Berkeley Experience: Danielle arrived at Berkeley impassioned to work within the arts and public service. She immediately was drawn towards BUILD within the Public Service Center, through which she served as a Literacy Mentor in various Oakland elementary schools, and Theater for Charity, which uses original theater to raise money for other campus service organizations. As time progressed, Danielle found more opportunities on campus to combine her interest of public service with the arts through V-Day at UC Berkeley, From the Field to the Table an Urban Bush Women project surrounding the intersection of food politics and social justice, Open Lab: Identity and Belonging with the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, Cal Performances, and co-founding her own theater organization Change Theater Collective. One of the most influential parts of Danielle’s Berkeley experience was the Global Poverty and Practice minor, which shaped her beliefs about working with and entering communities and promoting conversation and collaboration within social justice work.
Other Service Experience: Throughout her time at Cal, Danielle has volunteered with The San Francisco Mime Troupe a local theater for social change collective, interned with Young Aspirations/Young Artists Inc. in New Orleans, and in her final year, she rounded her public service experience in the public sector with an internship in the Office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
Fellowship Goal: Danielle is excited to fully submerge herself in the world of Art and Civic Engagement, exploring the work that is being done to promote access and equitability within the arts, the ways through which art is being used to change facets of the public sphere, and imagining more possibilities for change within both the arts and the pubic sphere.
Post Fellowship Plans: Danielle plans to continue her ongoing education within the intersections of art and social justice, while remaining actively engaged in her community.
Commitment to Service: "Service is about participating in the process of building and growing one another as well as the world in which we want to live. Through service we work in community: coming together with our own positions and experiences in order to engage, collaborate, and promote social justice."
