Storytelling + Communications
Vibrant Data Labs 2022 – Present / Storyteller and Creative Strategist. Vibrant Data Lab’s Climate Finance Tracker is a map for mindful investors looking to truly make a difference as our species responds to climate change. Whether it’s mitigation or adaptability you’re interested in, the CFT is the only tool currently available that can show you both the big picture and the essential details when it comes to the climate change investment landscape. What it reveals is that it’s not a landscape, it’s an ecosystem – and shows you exactly where investment is truly needed and where opportunities can be found. I offer language, design and storytelling tips for outreach, talks and presentations about this extraordinary tool.
Embrace Global 2023 – 2024 / Storyteller and Communications Officer. Embrace Global is a 501c3 nonprofit committed to saving one million newborns by 2025. Their innovative portable incubators provide essential care in regions affected by political crises, remote access, natural disasters and/or poverty – areas where traditional incubators fail. At Embrace, I wrote grants and monthly newsletters, managed their social media team, and established the organization’s story boilerplate – language, images, taglines and more – all necessary materials for future outreach and promotional needs. I also helped rewrite their partner agreements, sourced social media influencers to gather support for their monthly donors campaign, and helped them with language and design for presentations, including their annual holiday update. Finally, I advised them to adopt a new fundraising strategy which has recently taken root and is already bearing fruit.
Cultural Impact Fund 2019 – Present / Story Engineer, Writer and Creative Strategist. This Oakland based impact investment firm attracts conscientious investors to Opportunity Zone neighborhoods with a focus on true affordable housing, resident ownership models and cultural preservation.
Dhun 2016 – Present / Story Engineer, Writer and Creative Strategist. I am providing poetic narrative guidance, design consultation and copy for this planned community project near Jaipur, India. The brainchild of Manvendra Singh Shekhawat, a cultural conservationist, boutique hotelier and INK Fellow, Dhun combines time-tested traditional construction techniques and sensibilities with modern technological advances. Dhun is a township built from the inside out, considering the needs of the local ecology, the individual, the community, and finally the sustainability and efficiency of its systems, in that order.
Shadetree 2016 – Present / Storyteller, Writer and PR Liaison. Shadetree is an intentional community of thirty artists and tradesfolk on the Oakland waterfront. It is also the place I call home. Threatened with eviction in 2016, we formed a nonprofit and purchased the property for ourselves, rescuing it from being razed by a massive neighboring development project. This work led to the development of the Cultural Impact Fund. At Shadetree, I am the storykeeper for all our endeavors and head of PR, drafting letters to city officials, donors and potential allies, copywriting for and architecting our website, writing and directing videos and providing voiceover.
United Refuge 2023 / Writer, Editor. United Refuge is an alliance of individuals and institutions that provide crisis response solutions and resources to those in need. They tackle issues and needs that the big organizations overlook or are too slow to respond to. Since February 2022, their team has provided support to over 75 community service organizations in Ukraine and Poland. They are also currently focused on providing guidance and relief to responders of the Turkey/Syria earthquake. I retooled their website copy just as the earthquake hit.
Claudia Bueno 2023 / Writer, Editor. Born in Venezuela, Bueno creates stunning, interactive worlds that call forth our most intimate, foundational emotions and gives them seemingly limitless space in which to fully bloom. Metaphor and biology are forever married in works of sound, light, circuits, motors, wind and film. I wrote her a new bio for a sprawling exhibition at the Hermitage Museum in Virginia.
Natural Building 2020 / Storyteller, Writer. Natural Building designs strategies and links resources for ecologically regenerative construction initiatives. Their work helps counter displacement of ecological and political refugees and aids governments and industries as they chart new paths to more sustainable building practices. I helped them craft a onepager for their California Regional Resilience in Construction initiative (CRRC) which advised then California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office on how to marry wildfire mitigation services with regenerative material sourcing.
The Voter Party 2019 / Storyteller. The Voter Party empowers artists, performers and makers with toolkits and opportunities for civic engagement—increasing voter turnout by making voting fun. I helped them craft their initial public outreach document.
The Decameron 2017 / Story Engineer and Performer. Directed by Karl Gillick, this homage to Giovanni Boccaccio’s original Decameron event during the Black Plague provides the audience with 10 stories a night for 10 nights, with each night’s performances referencing a specific theme. I assisted a group of 30 performers from 7 countries with over-arching and specific story elements, performed solo and with small groups, inventing and directing specialized 10-minute acts in an abandoned copper mine in Outokumpu, Finland as part of the country’s 100 year anniversary of independence.
The Exploratorium 2016 / Mechanic. I helped assemble a hands-on science museum in Kayseri, Turkey. Exhibits were designed, fabricated and shipped from the United States, Portugal and the Netherlands and then assembled and installed on-site. During this time, I got stuck in Istanbul during an attempted military coup.
Pier 70 Historical Neighborhood Putt-Putt 2016 / Experience Director. Researched and managed story elements and directed 18 artists as they each constructed a mini-golf link which references particular historical elements of the San Francisco neighborhood known as The Dogpatch. The course was constructed inside Pier 70, a massive, post-industrial, waterfront event space which used to manufacture submarines, warships, gunpowder and rope. It was open to the public in July and August of 2016.
