CAMP Board, Advisors, & Leadership

CAMP is led by co-directors, Megan Wilson and Christopher Statton. CAMP is a fiscally sponsored project of Independent Arts & Media. In addition, we have a Steering Committee Board and Advisory Board that help to provide direction on organizational development; our Steering Committee actively supports day-to-day operations. Below is a brief overview of the role of the Fiscal Sponsor and the principles that guide the Board’s composition, recruitment, and development; and bios of our Steering Committee members, and Advisors.

Fiscal Sponsor – Independent Arts & Media

Independent Arts & Media enables CAMP to receive tax-deductible donations and grants from individuals and organizations, as well as many additional services and support, including bookkeeping and accounting.

Independent Arts & Media is a unique and growing fiscal sponsor for artists, journalists and media producers. We support independent producers and projects that advance our mission, by enabling independent producers doing non-commercial work in the public interest to raise their own funding, and develop and present their work on their own terms.

Our vision for fiscal sponsorship as a transformative “free speech platform” comes from our own experiences as journalists, artists, and media producers who needed better infrastructure for their public-interest work.

IAM currently supports over 60 affiliates dedicated to non-commercial work in media and the arts, including publishing, theater, dance, music, visual art, film and video, journalism, history, and public-events production.

CAMP Co-Directors, CAMP Working Board

CAMP has an Advisory Board that offers guidance to the co-directors and provides advisory support for the organization’s operational, programming, and organizational efforts. Board members are selected for a three-year term, but are allowed to serve indefinitely. The Board meets throughout the year as needed.

As part of its 3-Year Strategic Capacity Building Plan CAMP determined it was necessary for the health and growth of the organization to create a core Board Steering Committee, focused on four areas. These include: Development, Community Engagement, Programming, and Social Media. The anticipated outcome of this effort is that CAMP will have solid human resources, financial resources, and structure in place to support the organization’s programming and ability to fulfill its mission.

CAMP’s current Advisory Board members represent expertise in the following areas: public art, non-profit development, management & planning, community building, conflict resolution, film and video, education, social sciences, journalism, translation, community organizing and activism, and social media content creation and management. All are deeply committed to the vision of CAMP as a community, a public space, and an organizing force that uses murals and street art as a means for supporting political, economic, and social justice messaging. Additionally, the Advisory Board is committed to ensuring that its members are diverse and reflect the communities the organization works with and represents. Of note, at least half the Advisory Board must be made up of people of color and at least half the board must be made up of women. CAMP’s current Advisory Board is comprised of five first generation immigrants.

Current Board members include: Megan Wilson, Christopher Statton, Ivy McClelland, Kyoko Sato,  Chris Gazaleh, Lian Ladia, Shaghayegh Cyrous, Keyvan Shovir, Fernando A., Sean Levon Nash, and Rigo 23 (emeritus).

 
Megan Wilson, CAMP Co-Director, Board Member

Megan Wilson is a visual artist, writer, and activist based in San Francisco. Known for her large-scale installations, public projects, and street art, she incorporates a broad range of methodologies and aesthetics to address conceptual interests that include home, homelessness, social justice, anti-capitalism, impermanence and generosity. Wilson has been a core organizer of CAMP since 1998 and co-director 2001-2005 and 2010 – present. In 2003 she curated, co-organized, and raised the funds for the international exchange and residency Sama-sama/Together, a collaboration between community arts organizations and artists from the San Francisco/Bay Area (USA) and Yogyakarta (Indonesia) designed to foster understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim cultures following 9/11. The book Sama-sama/ Together that chronicled the project, was published in 2006 by Jam Karet Press. In 2015 Wilson participated with CAMP co-director Christopher Statton in the Geneng Street Art Project #3 in Yogyakarta. In 2018 she co-directed and co-organized (with Christopher Statton and Nano Warsono) CAMP’s second international exchange and residency project, Bangkit /Arise between artists from Yogyakarta and San Francisco/Bay Area in collaboration with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. The project continued with online exhibitions and artist talks in 2020/22 due to Covid. Wilson received her BFA from the University of Oregon and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.

