.

What Comes Next

ARTogether’s Board will soon launch a search for our next leadership. I am confident in the team, the mission, and the foundation we’ve built. I will remain a committed friend of the organization; present, proud, and rooting loudly from the sidelines.

As for me: I’ll travel. I’ll rest. I’ll participate in a few creative residencies and let myself be a beginner again. I don’t know exactly what comes after that, and for the first time in a long time, I’m at peace with not knowing.

Nine years ago, I believed that art could build belonging. Today, I know it can. ARTogether is living proof.

With deep gratitude

Leva