The Quest / Curiosity Camp 2014, 2015 / Storyteller, Poet and Actor. Helped conceptualize and perform this extensive, 3-day immersive theater and games event in the Santa Cruz mountains for a large group of tech entrepreneurs and change-makers. I played one of three scout leaders, emceeing the event and providing stories and poetry at particular intervals in the participants’ journeys. Myself and fellow scout leaders returned the following year to reprise our roles.
[Non-disclosable Work] 2013 — Present / Storyteller, Writer, Designer. I’ve assisted many clients with projects or presentations which are NDA protected and therefore cannot be displayed or described, from proposed avant garde museums to innovative scientific processes and climate change related initiatives.
Residencies, Curricula and Fellowships
California Academy of Sciences 2014 / Artist in residence. Presented a lecture entitled “Repurposed Materials” on the subject of the human microbiome, endosymbiotic theory and its poetic implications for our perceptions of self. I also led a workshop where visitors assembled contraption shadow puppets inspired by microorganisms from an array of household items and random objects.
The Randall Museum 2013, 2014 / Instructor. Designed and taught woodworking course curriculum for children ages 9-12 for this San Francisco art and science children’s museum. Projects included wooden pinball machines and scooters.
TED Fellow 2013 / Selected for lifelong global fellowship program.
The Dream Community 2012 / Artist in residence. Designed and built floats and puppets for this international artist residency program in Taipei, Taiwan for the annual Dream Parade. Also travelled to villages in south Taiwan, working with locals to design floats for each village’s own traditional parade.
SFMOMA Visitors Art Workshop 2011 / Artist in residence. Constructed large-scale art installation with fellow artist in residence and guided visitors in day-long art workshop at SFMOMA Korea Education Center in which visitor’s completed the tree-like installation with various tools, found objects and reclaimed materials.
San Francisco Day School 2011, 2012 / Instructor. Designed and taught woodworking course curriculum for children ages 7-11 for after-school and summer programs. For the summer program, the children designed and built their own floating puppet theater raft on the water, then wrote, produced and performed their own puppet show on the raft for an audience at the Bay View Boat Club.
Recology Artist in Residence Program 2010 / Artist in residence. For Recology’s amazing 4 month program at the San Francisco waste transfer station, I constructed sculptures and automatons from salvaged materials, culminating in a performance and exhibition entitled “The Uncanny Valley Orphanage,” which refers to a theory of robotics known as The Uncanny Valley and deals with our relationship with our own human form.
Performances and Exhibitions
Haul of 1,000 Wanders 2011 – 2018 / Designed and curated exhibition of my own collection of oddities and creations, as well as animals, insects, skeletons, scientific illustrations and paraphernalia, in conjunction with Paxton Gate and The Bone Room.
Chabot Observatory 2018 / Showing of my three-part video project, Some Light Machinery in the planetarium.
The Exploratorium 2014 / Exhibited kinetic junk sculpture/peepshow “Ship in a Barrel,” from my Uncanny Valley Orphanage series for the museum’s Tinkerer’s Night festivities.
The Crucible 2014 / Hosted and performed my own poems and songs with the Herring Bone Orchestra from New Orleans for this Oakland institution’s 15 year anniversary “Fire & Light Soiree,” featuring various fire and circus art performances.
The DeYoung Museum After Dark 2014 / Hosted the evening’s festivities and performed my own poetry for the museum’s monthly soiree of art and music.
The Decameron 2013 / Exhibited several kinetic junk sculptures and peepshow boxes and performed my own poetry and songs for this modernized restaging of Boccaccio’s Decameron (10 stories a night for 10 nights) at the Fort Mason firehouse in San Francisco.
All World’s Fair 2013 / Exhibition of my animatronic creations from “The Uncanny Valley Orphanage” for this large group show at the San Francisco Mint.
SMMMASH Science and Art Lecture Series 2013 / Exhibition of animatronic creations from salvaged materials at Stanford University.
Garbology 2012 – My poem “Broken Turntable” was published in this book by Ed Humes. Both the poem and book are on the subject of our relationship with trash and the consequences of its continued production.
Group Projects
The Medicine Show 2019 / A storytelling project for social change. Myself and ten other storytellers were each paired with a local nonprofit, conveying the mission of each through a custom performance for an evening. I delivered two poems for Safer DIY Spaces, which helps at-risk live/work and artist community spaces with core safety improvements, full legalization, construction financing, and public policy initiatives. I also decorated the stage with items from my wunderkammer, or cabinet of curiosities, at Humanist Hall in Oakland, CA.
Shrine of Sympathetic Resonance 2019 / I directed and performed in a 3 hour live storytelling event within a temple constructed out of 50 pianos, each tuned to the pentatonic scale, to be played by visitors and performers alike. At show’s end, I then handed the microphone off to audience members, who proceeded to tell stories, share songs and poems of all kinds until the Sun came up, five hours later. The project was conceived and helmed by Tyson Ayers—an artist, musician and music teacher from Port Townsend, WA.
