Viviana Vargas, "Yura Sapi" (they) is a being of Earth, a multi-disciplinary artist, creative activist, arts manager, educator, facilitator, nonprofit entrepreneur, and energy worker at the intersections of the arts, healing and social justice. Yura is honored to build racial, social and climate justice worldwide with U.S. nonprofit LiberArte Inc. serving as its co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. Under LiberArte's scope of programming, Yura creates liberated spaces that uplift, heal, and transform with Advancing Arts Forward, farms with AfroIndigenous food sovereignty program Protectores de la Tierra, and curates Balistikal, an LGBITQ+ healing and arts event space centering individuals and causes across Latin America. Yura hosts and produces the Building Our Own Tables weekly podcast on HowlRound which spotlights BIPOC artists and creative activists who create autonomous programs and organizations. Yura offers racial, gender and disability DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) consulting as part of the Melanin Collective, hosts and consults for in person and online workshops, university classes, gatherings, discussions, and resource sharings across the country and worldwide.

Yura extends beyond borders and prioritizes anti-racism and decolonization for our globally just futures.

Yura is of Indigenous Kichwa descent and holds Ecuadorian and Colombian citizenship with a lifelong connection to their birthplace on Manahatta island, Lenapehoking. They studied theatre arts at Boston University giving them tools of embodiment and healing practices applied to art making. They then studied arts management at CUNY Brooklyn College to find their place as an independent creator and producer. They trained with artEquity to be a racial and social justice facilitator and with the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in their Innovative Cultural Advocacy fellowship as a cultural equity emerging leader. They are always learning and hold immense gratitude for healing practitioners, artists, activists, fundraisers, farmers, ancestors, and guides who help them on their path.

Connect more with Yura on Instagram, LinkedIn or yurasapi.com.