Wilson has worked in non-profit development, planning, and management for over 20 years, ranging from in-depth strategic planning and organizational development to grant writing and research. In addition, she has extensive experience with program development, community organizing, and social and justice activism. The size of the organizations she has worked with has ranged from $50,000/yr budget to 6M/yr budget, and include: The Gubbio Project, Art Forces, Chinese Whispers, Clarion Alley Mural Project, the Roxie Theater, Urban Peace Movement, The Luggage Store/509 Cultural Center, Portola and Excelsior Family Connections, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, Oasis For Girls, Oakland Leaf, Creative Growth, SOMCAN (South of Market Community Action Network), Streetside Stories, Young Women United for Oakland, Global Footprint Network, Youthspace, APIAHF (Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum), TILT (Teaching Intermedia Literacy Tools), Southern Exposure, Meridian Gallery, NCCJ (the National Conference for Community and Justice, formerly the National Conference of Christians and Jews), and Samaritans (Boston).

www.MeganWilson.com

Christopher Statton, CAMP Co-Director, Board Member

Christopher Statton is an artist, arts administrator, and community activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Working hands on within the social justice and arts communities for over a decade, Statton served as Executive Director of San Francisco’s Roxie Theater, blocks away from Clarion Alley, overseeing the theater’s transition to a non-profit community-based independent film venue. Statton became involved with Clarion Alley Mural Project as part of its 20th anniversary, joining CAMP’s organizing committee for the Block Party celebration. Since then, Statton has collaborated or individually painted six murals on Clarion Alley and three murals in Yogyakarta as part of the Geneng Street Art Project #3 and Bangkit/Arise. As a community organizer and activist, Statton co-founded Better Homes and Gardens Today with collaborator Megan Wilson and in 2007 co-founded Sidewalk Sideshow, both projects working directly with or through organizations serving the street communities and people experiencing homelessness. In 2013, Statton was the recipient of The San Francisco Film Critic Circle’s Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community and received The San Francisco’s Board of Supervisor’s Certificate of Honor, sponsored by District 9 Supervisor David Campos. An alumnus of the postgraduate Organizational Leadership program at The Saïd Business School, Oxford University, Statton is a member of the leaderless San Francisco Poster Syndicate.

http://www.betterhomesandgardenstoday.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Statton

Ivy Jeanne McClelland, Board Member

Ivy Jeanne McClelland is a queer artist, public health activist and long time San Francisco resident involved with CAMP since 1998. She is interested in the intersection between art and public health, using art as a mediator to rewrite and envision new narratives for community mental health. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, McClelland co-founded Jakmel Ekspresyon Community Arts Center, a safe space for expression open to all with a focus on women, queer and disabled artists in Jacmel, Haiti. In 2012, she  developed the Healing Arts Collective (HAC) model as a creative, holistic and community-led approach to trauma using theater, dance, poetry and movement. She has initiated HAC projects with Hurricane Sandy survivors in Coney Island, Asian Pacific Islander political refugees, earthquake survivors in Jacmel, Haiti and LGBTQ homeless youth. Healing Arts Collective was convened as part of the exhibit The Possible at Berkeley Art Museum and as part of the exhibit SPARKMakers Thinkering School at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
http://jecenter.org/

 

 

 

Lian Ladia, Board Member

Lian Ladia is a curator and organizer based in San Francisco, CA. She is a consultant for public art and engagement for the South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), a land use organization for an immigrant cultural district at the South of Market in SF. She is also the Curator for Exhibitions and Public Programs at The David Ireland House at 500 Capp Street, an artist legacy home of a Bay Area conceptual artist but also an artwork itself. She completed an MA in Curatorial Studies at Bard College in New York and participated at the curatorial program at de Appel in Amsterdam. Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, Ladia has ties and interest in the inner workings of the thriving alternative art community of Manila and Southeast Asia through the curatorial platform she co-founded with Sidd Perez in 2011 called Planting Rice.

plantingrice.com

Kyoko Sato, Board Member

Kyoko Sato, Ph.D. is a social scientist and educator who specializes in the politics of technology. She is particularly interested in the human capacity to reflect on the past and imagine the future in the intersection and interaction of science, technology, and society. In her current research project on the politics of nuclear governance in post-WWII Japan and the United States, she takes interdisciplinary approaches to explore not only political actions of stakeholders and various institutional arrangements, but also how nuclear technology has been understood, imagined, and represented in the media, the arts, and the public discourse. Born and raised in Tokyo, Sato received her B.A. in English from the University of Tokyo, M.A. in journalism from New York University, and Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University. Before entering the academia, she reported on various social issues in Japan as a staff writer at The Japan Times, an English-language daily in Tokyo. She currently teaches and conducts her research at Stanford University as the Associate Director of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Gazaleh, Board Member

Chris Gazaleh is an artist from San Francisco dedicated to promoting cultural, political, and social awareness from a Palestinian-American perspective that is rooted in social justice. Gazaleh uses many mediums to create and spread his art to the world. From murals to illustrations and from graffiti style pieces to clothing designs, Gazaleh’s art is meant to come from all angles. Born in San Francisco and full blooded Palestinian C. Gazaleh is a cross cultural anomaly. Like the poet Mahmoud Darwish said “Ana min huna, ana min hounak” I am from here, I am from there. Chris has been painting murals on Clarion Alley for the past decade.

