CATALYST ARTS
Senior Curator
Curatorial Assistant
Curatorial Apprentice
Ana Laura Juarez
Resident Exhibitions Curator
Joy Spika
Visual Arts Specialist
E.G. Bailey
Film Curator
Our Team
Who We Are
Akiko Ostlund is a multidisciplinary artist whose work directly reflects her experience as an immigrant woman of color, with an emphasis on community engagement and social justice. As a dancer, she first began in the style of tribal fusion belly dance and continues to cross-study in salsa, bachata, hula, and tutting. Since 2014, Ostlund has been training in classical Indian dance, Bharatanatyam, and is also a student of Ragamala school. In addition to her appearances in Black Market Brass, Sarah White, and Jonathan Tolliver music videos, some of her more notable performances include the following:
-
Stromboli’s Medicine Show (In the Heart of the Beast Theatre)
-
Neither (Public Functionary)
-
The Blacker The Berry (Intermedia Arts)
-
Choreographers Evening (Walker Art Center)
-
Parabras Project (Park Square Theatre)
As a visual artist, Ostlund’s detailed and prolific collage work has been featured in
I Am at the Southern Theatre, Queertopia at Intermedia Arts, and is currently on display in downtown Minneapolis as a prominent part of Made Here’s extensive installation.
Ostlund’s work also expands into the curatorial world. Co-curating Puppet Cabaret at In the Heart of the Beast Theatre and The Funny at Open Eye Figure Theatre. She was the former curatorial assistant at Intermedia Arts and is presently a member of the Catalyst Art team lead by Sha Cage. With a passion for art rooted in community, she is involved yearly in the creation of Barebones Halloween Extravaganza, Mayday Parade, and Northern Spark.
Shá Cage is an actor, playwright, and performance artist. Her work and activism has taken her all across the U.S. to South Africa, England, France, the Netherlands, Croatia, Mali, and Canada. Noted theater roles include: Agnes in Mixed Blood's Agnes Under the Big Top, Helena in Frank Theater's Eclipsed, The Bride in Ten Thousand Thing's Blood Wedding, Venus in Frank Theatre's Venus, the Hottentot, Tonia in The MN History Theater's Kirby Puckett Story, Frank Theatre's F^cking A as Hester, and as Josephine in Mixed Blood's Ruined. She is a founder of Mama Mosaic Theater (for Women) and teaches youth spoken word & performance through the MN Spoken Word Association.
Alejandro Eduarte is a Latinx youth theater artist and writer. He is a junior at Minneapolis Edison High School. He is an alumni of Penumbra Theatre's Summer Institute program, and has done work to create social justice theater with the Guthrie, Intermedia Arts and Exposed Brick Theater. Currently, he is the curatorial apprentice with the Catalyst Arts team.
