Applications Are Open For ARTogether’s Artist Mentorship Hub & Residency
ARTogether’s Artist Mentorship Hub is a multidisciplinary art program for emerging refugee, immigrant, diasporic, and underrepresented artists in the Bay Area.
The program centers wellness, collective power building, and peer connection while providing mentorship, guidance, and professional development led by local artists and art professionals established in the field. Participants receive a free, shared art studio at the ARTogether Center to activate for their individual and collective art projects.
This year’s program cohort will consist of 8 artists. The program will be held in-person at the ARTogether Center in Oakland.
Eligibility & Requirements
Applicants Must:
- Be based in the Bay Area.
- Identify as a refugee, immigrant, diasporic, or underrepresented artist. We strongly encourage and welcome applications from BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists.
- Commit to working on their practice in the studio on a regular basis. We highly recommend this program for artists, teaching artists, and entrepreneurs who can make good use of the studio for independent or collaborative projects.
- Attend key workshop dates in-person in Oakland:
- May 3, 2026
- May 10, 2026
- May 17, 2026
- Please note that in addition to the three dates above, additional workshops will be scheduled for Fall 2026. The dates for these will be determined by us as a group.
- Please note that in addition to the three dates above, additional workshops will be scheduled for Fall 2026. The dates for these will be determined by us as a group.
- Curate a group exhibition featuring their own works for Fall 2026:
- Installation: October 27 – Nov 8
- Exhibition Dates: November 2026 – January 2027
- Be open to co-developing and teaching 1 art class to help fundraise for ARTogether.
- Volunteer on occasion for ARTogether events, craft nights, and community art programs.
Program Timeline
- February 2026: Applications open
- March 15, 2026: Applications close
- April 2026: Artists notified
- May 2026 – Spring 2027: Artists share studio at the ARTogether Center
- May 2026: Key Workshop Sessions (All Day, breakfast & lunch provided)
- May 3, 2026
- May 10, 2026
- May 17, 2026
- Summer – Fall 2026:
- Additional workshops (to be scheduled)
- Group exhibition planning
- 1:1 meeting with mentor
- Late October 2026: Exhibition Installation
- November 2026 – January 2027: Exhibition Dates
Tuition and Fees
To sustain program costs, we request a sliding scale contribution with the option to request full or partial fee waiver. Payment plans are possible and can be discussed.
Please indicate your capacity to contribute in your application. Your capacity to contribute will not affect your application. Here are our suggested contribution levels:
Sustain $400 – $600
Build $600 – $800
Dream $800 – $1,000
How do I determine how much to contribute? You can ask yourself if the following statements are true when considering each level:
- I can contribute this amount toward workshops and the year-long studio residency without undermining my ability to meet my basic needs for survival.
- Contributing this amount does not jeopardize my ability to meet my basic needs or significantly limit my activities and purchases. I may have to account for it, but I can afford it.
- I can pay this or more with relative ease. I have more freedom when it comes to choosing how I spend my money. I am in a position to be generous with my money, knowing that my contribution will ensure this program is accessible to others.
2026 Mentors and Workshops
Kimberley Acebo Arteche is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural worker, and healer working across photography, textiles, and ritual. Arteche is the co-founder of Balay Kreative, a cultural hub and artist incubator program serving Filipina/o/x artists in SOMA Pilipinas, and has served on Southern Exposure’s Curatorial Council, SOMA Pilipinas’ Arts & Culture Committee, the Zellerbach Family Foundation Community Arts Panel, and is currently the Executive Director at Brava! For Women in the Arts.
Voicing our Visions: Artist Statement Writing Workshop
This workshop is designed to help artists from refugee and immigrant communities craft powerful, authentic artist statements that reflect their unique journeys, identities, and creative visions. Through guided exercises, group discussions, and feedback sessions, participants will explore ways to articulate their artistic practices, cultural influences, and personal narratives in a way that resonates with audiences, funders, and institutions.
Recognizing the barriers artists from marginalized backgrounds often face in navigating the art world, this workshop will provide a supportive and affirming space to develop statements that honor one’s voice and lived experiences. Whether applying for grants, residencies, exhibitions, or simply seeking to define their practice, participants will leave with a refined, compelling artist statement that reflects the depth and richness of their work.
Trina Michelle Robinson is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the relationship between memory and migration. She studies the fragments of memory and repurposes them, examining every fracture, fold and glitch to release trauma while simultaneously uplifting the forgotten moments that should be celebrated. Her work has been shown at the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia, ICA San José, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco Art Commission Main Gallery, New York’s Wassaic Project, and the triennial Bay Area Now 9 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Her solo exhibition at the Museum of the African Diaspora, was part of their Emerging Artist Program 2022-23.
Exploring History and Migration Through Materiality
How can developing a deeper relationship to the materials you use in your art practice impact your work? Focusing on materiality can uncover lost or forgotten narratives while also gaining a deeper understanding and connection to our past, present and future. In my personal art practice, I do this by working with organic materials such as hibiscus flowers from Senegal, Goldenrod from Kentucky, soil from my family’s property in the Central Valley, raw cotton from a black-owned farm, river water from the Ohio River and palm fronds from Cameroon. For this workshop, we will collect objects from the natural world to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and our connection to the world around us.
