Celebrating 25 years of the Bioneers Young Leaders Program
Keynotes and panels are subject to change.
Wednesday, March 25th
Youth Orientation
5:00 pm to 8:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, David Brower Center
Join Jada Imani and Kayla Douglass, along with Weaving Earth to kick off the conference weekend. Come together to meet your peers, learn more about the Young Leaders Program and the legacy of activism and advocacy it represents – and – enjoy a great meal!
Jada Imani Carter, a longtime member of the Bioneers Youth Program, is this year on the Program’s Design Team and is co-hosting the Youth Orientation as well as hosting the renowned Open Mic session. Jada, a hip-hop artist and community organizer with deep roots in the Berkeley and Oakland arts and activism scenes, creates transformative spaces where young people can share their voices, connect, and build power through creativity. She has spent over a decade leading workshops, curating events, and fostering intergenerational dialogue through music and storytelling.
Kayla Douglass, who works with the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education, which is Bioneers’ producing partner for our youth programs at the conference, is now in her 5th year as a Co-Coordinator of the Bioneers Young Leaders Program. A local queer artist who specializes in set design and event production, she has worked with a wide variety of nonprofits curating intentional, meaningful events.
Thursday, March 26th
YOUTH ON THE MAIN STAGE
Coley Miller – Undam the Klamath: The Fight Isn’t Over Yet
11:00 am | Zellerbach Hall
After the largest dam removal project in U.S. history in which four out of six dams were removed from the Klamath River, an intertribal cohort of Indigenous youth became the first people in over a century to descend a 310-mile stretch of the river. In this talk, Coley will share her personal story of participating in that journey as one of the paddlers from the Klamath Tribes, while also raising the alarm about the imminent environmental issues facing her community, animal relatives, and sacred waters.
Coley Kakols Miller, a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, is a Modoc and Klamath youth born and raised at the headwaters of the Klamath River watershed. A high school freshman living on her tribal territory in Southern Oregon and Northern California, Coley was among more than 30 young people who participated in the historic first descent of the Klamath River after the largest dam removal in history. She remains a passionate advocate for removing the last two dams on the Klamath River, working to ensure the Klamath Tribes’ treaty-protected resources are restored to provide for future generations.
Young Leaders Stories & Solutions – Celebrating 25 years
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room
For 25 years, voices of young visionaries and leaders at Bioneers have called for change, inspired us with stories, and kept our focus on horizons beyond what we can now see. The passion and perspective that only youth can bring have not only energized Bioneers over the years, but have also helped shape the conference into what it is today. To honor and celebrate 25 years of youth leadership at Bioneers, we are passing the mic to some of today’s youth advocates leading movements and driving change in their communities. If you liked the Bioneers main stage, you are going to love the Young Leaders Stories and Solutions! Join the Bioneers Youth Programs for our “conference within a conference.” Moderated by Britt Gondolfi and Kuiliamai Aveiro Kalaniopio.
Britt Gondolfi, JD (Houma Descendant), a community organizer and mother, has worked with the Bioneers Indigeneity Program since 2017 as a facilitator for the Intercultural Conversation Program. She joined the Bioneers Rights of Nature initiative as an intern while in law school and subsequently as a Special Projects Coordinator to bring together tribal organizers, youth, and allies to advocate for the “Rights of Nature” in Indian Country. Britt, who recently ran for State Senate in Louisiana on a women’s rights platform, is the author of the children’s book, “Look Up! Fontaine the Pigeon Starts a Revolution.”
Kuliamai Aveiro-Kalaniopio, a proud Hawaiian educator, cultural practitioner, and community leader from Waimea, has dedicated his life to the revitalization of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and the nurturing of Native Hawaiian identity among youth. For over three years, he has taught Hawaiian language at Kohala Middle School and works with ALPSS students in cultural practices, mālama ʻāina, and community-based leadership.
