BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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Aki Shibata, Board Chair, (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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Dantes Ha, Vice Chair (he/him/his)
Dantes was born in Viet Nam and moved to the United States at the age of 11. Having lived in Frogtown for over 20 years, he understands firsthand the needs and wants of this community. Frogtown, while important as a transitional neighborhood for many new immigrants to St. Paul, has often been long overlooked in terms of social amenities. As a student of design and an architect in training, Dantes believes that community driven design is transformative and can help bring about justice, equality, and a better quality of life. This is why Dantes believes in the Victoria Arts Center; because it is a combination of his interest in community driven design and it is exactly the thing that will make Frogtown a better place |
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Walken Schweigert, Board Secretary (he/him/his)
Walken is a queer/transgender actor, musician, composer and director from St. Paul, MN. A 2019 Jerome Foundation Fellow, he is a 2009 graduate of the Dell’ Arte International School for Physical Theatre, and a 2006 graduate of the Perpich Center for Arts Education (Theatre Major). Currently, he performs with the poetic-folk band Buffalo Weavers (Minneapolis, MN) and the Occult-inspired, witch-pop, Detroit-based band CRUNE. He is also the Founder/Artistic Director of Open Flame Theatre. Walken grew up in the Midway/Frogtown/Rondo neighborhoods, and after many travels moved back to Frogtown in 2020 to stay. He is strongly committed to organizational autonomy, sustainability, and grassroots community connection and is very excited to root those passions in his position as Board Secretary for VTAC. |
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Sarah Snapp, Treasurer (she/her/hers)
Sarah Snapp retired from a varied career in human services and education. Highlights of her career include working as an individual and family therapist in residential and outpatient settings, being the founding mother of a school-based violence prevention program and founding member of the Critical Incident Response Team in Ramsey County, and as the administrator of federal programs and budget director for the Minneapolis Public Schools. Since retiring in 2013 Sarah has served in a variety of volunteer roles with Second Harvest Heartland, The American Refugee Committee (now Alight), the Vital Aging Network, Vision Loss Resources and with community groups advocating for students and families in the St. Paul Public Schools. Sarah lives in St. Paul where she enjoys hiking in beautiful Minnesota parks, needlecrafts, and cooking for friends. As the pandemic recedes she looks forward to returning to in-person theater and music events. |
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David Valentine (he/him/his)
Born in Burnaby, British Columbia and raised in the Pacific Northwest, David Valentine is a writer, woodcarver, musician, and conversationalist who specializes in internal culture change and community engagement at the Science Museum of Minnesota, though he has worked with various museums and cultural institutions. Having moved to Minneapolis in 2020, his current focus is on power sharing, dialogue, and collaboration with communities, seeking to subvert white supremacist culture in the organizations he works for and create fertile ground for genuine relationships to grow from. He is also currently a Community Science Dialogue and Deliberation Fellow for the Association of Science and Technology Centers. David has founded, chaired, and been a member for various committees for inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, including the Seattle Cultural Accessibility Consortium, the Seattle Center Racial Equity Cohort, and MASS Action’s Anti-Racism Community of Practice. He has also founded, participated in, or volunteered for cooperative screenwriting groups, musical collaborations, and community organizations. He utilizes his practices to focus on shifting personal perspectives and behaviors, balancing his focus between the self and the community. His work revolves around addressing or recovering from racial disparities and injustices in our society, is constantly informed by community needs and values, and is in continuous development. |
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Erica Valliant (she/her/hers)
Erica is a change maker, organizer, and mom. As a member of the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood Parent Council she has worked to make life better for parents and families by advocating for housing rights at the capitol, participating in MN 2-GEN discussions, and serving as a member of the Regional Expert Network for Heading Home Together: Minnesota’s 2018–2020 Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. She serves on the Board of Directors of her neighborhood planning council and is a member of her children's school P.T.A and the Ramsey County low-income Citizen's Advisory Council. As a Community Engagement Specialists for the Science Museum of Minnesota she works to root the approach of access and equity efforts in community and foster a stronger relationship between POCI and STEM. As an organizer and facilitator for the Education Partnership Coalition she works to build power in communities throughout Minnesota by helping caregivers and staff who work with families recognize and exercise their advocacy muscles. Her work with families and communities was recognized through a 2018 Unsung Hero Award from Minnesota Communities Caring for Children. |
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Mondo Davison, (he/him/his)
Mondo Davison (aka The Black Tech Guy) is an athlete, turned educator, turned entrepreneur. “We have to meet young people where they are at. The traditional narrative -- go to school, get good grades, go to college, and get a job working for someone else is no longer the universal American Dream for young POCs. Therefore, our salesmanship as mentors and motivators must adapt and evolve” Davison argues. In contrast, his mission to inspire a generation of black males to maximize their creative gifts through technology startups. He believes branding The Black Tech Guy as a disruptive Startup founder will lead to a more compelling ‘Plan A’ than rapper, trapper, or athlete for the youth of our community. |
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Holly (Miskitoos) Henning (She/Hers/Her)
Tribal Affiliations: Marten Falls Anishinaabe First Nation and Constance Lake Oji-Cree First Nation Holly is a mother, a Jingle Dress dancer, a visual artist, and muralist who is a lead organizer for an all BIPOC artist collective called City Mischief Murals in the Twin Cities area. She utilizes art to elevate community voice, healing, and advance change. She has been a part of community arts-based events and mural projects throughout the United States, Canada, Africa, and Mexico. She uses acrylic paint, aerosol paint, traditional Native American artforms and dance as a personal and political tool to address, explore and portray contemporary indigenous struggle. Holly enjoys connection to nature, being a good relative and spending time with family. Holly works for Ain Dah Yung Center (neighboring VTAC) overseeing programs dedicated to using traditional/ holistic healing working with Native youth experiencing sexual exploitation/ human trafficking, survival sex and homelessness. Holly has been part of several Safe Harbor protocol development efforts across the state of Minnesota, is a member of the MN Human Trafficking Task Force and is on the Steering Committee for Heading Home Ramsey Continuum of Care working to end homelessness in Saint Paul and Ramsey County. Holly supports and sees the Victoria Theater Arts Center as a safe space for artists, and for community to come together in Saint Paul. Chi Miigwetch! Ninaskomtin! |
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Chris Wilbourn, (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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Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria (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. |