Weston Teruya is a visual artist who moves between individual and collective modes of practice. His work has been exhibited at Mills College Art Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa; and supported by Artadia, Asian Cultural Council, and Headlands Center for the Arts. His collaborative work primarily manifests through Related Tactics, a collective of artists of color who create projects at the intersection of race and culture. Their work has been supported by Rainin Foundation, Craft Research Fund, Ruth Arts, Kala Art Institute’s Print Public, and Montalvo Arts Center.
Creating Together
What does it take to work collaboratively in a field centered on individual success and creative authorship? In this workshop we’ll explore practical and creative tools for collaboration, collective practice, and mutual care.
Christine Wong Yap is a visual artist and social practitioner who specializes in hyperlocal, participatory research projects which gather and amplify grassroots perspectives on belonging, resilience, and mental well being. Her projects combine drawing, lettering, printmaking, publishing, and textiles with community engagement, inclusive design, and public art and activations. She has developed public-facing, human-centered projects with the California College of the Arts, Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, For Freedoms, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, Stanford University, Times Square Arts, and the Wellcome Trust. She is a recipient of the Creative Power Award from the Walter & Elise Haas Fund and a Creative Capital Award. She holds a BFA and MFA in printmaking from the California College of the Arts.
Community Building Through Art
We’ll break down the steps in making community-based art in an interactive presentation illustrated with examples from numerous social practitioners, including Christine’s practice.
Applications due by March 15th, 2026
Submit application through this form.
Inspired by this program? Give a tax deductible financial gift to keep this program affordable for our artists.
Our Story
In 2022, with the support of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, ARTogether and Oakland Art Murmur partnered to pilot an artist mentorship program for Oakland-based refugee and immigrant artists. The program welcomes artists of all crafts, levels, and experiences looking to expand their network, learn new skills, develop their career, and obtain professional guidance.
Throughout the program, participants were paired with a mentor artist with compatible interests, artistic craft specialties, experience levels, and/or goals for the mentorship program.
ARTogether was thrilled to deepen this project of intentional community building and culturally relevant professional development in 2023, through a 3-day intensive program centering gathering, collective power building, and peer connection while providing mentorship, guidance, and professional development led by local, BIPOC artists and art professionals established in the field. 1st and 2nd generation immigrant, refugee, and diasporic artists reflected on their own journeys as artists thus far, identified their goals and needs, and grounded themselves within their values and wishes. Each day included creative exercises, group workshops, and individual coaching sessions.
In 2024, ARTogether piloted a version of the Hub that included a year-long studio residency. The newly expanded Mentorship Hub & Residency program officially launched in 2025, with artists participating in workshops, open studios, exhibitions, and community engagement opportunities at ARTogether year-round.
Previous instructors in this program included Raeshma Razvi, Kimberley Acebo Arteche, Rhiannon Evans MacFadyen, Jason Bayani, Maw Shein Win, Preeti Vangani, Edward Gunawan, Rupy Tut, Sabina Kariat, Nivedita Rajendra, Christine No, Shelley Wong, and Chetna Mehta.
This program is supported by the East Bay Community Foundation, California Arts Council, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and San Francisco Foundation.
Alumni
2025
Kate Goka
Roger Kim
Mame Marieme LO
Fateme Mokhles
Mona Wang
Jackie Romero
Martin Rodriguez Serrano
2024 (Pilot Residency)
Alisson Gothz
Sen Mendez
Linah Sofi
Jy Jimmie Flora Gabiola
Valerie Win Liu
Ipeleng Kgositsile
Romina Zabihian
Arina Sawari-Stadnyk
2023 (Literary Arts Focus)
Zara Jamshed
Kristie Song
Diana Fu
saahil m.
Angel Bista
Elizabeth Feng
Diana Medina
Percy Shumacher
Amy Zhou 周纯
Tracy Jones
Kiki Quach
Clary Ahn
Carmela Gaspar
Vina Vo
Jerrica Li
Jessica Yuru Zhou 周玉茹
Marwa Doost
2023
Jy Jimmie Flora Gabiola (Photography, Writing)
Valerie Win Liu (Illustration)
Ipeleng Kgositsile (Performance, Writing)
Dalar Alahverdi (Visual Art)
Romina Zabihian (Visual Art)
Arina Sawari-Stadnyk (Visual Art, Writing)
2022
Sunroop Kaur (Visual Art)
Sen Mendez (Visual Art)
Etty Alberto (Visual Art)
Linah Sofi (Visual Art)
Anita Sulimanovic (Visual Art)
René Revolorio Keith (Visual Art)
Jawn Wilson (Visual Artist)
Alisson Gothz (Multidisciplinary)
Juliana Mendonca (Dance)
Ariam Weldeab Araya (Film)