Collective Art with Bay Area Mural Program
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Brower Center Terrace
Join Bay Area Mural Program, a local award-winning nonprofit, to create and connect through art. In this interactive workshop, you will take part in a multimedia mural project built around a shared intention: creating something powerful that reflects the collective moment. Through collage and mixed media, you will contribute your ideas, voices, and creativity to a collaborative design representing what youth are standing for and imagining for the future. Bay Area Mural Program will guide the artistic process and help shape the collective work into a powerful and meaningful art piece.
No artistic experience necessary.
NOTE: This workshop will initiate the art project, which will continue with drop-in sessions on Friday & Saturday for youth to continue working on the collaborative project throughout the conference weekend.
André Jahmora (aka Natty Rebel), a graphic designer, illustrator, muralist, and mentor whose arts career spans 20+ years, blends Afrocentric themes, Rastafarian philosophy, and community storytelling in his work. The founder and Executive Director of the Bay Area Mural Program (BAMP), he has dedicated his life to using public art as a tool for community engagement, cultural preservation, and youth empowerment. His murals can be found in Oakland, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, and internationally in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zanzibar. Beyond painting, he is also the creator of the clothing brand Natty Rebel and host of the Urban Artist Talk Podcast.
Seed Stories with Urban Tilth
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Kinzie Room
Join Urban Tilth youth and staff in celebrating and co-creating the powerful story of seeds!
Explore our carefully crafted collection of edible, floral, and native seeds while sharing stories, visions, and dreams with the farmers, herbalists, and land stewards that care for them
Diana Leal, Bio coming soon.
Adam Boisvert has spent the past 15 years creating community garden, school garden, and food production programs with the food justice organization Urban Tilth in Richmond, California. Currently, Adam serves as Urban Tilth’s Deputy Director and is an Instructor for the Urban Agriculture Academy at Richmond High School, a year-round Farm to Table elective course rooted in hands-on, experiential learning.
Lú Ledesma is a Richmond, CA-based community activist, educator and urban farming practitioner. With an academic background in Global Environmental Studies and having grown up in a highly polluted Contra Costa County refinery town, Lú is a passionate advocate for expanding green spaces in historically disenfranchised neighborhoods and in combating “food deserts” by growing nutritious, healthy food in local communities.
Self Defense with Amir Lacy and East Bay Area Fitness
4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Kinzie Room
Business owner and MMA fighter, Amir, will offer an introduction to self defense techniques. Join us to get some cardio in and learn some moves!
Ōpio Dance Collective: Hula + Line Dancing with R.I.S.E. Initiative
4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room
Join our Hawaiʻi youth leaders for an energetic hour of hula and line dancing! Learn basic hula steps, line dance moves, and enjoy moving together to music that celebrates culture, connection, and community. No experience needed—just bring your aloha and get ready to have fun!
E Ala e Kohala/R.I.S.E. Initiative is a Hawaiian youth leadership collective propagating the traditional culture and values of their ancestors rooted in stewardship, aloha ʻāina, and the Rights of Nature. Their initiative brings together students and youth groups from throughout the islands to connect, build relationships and engage in activism.
Community of Mentors with Michelle Regalado Deatrick
4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Upstairs in The Marsh
Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors – rooted in learning, teaching and sharing ideas. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with some of the amazing people from the Bioneers community. Hosts from Weaving Earth work with the presenters to create an interactive space to dialogue and share their life experience with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism. We are thrilled to welcome Michelle Regalado Deatrick to the Community of Mentors this year. If you are a young person interested in environmental leadership and policy; if you’re an activist who is curious about bringing your passion into the political arena; or if you simply want to learn from someone with a lifetime of experience organizing for a livable future, please join this session.
Michelle Regalado Deatrick, the Michigan-based founder and Chair of the Democratic National Committee’s first-ever Environment and Climate Crisis Council, is a longtime labor and environmental leader, farmer, and battleground state organizer. Vice President of the Huron Valley Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, she is the recent former Vice Chair of the Washtenaw County Commission where she beat a three-term Republican to win her rural seat. Michelle founded her county’s first Environmental Council and serves on many nonprofit boards and advisory councils, including: Jane Fonda Climate PAC, OnePointFive Climate Strategy Group, Climate Power, the Ecology Center, and the Huron Valley Workers Organizing Center.
justine epstein, an organizer, facilitator, and rites of passage guide whose work focuses on transforming legacies and systems of ancestral harm through ancestral/cultural healing, wealth redistribution, social justice organizing, embodiment and deep ecology, is the founder of The Mending Circle as well as a board member and graduate of Weaving Earth’s adult program.
