Content Magazine

Karen Kienzle is director of the Palo Alto Art Center and oversees this vital community organization's vision, budget, marketing efforts, and staffing. Karen brings more than 15 years of experience in arts administration to the Art Center and is also a lecturer for the San Francisco State University Museum Studies Program. In the past, Karen has served as assistant director for exhibitions, educat...

#38 - Michael Ogilvie - City of San Jose's Director fo Public Art Michael Ogilvie, formerly overseeing public art programs in Las Vegas and Clark County, as San Jose's public art director, seeks to deepen San Jose inhabitants' appreciation of their home and leads the city's public art program by stewarding over 250 works of art, research, and plans and evaluates public art projects. Michael has wo...

Janice Lobo Sapigao  Lately, two topics seem to be on the mind of Santa Clara County's latest poet laureate, Janice Lobo Sapigao: death and childhood. Though "beginning" and "end" might seem polar opposites, they're closer than we often give them credit for. "I just want people to know that there's still meaning in all of it, so I hope my work captures that." _ Janice Lobo Sapigao In our conv...

36 - Steve Borkenhagen - Urban Confluence Silicon Valley Steve Borkenhagen has been an entrepreneur and business owner in Silicon Valley since 1975. He opened Camera One Theater, the first repertory cinema in San Jose, and partners in 1975. Since then, Steve had founded and operated multiple bars and restaurants in the South Bay Area, including Eulipia Restaurant from 1977 to 2012 when they transi...

Cain Ramirez - Paper Moon Coffee Company Cain co-founded Cowgirl Bike Courier, a San Jose-based bike messenger service, with Amanda Muehlbauer in 2014. After running the business for a few years in the South Bay, better business opportunities led him to San Francisco; but after an injury and changes in the messenger industry, Cain retired from that business. Soon after, the contacts he had made as...

Omar Rodriguez founded Kooltura Marketing to provide creative communications agency that works  through the paradigm of multicultural marketing, a form of marketing that bases its strategy and methods on the people, culture, language, and history of the community it hopes to target. Kooltura has targeted San Jose’s Mayfair community and downtown San Jose.  In December 2019, Omar cofounde...

Ren Geisick isn't a typical jazz or country singer. As a matter of fact, she categorizes herself as an Americana singer-songwriter. Growing up with country and jazz icons playing through the stereo in her San Jose home, she is equally influenced by Bob Dylan and Nina Simone; she flows seamlessly, from the soulful delivery of a jazz ballad to the carefree lilt of an American folk song. Ren is a sol...

#32 - Demone Carter - Rapper, Creative Catalyst, and Nonprofit Professional Demone Carter's original plan was to be a "famous" rapper but found himself in the arts nonprofit world after starting after school youth hip-hop dance program. He continues to Rap and make music, but that transition led his path to become an influential voice in the South Bay creative scene. From overseeing MALI and the S...

#31 - Trami Cron - Chopsticks Alley Trami Nguyen Cron, the founder of Chopsticks Alley Art, and author of her 2016 debut novel, VietnamEazy: A NovelaboutMothers, Daughters, and Food . Having lived in cultural crossroads for most of her life Trami founder Chopsticks Ally Arts in 2018 to bring their people’s artwork outside of their community into the mainstream so that “our narrative, our voices, o...

Karen Gutfreund is a curator focusing on feminist and social justice themed art and is also a practicing artist. She has been a contributor to Content Magazine with her piece on "Art as Slow Change" (http://bit.ly/artslowchange104). Karen's current work is a catalog featuring 147 artists with over 350 works titled, "Not Normal: Art in the Age of Trump" as is a visual protest of the Trump administr...

#29 - Usha Srinivasan , Founder, and President of Sangam Arts Usha started reconnecting with native forms of art from her home country, which led her into the local arts and culture scene. Soon she noticed that there were many diverse subgroups of people engaging in the arts from their country of origin but not being exposed to other traditions that are happening here in Silicon Valley. Thus, she...

Jonathan Williams took the helm as Executive Artistic Direct in July, amid the COVID pandemic. As a theatre, their performances (and revenue) came to an abrupt halted with the shelter-in-place orders. Immediately, the Tabard team began to think to go way to pivot and produce a live-stream format and presented one-man show performances of "Looking Over the President's Shoulder," featuring  Jam...

