Cultural Kultivators

Cultural Kultivators - Jenn Ban

Join us this week as we explore Jenn Ban’s journey as a queer, Filipinx-American multidisciplinary artist whose work lies at the intersection of healing and artistic living. 
Between being born into a military family, growing up in a red state, and leading her Catholic youth group, she shows us that learning and unlearning is an art in itself. 
Learn how Jenn lives and breathes Reiki into her tattoo sessions as a powerful modality of healing and intention. From spiritual hygiene practices and the origins of her Dito Lang exhibit, to working with street based artists in Manila, listen in to find out how Jenn made the shifts from her pre-med path to the artist we see today.
Tune in for a behind the scenes look into Bituin Studio, San Francisco’s newest Filipino-American owned and operated body art studio, a collaborative effort of co-founders Jerome Noveras, Thank You Saint, and Jenn Ban! @bituinstudio
You can keep up with Jenn on her instagram @jenn.ban and book your next tattoo session with her at @sacredskinadornments
 
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?
BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVE
Website: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative
TikTok: @balaykreative
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative

Cultural Kultivators - Anthem Salgado

This week we are honored to welcome leadership coach, business consultant, and Art of Hustle founder, Anthem Salgado! 
In a metaphorically painted world of tree pruning and sports tournaments, Anthem takes us on a deep dive into his approach to professional development and artistic living. In this info-packed dialogue, he explores the starving artist narrative that many of us are all too familiar with. He advocates for a radical shift in our approach to money as a resource and reclaiming a sense of community in the arts field. 
Anthem provides valuable lessons on the mindset behind "losing properly" while also responding to the asks of the universe when pursuing your creative endeavors. For budding Fil-Am entrepreneurs, this episode offers essential insights on optimism, effective leadership, and advice rooted in action. 
Discover the gems behind the Paloma Concordia success story, Anthem’s PIES wellbeing check, and the humble origin story of Art of Hustle!
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?
BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVE
Website: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative
TikTok: @balaykreative
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative

Cultural Kultivators - Mikey Vee

This week we are proud to welcome Bay Area rapper and Kreative Growth 2023 alumni: Mikey Vee! Get the scoop on his highly anticipated debut album, R.E.M. (Realest Expression of Myself) inspired by 17th century painter Rembrandt and his unlikely source of inspiration.
A virtuoso at translating challenge into ingenuity and imagination, Mikey opens up about his creative process of self imposed artistic limitations as a practice of experimentation and introspection. Dig deep on the anatomy of some of Mikey’s favorite songs on the album like “Danaё”’s disco violin track and greek mythology lore.  
Mikey stands as a testament to the breadth over depth argument, demonstrating that being well rounded can be the key to your success. Unpack the J Cole vs Kanye strategy and how he’s taking his impact to the next level as the founder of Golden Oras, an outreach and creative collective. 
Find out what the video game Horizon Zero Dawn, the Tesla Bot, and a Baroque painter have in common and Mikey’s laundry list of book recommendations!  
You can follow Mikey’s music journey on Instagram @mikeyveemusic and the Golden Oras Collective at @goldenoras.official
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?
BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVE
Website: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative
TikTok: @balaykreative
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative

Cultural Kultivators - Kathryn Serrano

As our first Season 2 guest, we’re bringing in a fellow story teller from across the country, Future Ancestors Podcast co-host and Kalayaan “Filipina Heroines of World War II” author: Kathryn Serrano! 
In this Tri-State area x Bay Area crossover, Kathryn gets candid about using our privilege decisively and effectively as Filipino-Americans in a way that embraces the intentions of our family and ancestors who wanted better for us in the diaspora.
She also lets us in on her journey of aligning closely with our ancestors and using their her-stories to fuel her own potential through historical immersion. In her words, sometimes this means, “being okay with the pain” of unlearning and re-remembering as a process of becoming. In a reframe of the Fil-Am Identity Crisis, Kathryn reminds us that the forces of exclusion and hunger for self understanding reflects a powerful appetite and capacity to know history, know self. 
Open up Women’s Herstory Month with two powerful Pinays and stay tuned to find out who put Salvador Dali in second place. Stay for unpopular opinions on religion and surrendering control!
Bahala na!
For the latest updates on Kat and her work, you can follow the Future Ancestors Podcast, Mahal Publishing, and her instagram (@thekatosphere).
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?
BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVE
Website: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative
TikTok: @balaykreative
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative

Cultural Kultivators - Nicole Salaver

This week we are proud to end Season 1 with our very own Nicole Salaver! In this special insider episode, Nicole shares the origin story of Cultural Kultivators, her artistry, and the deeply rooted inspiration behind her creative force: the love and mourning of her late father.
From her early, humble beginnings slinging Uncle Pat’s VHS camcorder in the L.A. summer heat to an Asia World Tour and making the big move to New York City in her 30s, Nicole continues to combat the stigma of the “starving artist” and follows the footsteps of her family heritage as a creative disruptor.
Whether the feat is memorizing 30 pages of script every night or challenging pervasive racism and sexual harassment in the film industry, Nicole is a personified act of defining success for one’s self, in which we choose to fight for a seat at the table, or build a whole new table within a creative balay (house)!
Stay tuned for what it’s like on set with Lucy Liu and why every young person should become a waiter!
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVEWebsite: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative 
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative

Cultural Kultivators - Ella Jay Basco

This week, we are thrilled to welcome singer-songwriter and Birds of Prey actress, Ella Jay Basco!
Niece of Dion and Dante Basco, Ella Jay and her family are no strangers to Hollywood. In 2020 she hit the big screen with her debut film role and gives us a behind the scenes look inside of the set of Birds of Prey and becoming Cassandra Cain. 
Ella Jay also takes us back through her childhood of a highly artistic and creative family, from as early as 6 months old starring in numerous commercials to Grey’s Anatomy and narrowing down her talents and passion for acting. Her story illustrates the world of a difference it can make when our parents and families are on board with us, full steam ahead. 
For young creatives, her biggest piece of advice is to work hard at finding out who you are by giving as much as you can to the things you love. Whether she’s crunching on Fruit Loops with Margot Robbie and making waves in the entertainment industry or leading her siblings in their band “The Sibs,” we look forward to seeing what's next in her artistic journey!
 