Sam Burris DeBoskey, a farmer, carpenter, and rites-of-passage guide dedicated to growing, building, and imagining resilient and flourishing communities, is currently the lead farmer at The Art Farm at West Dry Creek growing food at the intersection of art, agriculture, and social justice. He has been a long-time colleague of Weaving Earth, which is instrumental in creating and managing Bioneers’ youth programming.
Rooted, Grounded, and Fluid: An Intergenerational Queer Mixer
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm | Tamalpais Room
Visionary and expressive culture is a queer lineage that thrives across the expanse of time, even as we enter an era of emboldened prejudice against the LGBTQ2SIA+ community. Despite this, we know that we have the opportunity to contribute to the histories and legacies of our movements: whether it is defiance against erasure, resistance to pacifying our power, and celebration of our self-expression and existence. Come join this intergenerational mixer to connect with like-minded LGBTQ+ community, with optional prompts to guide reflection and protection for those most vulnerable among us. As a mixer meant to meet the moment, we offer this event as a place to empower one another, to grieve, to connect, to dream, and to strengthen our roots and stay grounded against all weather. This is a space dedicated for LGBTQ2SIA+ folx, but allies are welcome. Hosted by Orion Camero, former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, and Aguila Barajas of Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry program.
Orion Camero, a queer visual storytelling educator and cultural organizer of Filipinx ancestry with roots in California’s Central Valley, is the Action Lead Program Manager for Narrative Initiative, a story-based social change organization focused on maximizing opportunities to nourish and grow narrative power, equip narrative changemakers, and bond communities to pursue long-term progress for social justice. Orion, a former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology Fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, also stewards the California Allegory, an epic collaborative image that acts as a centerpiece for intersectional justice education and cross-movement pollination.
Aguila Barajas, an activist affiliated with Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry program based in Stockton, CA, is a permaculture practitioner, land steward, confectioner of natural medicines, and plant wisdom educator.
Friday, March 27th
YOUTH ON THE MAIN STAGE
Kyle Trefny – When Orange Skies Clear
11:00 am | Zellerbach Hall
Kyle Trefny was 18 years old in 2020 when skies in the San Francisco Bay Area and much of the Pacific Coast turned orange with wildfire smoke. He will share how that moment led him to become a wildland firefighter and to join other youth in creating FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), dedicated to imagining and building a future beyond intense wildfires and their devastating health impacts, a future of healthy communities and livelihoods that recenters Indigenous leadership in land management. Kyle will reflect upon the power of questions, of friendship, of breaking negative cycles, of art, of mentors and elders, and of taking leaps of faith in life.
Kyle Trefny is an organizer, artist, wildland firefighter, and co-founder of FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), which started out with a GoFundMe campaign and a petition and became a dynamic, influential youth-led organization that has helped bring about the historic involvement of firefighters and Indigenous fire management practitioners in governance processes and engaged hundreds of young people in fire research. A faculty research assistant at the University of Oregon’s Ecosystem Workforce Program, Kyle is also active in movements for Indigenous sovereignty, queer rights, and climate justice and was a recipient of a 2025 Brower Youth Award.
Leaves and Turning: Poetry Writing with Gabriel Cortez
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room
Join poet Gabriel Cortez for a poetry writing workshop where we will make space to process ongoing injustice impacting our communities and draw upon the natural world for inspiration in creating more just and sustainable futures. This highly interactive experience is open to participants of all experience levels, middle-school age and up. All you need is something to write with, a willingness to connect with others, get creative, and share from the heart.
Gabriel Cortez, a widely published, award-winning Bay Area-based poet, educator, and organizer, is the inaugural poet-in-residence at The Ecology Center, Shelterwood Collective, and Art Farm at West Dry Creek, where he uses poetry to uplift local legacies of resistance rooted in environmental justice and food and land sovereignty. A long-time arts educator who brings 15+ years’ experience working with youth and adult writers, he regularly leads writing and performance workshops, provides one-on-one coaching, and offers professional development opportunities for educators.
