STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Our 2025 staff (producers & directors) take a selfie at the frozen lake: Pamela, matt, Erin, Sequoia, Ches, Syd, Eli. Photo: ASP staff
In addition to our three year-round Directors (Pamela, Erin & Syd), we have a 4-person team of seasonal producers (matt, Sequoia, Ches & Eli!)!
These folks know how to tie knots, schlep shanties, adapt systems for the cold, solve problems, expertly tetris odd infrastructure into tight spaces (we’re lookin’ at you DIY kicksleds in a bathroom), manage volunteers & performers, keep artists happy, and much, much, more. Read their bios below and make sure to high five them when you see them on the ice!
Ches during the 2024 On-Ice Program. Eli in the bed of a shanty truck for a delivery. Photos: Terry McDaniel, ASP staff
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 second year on the Production Team of Art Shanty Projects! Their artistic practice is rooted in puppetry, animation, and tickling curiosities. They treasure community based art, and you can often find them as the loudest laugher in an audience. They are currently part of the 2025 Open Eye Theater Puppet Lab Cohort. Ches feels a great deal of jubilation in the coldest winters – as an annual participant of the Medallion Hunt and attendee (or more!) of the Art Shanty Projects! If you see them on ice, ask them about their favorite ice sounds!
Eli Brown(he/they) is a trans, white, artist and organizer who is a recent addition to both Minneapolis and Art Shanty Projects. They believe in the magic of public art and have been participating in the public art realm for many years, whether teaching about it, reviewing grant proposals, puppeting, painting basketball courts, building UFOs, geodesic greenhouses, and massive strap-ons. Eli grew up in New England, surrounded by Shaker furniture and is coming to terms with the fact that they are probably a practicalist. He may want to talk to you about soil regeneration, your (or any) cat, or farms that are also artist residencies.
matt checks the ice thickness during the 2024 program. Photo: ASP staff. Sequoia rides a kicksled as if on a rollercoaster during the 2024 program. Photo taken by Sequoia’s friend!
matt regan (he/him) is a first time On Ice Producer with Art Shanty Projects. He is also a musician, performer, technician, and sound artist/designer. He looks forward to being done writing this bio so he can be outside supporting Shanty artists, volunteers and visitors in their enjoyment of nature and winter. Correctly identified, the fruits of crabapple trees are best eaten midwinter.
Sequoia Hauck (they/them) is thrilled to be back with Art Shanty Projects after a few year hiatus. Sequoia is a two-spirit, queer, Anishinaabe and Hupa filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist and director who creates work that indigenizes the process of art-making. Sequoia recently co-created a theater company with Adrienne Zimiga-January and Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha called Mni Giizhik Theatre Ensemble. During Art Shanties, you can frequently spot Sequoia running around the ice with their yaktrax, joining in Thakápsičapi Native Lacrosse or taking a breather by laying down on the frozen ice.
