Our History
Border Arts Corridor (BAC) was founded in 2015 as an arts organization located in Douglas, Arizona. We recognized a need for an arts organization dedicated to telling the narrative of those of us who create art within a border community.
While there are organizations who seek to highlight border arts with larger artists, we wanted to facilitate the sharing of our community’s stories and experiences.
Since our founding, we have prioritized serving our dual communities of Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora. We do so by creating art installations, workshops, and programming for individuals on both sides of the border.
In 2018, we acquired the 501(c)(3) designation from the Douglas Arts and Humanities Association, along with the historic Grand Theatre in downtown Douglas.
As its new caretakers, we have worked to advance the restoration of the theatre to provide a vibrant cultural center for our bi-national community.
We continue to support and cultivate multi-cultural arts programming that explores the complexities of the borderlands, and are excited about the new and exciting initatives that are in development.
Our Team
M. Jenea Sanchez
Artistic Director/Founder
M. Jenea Sanchez is a fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture’s Leadership Institute, a Mellon-Fronteridades Creative Scholar, and currently a faculty member at Cochise College in the Digital Media Arts Program. Her work has been exhibited at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, the University of Arizona Art Museum, The Latino Museum of History, Art, and Culture, and the U.S. - Mexico border fence. A native of Douglas, Arizona / Agua Prieta, Sonora, she received her MFA from Arizona State University in 2011 before returning to Douglas to pursue her career as an artist and educator. In 2015, she and her husband co-founded Border Arts Corridor.
Robert Uribe
Co-Founder
Robert Uribe made history by being both the youngest mayor in Douglas’ history and the first Afro-Latino elected on the U.S.-MEX border. A native of the Dominican Republic, Robert and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1990. He worked as a youth educator in New York prior to moving to Arizona in 2005. In 2010, Robert met his wife, Douglas native M. Jenea Sanchez.
Together, the couple has embarked on an entrepreneurial journey that includes an online boutique, Galiano’s Café (the only neighborhood coffee shop in Douglas), and Border Arts Corridor. Robert and Jenea won the small business category in the 36th Annual Governor’s Arts Awards.
Michael Gutierrez
Treasurer
Michael Gutierrez is a real estate broker and business owner based in Douglas, AZ who has more than 20 years of real estate and contracting experience. He served the community as the president and treasurer for the Douglas Association of Realtors, leading a city-wide project that focused on beautifying downtown Douglas in collaboration with the city of Douglas and the Industrial Development Authority. He also served a three year term on the city of Douglas’ finance committee from 2017-2019.
Michael received his bachelor’s in finance from the University of Arizona in 1996.
Martina Rendon
Board Director
Martina Rendon is an artist and Agua Prieta native living in Douglas, Arizona. Her work focuses on realistic scenes in the Arizona and Sonora region. She is an active member of Casa de La Cultura in Agua Prieta, Sonora and serves on the City of Douglas' Arts and Culture Committee. She has assisted both Douglas and Agua Prieta governments as well as artists and organizations in implementing binational cultural and art events on the U.S. - Mexico border.
Geneva Foster Gluck
Board President
Geneva Foster Gluck is an artist, scholar and physically trained performer. Her practice explores immersive event-making, ecology (by way of scenography) and imagination as critical tools for social change and environmental justice. Her work has been supported by the Arizona Commission on the Arts; Arts Council of England; Circus Futures; and has toured in the UK, Europe and the Americas. Geneva is a PhD candidate at Arizona State University where she is completing an interdisciplinary dissertation titled “Performing the Electrical,” a project that works toward re-enchanting electricity as an ecological intervention into normalized energy production and consumption. Geneva joined the board of BAC in 2018 to assist with the development and creative vision of the Grand Theatre. She is currently based in Tucson, Arizona.
David Tarullo
Restoration Project Manager
David Tarullo's work ranges from large-scale sculptures to installations to abstract, figurative, and functional ceramics. He is a recipient of the Rudy Autio Award, has taught sculpture, ceramics and 3-D design at the University of Montana, and is currently a professor of ceramics and sculpture at Cochise College. His work is in the permanent collection at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, the Montana Museum of Arts and Culture, and he has shown throughout the Western United States. He is also published in State of the Art: Installation, Site Specific Art #2, and Cast. He received his BA from Sarah Lawrence College, studied wood fired ceramics at Northern Arizona University, and received an MFA from the University of Montana.
Ashley Dahlke
Secretary
Ash Dahlke is currently serving as the BAC Secretary! Ash is a mixed media artist and educator in Douglas, AZ. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Arizona in 2019 and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2015. Her work has been exhibited at the University of Arizona Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tucson, and Tubac Center of the Arts. She currently serves as a 2D instructor at Cochise College.
Bibi Harris
Board Member
Bibi Harris is a dance teacher, choreographer, director, teaching artist, and binational artist, born July 11, 1992 in Agua Prieta, Sonora. The fourth daughter of Maximiano Harris and Maria Harris, she stands out for being a young entrepreneur and dance director.
At the young age of 19, she started her own dance school, Bbdancer Performing Academy in Douglas, Arizona. Her innovation, creativity, and love of the arts, as well as the love of her students and community, allow her to motivate the youth of Douglas and Agua Prieta.
Diana Manquero
Board Member
Diana Manqero is a library specialist at the Douglas Public Library, working in collection development and programming. She enjoys teaching arts and crafts to children and adults and has continued to keep children engaged with literature during the pandemic with virtual storytime on Facebook.
Sandra Dolores Gómez-Amador Volunteer Translator
Sandra Dolores Gómez-Amador is a Mexican writer, poet, translator, and researcher. She studied English Literature at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Her poetry, essays, and literary reviews have been published in several Mexican magazines. One of her short stories was published in the anthology Microtopias (2020). She has had an impact of over 50,000 dollars as a volunteer for nonprofits.