Save the Date!
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7/24 and 7/25
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Save the Date! -- 7/24 and 7/25 --
CREATE 2026
Harvesting Hope
The culmination of our flagship CREATE program, this original dance and performance poetry production celebrates local changemakers in San Diego who have made a positive and lasting impact in our communities. To keep our hope alive, we look back to local cultural figures and moments in history where individuals and groups had to resist and take action to address critical issues. We honor the changemakers who have used their voices, skills, tools, and creativity to make a difference.
Through learning about their work and collective action, young people at transcenDANCE have come to see themselves as changemakers too. By looking to these pivotal moments and key people, we harvest hope that we can persist, repair and rebuild.
Meet Our Honorees
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Deeply rooted in community building and food sovereignty work, Mixteco leadership
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Co-coordinator of the PUENTE Project, President of Centro Cultural de la Raza, living example of cultural continuity
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Managing Director of Project New Village, waymaker and womanist with 30 years of experience managing small community-rooted organizations
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Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University, community-based researcher, scholar, teacher and writer
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Arts Advisory Committee of Centro Cultural de la Raza, cultural worker and community organizer in institution-building and legacy work
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Restorative Justice leader disrupting school-to-prison pipeline
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Owner of Libélula Books, a queer affirming bookstore, cultural hub and shop
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Long time San Diego civil rights leader and LGBTQIA+ and Latino rights activist
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Licensed psychologist, researcher, and patented inventor, first-gen student success and system-levels mentorship work
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Sudanese-American poet, Poem of the Year Award at SDPF24, healing-centered storytelling and spoken word
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Criminal defense attorney in San Diego who combines legal advocacy with community education
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Award winning illustrator and muralist, rooted in social justice and community empowerment work
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Actor, director, producer and the Executive Artistic Director of MOXIE Theatre in San Diego
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Artist in Chicano Park, known for his bike club at the neighborhood schools and his AME classes (Art Media Entertainment)
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Led the change for Henry Clay Elementary School's name change to Dr. Bertha O. Pendleton Elementary
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Zapotec writer and organizer in indigenous representation and mutual aid
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Newberry Medal-winning author of young adult novels, best known for his books Mexican WhiteBoy and We Were Here
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Award-winning author of picture books including Drawn Together (winner of the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature)
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Professor, State Legislator, and California’s first black Secretary of State, reforms in education, health care, criminal justice, and policy work
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Founder and Executive Director of First Gen Scholars, a nonprofit working to help first-generation college students from low income communities
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Advocate for equitable learning, expert in Afrofuturism, actively involved in community service and social justice endeavors
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Executive Director of Alliance San Diego, a community organization dedicated to building collective power to create an inclusive democracy