MEET OUR 2026 TEAM!
Staff members checking lake ice and moving shanty mailboxes, December 29, 2025. Photos by Erin!
GET TO KNOW CHES, ERIN, KARLY, MATT, PAMELA, SASHI & SYD!
It takes a whole team to make the behind-the-scenes magic of Art Shanty Projects happen, and we’ve been working hard (and with humor) for many months!
Since 2019 we’ve had a staff focus on collaboration and co-learning, and our team works differently than most. Our three directors start planning the upcoming season each March with evaluations, budgeting, curation, permitting, fundraising, partnership building, and community outreach. Our stage manager starts working with performers in September, and our other three production team members begin in December as we line up all the logistics for installation.
While each person holds specific responsibilities during the program (volunteers, stage management, back of house…), the bulk of our production work is shared by all. Each year we discuss the long list of tasks and projects necessary to support artists and audiences and they negotiate who will lead on what (and who will lend support).
This might look like building a new kicksled, problem solving an outdoor handwashing station, making strange repairs to unconventional infrastructure, sourcing materials, or dealing with the many curveballs that inevitably come up!
Some sweet pics and bios are below! When you see us out there, give us all high fives!
Ches Cipriano (they/them) is a Filipino, Queer, first-generation American based in Minneapolis. They operate as a community cultivator, producer/organizer, radical joy seeker and mixed-media collaborator. This is their third year on the production team of Art Shanty Projects! Their artistic practice is rooted in puppetry, print making, and tickling curiosities. They treasure community based art, and you can often find them as the loudest laugher in an audience. Ches feels a great deal of jubilation in the coldest winters – as an annual participant of the Medallion Hunt and cold plunge enthusiast! If you see them on ice, ask them about their favorite ice sounds!
During the program Ches will serve as Stage Manager, supporting our performers and keeping our timed events on track!
Erin Lavelle (she/her) loves winter and talking to strangers. She was an early shanty visitor, two-time shanty artist (Slumber Party Shanty), and has held her dream job as Artistic Director for the past six years. You may know Erin from her longtime role of producing the Northern Spark festival, but you may not know that she’s a post-folk artist who makes woven artifacts out of her friends’ hair. Goddard College gave her an MFA for her practice of integrating mindfulness and public art. She also throws down on the dance floor, which is her preferred meditation method.
During the program Erin will do many media interviews, document the village, manage social media, write newsletters, and make the rounds to ensure artists have what they need.
Karly Bergmann (she/her) is a puppeteer who firmly believes that silliness is sacred! When she is not performing, directing, or building for puppet shows locally and nationally she is making other playful, object-based work. She is a past shanty artist (Curious Cairns), avid knitter, and teaching artist around town. A yearly visitor to the BWCA, she loves being outdoors and she loves lakes. Especially when they are frozen. Especially when she gets to walk out on one with someone who has never experienced that kind of winter joy before!
During the program Karly will manage volunteers (alongside Sashi) to keep the program running smoothly.
matt regan (he/him) is a musician, performer, technician, and sound artist/designer. This is his third year on the Art Shanty production team, serving first as an emergency schlepxpert and now a full team member. He currently finds himself thinking about how Gramsci might critique hegemony and elitism in the arts world. He looks forward to supporting shanty artists, volunteers and visitors in their enjoyment of nature and winter. Food for thought – when correctly identified, the fruits of crabapple trees are best eaten midwinter.
During the program matt will manage back of house, keeping our shanty community happy with hot food, hot coffee, and a hot hand washing station.
Pamela Vázquez Torres (she/her) is an art historian, curator, and producer from Mexico. She has been involved with the shanties in different capacities over the years—juror, volunteer, producer, and now as part of ASP’S co-director triad overseeing admin. She has collaborated in the production of public art events and in curatorial projects shown locally and beyond. Pamela has found some joyous ways to learn about the land she now occupies by delving into all things fungi and many winter firsts. Pamela believes in art as a shared resource for change, and as a way of locating herself in the world.
During the program Pamela will work behind the scenes on admin in the warmth of her own home where computers function reliably. This includes communicating with volunteers, managing the books, and paying artists!
Sashi White (he/they) is a long time Art Shanty Projects fan and first year production team member!! His work focuses on using multidisciplinary socially engaged art to bring people together around climate adaptation. Sashi’s approach to creative connections has been rooted in the hills, rivers, and communities in Idaho where he was raised, and has blossomed in the creative community here in Minnesota where he has lived since 2020. Sashi believes that by telling stories, creating art together, and connecting to the place where we work and live we can create brighter futures for our beloved community.
During the program Sashi will manage volunteers (alongside Karly) to keep the program running smoothly.
Syd Petersen (they/them) has been involved with Art Shanty Projects since 2020 as a volunteer, half of Lady Bear, and as part of the Free Store Shanty Crew. This is their fourth year on staff – the first two were as a producer, and they’re now heading into their second year as Production Director alongside Pamela and Erin! When not on the ice, you can find Syd throwing pots, throwing down in the kitchen, or putzing through the woods.
During the program Syd will manage logistics, support our board members in their volunteer positions, and oversee our accessibility efforts.
Pic of Ches during the 2024 program by Terry McDaniel! Pic of Erin during the 2023 program by Mikha Aleman! Pics of matt in 2025 & Pamela in 2022 & Syd in 2023 by Erin Lavelle!