ARTogether is based in the Bay Area, the occupied, ancestral lands of the Ohlone people, who have stewarded and honored this land throughout generations and are still here. We acknowledge the ongoing legacies of violence against indigenous communities and people of color in this country that provide a context for our work.
ARTogether’s mission is to provide art programs that foster compassionate communities where refugees and immigrants can flourish.
We envision a world where there are no barriers—or borders—to art and creative expression, where everyone is welcomed and their stories have impact.
Art plays a special role in the refugee community. For refugees and immigrants moving to the United States, the journey has just begun. ARTogether offers programs that reach out to refugees and immigrants, providing welcoming, creative spaces for local refugees and immigrants to connect with their community. Our goal is to build communities and promote long-term prosperity for refugees and immigrants, even after assistance from initial government and NGO resettlement programs has ceased. For these programs, art is our social glue, its universality binding us all together. It invites conversation, laughter, storytelling and a sense of belonging. At the community level, it has a unique ability to bring people together, to draw together people from different backgrounds and forge connections through creativity and self-expression. Finally, art transcends the spoken word, allowing people to communicate and express themselves without the burden of language barriers.
ARTogether’s programs are designed to:
Harness the power of creative expression and promote mental health and overall well-being among refugees and immigrants by offering a range of therapeutic art experiences and workshops to build resilience and foster community connections.
Join us in celebrating the power of art to inspire change and strengthen communities!
To better serve our community and reach out to new refugee and immigrant communities, we partner with a number of organizations that already offer a spectrum of vital services to these communities. Below are some of our local and international partners, both past and present.
Center for Empowering Refugees & Immigrants
Oakland International High School
East Bay Refugee and Immigrant Forum
Cesar Chavez Center & The Unity Council
Refugee & Immigrant Transitions
Flying Carpet Children Festival
International Rescue Committee
Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay
For more in-depth information about ARTogether and its programs, please see our annual reports and our monthly newsletter below.
Miles is a long-time web designer who has spent most of the last decade living in Oakland, Cairo and New Orleans. He has a BA in Religious Studies and Music from UC Santa Barbara, and recently moved back to Oakland where he works on ARTogether’s new art programs. Miles believes deeply in making art accessible to every community, and is looking forward to ARTogether’s new music programs.
Polina Marso is a visual artist, female rights advocate, and a champion for refugee and immigrants’ rights. Born in Moscow, Russia, she immigrated to the United States where she earned her BFA in illustration from the California College of the Arts. She has worked with ARTogether since 2020 as an Art Teacher, Graphic Designer and Program Manager. Polina uses art as an indispensable tool for enhancing mental well-being and promoting positive change. As a Program Manager for a Community Arts and Wellness program, Polina brings her artistic prowess and her innate desire to help people into full synergy. She champions the cause of inclusivity, empowerment, and the transformative power of art with programs such as ARTogether Summer Art Camp and Creative Youth Program. Outside of ARTogether Polina writes and illustrates for an online feminist publication based in Russia.
Sabina Shanti Kariat is an Indian-American animator, artist, and filmmaker based in San Francisco. She has created animations for documentary films about the 1960’s American civil rights movement, the history of Japanese-American incarceration camps in California, the impact of the criminal justice system on refugees, and loss of native languages among immigrants. She is also a story artist on short animated films that bring BIPOC characters into surreal worlds. Sabina has been a teaching artist throughout San Francisco, and has led co-creation workshops in the Bay, in rural Jharkhand India, and in Istanbul and Reyhanli, Turkey. She is a nerd about traditional shadow puppets, reads poems about horses, and is interested in the relationship between diaspora and memory.
Kellie Parker has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 25 years. She is a REALTOR® with The Monday Team at Keller Williams. She has an MBA in Marketing and a background in corporate marketing at companies like SEGA and Abbott. She is also an art teacher with Paint the Town, and paints her own works for fundraisers and gifts. Kellie resides in San Leandro with her partner, children, and rescue dog.
Nino Fernandez is a seasoned professional visual artist and musician, boasting over two decades of experience in creative and corporate arenas. As a cinematographer and photographer, Nino has worked extensively in short films and documentaries, mastering the art of capturing compelling narratives with his unique style and artistry. His work has earned recognition and been featured in prominent outlets such as British GQ, Tatler, LA Times, NowThis, CBS, ABC, and Nickelodeon.
In addition to his visual expertise, Nino is a dedicated musician, with a career spanning 20 years in both studio and live performance settings. His deep understanding of rhythm and emotion informs his creative perspective, adding depth to his storytelling and makes him one of the most sought-after collaborators in the Bay Area. .
Beyond the creative sector, Nino has a strong background in corporate and non-profit settings, with significant experience working with small businesses,as well as minority-owned businesses. His work reflects a commitment to fostering inclusive collaborations and leveraging creative tools for social impact.
Nino’s multifaceted career embodies a unique blend of artistic vision, technical skill, and a passion for community empowerment, making him a dynamic force in the creative industry.
Vilasini Roy is an editor and content strategist based in San Francisco, and has created content for tech companies, academic journals, and print and digital media. She’s also a previous employee of ARTogether, and helped launch the artists’ program. Having lived and worked in India, Germany, and Sweden, Vilasini is motivated by learning how people from different cultures interact and come together; how we grow and learn from one another. And how food, storytelling, and art foster understanding and bridge divides.
Julie Ericsson works with nonprofits and arts organizations to communicate public-facing stories about the importance of shared culture and collective community. She is currently Communications Manager for Institute for the Future, connecting with audiences to share the tenets of futures thinking, critical to creating more equitable and positive futures for all. With a Masters in Museum Studies and background in fine arts practice, Julie has also worked with local museums, like New Museum Los Gatos, as a curator and exhibitions designer, to elevate the voices and work of emerging artists with backgrounds that represent the rich diversity of the Bay Area.
Tal Ariel is a composer, music producer, pianist and teacher, with a degree in Music and over 30 years experience in the field. His original compositions have been featured in film, theater, radio, commercials, and other media. Tal is also a community activist, with a particular focus on racism, immigrants rights, and inequality. In 2017, Tal started a music scholarship program, which offers free music instruction to people of color in the bay area.
Jenn spent over 10 years living in Southeast Asia, where she worked with a number of global development nonprofits, helping them to get their operations up and running in new countries. She worked with an organization selling drinking water filters in remote villages, a pediatric hospital providing medical training to local healthcare professionals and free medical care to patients, and a social enterprise which trained and employed at-risk women in Southeast to make fashion accessories for export. Through all these experiences, Jenn has been received into other cultures and has felt how interconnected we all are, regardless of where we were born. Through her involvement with ARTogether, she hopes to help create more welcoming spaces and communities for refugees and immigrants here in the US.
Anita is a product manager with years of marketing experience. She is also a competitive ballroom dancer who enjoys music, dance, and arts. She was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to the US in 2000. As an insecure teen experiencing life in an unfamiliar environment, it was through art where she gained a new found sense of belonging and self confidence. She believes that art connects people, enriches lives, heals souls and that it is a powerful avenue for self expression.
