Cultural storytelling, archives, and music heritage in action.
Projects and collaborations
My projects explore the spaces where music, memory, storytelling, identity, education, and community collide. Moving between exhibitions, live experiences, interdisciplinary programming, and cultural collaborations, I create work designed to feel intellectually curious, emotionally resonant, and deeply human.
As a native of Santa Cruz, many of my foundational memories and experiences are deeply rooted in space and place — The Cooper House (RIP), Logo's Books (I still can’t deal with the fact that it closed), and the Veterans Memorial Building, where I put on my first shows as a teenager.
For years, I’ve been searching for an opportunity to become involved in my hometown alongside people who shared my belief in what a modern interdisciplinary cultural space in Santa Cruz could look like — one rooted in creativity, curiosity, music, storytelling, education, and meaningful community connection.
An email from the new Executive Director of The 418 Project, Dennis Bartok, finally allowed that hope to begin taking shape.
Together, we are exploring ways to bring writers, artists, musicians, thinkers, educators, and audiences together through experiences that reflect the creative, intellectually curious, and quietly aspirational spirit of Santa Cruz itself.
We’re always interested in hearing from artists, writers, musicians, educators, filmmakers, and creative thinkers interested in building thoughtful, community-rooted cultural experiences in Santa Cruz.
The George Michael Archive & WHAM!
When I got the call from a friend at Sony Music asking whether I’d be interested in working with the Wham! estate and Andrew Ridgeley on a new project, my screams of joy could probably be heard across the continent. I LOVE Wham!, I LOVE George, and honestly, I would have signed up for just about anything they asked.
Instead, I had the extraordinary privilege of creating an extensive media archive spanning the group’s iconic career before collaborating with Andrew on unpacking the stories behind each track for the exclusive hardback book included in the 40th anniversary box set.
It was a thrill from beginning to end — and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little giddy every time “Andrew Ridgeley” appeared on my phone as an incoming call.
ska boys by photographer Janette Beckman
2 Tone: Lives & Legacies at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
I’ve been obsessed with ska since I was a teenager. Bands like No Doubt, Madness, The Specials, Fishbone, and The Selecter didn’t just shape my taste in music — they shaped how I saw the world. To me, ska has always represented kindness, inclusivity, individuality, joyful rebellion, community, and unapologetic self-expression.
I’ve known the members of No Doubt since I was young, and they remain, in many ways, the living embodiment of everything I love about the genre: creativity without pretension, radical openness, emotional honesty, and completely infectious energy. Their music — and the broader 2 Tone and ska movements — had an enormous impact on my identity, ethos, and sense of belonging growing up in California.
So when I was invited to serve as a curator for Herbert Art Gallery and Museum’s landmark 2 Tone exhibition — located in Coventry, the birthplace of the movement itself — it felt like a genuine full-circle moment.
The project gave me the opportunity to interview old friends and musicians from bands I’ve loved for years, including Punch the Clown, Reel Big Fish, and Mustard Plug. Some of my own personal ephemera — including original No Doubt shirts and memorabilia gifted to me by the band — were also featured in the exhibition.
As the first major UK exhibition devoted to the 2 Tone movement, celebrating artists including The Specials, The Selecter, and Madness, it was an extraordinary honour to help tell the story of a movement that had such a profound impact on my life.
