Beautiful Beginnings Arts Collective
Collective Members
Jarrel Phillips
a.ka. Professor Chumbinho is born and raised in the Fillmore district of San Francisco where he was first introduced to the art form of Capoeira at the age of 7yrs old. Phillips is a performing artist, exhibition curator and educator. Some highlights include: Graduated capoeira student of Mestre Urubu Malandro (14+ yrs of capoeira); B.A in Child and Adolescent Development (Youth Work & Out of School Time); 20+ years of youth work experience from SF to East Africa. Phillips is currently pursuing his masters in 'East West Psychology' at California Institute of Integral Studies to further his ability to work with youth and families.
Halima Marshall was born in San Francisco and raised in Bayview Hunters Point. In college she was introduced to Haitian dance classes by teacher Ms. Blanche Brown. After graduating college, she returned to SF, continued to dance and began her career in education, elevating the artistic excitement and curiosity of learning within children. Halima served on the Board of Directors and consults for internationally recognized aerial arts organization Zaccho Dance Theater with Joanna Haigood. She is a recent recipient of the 2020 Alliance of California Traditional Arts (ACTA) Apprenticeship with mentor Portsha Jefferson in Haitian dance. Since 2007, she has been a principal dancer for Rara Tou Limen, Haitian dance company where she has performed nationally and internationally. She brings reverence for the spirit of Haitian Vodou and acknowledgement of the fullness of African traditions to her own dance, teaching and art. As an SF resident and family member, Halima values art’s healing and transformative power.
Ceara Walton is a Circus & Performing Arts Teaching Artist and an educator and youth worker from Oakland, CA. She grew up in West Oakland and was a performing member of the Prescott Circus Theatre while attending Prescott Elementary. She returned to PCT as a junior at Oakland Tech High School, as a tutor and class assistant. She also attended Camp Winnarainbow as a camper and later became teen staff and Adult Counselor there teaching Circus and Performing Arts. While attending SF State, she later advanced to becoming a Leading Teaching Artist teaching skills such as African Drumming, Stilt Dancing, Step Dance, Tightwire, and Juggling. Since 2004, Ceara has worked as a Lead Teaching Artist at over 15 school sites in and around Oakland, Ca. In 2016, she stepped into leadership as PCT's Summer Program Co-director and Performing Company Director. Now, she is a Community Engagement Partner and Teaching Artist with Circus Center SF. Her specialties include Stilt Dancing, Hambone Body Percussion, Juggling, Hip Hop, and West African drumming.
Alli Cuentos is a mama, daughter, sister, partner, creative and birth and full spectrum doula. Alli has been dancing since she could walk and building weird art since she could use scissors. She holds a BFA in painting from Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence Italy, certifications in Early Child Education and Somatic Movement Therapy. Alli is a founding member of Community Well, a holistic family support center in the Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco and a Co-Founder of SisterWeb, San Francisco Community Doula Network. As an educator, she has designed curriculum for family resource centers and libraries, coordinated an early education program serving immigrant families in the Mission, as well as taught in public schools and preschool settings. When not having kitchen dance parties with her four kids and many pets, she can be found wandering in Glen Canyon, teaching mural design classes or looking at old pickup trucks.
DeMarcello Funes is a native of Oakland, California, and is a well rounded, on stage, physical performer. Funes has performed throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Honing his earlier circus skills: juggling, clowning, hambone body percussion, and onstage presence in the Prescott Circus Theatre. Later on he joined and polished up new skills in Circus Bella. His experience in stage acting, musical theater and improv, stemming from focusing his emphasis in drama at Oakland School for the Arts (in The Fox Theatre of Downtown Oakland). Funes is now works with Circus Center as an Instructor & Community Engagement Associate of Performance.
