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EDUCATIONAL COMPONET
FORUMS
Hosted by
BEATRIZ J. RIZK, Ph.D.
Educational Program Director
WCAC
KOUBEK
CARNIVAL
KOUBEK
WCAC
CARNIVAL
WCAC
CARNIVAL
Thurs.
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Sept 4
Sept 5
Sept 11
Sept 12
Sept 13
Sept 19
Sept 20
Sept 25
TEARS
WHITE WIND
THE BREAK
PALABODA
LEFT OVER
MAGALLANES
PROTOCOL
LEAR
PLAY
DATE
VENUE
FESTIVAL POSTER ARTIST
NAZA
(Brazil)
A Brazilian-American artist whose works are in several important collections, including Ayrton Senna Institute, The West Point Museum, and the Cornell Museum of Art and History. Her works have been exhibited in several major galleries and museums throughout the United States, Brazil, France, Panama, and Canada. Some of Naza’s honors are the Croix d’Argent of Merite et Devoument Français, Woman of Distinction by Soroptimists of America, Boca Raton chapter, the Key to The City of Boca Raton, and a Proclamation by the Brazilian Senate in her honor. The most striking aspect of Naza’s art is her skilled integration of opposites, such as abstraction and realism. Her contemporary art is imaginative, powerful, and unprecedented in style. Naza has created a new fashion print inspired by her original paintings. Each piece of her apparel line turns the wearer into a walking work of art. www.naza.com / www.nazafashion.com.
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S DAY POSTER ARTIST
SANTIAGO R. NIEBLES (Miami, U.S.A.)
Born in Miami on June 5th, 2017. He came to this world to complete a family of four. After a successful tumor removal surgery, his cancer battle began. His life has been filled with love, prayers from all over the world, and support from organizations like Live Like Bella Childhood Cancer Foundation. He rang the bell on May 19, 2023, after 9 months of continuous treatment, marking the end of his treatment. With the help of family and friends, he created his first lemonade stand to raise funds, which allowed him to deliver toys and gift cards to the families at Nicklaus Children Hospital, Miami Cancer Institute, Kidz Medical Clinic, and Jar of Hearts.
Olga Garay-English has been an international arts consultant since 2014. She is co-director of the National Latinx Theater Initiative (NLTI), an initiative of LA-based Latino Theater Company. NLTI provides multi-year General Operating Support grants and professional development opportunities to 52 Latinx theaters/ensembles in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Supported by national and local foundations such as Mellon, Ford, Duke, Rockefeller Brothers, and Joyce, among others, over the last two years, nearly $6.4 million have been awarded. Olga is Senior Advisor for International Affairs to Chile's Fundación Teatro a Mil.
She was Executive Director of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (2008-2014), reporting to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. While at DCA, she raised more than $23 million from private and public funding sources, which is nearly $32 million in 2025.
Olga was the Founding Program Director for the Arts at the Doris Duke Foundation (1998-2005), awarding $145 million in grants to national and international performing arts organizations, which is equivalent to $236,901,639 in 2025.
In 1985, Olga collaborated with the late Mario Ernesto Sanchez, Producing Artistic Director of Teatro Avante, to found the award-winning International Hispanic Theatre Festival. The Festival presents work from Hispanic playwrights and ensembles from throughout the United States and the world.
Olga funds three artists' residency programs: The Dr. Kerry English Artists Awards at the Ojai Playwrights Conference, a ten-year initiative that began in 2021. To date, five playwrights have received the award.
Since 2021, the Dr. Kerry English International Arts Fund at the Watermill Center, a renowned international arts space on Long Island, New York, founded by acclaimed artist Robert Wilson, has supported Chilean artists during three-week residencies.
Most recently, the Olga Garay-English and Dr. Kerry English Residency Award was launched. It is a new three-year initiative supporting Latinx and Latin American artists at the Atelier Samuel Beckett, a Franco-Irish artists' residency program based in Méricourt, France. The Atelier was established by Judy Hegarty Lovett and Conor Lovett, the artistic directors of Gare St Lazare Ireland, esteemed worldwide for their interpretations of Samuel Beckett's work.
She serves on the Steering Committee of the International Presenting Commons and is a Creative Ambassador with the NYC-based Under the Radar Festival, which she helped create in 2005. She serves on the Boards of the International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA), South Arts Regional Arts Organization, and Ojai Playwrights Conference, among others. She was named a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 2012. The LA Weekly Theater Award for Special Achievement, the Queen of the Angels, was granted to Ms. Garay-English in 2013 for outstanding support of LA's theater sector and as co-founder of RADAR LA Festival of International Theater. She is also a recipient of a Bessie Award, the New York Dance and Performance Awards, for sustained contribution to the field – 2006.
She was born in Santa Clara, Cuba and was married to the late Dr. Kerry English, the former director of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pediatric Hub in Watts.