ABOUT LOHAR PROJECTS
Left to Right: Sheetal Prajapati, Kristel Baldoz, Andrea Gil Garcia, Fernanda de la Torre Ricaud, Alexa Smithwrick, Jenna Madison Wixson
Lohar Projects is an arts and culture agency founded in 2019 by Sheetal Prajapati. The agency offers advising and consulting services for artists, arts professionals, creative public projects, and cultural organizations to meet their potential and thrive in community.
We work with arts and cultural organizations to lead vision and strategy planning, develop public engagement initiatives, and support growth or change. With a team based around the country (New Mexico, Colorado, New York), Lohar Projects works with artists and clients across geographies (virtually and in person) and is proud to bring on these new team members for 2024!
TEAM
Sheetal Prajapati, Principal & Founder
Sheetal is an arts professional with over 20 years of experience in the creative and cultural sectors. Prior to launching Lohar Projects in 2019, Sheetal spent 16 years working in art education and public engagement roles at the The Museum of Modern Art and Pioneer Works in New York as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University (Illinois). Over her career, Sheetal also spends time with creative people at all stages in their careers as a mentor, advisor, and professor. She regularly give talks and workshops and works across the field in a range of capacities. You can learn more about her experience and broader practice at sheetalprajapati.com. Trained as an arts administrator and practicing as an educator and artist, Sheetal brings both a creative and strategic approach to Lohar Projects’ work with a focus on fostering a collaborative process for growth.
Kristel Baldoz, Operations Advisor Kristel Baldoz is an artist and Department Administrator for New York University's Tisch Initiative for Creative Research. As an arts administrator, she has supported the operation at Common Field and Movement Research, project managed for Faustin Linyekula, and assisted Anna Deveare Smith. She is an alumna of NYU holding an MA in Arts Politics as well as a BA in Dance, Theater, and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley. Kristel is also a multidisciplinary artist working across performance, dance, and ceramics. Her work has been supported by the Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation, New York Live Arts, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She was a 2019 EmergeNYC fellow at the Hemispheric Institute and, in 2022, an artist-in-residence at the Chautauqua Institution School of Visual Art and Art Cake. Kristel's works have been featured in Brooklyn Rail and Fjord. As a performer, she has worked with Reggie Wilson, Anh Vo, Wilmer Wilson IV, Kate Watson-Wallce, and Alex Da Corte.
Andrea Gil Garcia, Project Consultant Andrea Gil-Garcia has over eight years of experience in critical pedagogy, cultural programming, and administration. Andrea is committed to equity, increasing meaningful social engagement, and amplifying diverse voices through microgrants and direct service programming in New York City museums and grassroots community art institutions including Groundswell Community Mural Project, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Artists Space, Dedalus Foundation and the Laundromat Project. In each professional position, Andrea has advocated for improved access to the arts for first-generation immigrant youth of color and families from underserved communities. She holds a B.A. in Visual Arts and Education Studies from the New School and is completing an Executive Master's in Public Administration from New York University.
Fernanda de la Torre Ricaud, EditorFernanda is an arts manager, curator, and producer. Originally from Mexico City, she began her career as a writer and editor at Plato en Blanco, a content production studio for gastronomic projects where she participated in the creation of various digital and printed publications. In 2016 she joined the cultural office of Mexico's Department of Foreign Affairs which led her to direct the visual and performing arts programs at the Mexican Cultural Institute New York. For three years she actively participated in the cultural agenda of the Consulate General curating exhibitions and public programs aimed at the dissemination of Mexican art in the Tri-state area. Since 2019 she has worked as program director, exhibitions manager, and translator at Pocoapoco, a Oaxaca-based arts organization.
Alexa Smithwrick, DesignerUtilizing digital publishing, visual theory, and an ethnographic practice rooted in the Southern Black Oral tradition, Alexa has created media content for a wide variety of campaigns and nonprofits. Since graduating from NYU’s Contemporary Culture and Creative Production program, Alexa has worked in collaboration on graphic design, archival digitization and public programming projects with a wide array of organizations and brands including: Arts.Black, BRIC, The Dandylion Project, Mark Morris Dance Center, MoCADA, Lohar Projects, and Weeksville Heritage Center. Alexa's work is driven by theories on collectivity and visual-spatial processing as they relate to the various roles art can play in re-imagining our communities. Her interests in storytelling, preservation, and (at times false) memory, has led to a variety of interview, archival, and public program projects examining what it can look like to engage with personal and shared history in a responsible and interconnected way. Alexa specializes in creating multimedia campaigns, press releases, and brand kits, in addition to designing wall text, window vinyls, and exhibition catalogs.