Asatu Hall is a professionally trained midwife, mother, educator, artist, and youth advocate. She is a Bay area native and graduated from Mercy High School, San Francisco. Asatu is the Founder and Director of Oakland based grassroots organizations, Sacred Grove Traditions and YEWAS Rites of Passage Program (Young Empowered Wombmyn Achieving Self). The organizations are committed to assisting girls and women of African descent in developing a healthy lifestyle through education about holistic, indigenous, and alternative methods of self-care and wellness, providing advocacy and education about Midwifery and alternative birth options and developing cultural Rites of Passage ceremonies and mentorship for young girls and young women. Asatu is also a seasoned performer, choreographer and founding member of Emesè: Messengers of the African Diaspora, a collective of artists founded in 1998 with a mission to promote and present the rich cultural traditions of the African Diaspora. Her background in dance incorporates over 25 years of various genres including Ballet, West African, Congolese, Haitian, Brazilian. She feels blessed and very honored to have the opportunity to deepen her study of Haitian dance, music, and culture with the Rara Tou Limen family. Asatu currently teaches Afro Cuban and Afro Brazilian dance in Oakland and Alameda.
Fiona Glas is a San Francisco based mural artist, print maker, giant puppet builder, and mother. Born in Detroit Michigan she has lived in the Mission District since 1991. Fiona paints murals that include input from neighborhood stakeholders, she weaves their ideas and stories into the design. She also leads mural workshops where participants participate in designing and painting a mural from start to finish together. She has facilitated community murals with the San Francisco Print Collective, South of Market Community Action Network, and Rising Voices. During the 90’s Fiona created giant puppets used in processional street theater and in performances connected to social justice. She also taught social justice organizations how to create and print their own posters using a silk screen process, as part of the San Francisco Print Collective. Fiona studied art and psychology at Harvard and Tufts and The School of the Museum of Fine Art Boston. She earned a BFA from Tufts in 1989 and an MSW from San Francisco State University in 2001. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and is on the leadership team at a community mental health clinic. Fiona’s passion is to design and create community art projects that lift-up the experiences of participants, with a goal of creating environments where we can all flourish.
Eric Cuentos (he/him) (AKA DJ Pakipayá) has been a community organizer, educator, non-profit leader and cultural creator in San Francisco for more than 20 years. He has been a member of La Casa Cultural Colombiana, ColombianSoul Dance Company, La Colmena DJ Collective and been a guest teacher with Youth Art Exchange. As an organizer in the Excelsior and Mission Districts since 2008, Eric has worked on commercial corridor revitalization, community planning and education policy, working especially to include the voices of young people and immigrants who are often underrepresented in decision-making spaces. As a current or former board member for Centro Las Olas, Community Well, PODER, an elected member of the School Site Council at SF Community School, and now a member of BBAC, Eric has sought to contribute with his leadership towards the strengthening and stabilization of essential cultural, civic and educational institutions in the Excelsior and Mission.
Fernando Martí is a printmaker, community architect, writer and poet based in San Francisco. His etchings, linocuts, screen prints, and constructions explore the clash of the Third World within the heart of Empire, and highlight the tension between inhabiting place / reclaiming culture, and building something transformative. Fernando’s work is an attempt to reclaim ancestral traditions of place toward building a liberatory Latinx futurism. He brings his formal training in architecture and urbanism to his public projects, including his altar ofrendas. Fernando studied architecture and urbanism at UC Berkeley, and has taught design studios at Berkeley and the University of San Francisco. Originally from Ecuador, he has been deeply involved in San Francisco’s community struggles since the mid-90s, creating art for and with many local organizations, including the SF Print Collective, the Center for Political Education, PODER, and the SF Community Land Trust. His art and poetry can be found in an occasional 'zine entitled Amor y Lucha and on his Facebook Notes. He is a member of the Justseeds artists cooperative.
Marlee-I Mystic is a San Francisco–born vocalist, poet, and sound artist whose performances blend music, spoken word, and spiritual resonance. Raised in a deeply musical family and grounded in the traditions of the Coltrane Church, her work draws from jazz lineage, improvisation, and contemporary Black performance art. In recent years, Marlee-I has been featured in live poetry, music collaborations, and sacred sound performances. Her original works merge voice, rhythm, and ritual, creating immersive and meditative experiences. Known for her commanding yet fluid stage presence, she often performs poetry alongside live musicians and experimental soundscapes, including her signature piece, Born in Sound. Through both intimate and large-scale performances, Marlee-I Mystic invites audiences into spaces of vibration, remembrance, and collective healing.