EARTHBODY Movement with Rulan Tangen
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Kinzie Room
Join us for EARTH BODY, a joyful movement journey where the ideas and inspiration of Bioneers will come alive through our bodies. Together, we’ll explore simple, accessible movements that reconnect us to ourselves as earth and the earth as body—no dance experience needed, just curiosity and an open heart. Through playful, eco-somatic practices, we’ll move from thinking into feeling, from inspiration into embodied activation, using imagery from the natural world and the experiential knowledge-sharing of the conference. Whether you’re standing, seated, or moving in your own way, you’re welcome here to adapt with your body’s sovereignty!
Rulan Tangen, after an international dance career in ballet, modern dance, opera, circus, film and TV, and surviving cancer, became the Founding Artistic Director of Dancing Earth, dedicated to nurturing new generations of global Indigenous performing artists to become cultural ambassadors and conduits for social change as well as creating theater that functions as contemporary transformative ritual. Rulan has more recently launched EARTH BODY: Movement for all, a project open to people of all ages, backgrounds and capacities that encompasses eco-somatic workshops, retreats, coaching, and creative process facilitation, all in the spirit of regenerative worldmaking.
Bay Area Mural Project Drop-In Session
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Brower Center Terrace
Join Bay Area Mural Program, a local award-winning nonprofit, for relaxed drop-in sessions designed for creative decompression. Through tactile art forms like collage and mixed media, you can unwind while contributing to a larger collaborative piece. Add your unique touch and become part of something meaningful that will remain in the youth space for years to come.
André Jahmora (aka Natty Rebel), a graphic designer, illustrator, muralist, and mentor whose arts career spans 20+ years, blends Afrocentric themes, Rastafarian philosophy, and community storytelling in his work. The founder and Executive Director of the Bay Area Mural Program (BAMP), he has dedicated his life to using public art as a tool for community engagement, cultural preservation, and youth empowerment. His murals can be found in Oakland, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, and internationally in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zanzibar. Beyond painting, he is also the creator of the clothing brand Natty Rebel and host of the Urban Artist Talk Podcast.
Treesme/Chisme Circle: A Queer Talking Forest
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | The Marsh Cabaret
“Chisme isn’t mere gossip. It’s verbal doses of human contact that connect us. In a world that’s chaotic and impersonal, chisme laces its way into our emotional DNA, helping us feel less alone.” – Julie Calidonio
True to a rainbow, queerness carries a spectrum of perspectives, with many gradients of experience. Alongside the inherited magic and joy of our liberated identities, we are often also moving with our wounds, questions, thoughts, and processes that can be challenging to navigate alone. This space is dedicated to making sanctuary for discussions, witnessing, and peer support as we work through and with who we are — especially in the current moment we find ourselves in. Come as you are (all emotions and experiences welcome) to speak, be heard and to hear, so we can make medicine for each other in the shared journey of being queer. This space is dedicated to the LGBTQIA+2S experience and those respectfully honoring that intention. Facilitated by Orion Camero, former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, and Aguila Barajas of Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry program.
Orion Camero, a queer visual storytelling educator and cultural organizer of Filipinx ancestry with roots in California’s Central Valley, is the Action Lead Program Manager for Narrative Initiative, a story-based social change organization focused on maximizing opportunities to nourish and grow narrative power, equip narrative changemakers, and bond communities to pursue long-term progress for social justice. Orion, a former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology Fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, also stewards the California Allegory, an epic collaborative image that acts as a centerpiece for intersectional justice education and cross-movement pollination.
Aguila Barajas, an activist affiliated with Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry program based in Stockton, CA, is a permaculture practitioner, land steward, confectioner of natural medicines, and plant wisdom educator.
