DXTROSE

I’ve been putting off sharing this post for the longest, because this story and this experience at the Rhizome Fellowship last September has been so sacred to me, I am still holding it close to my heart.
But I just had my 25th birthday in this body this last month, and figured better late than never to share this with you all while we still have some of that fire.

This post is for every artist who has ever almost talked themselves out of applying for something. Who is more used to making excuses for why they don’t belong than even trying to see what they’re capable of. Who has found comfort in playing small even when you feel a greater calling speak to you.

This is how believing in myself and applying anyway changed my life. This is the story of how I ended up being forever changed by the Rhizome Fellowship last year. As always, huge gratitude and thanks to so many people. Culture Hack Labs and for making this a reality for me, for being beautiful earth stewards and hosting us in their magical space for that magical moment, and of course who I would not have had this opportunity if it wasn’t for her signing on to collaborate with me on it last minute.

If you’re an artist or creative who has been in a similar place, who has lost it all, who talks yourself out of even trying, this post was made for you.
Because trying, applying, and being awarded this fellowship didn’t just forever change me, it reminded me who the hell I am and what I’m capable of. It led me back to my power and self belief. You’d be surprised what trying can do for you too.

I have so so many more beloveds to tag and thank. The magic, memories, and connection to spirit I found in the week at the retreat with the other fellows is an experience like no other, and I carry them with me always. In memories of Mother Trees, 2spirit flower baths, prayer, song, dance, singing What’s Up around the fire, being cleaned by the healing waters. LOVE YOU ALL. .micheli and many more. 🫶🏽✨

If you're an artist in Ohio, or the Midwest, you'll want to read this:
In Central Ohio, CBUS city leadership just recommended gutting the Greater Columbus Arts Council.

The "Funding Review Advisory Committee", a new committee by the Columbus City Council just dropped a 579-page report recommending the city cut GCAC's share of the hotel/motel tax from 29% to zero.
That's $8.68 million in local arts funding GONE, 39% of GCAC's entire budget.

Where does that money go? To "Experience Columbus". A tourism marketing org.

So they can run more ads to get more conventions to come here.
GCAC is the organization that funds artists in this city. Individual artist grants, organizational grants, the Columbus Arts Festival, public art, all of it. That's what's on the chopping block.

And their proposed "replacement" for GCAC's funding? A cigarette tax that would require a public ballot measure and wouldn't generate a dollar until 2030 at the earliest.

They're taking the money NOW.
The replacement fund is a MAYBE. That funding doesn't exist until years from now.

If you're an artist, or you support artists in Ohio, you should be paying attention to this.

Let me be clear about what we're talking about here:
Experience CBUS is a convention + visitors bureau. Their job is to market the city to tourists and get corporations to hold conferences here. They've run a budget deficit for 3 years and want $15 million more annually, most of which goes to sales + marketing campaigns.

GCAC is the Greater Columbus Arts Council. They fund working artists. Individual artist grants. Organizational support. Public art. The Columbus Arts Festival.
They're the infrastructure that makes it possible for people to actually make art in this city.

The city's argument is that Experience Columbus drives hotel tax revenue, so they should get more of the hotel tax. Which would make sense if you're a corporate di*******ry who forgets that the arts are literally a REASON people come here.

The Short North, the galleries, the festivals, the Franklinton Arts District. The creative scene that makes CBUS feel like somewhere worth visiting.
You don't get tourism by gutting the thing that makes a city worth experiencing.

But they've decided they can skip that step now and just run marketing campaigns instead. And now local artists, already struggling and underfunded arts orgs, and the creative lifeforce of this city has to pay for it.
This SHOULD p**s you off.

I have received GCAC Funds for Artists grants for the last several years.
That money has gone directly into my practice: materials, time, the ability to keep making work without having to choose between the art and the bills.
I know artists personally who I've helped navigate the GCAC grant process, who got funded, who made work they couldn't have made otherwise.
This isn't abstract to me, at all.
This is a tangible loss that our arts community is already hit by, that they want to make worse.

GCAC already took a major hit last year when Franklin County pulled an expected $4 million, which forced them to cancel two artist grant programs outright. Corporate contributions are down 37% since the pandemic. The organization is already contracting.
And now the city wants to take the one stable revenue source they have left and hand it to a tourism bureau.

For what? So CBUS can compete harder for corporate conventions? So Experience Columbus can run more ads people don't want to engage with?

The art is what makes this city. The artists are what makes the art. And we are the last thing this committee thought about when they wrote this report.

Worth knowing who put this report together:
The FRAC committee that recommended this is chaired by Sandy Doyle-Ahern, president of a civil engineering firm and a member of the Columbus Partnership.

Which is the city's CEO coalition focused on economic development and growth. Several other committee members are also connected to the Columbus Partnership and to downtown development organizations.

Brian Ross, the president and CEO of Experience Columbus, the organization that directly benefits from this reallocation, participated in the FRAC process as a stakeholder.

There are no working artists on this committee. No GCAC grantees, no one who has applied for a Funds for Artists grant, navigated the process, or built a practice in this city on that support.

These soulless suits are the ones recommending where the funding for this city's art is now going to. And the answer they came up with was: not to the arts.
So what can we do about this?

First: make NOISE.
Talk about this publicly. Post about it. That's why I made this post! The more people who know this is happening, the harder it is to just let it slide through quietly. And if this passes in CBUS? It sets a precedent for your city to defund the arts too. This goes beyond borders.

Second: contact CBUS City Council. This recommendation is advisory only, which means it is not final. Council members and the mayor still have to decide whether to act on it. That's a pressure point.

Third: if you've been funded by GCAC, say so.
If you know someone who has, amplify them. The people making this decision need to see real faces and real work attached to what they're proposing to cut.

