Angela Carranza brings over a decade of nonprofit dedication to her role as Executive Director of Fresh Arts, having served in several positions at the organization including Intern, Administrative Assistant, Programs Manager, and Managing Director. She holds a B.A. in Art History with a minor in Studio Arts from the University of Houston. Prior to Fresh Arts, Angela spent a decade in the interior design industry as a small business manager and designer focused on art-centric, creative styling solutions and provided a range of services including decorative painting, furniture design, and event planning.
A lover of art adventures, hot dogs, and the Beatles, Angela is also an active community volunteer having served on committees for United Way of Houston and the Mayor’s Millennial Advisory Board for the City of Houston. She is currently an advisory board member for Barrio Dogs, Inc. and a long-time volunteer for the organization. Angela is also a mom to a Beatles-loving preschooler, two rescue dogs, and two cats, and shares a life of laughter with her husband, a former chef, who endures her love of hot dogs.
Micah Salinas [email protected]
Accounting + Operations Manager
Micah Salinas is a painter and visual artist with over a decade of experience in the Houston arts community. Her work has been featured in International Art Fund/Luz Art Gallery and in press across Houston. In her years of working as a freelance artist, she discovered a deep rooted passion for helping artists thrive in their careers. In 2020 she founded The Weekend Pop-Up Gallery, a nonprofit that hosts art shows and supports local businesses across the city at no expense to the artist. With her new position as Operations Manager at Fresh Arts, she is dedicated to fulfill her dream of seeing Houston artists across the city become the most fruitful and successful in the U.S. She is the mother of two, a lover of 60’s jazz, and all things quirky!
Julia Barbosa Landois [email protected]
Grant Writer + Fiscal Sponsorship Manager
Julia Barbosa Landois is a visual artist and performer with over a decade of experience working in the arts as an educator, exhibitions coordinator, and art-handler. She holds a BFA in Painting with a minor in Women and Gender Studies from the University of Texas at San Antonio and an MFA in Sculpture/New Media from the University of Pennsylvania. Her work has been featured in galleries, museums, and performance festivals in the USA, Latin America, and Europe, and her awards include residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute, Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder (Norway), and Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Germany). Landois was a 2018-2019 Studio Resident at the Lawndale Art Center and received a grant from the National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures in 2019 to co-create MantecaHTX, the nation’s first online directory of Latinx creatives. Her passion for empowering local artists is why she enjoys writing grants to help Fresh Arts do its vital work in the Houston creative community.
Daral Moore-Washington [email protected]
Program + Marketing Manager
Daral Moore-Washington is an emerging arts administration leader with experience in project management, event planning, and social media management, with interests in graphic design, strategic planning, and workflow optimization. She is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, earning a Master in Arts Management and holds a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Houston-Downtown. As Program + Marketing Manager she is responsible for managing program resources and logistics while facilitating brand and content distribution on all audience facing platforms. Since 2017, Daral has held several part time positions at Fresh Arts, ranging from Artist Resource Intern to Special Events Assistant, and most recently Marketing + Communications Coordinator. If you ever want to spark a conversation with her, color theory, anime, and bullet journaling are excellent starting points.
Nicole Peralta [email protected]
Cultural Arts Manager
As a recent graduate of the Artist INC program, Nicole Peralta returns to Fresh Arts to serve as the Cultural Arts Manager. In her newly created position for the organization, Nicole manages the cultural initiatives for Arts District Houston. which will include strategic planning, marketing, public arts programming and community building.
Nicole comes to Fresh Arts with 12 years of experience in constituent relations, community engagement, fundraising and event planning with a variety of Houston-based nonprofits including Rice University and the Houston Symphony. She is a graduate of Austin College with a BA in English and a minor in biology and has a Nonprofit Management Certification from the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work.
Prior to Fresh Arts, Nicole has been a multidisciplinary artist and yoga teacher for 8 years. Her teaching experiences combine wellness, creativity and mindfulness, and she has led workshops and retreats in Houston, Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. She enjoys spending time drawing in her art journal, running the trails at Memorial Park, and traveling to Latin America.
Michael Umansky (President), Laura U Interior Design / Edgy Labs
Maureen Haley (Vice President), Visit Franklin
Matthew Kelley (Secretary/Treasurer), Market Square Companies
James Bell, Viking Cold Solutions
Marita Fairbanks, Community Leader and founder of Fresh Arts Coalition*
Edgar Medina, Visual Artist
Ross Muramaru, Rice Business Board Fellows
James Phelan, Entrepreneur
Joey Sanchez, The Ion Houston
Jackie Staple, Jackson Walker LLP
John Thrash, eCORP International LLC
Rassul Zarinfar, Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co.
Tina Zulu, Zulu Creative + Kimono Zulu* Spacetaker and Fresh Arts Coalition merged in 2012 to create what we now know (and love) as “Fresh Arts”. Learn more about us.
Fresh Arts Team