Caucus Space for White-Identifying Youth with Lauren Gucik and Hilary Giovale
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Kinzie Room
In this interactive session we will focus on becoming better friends, relatives, community members and allies. We will meet each other in compassion and kindness, learn some of the historical context for whiteness, practice unlearning our white conditioning, and take a next step (from wherever we are!) on our individual journeys of racial literacy. Together, we will crowdsource solutions for how to recognize and respond to the racial harm taking place all around us. Through honest reflection, embodied practice, and mutual support, we will explore what it means to show up in the world with humility, courage, and a commitment to transformation. This session is offered as a youth-centered space. Non-youth participants are invited to attend as supportive witnesses.
Lauren Gucik is a facilitator, event coordinator, educator, and food sovereignty and social justice activist dedicated to weaving connections between people, land, and ancestral wisdom and designing experiences that nourish joy, deepen reflection, and cultivate liberation.
Hilary Giovale, a community organizer, speaker, facilitator and self-described ninth-generation American settler, seeks to follow Indigenous and Black leadership in support of human rights, environmental justice and equitable futures. As an active “reparationist,” she seeks to divest from “whiteness” and to bridge divides with truth, healing, apology, and forgiveness. She is the author of the award-winning book Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers toward Truth, Healing, and Repair.
Youth of Color Caucus
Facilitated by Brandi Mack, Minkah Taharkah and Alondra Aragon
4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room
The BIPOC Youth Caucus is a safe and brave open forum where youth of color have an opportunity to listen to one another and share the real issues that come with holding their identities in social and environmental movements as well as in the world at large. Facilitators will help youth deal with their struggles and aspirations and have an opportunity to move toward healing.
Brandi Mack, a traditional ecological designer with a deep passion for personal growth and community building, is deeply committed to creating a healthier, more sustainable world for future generations. A holistic health educator, therapeutic massage therapist, permaculture designer, living systems thought leader, and mother of three daughters, she has a long track record of facilitating transformative experiences and blending nature-based solutions with mindful practices to foster connection, reflection, and growth.
Minkah Taharkah, a Leimert Park/Los Angeles-based self-described “earth steward, multiplicitous artist and intuitive healer,” works with the California Farmer Justice Collaborative on network building, resource sharing, and overall support for new and established BIPOC farmers. Minkah also works with The Butterfly Movement, an enterprise dedicated to empowering Black women and girls through comprehensive pathways of personal development, fostering entrepreneurship via small business incubation, and advocating for social equity and justice.
Alondra Aragon, a community organizer since she was 15, has dedicated more than a decade working with environmental and youth justice movements. As a member of the Hummingbird Farm collective, she seeks to: create a space for the community to reconnect with the land and traditional local ecological knowledge; move toward a just transition by growing healthy food, restoring local ecosystems, practicing herbal healing, and providing job training; and build alternative community governance structures.
Community of Mentors with Kyle Trefny
4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Upstairs at The Marsh
Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors – rooted in learning, teaching and sharing ideas. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters. Hosts from Weaving Earth work with the presenters to create an interactive space to dialogue and share their life experience with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism. We are thrilled to welcome organizer, artist, wildland firefighter, 2025 Brower Youth awardee, and co-founder of FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), Kyle Trefny to the Community of Mentors space this year to be in mutual peer mentorship and dialogue around the multiple dimensions of heat and fire this generation experiences.
Kyle Trefny is an organizer, artist, wildland firefighter, and co-founder of FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), which started out with a GoFundMe campaign and a petition and became a dynamic, influential youth-led organization that has helped bring about the historic involvement of firefighters and Indigenous fire management practitioners in governance processes and engaged hundreds of young people in fire research. A faculty research assistant at the University of Oregon’s Ecosystem Workforce Program, Kyle is also active in movements for Indigenous sovereignty, queer rights, and climate justice and was a recipient of a 2025 Brower Youth Award.
justine epstein, an organizer, facilitator, and rites of passage guide whose work focuses on transforming legacies and systems of ancestral harm through ancestral/cultural healing, wealth redistribution, social justice organizing, embodiment and deep ecology, is the founder of The Mending Circle as well as a board member and graduate of Weaving Earth’s adult program.
