All About RAMP!

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• About the Program

  Apply Here

  The UH Real-World Artist Mentorship Program (RAMP) offers career prosperity training, presented by Houston-based UH alumni artist-entrepreneurs or educators, who have successfully transitioned from college into financially secure, fulfilling careers. 

  We are looking for UH undergraduate musicians, theater makers, dancers, and visual artists participate in intensive, one-to-one mentorship and collaboration with these professional artist/entrepreneur mentors.

  For questions about eligibility or the status of your application, please email caa@uh.edu.

• Eligibility

  Eligibility:

  • Applicants must be an undergraduate College of Arts major, entering their sophomore, junior, or senior years.
  • Applicants must be planning to be enrolled at UH for the the full '25-26 school year, not graduating before May 2026.
  • Applicants must be full-time students, in good academic standing.

  Apply Here

• Program Benefits and Expectations

  Program Benefits and Expectations:

  • Selected undergraduate mentees will receive a $2,000 scholarship, awarded in the summer of 2025.
  • Selected mentees must participate in eight weekly, 90-minute zoom seminars over the summer, with other selected mentee students, the director of UH Community Arts, Evan Leslie, and General Manager of UH Community Arts and Arts Leadership Professor, Michelle Girardot.
  • Selected students are expected to organize regular, weekly interactions with their mentors throughout the summer. When possible, mentees are expected to observe their mentor at their work, assist and collaborate with their mentor.  
  • Selected students are expected to maintain a journal, answering weekly prompts and summarizing their weekly takeaways with their mentor. Journal entries will be discussed and occasionally evaluated during weekly seminars with the mentee cohort.
  • During the 2025-2026 school year, mentees will produce and facilitate a public interview with their mentor as part of our Artist Round Table Series.
    • In preparation for this on-campus presentation, students and mentors will focus on career prosperity topics, such as budgeting/finance, healthcare and wellness, professional publicity, and networking. These presentations will be recorded and added to a career resource repository on the UH Music and the UH Art and Architecture Library websites.
  • Final community performance or education project: Mentees and mentors will continue to interact one-to-one in the fall, in preparation for a final project of the mentee. The projects may be presented collaboratively with their mentor and may be incorporated into one of the mentor’s professional projects, or presented at UH, at a public library, school, or other community venue.
  • Option to enroll in a three-hour independent study course. Check with your advisor to find out if an independent study course would help you fulfill a degree requirement.

  Apply Here

• Schedule Summary

  • Late April through early June: mentees are selected and begin one-to-one meetings/correspondence/collaboration with their mentors
  • June 2: Mentors receive their RAMP Journal Prompts 
  • Weekly Zoom meetings begin Monday, June 9, 6:00 - 7:30PM, and continue through Monday, August 4 (zoom meetings are tentatively scheduled on Monday evenings, but exact day and time may change, in order to accommodate student schedules). 
  • By August 5, student mentees must present their plans for their final community performance or education project.
  • Fall 2025: six of twelve student mentees present public interviews with their mentors, scheduled strategically to reach the maximum number of UH students. 
  • Spring 2026: six of twelve student mentees present public interviews with their mentors, scheduled strategically to reach the maximum number of UH students.
  • Final projects must be presented before the end of the 2025-2026 school term. 

  Apply Here

• 2025-2026 Mentors

  Visual Art

  Zoie Buske: museum educator

  Zoie Buske is the Manager of Education and Engagement for Public Art of the University of Houston System, where she works to connect K–12 students and educators with the university’s public art collection. She holds a B.A. (2020) and M.A. (2023) in Art History from the University of Houston, with a focus on art historical pedagogy. 

  Zoie helps develop programs that introduce students to art through guided tours, hands-on activities, and live performances. She is especially focused on making art accessible to students from Title I schools, many of whom are visiting a university campus for the first time. Zoie values being part of a team that sparks curiosity and fosters creativity, helping students see what education and art can offer. 

  She enjoys collaborating with educators, artists, and community partners to create meaningful learning experiences that encourage young people to think critically and express themselves creatively. 