www.cgazaleh.com/

Katayoun Bahrami, Board Member

Katayoun Bahrami is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist and curator living and working in the Bay Area. Her artistic interest focuses on the interaction between women’s bodies as targets/performers, affected by boundaries that act as catalysts between the two. Bahrami uses mixed-media pieces, installations, textiles, videos, and photographs to convey her ideas. Her work has been exhibited across the US and internationally, including at the LoosenArt Gallery, Rome; the Broad Art Center, Los Angeles; the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles; the Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, SOMArts Gallery, San Francisco; and the SDA Juried Exhibition, Newberg, Oregon. Born in Tehran, Katayoun earned her BFA from the University of Science and Culture in Iran. She graduated from Michigan State University in 2017 with an MA in Arts and Cultural Management—Museum Studies. In 2022, she graduated from California College of the Arts with an MFA in Studio Arts.

katayounbahrami.com

 

 

ADVISORS

Fara Akrami, Advisor

Fara Akrami is a member of the leadership team of CAMP’s community partner ATA, a community activist, and a filmmaker.

Shaghayegh Cyrous, Advisor

Shaghayegh Cyrous is an artist and curator who began her art practice in Tehran with urban installation, performance, and photography. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2011, her work has dealt with cross-cultural communication and translation, addressing predicaments of estrangement and distance caused by political and cultural power dynamics. She incorporates interactive time-based strategies such as social practice, participatory performances, and digital technologies such as live video chats. She received her BA in Visual Art from Science and Culture University in Tehran and her MFA in Social Practice from California College of the Arts. She has exhibited, performed, and curated at venues internationally including Tehran MOCA, Saba Museum in Tehran, Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Jane Addams Hull House Museum in Chicago, British Museum in London, Anchorage Museum, and SFMOMA.

www.shcyrous.com

 

 

 

Keyvan Shovir, Advisor

Keyvan Shovir is a multidisciplinary artist and muralist who was born in Tehran and moved to the US in 2013. Before his immigration his work focused on social issues, including the rights of women and children, and political messaging through Persian calligraphy and Street Art. Since he moved to the United States his work has shifted to explore current political situations, using narration and storytelling from the past with its juxtaposition to the present. The narrative of Shovir’s work is rooted in his Iranian heritage through literature, history, Persian myth, language, and the experiences of colonization and imperialism. He uses sculptural sound installations, murals, and paintings to explore these subjects and narrations. His work has been widely exhibited and presented in the United States, Iran, Turkey, England, Italy, Sweden, and Dubai. Shovir received his MFA from California College of Arts in 2018, and is currently living and working in the SF/Bay Area.

www.keyvanshovir.com

Sean Levon Nash, Advisor

Sean Levon Nash is a San Francisco based artist living in the Mission district for over 20 years.  Born in Oakland, California of mixed Indian heritage his work is predominantly concerned with pre Columbian Indigenous Art and a wide range of imagery related to the Days of the Dead, portraiture and pop art.  His work is chiefly concerned with memory, narrative, and color.  His recent work centers on portraiture and how remnants of native populations are visible in many of us as cultures continue to mix and transform. A painter, printmaker, writer and animator he has exhibited throughout the west coast and internationally at alternative art markets, film festivals and fairs.  He began his work as an art historian under mentorship from the late Bill Berkson at San Francisco Art Institue.  Currently in addition to teaching at CCA, he serves as Chair of the San Francisco Street Art Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Arts Commission,  Curator of The Spot at Stonestown Galleria and teaches African American Art History and Painting at Merritt College in Oakland.

https://seanlevonnash.com/

 

Rigo 23, Board Member, Emeritus

Rigo 23 (Ricardo Gouveia) is an artist, muralist, painter, and political activist born and raised on the Portuguese island of Madeira. He later established himself as an artist in San Francisco, earning a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 1991 and an MFA from Stanford University in 1997. Rigo is a founding member of Clarion Alley Mural Project and currently sits on the Board of Directors. He is considered by art critics and curators to be part of the first generation of the San Francisco Mission School art movement. The bulk of Rigo’s work more literally highlights world politics and political prisoners from the Black Panthers and the Angola Three to Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose conviction for the murder of a policeman is contested, and the American Indian Movement’s Leonard Peltier. He is a professor at The San Francisco Art Institute as well as designed several installations as part of the 2006 Liverpool Biennial. Rigo has received awards for his work including – The Chauncey McKeever Award (San Francisco Art Institute), The WESTF/NEA Regional Fellowshipfor Visual Arts, Best Public Art Project of the Year “One Tree” (San Francisco Bay Guardian), Stoli San Francisco Arts Achievement Award Secession Gallery Visual Art Residency Fellowship Award (Taiwan), SECA Art Award (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennal Award (New York, NY), Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship (CA), Brown University’s Howard Fellowship (Providence, RI), and The Walter and Elise Haas Creative WorkFund (SF, CA with Luggage Store Gallery).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigo_23