Sam Burris DeBoskey, a farmer, carpenter, and rites-of-passage guide dedicated to growing, building, and imagining resilient and flourishing communities, is currently the lead farmer at The Art Farm at West Dry Creek growing food at the intersection of art, agriculture, and social justice. He has been a long-time colleague of Weaving Earth, which is instrumental in creating and managing Bioneers’ youth programming.
YOUTH MIXER – Hosted by Kingmakers of Oakland
6:45 pm to 8:30 pm | Tamalpais Room
The Youth Mixer is a space designed for Bioneers Youth to recharge, connect, and build community beyond the conference sessions.
Hosted by Alonzo & Kahlil from Kingmakers of Oakland, this evening is all about shaking off the weight of the world, celebrating youth’s impact, and fueling the fire for change, together. Ice breakers and decompression sessions to connect and allow youth to build lifelong connections in a fun way.
We will have some light snacks, but dinner is not provided. Youth, feel free to bring your own burrito, or other simple-to-carry food with you if you’d like, or you can eat beforehand. Chaperones, we ask you to grab dinner or step out to support a youth-only space for an hour or two.
Alonzo Henderson, an educator and artist, is Co-Facilitator of The Fellowship Initiative at Kingmakers of Oakland, as well as on the A&R team of Kingmakers Music. Through his dual passions for music and mentorship, Alonzo is dedicated to empowering young men to pursue higher education and self-discovery.
Kahlil Chatmon, an Oakland-based educator and advocate, is Director of The Fellowship Initiative (TFI) at Kingmakers of Oakland, where he directs a college access program supporting Black and Latino high school males in their academic, personal, and professional growth, and leads other initiatives, such as the Kingmakers Music project. Kahlil has represented youth voices at a number of national platforms, including the White House Youth Summit.
Saturday, March 28th
YOUTH ON THE MAIN STAGE
Jasmine Smith – Living Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams, While Being the Voice of the Voiceless
11:00 am | Zellerbach Hall
Born of resistance, resilience, and ancestral strength, Indigenous women are rising, reclaiming leadership, re-aligning with nature, and challenging the imposed dysfunctions of colonial patriarchy. Jasmine Smith, 16, a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee and founder and Chair of NAIWA Daughters, has lived this movement since birth, appearing before tribal and state legislatures all the way to the UN, embodying her refusal of the exclusion of Indigenous youth voices in the struggle for our collective future. She issues a bold call to restore Indigenous youth to their rightful place as valued leaders, knowledge-holders, and essential advocates for the living world.
Jasmine Smith, 16, a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is an internationally recognized Indigenous youth leader, poet, and Founder and Chair of NAIWA Daughters, a youth-led nonprofit advancing Indigenous young women’s leadership, advocacy, and civic power. Jasmine has delivered keynote addresses at the Model United Nations Conference, working with Italian ambassadors, spoken before the Tennessee State Senate, working with Knox County representatives, and introduced the nation’s first all-female, second youth-led Rights of Nature resolution. A two-time Tennessee Civic Essay Award winner, she is a guest lecturer at the University of Tennessee, United World College in Costa Rica, and other academic institutions. Through her work, Jasmine bridges Indigenous knowledge, youth leadership, and environmental justice.
DJ Cavem’s Beet Lab & Song Production
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room
Work with eco-hip-hop artist and Grammy nominated music educator, DJ Cavem shows Learn how to write, produce, and make beets with Organic Vegetables with eco-hip-hop artist and Grammy nominated music educator, DJ Cavem. We will cover beat making to song composing, sampling, and lyrics. This workshop shows youth how to raise awareness of environmental sustainability, community change, climate change, food justice, health, and wellness through music.
Ietef “DJ Cavem” Vita, Ph.D., a Grammy-nominated music educator, “eco-hip-hop” pioneer, and celebrity vegan chef with a doctorate in Urban Ecology, fuses hip-hop with sustainability, using music as a catalyst for social and environmental change. He has performed at the White House; shared stages with Mos Def, Public Enemy, Snoop Dogg, and Wyclef Jean; delivered six TEDx talks; and been profiled in many publications, including Oprah Magazine, Forbes, and People. His albums include The Produce Section, BIOMIMICZ and KONCRETE GARDEN.