  Verónica Gaona: multidisciplinary artist, photography and multimedia installation

  Verónica Gaona is an American artist of Mexican descent living in Houston. Her multidisciplinary creative practice reflects on the nuances of personal and collective experiences across geographies. Gaona materializes themes of transformation, labor, and remittance, foregrounding the cultural, social, and economic subjectivities shaped by transnational movement. Gaona received an MFA in Studio Art - Photography from the University of Houston. Gaona was awarded the Latinx Fellowship Award (2023), the Chispa Award (2022) by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and Ford Foundation, and the Artadia Award (2021). Gaona attended the International Studio & Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, New York (2024), PAC Residency in Houston (2024), Lawndale Art Residency in Houston (2022-2023), DUST in Marfa (2019). Gaona has exhibited work at El Museo del Barrio, Burlington City Arts, Lawndale Art Center, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Tamaulipas, Charlie James Gallery and Presa House Gallery. Gaona’s work was featured in the Wyeth Lecture in American Art at the National Gallery of Art, presented by Roberto J. Tejada. In the summer of 2025, Gaona will attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and participate in a group exhibition at the Tucson Museum of Art.

  Joshua Pazda: gallery owner

  Josh Pazda is an art historian who lives and works in Houston, Texas. He holds an MA in art history from the University of Houston. He is a partner in Josh Pazda Hiram Butler, a contemporary art gallery with a cross-generational program that presents contemporary and historical artworks in a manner that focuses on connoisseurship and beauty.  Pazda’s first book, Tony Feher: Drawings, was published by Gregory R. Miller & Co. in 2022.  His essays have appeared in Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts, On Site: 50 Years of Public Art of the University of Houston System, and in numerous exhibition catalogues for Pazda Butler gallery.  Pazda is a current member of  the board of directors of The Art Dealers Association of America and HSPVA Friends.  

  Nohelia Vargas Bolivar: artist (primarily painting), museum educator, college instructor

  Nohelia Vargas Bolivar is a Venezuelan artist and art educator based in Houston. Her work combines painting, sculpture, and animation. She earned her BFA from the University of Houston with a concentration in Painting and Art History, and an MFA from Tufts University. Vargas teaches studio art classes at UH Clear Lake and Art League and has been involved with the Blaffer Art Museum since 2012. She began her journey there as an intern, later worked as a docent, and is now the Assistant Curator of Education. In her early years at the Blaffer, she assisted with the Young Artist Apprentice Program, an initiative overseen by Katherine Veneman and awarded by Michelle Obama that provided art workshops to high school students from schools lacking art programs. In her current role, Vargas focuses on developing educational initiatives that connect the museum with the student population at the University of Houston.
  

  Naturally, art education is an integral part of Vargas’s professional career.
  

  Nohelia reflects: “Artist and environmental activist Mel Chin once said that art should serve as a catalytic structure through which real social change can be achieved. I share this belief and have always opposed the intellectual-elitist notions often associated with contemporary art. This is why I love working in the Department of Education at the Blaffer Art Museum: the central aspect of our job is to make art accessible and help people see art as a means of shaping and understanding the world around them.
  

  Besides, there is nothing quite like watching someone wrestle with a new concept or experience the excitement of discovering fresh insights about a work of art.”

  Theatre and Dance

  Katie Creeggan-Ríos: arts administrator, stage manager

  Katie Leigh Creeggan-Ríos is the Executive Director of the Houston Cinema Arts Society. She is a native Houstonian and worked professionally as a Stage Manager for ten years before transitioning into the world of arts and community engagement through film. As the Executive Director of Houston Cinema Arts Society, Katie is the Producer of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, the largest independent and international film festival in the City of Houston. She is also the co-founder and project manager for the Houston Media Conference, the largest regional professional development expo geared towards media professionals in Texas. She received her B.F.A. in Stage Management from the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and her M.A. in Arts Leadership from the University of Houston College of the Arts. She is also a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association.

  ShaWanna Renee Rivon: playwright, producer

  ShaWanna Renee Rivon is an award-winning playwright and producer whose work celebrates Black culture, history, and resilience. A graduate of the University of Houston with a BFA in Playwriting and Dramaturgy, she creates period-piece comedies centered on the lives of Black women, forming the foundation of her ambitious 7-play cycle.

  Her first play, Old Black and White Hollywood, about a 1950s Black woman comic chasing stardom, won the Edward Albee Playwriting Award and will receive a workshop production in Los Angeles in Spring 2025. The second, Power to the Queendom, inspired by 1970s Black Panthers in Houston, premiered at LA’s Loft Ensemble and won Best Writing from LA Theatre Bites. The third, You’re Cordially Invited to Sit-In, debuted at Stages Theatre in 2022 and centers on Houston’s 1960 sit-in movement.

  ShaWanna is currently commissioned by The Alley Theatre and Stages Theatre, with EMANCIPATION premiering at Performing Arts Houston in 2024 and heading to The Hobby Center in Spring 2025.

  Also a cultural organizer, her initiatives include August in the Park, the Historical Third Ward Tour, and the Black Power Arts Celebration. She was named Houston’s Arts Leader of 2024.