Fourth: show up. GCAC and the arts community will be organizing around this. Watch for public comment opportunities, hearings, actions. Be there.

CBUS' corporate "leaders" have made its priorities clear in this report. Artists can make ours just as clear.

GCAC's website is gcac.org - CBUS City Council contact info is on the columbus.gov website. Make your voice heard!

Homepage - Greater Columbus Arts Council Spring is a season of transition—of thawing ground, longer light and the quiet emergence of new possibilities. It asks us to notice what is shifting, even before the full bloom arrives. As the new president & CEO of the Greater Columbus Arts Council, I find myself in a similar season. Read More

So hyped to officially share this release I designed with .collective 🌱 pulling on a few different sacred sources of inspiration for me, Tupac Shakur’s “The Rose That Grew Thru the Concrete” poem and the quote “they tried to bury us, they forgot we were seeds”, this design turned out SO GOOD!

This limited edition capsule collection is available to pickup NOW on the .collective store, and they’re so beautiful! Go get yours while they’re available!

ForEveryone Co. makes clothes to help build a better world for everyone. They print fashion + beautifully printed goods created with intention by formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones. This is a small business I will always support.

As an artist, abolitionist, and system impacted loved one/lover of incarcerated peoples, I’ve been a longtime fan of ForEveryone Co. and the gorgeous pieces they’ve made, so it was an honor to be able to work with them again on creating a values aligned visual design for them. Much love. 🫶🏽

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Just some recent thoughts I’ve shared on Artist Threads lately about labor, art as “content”, content creation, and some of the weird attitudes I’ve been seeing folks have towards artists in the new age of the internet.

Curious to hear your thoughts too, if anyone else has also seen or experienced this? Sound off in the comments. 💭

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✨✎ They don’t teach us how to build a creative life rooted in our values, our communities, and our truth, because that kind of freedom and power threatens everything they’ve built.

If you’ve ever felt lost as a creative, this post is for you. Maybe you’re not doing it wrong. Maybe you’re not lost. Maybe you’re the one meant to clear the pathway for those who come after you.
You just have to start moving.

“As you start to walk on the path, the path appears” - rumi
This post is from the wisdom I’ve gathered along the way, from my own practice, and from lineages of teachers and thinkers I deeply respect including the late great q***r icon

I hope it helps you on your journey too. 🤲🏽📿

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✨ EARTHBODY illustrated, done by (much love and thanks) bringing this to life for us from our Costa Rica gathering for Rhizome Fellowship in 2025.

This illustration of our project for the Rhizome Fellowship captures the spirit of EARTHBODY perfectly. Alchemical, creative, artistic, born from my/our collective soul, sweat, tears, the ocean, and with a part of Costa Rica written into the grief story itself.

Truly in love with this and everything that has been able to come into creation from the work with Rhizome this last year. And as always, a huge deep thanks to for collaborating with me on this project to bring it into existence.

Now more than ever, this grief work is necessary. Now more than ever, are artists called to lean into their power and channel it through creative alchemy. Will we answer the call?
A spiral after all is just an unclosed loop.

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One of the many things I’m working on getting shared up on my website in 2026 is a section entirely dedicated to EARTHBODY, the 2025 Rhizome Fellowship project I did in collaboration with for our fellowship with Culture Hack Labs — all about narrative shifting and changing the dominant narrative the West has about grief and how our separation from the earth separates us from our grief, from the land, and from ourselves. ✍🏽

Here is a look at our final project report for EARTHBODY’s work in 2025, going into a bit about what the project is, how it took root, and the plans for its growth in 2026 and beyond.

If you were a part of the Rhizome Fellowship or contributed to EARTHBODY, including submitting something to the Digital Grief Archive, THANK YOU 🫶🏽

I am forever changed by being accepted into the fellowship, being in community with so many revolutionary giants from around the world, and being a part of my Rhizome Familia. More to come and be shared, but figured I’d start with this for now.

And special thanks to Jaden for being my partner in the fellowship and allowing for this gift to be received and this work to come to life. We could not have done it without your work or vision either.

Interested in learning more about EARTHBODY and how you can work to shift the narrative around grief, land, self? Feel free to drop me a DM. Would love to chat further.

Just wanted to share some of the love I’ve been getting over on Threads lately. If you’re in this carousel post, you’re a real one, and I APPRECIATE YOU. 🫶🏽

I am having so much fun over there actually since I started posting in December, and have gotten so much more out of it in terms of connections, clients, and very sweet conversations in my TWO MONTHS I’ve spent posting over there compared to the 10+ YEARS I’ve been on Instagram! It’s wild.

Finally a space where social media feels fun and…social again. Which is a breath of fresh air compared to the struggle it’s been to be a creative just on Instagram. I haven’t been happier to have put time into a new platform like this in years. Are you on Threads? 👀

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🧭✨ So happy to fully share this here! I was honored to have my design here selected as the t-shirt design contest winner for the 2026 GCAC Navigators. Now I finally have it in person too!

A lesson in perseverance:
I remember when the Navigators Program was first announced, I applied to the program AND entered the design contest. Swipe all the way to the end to see the original sketches of this concept I first submitted way back then. 👀

I liked the concept, but it was rejected. To my surprise though, I was accepted into the Navigators Program, and served on that from 2023-2025, connecting local artists to mentorship, grants and funding through GCAC. It was an amazing experience.

Fast forward to this past Fall, when I saw the 2026 Navigators T-Shirt design contest launch again, and I knew I wanted to try again. So I did! And I’m happy I chose to go all out with my submission, because it ended up winning this year. Inspired by tarot card designs, I love how it turned out.

Huge thanks as always to for the opportunity and for supporting living local artists in CBUS. Your support doesn’t go unnoticed. Much love. 🫶🏽