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVEWebsite: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative 
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative

Cultural Kultivators - Joy Regullano

We are so excited to welcome another powerful pinay, writer, actor-comedian based in L.A.: Joy Regullano! From Sesame Street writer to Modern Family cameos, YouTube sketch artist to creator of Asian American comedy musical, Supportive White Parents, Joy is a multitalented creatrix in the entertainment scene.
This week she speaks with us about her journey as a former pre-med track student at UC Berkeley and her switch to theater while detailing an experience many of us struggle with: bringing our parental figures into the fold of our dreams. As creatives, we’re often reluctantly and somewhat unknowingly designated to expand the horizons of what’s “possible” within our family and past/current generations. For Joy, part of this sometimes means meeting our parents where they’re at.
She also opens up about the responsibility that comes with screenwriting for children’s shows and raising the next generation as an act of service. In normalizing BIPOC experiences on screen, Joy brings intention and sensitivity to writing stories and characters that are relatable, funny, and embraced as a fundamental mirror for children to see themselves in.
She reminds us that we all have something important to say and something important to offer the world. In Joy’s words, we encourage you to, “write the story that no one else is ever going to write."
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVEWebsite: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative 
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative

Cultural Kultivators - Ouida

Welcome back and Happy New Year to all of our listeners! For our first episode of the year, we are running it back full circle with past Kreative Growth artist, Ouida!
As a SF born and raised singer-songwriter with rising national and international recognition, Ouida gives us an inside scoop on the new Bolo Music Group, Ruby Ibarra and Ian Santillano’s latest project announced last October.
Trailblazer in her own right, she sheds light on her journey towards finding her “why” in music, taking us through her introspective pathfinding around the associations and self-beliefs we all make when relying on institutions to validate our worth. For Ouida, all it came down to was the music.
With the joy and the pitfalls of the entertainment industry that she experienced from management to breaking into songwriting, she emerged resilient with wisdom born out of falling for the mistakes early on. In navigating the industry herself, she encourages against the commodification of art, to keep artistic integrity for artists and by artists.
As a Filipino-Irish American, she also touches on how straddling between the “nowhere and everywhere” informs her music, sense of collaboration and belonging, rejecting the preconceived notions of authenticity that often comes with exploring what it means to be biracial.
Bring in the new year with this powerful conversation on joy, resilience, and living in your truth!
 
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVEWebsite: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative 
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative
 

Cultural Kultivators x Unsung Heroes: Rochelle Berdan

As we close out 2023, we are proud to welcome our final Unsung Heroes guest host, Rochelle Berdan! This episode features their mentor and friend, Jordan Raye, a queer, non-binary healer whose vulnerability turns out to be their greatest strength. Together, they dive deep into what healing intergenerational trauma looks like as an ongoing, non-linear process.
Tune in for a deeply emotional and candid examination into how growing up Fil-Am is different for everyone. For Jordan, they grew up surrounded by secrecy and complicated relationships with some of their family. Yet despite all of their hardship, they’ve grounded themselves in reclaiming their experiences, identities, and found much healing through dancing, chosen family, and unapologetically showing up as they are.
In a world where generational trauma exists, generational joy and wisdom exist too because, “In the same way love can look differently and have so many definitions. Healing isn’t definitive. It’s an ongoing definition.” As Jordan says, the real work of healing is not linear but it does start with you.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains mentions of sexual violence & child abuse that may be triggering for some individuals.
Apply for next year’s Unsung Heroes Youth Podcast Scholarship Here!
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVEWebsite: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative 
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative

Cultural Kultivators x Unsung Heroes: Benedict Del Rosario

Our next guest host episode for this week features Bay Area high school student, Benedict Del Rosario! Right in time for the holidays, this student-produced episode dives into Filipino cultural celebrations and its role in forming a strong sense of identity, belonging, and community.
As Benedict interviews his father, Reynaldo, a first generation immigrant, we witness the importance of storytelling and the tradition of passing down oral history as a way to preserve cultural practices across generations. We also learn about the Del Rosario family’s history of resistance and resilience, highlighting the role of personal heroes, like Benny’s great uncle Pepe, who actively participated in the guerrilla movement against the Japanese invasion of World War II.
From the Cultural Kultivators team to our local and international listeners abroad, we hope this conversation encourages all of us to dig a little deeper with our elders this holiday season and discover something new about our own traditions and roots!
Apply for next year’s Unsung Heroes Youth Podcast Scholarship Here!
 
WHAT IS BALAY KREATIVE?BALAY KREATIVE is a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco, California.
EXPLORE BALAY KREATIVEWebsite: www.balaykreative.com
Instagram: @balaykreative 
Facebook.com/balaykreative
Kumu: @balaykreative