  TBA: Theatre & Dance 

  Bio coming soon.

  TBA: Theatre & Dance

  Bio coming soon.

  Music

  Evan Leslie: cellist, arts educator

  Evan Leslie, cellist and arts educator, is Managing Director of the Texas Music Festival and Director of Community Arts at the Kathrine G. McGovern College and the Arts.  Evan is the former Artistic Producer of Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Managing Producer of Public Programs for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Director of Education at Da Camera. As a cellist, Evan has performed with the New York Classical Players, New York Chamber Music Festival, The Grand Teton Music Festival, and Da Camera of Houston. He has taught at HSPVA, University of St. Thomas, American Festival for the Arts, and UH.   An adventurous musician, Evan has recently performed with Houston’s Catastrophic Theater, Hearts of Animals, and was a guest performer with the "Bad Boys of Cello" (Houston Symphony celli's alter ego). For full bio click here.  

  Jazmine Olwalia: mezzo-soprano, arts administrator

  Jazmine Olwalia currently serves as Community Engagement Associate at the Houston Symphony, where she manages the In Harmony programs, as well as Music and Wellness.

  Texas native, Jazmine Olwalia, is a mezzo-soprano who has been described as a “comedic delight”, possessing “agility and a rich tone”. Recent engagements include The Marriage of Figaro and Denis and Katya at Pittsburgh Opera, The Magic Flute at Annapolis Opera, and Carmen and Tobias Picker’s Awakenings at Opera Theater of St. Louis. Jazmine has received recognition from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, and the Dallas Opera Guild Biennial Competition.

  Anabel Ramírez: violinist

  Mexcian-born violinist, Anabel Ramirez, is core violinist of Apollo Chamber Players, the Houston Based presenter of globally-inspired concerts and multicultural new music commissions. At age 16, she came to the US to study at the University of Houston under the sponsorship of the Starling Foundation Scholarship Fund, where she completed her Bachelor of Music Performance under the supervision of the eminent violin pedagogue Fredell Lack. She subsequently completed her Master’s Degree at the University of British Columbia, and upon returning to Houston she worked towards a pedagogy degree with former Dallas Symphony concertmaster Emanuel Borok.

  Anabel has been a core member of the Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Ballet Orchestras since 2008. She became core violinist of Apollo Chamber Players in 2012. In addition to those responsibilities, Anabel also serves as assistant concertmaster for Mercury Chamber orchestra and frequently performs with ROCO, Ars Lyrica and Bach Society Houston.

  Ms. Ramírez has participated in music festivals throughout the world, including the Aspen Music Festival with Dorothy Delay and the Mozarteum of Salzburg with Carlo Chiarappa. She was awarded the 2002 Mozart Medal for musical achievements in her home country where she has appeared as soloist with all the major orchestras including the National Symphony, Querétaro Symphony, Mexico City Philharmonic and Mineria Symphony, and with the Galveston, Clear Lake, Woodlands, Ludwig and San Antonio Symphonies in the U.S.

  Dominique Reilly: flutist

  Dominique Reilly is a flutist and arts organizer based in Houston, TX. She can be found performing as Principal Flute of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra and on explorative new projects such as Marco Antonio Santos’ 2022 visual album “About Silence”. Dominique also maintains an active private studio of 6th-12th grade flute students in the Houston area. When not teaching or performing, Dominique is serving as Executive Director of Through the Staff, a non-profit organization that connects students who cannot access private lessons with volunteers for virtual instruction nationwide. She received a BM in Flute Performance with a minor in Media Production from the University of Houston, and an MM in Flute Performance with coursework in Arts and Cultural Entrepreneurship from The University of Texas. 

• Past Mentors

  2024-2025 Mentors

  Visual Art

  • Brian Ellison: multidisciplinary/performance artist, educator, and non-profit leader
  • Alexis Pye: painter and concert producer
    
    

  Theatre and Dance

  • Brittany Bass: dancer, educator, and arts administrator 
  • Edgar Guajardo: lighting designer and arts entrepreneur
    
    

  Music

  • Cecilia Duarte: mezzo-soprano, recording artist, arts entrepreneur, and therapist in training
  • Jackson Guillén: violinist/violist, educator, conductor, and community arts expert

• Past Mentees

  2024-2025 Mentees

  Visual Art

  • Nicole Fisher: Painting BFA
  • Jazmine Salazar: Graphic Design BA

  Theatre and Dance

  • Trenton Tabak: Theatre BFA
  • Allé Holloway: Dance BA

  Music

  • Valeria Bautista: Vocal Performance BM
  • Julian Montez: Cello Performance BM