Luwaina Al-Otaibi (she/her) is a creative event organizer, collaborator, environmental advocate, and artist! Born and raised in the Middle East, she moved to the US at the age of 17 to attend University where she received a degree in Environmental Science. Nine years ago she moved to her mother’s small hometown of Granite Falls, MN for (what was supposed to be) just a short period of time. She ended up falling in love with the riverside town and found her passion embedding herself in the vibrant arts community through her work as Bluenose Gopher Public House’s first Chief Operating Officer. Collaborating with musicians, dancers, foragers, theater artists, and more to help create local events, proving that art of all shapes and sizes is an essential piece of any thriving downtown. Luwaina lives in Granite Falls with her two cats and dog. She enjoys the beauty of the Minnesota River Valley by kayaking the rivers and hiking the land.

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Holly Doll, Anpao Win (First Light Woman) (she/her) lives in North Dakota and is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She is the founder and president of Native Artists United, owner of Five Nations Arts, a public speaker on cultural education and racial sensitivity, and making a shift to having a healing-centered approach to work and life. Holly is also an artist, specializing in traditional Lakota forms of beadwork and quillwork, modern painting with watercolor, and occasionally writing poetry. Her mother taught from the age of two everything she knows when it comes to art and she has kept it up ever since.

A lover of Halloween, astrology, fall scented candles, poetry, baking, fiction books, and crying over Pixar movies. Lives by this quote by spoken word poet Shane Koyczan: “If we ever become who we hope we are, it is because we see how far there is still to go. And if we are none of these things to everyone, then we are none of these things at all.”

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Benjamin Domask-Ruh (he/him) is a practicing Circus and Theatre artist based in Minnesota and traveling all around the world. He is a member of the American Circus Alliance, board member with the International Jugglers’ Association, Director of the Youth Juggling Academy, and Editor with Modern Vaudeville Press. Benjamin is a COMPAS roster artist. He facilitates Circus Arts teaching residencies with rural communities all over Minnesota. He was a Hinge Arts Resident Artist (2018) and New York Mills Resident Artist (2019.) In 2020, he was commissioned by the Arrowhead Library in Northern Minnesota to make 1,045 juggling art kits for their communities and summer programming. This is all very fancy sounding, but in reality, he is just a clown that is curious about creating joy through the art of community. He holds a degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. (Very fancy.)

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Elisa M. Franco (she/her) is a marketing and communications professional, clinical herbalist, and interdisciplinary artist. Elisa and her partner are currently building an art and herbalism farm residency in an 18th century house, with the intention to serve the surrounding communities as a creative incubator for the arts and small-scale farming. Elisa has an undergraduate degree in International Business, a graduate degree in Digital Marketing, a graduate certificate in Clinical Herbalism, and has done independent art studies and apprenticeships within the mediums of metal, glass, and ceramics.

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Ashley Hanson (she/her) has 15 years of experience working with rural communities to activate stories, connect neighbors, and exercise collective imagination. She is a member of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice Leadership Circle and she was an Artist-in-Residence in both the Planning Department at the City of Minneapolis and with the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership, where she employed creative community engagement strategies for equitable participation in urban and rural planning and development processes. Previously, she was the Program Director for the Minnesota Theater Alliance—where she managed statewide regional networks and resource sharing—and the Program Director for Public Art Saint Paul—where she produced large-scale participatory public art events and projects, including the Saint Paul City Artist-in-Residence program. In addition to her work with DoPT, she is the founder of PlaceBase Productions, a theater company that creates original, site-specific musicals celebrating small-town life. She holds an MA in Applied Theater with a focus on Rural Community Development, and she was named an Obama Foundation Fellow and a Bush Fellow for her work with rural communities. She believes deeply in the power of play and exclamation points!

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Hannah Holman (she/they) has over 15 years of experience as a nonprofit leader, including in financial management, human resources, fundraising and grant reporting, evaluation, people- and community-centered program design, governance, and event production. She is a poetic playground builder and spreadsheet storyteller leaping between art and administration in a single bound. Hannah has worked with rural, remote, urban, and suburban communities and in organizations of various life cycles, from 40-year-old institutions to growing start-ups. Previously, she has served as the Program Manager and Interim Executive Director with the Minnesota Theater Alliance serving over 500 performing arts organizations statewide through technical assistance, network-building, and geographic and industry-wide advocacy; Project Manager for the Rural Arts & Culture Summit and Recovery Network with Springboard for the Arts planning a sold out multi-day gathering for 360 attendees with 93 presenters at 13+ rural venues; Associate Managing Director with the Loft Literary Center providing fundraising, accessibility, human resources, and capacity-building at one of the nation's largest literary centers, and Producing Artistic Director of Umbrella Collective supporting a 15-year theatrical company through over 20 artistic productions. Hannah loves making spreadsheets, organizing junk drawers, and snuggling with her pup, Poppy.

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Shy Miguel (she/her) is a local artist with a passion for a diverse range of art forms including digital art, drawing, makeup artistry, photography, and more. After earning her degree in Social Work, she returned to her roots in rural Granite Falls 6 years ago. Shy spent several years working as a children’s mental health social worker before welcoming her first daughter in 2023. Combining her lifelong love for art with her commitment to social justice and mental health, Shy discovered her true passion. She found that using creativity as a therapeutic tool not only helped build stronger relationships, but also addressed trauma that words often can’t reach. Moreover, it provided folks with lasting hobbies and skills to support their ongoing growth and healing. Shy is most proud of being a mom to Nelly, a partner to Matthew, and an auntie to her five nieces and two nephews. 

Sarina Otaibi (she/her) is an Arab American rural cultural worker shaped by her 15 years of experience working in entrepreneurship, community development, building activation, and local government. As the Activate Rural Program Director at DoPT, she works with artists and community leaders to cultivate creative physical places of connection. Previous to joining DoPT, Sarina directed the statewide Minnesota Main Street program and worked with communities across the state to establish preservation and arts-based community development approaches. In her home community of Granite Falls, MN, she served as an elected City Council Member and as the founding Board Chair of a creative taproom and gathering place, Bluenose Gopher Public House Cooperative. She holds a master’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Maryland.

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