Immigracious 2017 / Twenty immigrant artists and some of their mothers and grandmothers became crew aboard my ship Horizons and the goodship Freda—the west coast’s oldest wooden sailboat—for a day’s journey of sharing stories about crossing borders at Treasure Island’s Clipper Cove, followed by a parade and a traditional Persian feast on Angel Island. Project conceived and spearheaded by local artist Richie Rhombus, with myself and Lish Dawn serving as Captains and hosts.
Storied Haven 2015 / Oakland-based arts collective Five Ton Crane built a full-sized replica of the “boot-home” from the children’s story, The Old Woman Who Lived a Shoe. The immersive interior experience was filled with artifacts from dozens of familiar fairy tales—from Little Red Riding Hood’s cloak to the Mad Hatter’s tea cups, Hansel and Gretel’s lederhosen, a witch’s broom, apothecary and more. I conceived, directed and performed in a live musical celebration of the boot and everything it stands for, featuring some of the project’s fabricators.
Ocean Synapse 2014 / Collaborative trans-hemispheric video art performance with Dr Sarah Jane Pell, a performance artist in Melbourne, Australia. We each separately performed and filmed scenes of our own design based on the concept of water becoming a medium for information transfer in the near future. From opposite sides of the globe, we then played the films side-by-side live and for the first time as part of WaterWheel’s annual online symposium for art and discussion about all things water. We also submitted a paper on the subject as part of the event.
Swimming Cities 2008, 2010 / Actor, writer, theatrical director, helmsman, fabricator, story engineer. Constructed large art-rafts from salvaged materials with a group of 35 artists for a two-week journey down the Hudson River into New York City for a large-scale final exhibition. Was lead actor in production performed on the rafts throughout voyage. Also reconstructed the rafts in Slovenia for a two-week journey across the Adriatic Sea into Venice, Italy for the 2010 biennale arts festival. Wrote and directed production performed on the rafts in Venice entitled “The Clutchess of Cuckoo.” Helmsman for Alice, the prettiest ship in the fleet, for both journeys.
Apocalypse Puppet Theater 2005 -- 2010 / Co-founder, fabricator, actor, writer, lyricist, puppeteer. Constructed puppets and sets and performed both fictional and historical shows for people of all ages. Also constructed the Apocalypse Stagecoach, a travelling puppet theater pulled by a team of 8 bicycles. Venues included The Exploratorium, Burning Man 2005, Maker Faire 2010, Outside Lands Music Festival and San Francsico’s Dia de los Muertos procession. Our Stories: “Ragnarok” The great Norse tale of the end of the world; “Revelations” Chicken Little meets the Book of Revelations; “Man-Killers of India” True stories of wronged beasts throughout history; “So I Married a Sea Monster” The stirring tale of a man and his fish.
Stars & Garters Theatre Company 2004 -- 2011 / Co-founder, writer, lyricist, director, producer, fabricator, actor, puppeteer. Wrote, produced and performed dark comedy musicals at local venues and on tour with this group of 12 actors, musicians, puppeteers and fabricators. Our Stories: “The Curse of the Goddamned Ship” A nautical exploration of the constellations, aboard a cursed ghost ship, with songs and a full band; “The Robber Bridegroom” A dark, poetic retelling of the Brothers Grimm tale, with puppets, a rotating cottage, cuckoo clock, a full band and a great deal of witchcraft; “Show & Tell” Bi-monthly variety show; “Country Duet Roulette” Country duet musical competition featuring beloved local acts.
The Fitzcock Follies 2003 / Writer, performer. Musical vaudeville theatrical production at The Odeon in San Francisco, featuring song, dance and storytelling by way of my character, Doctor Fitzcock.
Loop Quantum Theory 2003 / Poetic hip-hop project with Stephon Alexander, a theoretical physicist (one of National Geographic’s “Top Ten Young Minds”), saxophonist, music producer and proponent of loop quantum theory in relationship to the Big Bang.
The Specimen 2002 — 2008 / Lyricist, writer, performer. Victorian themed gothic hip-hop duo project. Songs on subjects such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Black Plague, Jack the Ripper, Masonic sacrifices and the trappings and pitfalls of modern medical science at the turn of the century. Self-titled album.
Attaboy & Burke 1999 — 2004 / Lyricist, writer, performer. Music, song and spoken word medicine show, philosophically absurd and musically adventurous, with my compatriot in the art of verbal dismantling, Attaboy. Our Shows: “The Surreal Medicine Show” Spoken word and musical theatrical production featuring Rubberboy, the world’s most flexible man, at the Seattle Fringe Festival and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area; “LockJaw I & II” Immersive variety show and musical performance at ACE Junkyard in San Francisco. Album: “Atomic Batteries of Power” Song and video compilation EP.
Popcorn Anti-Theater 1998 — 2000 / Writer, lyricist, performer. Solo and group theatrical productions in alleys, parks, abandoned buildings and other various locations in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Education
Graduated in 1996 from U.C. Davis with a B.S. in Universal Design, a self-directed degree which incorporates environmental design, visual merchandising, graphic design, costume design, photography, fine art and early childhood education.