Bay Area Mural Project Drop-In Session
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Brower Center Terrace
Join Bay Area Mural Program, a local award-winning nonprofit, for relaxed drop-in sessions designed for creative decompression. Through tactile art forms like collage and mixed media, you can unwind while contributing to a larger collaborative piece. Add your unique touch and become part of something meaningful that will remain in the youth space for years to come.
André Jahmora (aka Natty Rebel), a graphic designer, illustrator, muralist, and mentor whose arts career spans 20+ years, blends Afrocentric themes, Rastafarian philosophy, and community storytelling in his work. The founder and Executive Director of the Bay Area Mural Program (BAMP), he has dedicated his life to using public art as a tool for community engagement, cultural preservation, and youth empowerment. His murals can be found in Oakland, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, and internationally in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zanzibar. Beyond painting, he is also the creator of the clothing brand Natty Rebel and host of the Urban Artist Talk Podcast.
Zine + Collage Workshop with Neetz + AnnaRosa
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Kinzie Room
Learn how to make a zine and collage! Zine and collage-making are ways to express yourself and develop your voice through arts. Zines and collages are an easy way to use materials you already have at home, and to be able to develop educational, personal, and political messaging that you can share with your community. Get ready to cut, glue, draw, fold, and design your own project to take home with you!
Community of Mentors with Raynell Morris
3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | The Marsh Cabaret
Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors – rooted in learning, teaching and sharing ideas. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters. Skilled hosts from Weaving Earth work with the presenters to create an interactive space to dialogue and share their life experience with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism. In this session, Bioneers youth will have the unique opportunity to sit with Raynell Morris, Lhaq’temish matriarch and enrolled Lummi tribal member. Raynell’s tireless dedication to the protection of indigenous lands and lifeways have taken her from the front lines to the White House and many places between. We are honored to have her join the Community of Mentors this year.
Raynell Morris, a Lhaq’temish matriarch and enrolled Lummi tribal member, is the Events and Gatherings Producer at Children of the Setting Sun Productions and a board member of the Friends of Toki. A former Vice-President of the Sacred Lands Conservancy and Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs under President Clinton, Raynell was the first Native American staffer appointed to the White House. She also served as Chief of Staff for the Chairman of the Lummi Nation, and, as Director of Lummi Nation’s Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office, she was a key strategist in the successful campaign to block a proposal to build North America’s largest coal port terminal on Lhaq’temish (Lummi) sacred ground.
justine epstein, an organizer, facilitator, and rites of passage guide whose work focuses on transforming legacies and systems of ancestral harm through ancestral/cultural healing, wealth redistribution, social justice organizing, embodiment and deep ecology, is the founder of The Mending Circle as well as a board member and graduate of Weaving Earth’s adult program.
Sam Burris DeBoskey, a farmer, carpenter, and rites-of-passage guide dedicated to growing, building, and imagining resilient and flourishing communities, is currently the lead farmer at The Art Farm at West Dry Creek growing food at the intersection of art, agriculture, and social justice. He has been a long-time colleague of Weaving Earth, which is instrumental in creating and managing Bioneers’ youth programming.
Youth Open Mic
Hosted by Jada Imani
4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room
Join us for the grand finale of the weekend—an Open Mic session that celebrates the vibrant voices and talents of our youth. This event creates a sacred and empowering space for truth and healing, where young folks are invited to share their thoughts and talents. This Open Mic welcomes all expressions. Guiding us through the evening is the Hip Hop artist and organizer, Jada Imani, who will add her unique flair to make it an unforgettable experience.
Jada Imani Carter, a longtime member of the Bioneers Youth Program, is this year on the Program’s Design Team and is co-hosting the Youth Orientation as well as hosting the renowned Open Mic session. Jada, a hip-hop artist and community organizer with deep roots in the Berkeley and Oakland arts and activism scenes, creates transformative spaces where young people can share their voices, connect, and build power through creativity. She has spent over a decade leading workshops, curating events, and fostering intergenerational dialogue through music and storytelling.