Jessica Paz-Cedillos - Executive Director School of Arts and Culture Jessica accepted the School of Arts and Culture's role in March 2019 with years of experience in community service and activation. She brings those skills, knowledge, and passion to her new position, which has been vital. They have had to pivot t they working out the mission to catalyze creativity and empowers the community.&nbsp...

Fiesta Pamplona is a documentary project from local photojournalist and San Jose State alumnus Neal Waters. The beautify shot film records the process and events surrounding the Fiesta de San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain, which include the daily running of the bulls. In our conversation with Neal Waters (executive producer), we discuss how this project came about and the festival's history. We also h...

#ContentPodcast Episode #25 Needle to the Groove (NTTG)  - Michael Boado & David Ma Michael is one of the co-founders of the Needle to the Groove (NTTG) record store in San José and also know as DJ Basura. David Ma is part of the NTTG label, and is an accomplished writer, contributor, and curator to Content Magazine's Album Pick series . Check out latest selection at https://bit.ly/AlbumP...

#ContentPodcast Episode #24  Socorra - Musician and Community Organizer If you have been listening to the Content Podcast, you have heard her song "Muddy Water" behind the intro and the closing credits. Socorra, featured in issue 9.2 , has not only been performing and connecting with the local music scene; she has also helped organize events with Filco and raise the next generation of artists...

#ContentPodcast LINK: https://bit.​ly/DEIPodcast Episode #23 A Conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with Valéria (“Val”) Miranda and Hannah Garcia. Valéria (“Val”) Miranda is the Executive Director of Santa Cruz Art League and a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant. Hannah Garcia is the Grants Program Manager and the Equity Catalyst for the Arts Council of Santa Cruz. V...

#ContentPodcast Episode #22 Jay Kim - Silicon Valley Pastor and Author Jay Kim, as Silicon Valley pastor, found himself wondering if the Church's quick implication of new technologies happened without giving thought to want might be lost in its application. That gave way to him penning his first book, Analog Church (InterVarsity Press). In our conversation, Jay talks about the irony of having a bo...

#ContentPodcast Episode #21 Rah Riley - Eastridge Center and Contributor to Content Magazine Rah Riley moved to San Jose in 2017 to be the marketing manager for the Eastridge Center in East San Jose, owned by Pacific Retail Capital Partners. Rah has made an impact in our community by helping the center connect with many local artists and art organizations in the short time she has been in the Bay...

Cathy Kimball - Executive Director and Chief Curator San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Cathy Kimball as been with the ICA since 2000 and has planned her retirement as the ICA turns 40, though she will continue to participate in various ways, specifically to assist with the Marcus Lyon project, "De. Coded: A Human Atlas of Silicon Valley" by the Packard Foundation, scheduled for 2022. Jo...

In addition to her prior roles as Co-Founder of Local Color and Founding Board Member of Catalyze SV, Ellina Yin is a firm believer that local government is ground zero of systemic change. As a community engagement enthusiast born and raised in Eastside San Jose, she is always on the lookout to raise awareness and encourage civic participation in more meaningful and productive ways. Join us in our...

Episode #18 Sam Shah - Co-founder Voyager Craft Coffee Sam and his partner Lauren Burns have gone from a pop-up coffee trailing to three cafés. The most recent location (on The Alameda near Santa Clara University) opened right at the beginning of the Shelter-in-Place order for Santa Clara County because fo COVID-19. In our conversation, Sam tells us about the Voyager journey from the first shop to...

Episode #17 Michelle Runde - Content Contributing Writer In addition to contributing to Content Magazine, Michelle works as a Policy Counselor for one of the large Silicon Valley Social Media companies. In our conversation, Michelle reveals her love for Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and cast her vote for Star Trek over Star War. Follow Michelle on Instagram at @michrun13 . (https://instagram.co...

Episode #16 Featured: Juan Carlos Araujo - Director, Art Consultant, Painter. Empire Seven Studios Co-Founder of Empire Seven Studios (E7S) and POW! WOW! San Jose, along with his partner Jennifer Ahn, Curator and Gallery Manager. ES7 was established in 2008 as an urban contemporary art gallery located in Japantown San Jose at Empire St. and 7th St. As often seen in Silicon Valley, their industrial...

Grace Talice is a writer and contributor writer and editor with Content Magazine. Grace has worn many different hats in her life, but recently, she has begun to focus her talents on her desire to grow as a writer. We talk about her path to this point. The themes behind her first two self published books. And the project that she is working on now during the SIP 2020. Follow Grace on Instagram: @gr...