Artspiration is the countywide initiative to support arts education for all students in Santa Clara County Schools. Since 2007, the Santa Clara County Office of Education has put forward a focused arts education initiative known as Artspiration.
Vision - Partnering with public schools, arts organizations, and the greater community to foster equitable and transformative education through the Arts.
Mission - Artspiration is committed to shared leadership in advocating, empowering, and supporting sustainable arts education to develop the creative capacity of each student and educator in Santa Clara County public schools.
Meet the Team
Sofia Fojas is a leader for cultural equity and social justice in the arts. A classroom music teacher and high school music director for 20 years, she taught orchestra, band, IB Music, and mariachi. In 2008, Ms. Fojas was the only K-12 teacher in the first class (the OGs!) of Multicultural Arts Leadership Initiative in San Jose. In the last 6 years, she has served as a district arts leader in San Francisco and Elk Grove school districts.
She has performed with Mariachi Cali, Mariachi Atzlan and as a guest in a performance with Mariachi Sol de Mexico. She performed with Los Cenzontles and recorded with them on an album of the Chieftans. She has played in backup orchestras behind Natalie Cole, Dionne Warwick, Andy Williams, Smokey Robinson, and Johnny Mathis.
Aimee Espiritu, M. Ed. launched Espiritu Consulting in October 2017 rooted in her satiable quality to connect things. This process has been a lifelong pursuit of insight to bring people closer to something: to each other, to a place, a history, to the future, and to purpose. Raised academically in Industrial Design, she gained the means to solve problems with a product design lens. During her years in public education, she began grasping the principle of bringing people into the center of inquiry. Ultimately, her drive to use creativity as a tool for re-imagining how organizations, structures and people can enhance their social impact has fortified her design acumen of human-centered interaction. She brings 14 years of management in nonprofits, school districts, museums, foundations and government institutions. All these experiences have ignited her over 2 decades - committing herself to the work as a strategist / organizational designer / creative consultant. Aimee's consulting practice lives at the intersection of community development, arts & culture, racial equity, strategy and thought-partnership
Kati Silva, MA ILS is a circle keeper, a scholar-practitioner, and an educator bridging social justice and spiritual transformation. Born and raised in the territory that is known today as San Jose, Costa Rica, she worked as a Bodywork Practitioner and a Yoga and Somatics Educator. As a woman of color with Afro-Meztiza lineages raging from Nicaragua to Europe and Huetar and Chorotega heritages, Kati is committed to cross-cultural liberatory praxis that reflects her deep respect and service to Mother Earth, as well as to Radical Collective Transformation. Currently living in occupied Tamien Ohlone land, San Francisco Bay Area, she serves as a Popular Educator and Leadership Development Coordinator, integrating transformative and restorative practices within a collective of community leaders in the neighborhood of Mayfair in East San Jose. Kati has had the privilege of higher education, holding a Master’s Degree in Women, Gender, Spirituality, and Social Justice from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Her inquiries are centered in embodiment, Indigenous and experiential ways of knowing, Abuelita wisdom, foodways, the arts, eco-feminism, and community resilience.
Administrative Assistant
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Artspiration generously funded by
Some of the entries are for informational purposes only. The views expressed herein are those of the presenter/partner; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the SCCOE. Any questions/comments related to the content should be directed to the original source.
