Change-Maker in Residence Program
The Huerta Center’s residency program fosters opportunities for students and faculty to connect with and learn from community activists, organizers, and artists who have furthered public understanding of Latinx and Latin American communities and advanced initiatives that support greater social, economic, and racial justice in our hemisphere.
Residents are selected and recognized for their contributions to the work that is at the heart of the Huerta Center’s mission: the pursuit of human rights, social justice, and transformational dialogues across borders. The format of the residency can vary, but each residency is an opportunity for mutual exchange and learning, as residents not only share their expertise but also have an opportunity to access university research resources and engage with the Huerta Center community to further their own social change work.
2023 | Josué Rojas: Artist-in-Residence
Josué Rojas is a practicing visual artist, muralist, and educator. Rojas has worked in the Bay Area for over 25 years in San Francisco, particularly creating public art. Rojas’ work is characterized by conversations with the community and engagement and turning those values, concerns, and stories into aesthetic expression.
The intention behind the work is to bring critical consciousness and bring beauty to the same conversation while delivering beauty, subtlety, and mastery of the craft of painting– paying respects to decades of muralists that have come before.
Rojas holds a BFA in Painting/Drawing and an MFA in Painting/Drawing from Boston University. Rojas lives and works in Northern California, primarily San Francisco where he lives.
As the Artist-in-Residence for the Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, Josué Rojas consulted with the UC Santa Cruz community in Spring 2023 and worked with several student and community artists to create a stunning new mural at Casa Latina in summer 2023.
This residency was generously cosponsored by the Arts Research Institute‘s Arts and Oppression initiative, the Institute for Arts and Sciences, The Humanities Institute, the UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement’s VOICE initiative, and Dr. Carlos Martinez of the Latin American and Latino Studies Department.
2019 | Isaí Ambrosio: Activist-in-Residence
Isaí Ambrosio is the Director of the Davenport Resource Service Center (DRSC), one of 6 programs offered by the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc. A former farmworker, Isaí received his formal education along the Central Coast, starting at Cabrillo College and then moving on to California State University, Monterey Bay, and eventually earning a law degree from Monterey College of Law.
As a local activist and community leader, he has sought to find ways to support migrants, families, and others in need. Over the past several years, he has volunteered at the Watsonville Law Center, the YMCA, Santa Cruz Community Coalition to Overcome Racism, Monarch Services, and his church. Isaí’s family lives in Watsonville. His wife Marisa is a first-grade teacher and their son Diego is in fifth grade.
As the Activist-in-Residence for the Research Center for the Americas, he consulted with the UC Santa Cruz community to develop a new project to strengthen the quality of relationships with families in North County, specifically conceptualizing a program to support mothers. He also met with students and faculty and shared insights into the work of the DSRC and the needs of the Davenport community.
A portion of the expenses associated with this residency were sponsored by the Social Action Committee of Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS).
