Our 2025 BAC Fellowship

BAC Fellowship is a ten-month program dedicated to supporting emerging artists whose art, life, and histories are woven between the US/Mexico border. Artists are immersed in a process where they learn about the lands they currently inhabit, visiting the threads of history, migration, social justice, and politics through the perspective of border identity. The program focuses on inspiring the local border communities to tell their own stories.

Our 2025 BAC Fellows

We are excited to present the selected cohort of the 2025 BAC Fellowship! This year, we are thankful to have the opportunity to fund six local artists from Douglas, AZ, Agua Prieta, SON, and surrounding areas.

The Mellon Foundation, City of Douglas, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts generously support this year's fellowship, which aims to nurture creatives whose lives and art are profoundly intertwined with the U.S./Mexico border.

  • Examining the complexities of Mexican identity, Andrés’s work explores its deep-rooted history, traditions, rituals, and its proximity to the United States. Through this lens, Andrés addresses social constructs such as cultural stereotypes, masculinity, morality, and indigenous heritage. Using photography, video, VR, and other techniques, to present a critical analysis that deepens understanding, makes the invisible visible, and contributes to social discourse.

    Living in the US/Mexico borderlands, Andrés has a focused lens on migration, invisibility, and resilience, unraveling the complex layers within each. He challenges current political narratives surrounding the border, emphasizing its role as a culturally fluid entity that impacts the lives of individuals across both countries.

  • Belén Muro is a visual artist based in Tucson, Arizona, working primarily with photography, video and image. Rooted in the rich and complex cultural landscape of the U.S.-Mexico border, her work documents and explores themes of immigration, displacement, and the Mexican-American experience.


    Through her lens, Muro offers a commentary on identity and belonging, using visual storytelling to honor the resilience and realities of her community.

    Muro's work has been the subject of several exhibitions, including Joseph Gross Gallery, Tucson; The Loft Cinema, Tucson; and the Steinfeld Warehouse Arts Center, Tucson. 

  • Estefania is an artist living in Agua Prieta, Sonora. She is working on her Associate of Arts at Cochise College with an emphasis in 2-Dimensional Art and plans to transfer to ASU to pursue her Bachelor of Arts. Their work explores themes such as life in the borderlands, landscape history, politics of Mexico and the border, and the cultural background of her family.

    A few recent exhibitions they have been in include: the 2024 and 2025 Cochise College Student Exhibition, Songs from the Borderlands & Art + Action Exhibitions at Central School Project in Bisbee, and Community & Identity Exhibition at Cochise College and Cafe Justo. Her work has also been published in the Mirage Arts and Literary magazine.

  • Born in Hermosillo, Sonora, she graduated with a degree in Performing Arts with a focus in acting. She is currently working as an actress, teacher, producer and arts manager. In 2022 she was selected for the Binational Diploma Mexico-Argentina of Theater for Children and Adolescents by the IUPA-INBAL.

    She collaborates as an actress in various theater companies, highlighting her participation in the Colectivo de Teatro en Espiral, Compañía Teatral del Norte A.C. and El Desmayo Teatro, as well as in multiple stage productions.

    Some of her most recent works include “De Camino a Casa” (2024) and “CreCer” (2022-2025), both focused on early childhood. She was also part of the restaging of “Mujeres sin Cuello” in 2024, a play supported by the EFITEATRO stimulus. In 2017 she was a beneficiary of the Programa Estatal de Estímulo a la Creación y Desarrollo Artístico (PECDA-FECAS)with the piece Mujeres sin Cuello: La Construcción.

    Since 2022, she has focused her work on theater for children, exploring the impact of performing arts on the development and imagination of children. Currently, she teaches theater workshops for children and adolescents, as well as for youth.

  • Jonathan Rodriguez is an interdisciplinary artist from the borderlands of Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. Born and raised in the vibrant environment of the US-Mexico border, his artistic sensibilities are shaped by the dynamic interplay between diverse cultures, languages, and landscapes. He works (mostly) with composition, sound design, technology, and percussion in a diverse range of spaces, reflecting his deep-rooted curiosity and commitment to pushing his creative boundaries.

    Spanning various disciplines, his practice engages with dance, film, ethnography, sculpture and improvisation. Rodriguez holds a degree in History/Spanish and Music Performance from Millikin University, a master's in Performance from the University of New Mexico and a doctorate in Performance from the University of Washington. He has performed and taught in Asia, Europe, and throughout the Americas.

  • Oscar Mares, originally from Agua Prieta, Sonora, is a multidisciplinary artist and cultural organizer with Oaxacan roots. Raised between Mexico and the U.S., he developed a bilingual and bicultural sensibility. He studied Hispanic Literatures in Hermosillo and has explored literature, visual arts, theater, and audiovisual production.

    He currently serves as the cultural director of the municipal museum of Agua Prieta, where he leads projects connecting art, memory, and community. He also hosts the podcast De artista a artista and has collaborated with initiatives like Colectiva Diversidad-Es, organizing performances and exhibitions that challenge social norms. His work, always evolving, reflects a deep commitment to cultural outreach, arts education, and uplifting local narratives through a critical and human-centered lens. He is currently taking creative writing workshops with the goal of publishing a book that expresses his worldview