BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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Chris Wilbourn, Board Chair Pronouns: He/Him/His Musician Chris Wilbourn is a big-picture thinker and strong communicator whose roots in the community anchor his passion and vision for the Victoria. Chris is valued for his generosity, loyalty, curiosity, and verbosity. His band Heiruspecs has not only rapped and sung the future of St. Paul for over 20 years but has also invested back into the community. Through the Heiruspecs Scholarship, in conjunction with the St. Paul Central Scholarship Foundation, they have given away over $50,000 in scholarships to Central High School graduates looking to pursue secondary education in the arts. As a financial crimes investigator for Wells Fargo, Chris has a good command of informational sensitivity and is comfortable working in diverse settings with diverse people---a skill he’s honed since childhood growing up in Midway, Frogtown, and Rondo. Father of two, he’s a lover of hip-hop and house music, teaching his sons to grow their own food, and the kind of fast cars that would be at home in the Porky's parking lot or the Sun Foods parking lot 10 years ago. Chris has seen too many artists without a home for their art leave Frogtown, and knows the Victoria has the potential to be that home, as well as a community anchor in its fight against displacement and loss of identity. Its contagious energy will make it a cultural landmark for St. Paul---a place for community engagement, enrichment, and excitement.
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Sarah Nichols, Vice-Chair, Community Engagement Committee Member Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Sarah Nichols is a media technology and testing coordinator with the Roseville School District and an expert in participatory action research and design. Her strong communication, event planning, and graphic design skills serve the Victoria well in her role on the Community Engagement Committee. Sarah believes everyone can lead and demonstrates this through her work with young people and her commitment to radical inclusion, collaboration, and intergenerational leadership. She was drawn to the Victoria Theater Arts Center by the possibility of having a space in the neighborhood for people to recognize the artist within themselves. She joined the board in 20## and is currently vice-chair. Sarah is a long-time resident of the neighborhood and recently became a member of the Summit University Planning Council (District 8). Her proudest accomplishment is returning to school for a bachelor’s degree in technical communication and ethnic studies from Metropolitan State University. A loving mother and aunt, her family and friends know her to be giving, open, and hard-working. |
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Aki Shibata, Board Secretary, Community Engagement Committee Chair Pronouns: She/her/hers and they/them
Aki is an artist, teacher, and facilitator who creates spaces for everyone to feel who they are. Aki’s talent is building community and connecting people. An organized, creative educator who asks the important questions, Aki has taught diversity, equity, and inclusion for over ten years. Her list of current community engagement projects include a commission for public art at Rondo Library and the ongoing behavioral art practice Don’t You Feel it Too?. Aki is a co-founder of Carry on Homes, an immigrant-run artist group, and an Associate at Forecast Public Art. A Japanese immigrant and proud Frogtown homeowner, Aki is also a board member of the Frogtown Neighborhood Association, a part of FreshLo: Food, Art, and Culture in Frogtown and Rondo, and teaches preschool at the Minnesota Japanese School. A passionate cook, mother, and host, she loves sharing her home with family including a lovely husband, John, and 8-year-old Atom, friends, and neighbors through parties, good food, and an always-open door. Aki received her BFA in photography from the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul. Aki believes the Victoria will be an equity-centered space where people can express their full selves and be brave enough to create the change they want to see. |
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Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria, Board Member, Community Engagement Committee Member Pronouns: He/Him/His
Poet Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria is a long-time Frogtown community member especially focused on engaging and mentoring area youth. Rodrigo loves the neighborhood and its heart of art, activism, and history. He uses his excellent organizing skills as an office manager at the University of Minnesota. Rodrigo values and models creativity and imagination in teamwork in both his roles as a professional soccer coach and a creative writer. Rodrigo is invested in Frogtown as a place to raise his family, as a local homeowner, and as a board member of the St. Paul Blackhawks Soccer Club. When not coaching soccer, he cooks, bikes, spends time with family and dreams of Peruvian food. He received his bachelor’s degree in Chicano studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and his MFA from Hamline University. Rodrigo dreams that the Victoria will be a place where he and his neighbors can perform and share their art. |
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Mai Chong Xiong, Board Member, Finance Committee member Pronouns: She/Her/Hers Mai Chong Xiong is a passionate organizer who works with politicians and community members to build a better place for us all to live. As a legislative aide for the City of St. Paul’s (and Frogtown’s) Councilmember Dai Thao, her determination has helped pass progressive city legislation like earned sick and safe time, minimum wage, responsible banking, affordable housing, and paid parental leave. Born in Rondo, raised in Frogtown, Mai Chong has been a leader in St. Paul’s Hmong community, organizing the first-ever Hmong American Day in the state of Minnesota, paving the way for organized Hmong Women's Flag Football, and working to elect the first Hmong-American city council member to the St. Paul City Council in 2012. Her compassionate fight for racial and economic equity in Minnesota has also led her to serve as board chair of Take Action Minnesota since 2015. Mai Chong earned her degree in political science from the College of Saint Benedict. Mai Chong believes in the success of the Victoria because it is a project grounded and rooted in community that will create a place for all residents to call their own. |
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Aaron Rubenstein, Board Member, Chair of Building Committee Pronouns: He/him/his
Aaron is a historic preservation and land-use consultant. As a city planner and historic preservation planner for the City of Saint Paul, he worked collaboratively with many property owners to find solutions that met historic district guidelines and prevented the demolition of two historic Lowertown buildings. As a community organizer in Chicago, he brought people together to exercise community power to improve their neighborhood thereby preventing the city from closing a fire station and forcing slumlords to improve substandard housing. Aaron’s strengths are listening, problem-solving, and historical research (and parallel parking). He loves leading historic tours to help people understand how to see, understand, and appreciate historic buildings of all kinds and how history has shaped the context of the built environment in which we live Aaron is steward of a lovely 99-year-old home and a member of the South Uptown Neighborhood Association, Minnesota Chapter of Society of Architectural Historians, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Aaron became involved in VTAC in 2014 as a result of a project he completed with Historic Saint Paul to highlight underutilized and threatened historic resources along University Avenue. Since then, he has worked on facade rehab projects on three buildings at the Victoria LRT station, has led several neighborhood tours, and has had the great pleasure of getting to know and working with great people in a number of Frogtown and Rondo organizations. “What drew me to the Victoria Theater project were the the great need for a community-based arts venue in a community bursting with creative talent and energy, the wonderful potential for reclaiming and reusing a vacant, threatened historic resource for the community's benefit , and the community's enthusiasm, engagement, and commitment to the project.” A loyal and generous friend, Aaron enjoys entertaining, his family, jazz, and all forms of the arts. |