Jenna Madison Wixson, Project Consultant Jenna Madison Wixson is a museum education veteran with over twenty years of experience creating accessible interpretive resources and dynamic artist-centered public programs. Inspired by the power of art to inspire and connect to communities, cultures, and histories, she has spent her career developing inclusive learning initiatives and programming for audiences of all ages, backgrounds, levels of knowledge, and abilities. She holds an M.A. in Art History and has worked in museums of varying scopes and sizes, including the High Museum of Art, The Denver Art Museum, MoMA, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. An educator at heart, she also teaches undergraduate and graduate level classes in art history and museum studies in Colorado.
Past Team Members
Erica Nyguyen (Archivist)
Kristel Baldoz, Operations Advisor Kristel Baldoz is an artist and Department Administrator for New York University's Tisch Initiative for Creative Research. As an arts administrator, she has supported the operation at Common Field and Movement Research, project managed for Faustin Linyekula, and assisted Anna Deveare Smith. She is an alumna of NYU holding an MA in Arts Politics as well as a BA in Dance, Theater, and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley. Kristel is also a multidisciplinary artist working across performance, dance, and ceramics. Her work has been supported by the Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation, New York Live Arts, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She was a 2019 EmergeNYC fellow at the Hemispheric Institute and, in 2022, an artist-in-residence at the Chautauqua Institution School of Visual Art and Art Cake. Kristel's works have been featured in Brooklyn Rail and Fjord. As a performer, she has worked with Reggie Wilson, Anh Vo, Wilmer Wilson IV, Kate Watson-Wallce, and Alex Da Corte.
Andrea Gil Garcia, Project Consultant Andrea Gil-Garcia has over eight years of experience in critical pedagogy, cultural programming, and administration. Andrea is committed to equity, increasing meaningful social engagement, and amplifying diverse voices through microgrants and direct service programming in New York City museums and grassroots community art institutions including Groundswell Community Mural Project, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Artists Space, Dedalus Foundation and the Laundromat Project. In each professional position, Andrea has advocated for improved access to the arts for first-generation immigrant youth of color and families from underserved communities. She holds a B.A. in Visual Arts and Education Studies from the New School and is completing an Executive Master's in Public Administration from New York University.
Fernanda de la Torre Ricaud, EditorFernanda is an arts manager, curator, and producer. Originally from Mexico City, she began her career as a writer and editor at Plato en Blanco, a content production studio for gastronomic projects where she participated in the creation of various digital and printed publications. In 2016 she joined the cultural office of Mexico's Department of Foreign Affairs which led her to direct the visual and performing arts programs at the Mexican Cultural Institute New York. For three years she actively participated in the cultural agenda of the Consulate General curating exhibitions and public programs aimed at the dissemination of Mexican art in the Tri-state area. Since 2019 she has worked as program director, exhibitions manager, and translator at Pocoapoco, a Oaxaca-based arts organization.
Alexa Smithwrick, DesignerUtilizing digital publishing, visual theory, and an ethnographic practice rooted in the Southern Black Oral tradition, Alexa has created media content for a wide variety of campaigns and nonprofits. Since graduating from NYU’s Contemporary Culture and Creative Production program, Alexa has worked in collaboration on graphic design, archival digitization and public programming projects with a wide array of organizations and brands including: Arts.Black, BRIC, The Dandylion Project, Mark Morris Dance Center, MoCADA, Lohar Projects, and Weeksville Heritage Center. Alexa's work is driven by theories on collectivity and visual-spatial processing as they relate to the various roles art can play in re-imagining our communities. Her interests in storytelling, preservation, and (at times false) memory, has led to a variety of interview, archival, and public program projects examining what it can look like to engage with personal and shared history in a responsible and interconnected way. Alexa specializes in creating multimedia campaigns, press releases, and brand kits, in addition to designing wall text, window vinyls, and exhibition catalogs.
Jenna Madison Wixson, Project Consultant Jenna Madison Wixson is a museum education veteran with over twenty years of experience creating accessible interpretive resources and dynamic artist-centered public programs. Inspired by the power of art to inspire and connect to communities, cultures, and histories, she has spent her career developing inclusive learning initiatives and programming for audiences of all ages, backgrounds, levels of knowledge, and abilities. She holds an M.A. in Art History and has worked in museums of varying scopes and sizes, including the High Museum of Art, The Denver Art Museum, MoMA, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. An educator at heart, she also teaches undergraduate and graduate level classes in art history and museum studies in Colorado.
Past Team Members
Erica Nyguyen (Archivist)