BIOGRAPHY
Jaren Bonillo (she/her) is the Program Director / Weaver of First Peoples Fund’s (FPF) programs. In this role she will deepen the Indigenous Arts Ecology by weaving FPF’s programming into the wider fabric of communities, environments and traditions that support local, regional, and national Indigenous artists and culture bearers.
Over the last 20 years, Jaren has directed and implemented programs as an Arts Grantmaker, Social Impact Strategist, and Nonprofit Executive. Ensuring underrepresented communities receive equitable access to resources in arts and culture ecosystems is central to her work.
At the San Francisco Arts Commission she led grant-making strategies, cultural equity, and Native & Traditional Arts initiatives for nonprofit arts organizations and artists. She oversaw the California Art Council’s (CAC) statewide grantmaking programs, served on the Council’s Equity Committee, and co-led the CAC’s participation in the Government Alliance for Racial Equity (GARE) Capitol Cohort. As the Executive Director of the Imagine Bus Project, she developed creative opportunities for youth impacted by the juvenile justice system to imagine a successful re-entry into their communities and futures.
She is an Interdisciplinary artist, curator, and photographer. She received a Master of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.
Jaren was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Adopted at birth, she continues the search for her ancestral homeland. She currently resides in Yelamu, the unceded land of the Ramaytush Ohlone, also known as San Francisco.
