From the vault - Recorded nearly a year ago, Community Profile member (and 2024 gala performer) Jane Mantiri describes her father’s determination to bring his family to the United States, the dreams she put on hold until his passing, and her plans to return to her birth country of Indonesia to film a documentary about her story - a trip she just returned from!

 Mare Biddle is a playwright, author, and member of the DGA. Flash Nonfiction publications include “Hair Ties” at The Manifest-station and “Tuesday Morning” in Under the Gum Tree. Her One-Act companion plays “Throwing Snowballs at the Moon” and “Post Game Show” were produced at Arizona’s Theatre Artists Studio. Other dramatic and literary works have appeared in various productions, festivals, and readings. She’s done some good writing and some bad writing, to good reviewsand bad reviews, in perplexing combinations. Mostly she just keeps practicing in Portland, Oregon.

Indigenous 2 Spirit artist a.c.ramírez de arellaño (Taíno Hiwayawa) utilizes public spaces to create a dialogue that educates, inspires, and builds bridges between communities. The artist seeks to draw attention to the capacity for individuals and communities to heal, grow, and thrive through our interconnectedness. Like many Indigenous peoples who push back against erasure and are writing themselves and their Tribal Nations back into history through their art, a.c.ramírez takes inspiration from ancestral stories to create large pieces of art. Working with leather, oil on canvass, and mask making, their work tells a story of overcoming barriers, and the impact of colonialism at the intersection of their disabled, Indigenous, and queer communities. A recipient of the GLAPN Queer Heroes Award, they have been interviewed on OPB, NPR, and numerous other local broadcasts. They have worked artistically with a number of city offices, school districts, non profits, , and currently are participating in a 2021 artist-in-residency program with Ten Tiny Talks. Their work has been added to Regional Arts & Culture Council’s collection of public art for the City of Portland, Oregon.