Meet Our 2022 Balay Kreative Growth Grantees!
Balay Kreative wants to accelerate the growth of Filipinx artistic expression in the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District of San Francisco. 🇵🇭
Though this year's Kreative Growth Grant, these (7) Filipinx artists in the Bay Area will receive a $3,000 or $6,000 grant, in addition to: free artist studio and programming space, free tuition in our Kreative Growth Masterclass series, and 1:1 mentoring with industry professionals in their field of practice.
We are so excited to share our 2022 Kreative Growth Grant Winners! These seven talented Fil-Am artists across various creative disciplines will be growing their art this year in SOMA Pilipinas.
We had a very diverse pool of applicants with a total of 61 applicants! Thank you to everyone that applied for this year's Kreative Growth grants. We loved learning all about local Filipinx artists in the Bay Area, making moves for their creative projects.
Meet The Artists
Nikbo (she/they) is a shapeshifter. The Filipinx artist makes “Third Culture Pop” that blends pop aesthetics with textures and rhythms from the many cultures she was raised in: The Philippines, Morocco, Malawi, Canada, Kazakhstan, and the SF Bay Area.
Nikbo’s debut music video for “Be A Little Lonely” won an Independent Music Award in 2020 as an audience favorite. Her 2021 song, “We Need Each Other,” was featured in Smithsonian Magazine and included in the “We Rise” Spotify x TRAKTIVIST x Hate is a Virus Editorial Playlist, featuring revolutionary voices in Asian-American music.
Nikbo’s latest EP, “From the Garden,” is a love note to fellow Third Culture Kids, immigrants, and organizers. She is currently working on a project about the Filipino diaspora, grief, and healing through family/ancestral connection. You can support her directly by signing up for her newsletter, Weird + Ugly, and by becoming a patron through Patreon.
Ouida (pronounced wee-duh) is a Filipina-Irish American singer/songwriter, producer, performer, and activist from the San Francisco Bay Area. Her music blends influences of jazz, r&b, and the blues, integrating universal themes of love and self-realization through the lens of the cultural experiences that shaped her.
She received technical training at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU Tisch and completed her degree in sociology at UC Berkeley, a driving force behind her audio visual creations that explore identity and empowerment as a biracial woman.
Her work and passions extend from music production and licensing to consulting for nonprofits and private organizations to help foster diversity, equity and inclusion in their work and communities.
"I have created many short films in college and in post-grad. Many of my college films were intimate vignettes that had a sharp visual component, however lacked the voice that I developed through my short films in Post-Grad. I had the good fortune of working with BAVC in 2020 to create a short film, White Friends- that allowed me the artistic expression to gather my thoughts on my relationships and identity as a minority growing up in a small white town. Afterwards, KSW selected my film as part of their APAture showcase, in which I was able to connect with other Asian American artists who felt my film was emotionally resonant to their experiences. Since then I have shot a few comedy skits with my friends, but have been intensely studying films, writing screenplays, and have fully immersed myself into my creative process in order to develop my voice as a Filipino-American filmmaker."
Cherisse Alcantara (b. Philippines) is a Filipina-American painter based in San Francisco. She received her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (2021) and her BA Art Practice from the University of California-Berkeley (2013). While engaging with the observed world and the formal language of painting, she conjures imaginary spaces. Her practice is anchored in the familiar and reimagines the spaces of everyday. Inspired by the areas she lived in or frequented including the built environment and nearby landscapes, she explores light, luminosity, saturated color, abstract design and representation. Rooted in experiences of loss, disconnect and estrangement from home, space and time, her art reflects upon transience and the need to dwell longer
Joriz is a Freelance self-taught Illustrator/Graphic designer that also competes in the local underground Ball scene as a costume designer.
Through Tropikal Gothik, Joriz will be interpreting illustrations in two different mediums - glass gliding & fabric embroidery.
Amyra Soriano is a writer, editor, and full-time coffee lover with bylines in KQED Arts, Hella Pinay, and East Bay Express. In 2019, she edited The Filipino Channel’s re-imagined version of On the Wings of Love – now available on MYX and Amazon Prime Video.
She looks good on paper, but between the lines — she’s f*cked. “BB KALAMAN$I” follows 20-something Maya Rosari as she juggles the life her family sees through papaya-tinted glasses and what she keeps on the low — as Hype’s newest baby DJ. When her two worlds collide, she’s forced to finally face the truth: she’s a walang hiya with no shame. The short film aims to explore themes on culture, identity, generational trauma, and a splash of debauchery.
Kim Requesto is a Philippine born, Mission District raised cultural practitioner and multi-disciplinary artist based in Unceded Ramaytush Ohlone Territory also recognized as San Francisco, California. She specializes in 35mm photography, filmmaking, and dance. At the heart of Kim Requesto’s diasporic work is the mantra, “Advocacy through art.” With an artistic foundation in Philippine folk dance, Requesto has dedicated herself to cultural expression and advocacy through movement, photography, and community outreach.
She navigates her artistic work with the goal of fostering tangible support for Pilipinxs abroad and Indigenous communities in the Philippines. Requesto conducts extensive field research to get a stronger understanding of regional cultures and livelihoods. Her research coincides with her work as a photographer, which allows her to visually share the realities of Philippine citizens. Through the publication of film photography books and the development of contemporary dance pieces, Requesto uses her artistic platforms to not only raise awareness, but to uplift the voices of marginalized communities both in the Philippines and the Philippine diaspora.