Creatives In Residence Program
The Ruby is a collective of creative women, trans women, femmes, and nonbinary people that values empathy and education. Our Creatives in Residence (CIR) program supports QT BIPOC Bay Area creatives with 10 fully-funded year-long memberships.
Our Creatives in Residence Program is designed to offer creatives the opportunity to immerse themselves in a supportive environment and create new work while interacting with the Ruby community. Our program is open to creatives working in all disciplines, including visual arts, music, literature, performing arts, journalism, and more. In addition, we welcome applications from arts educators, oral historians, agricultural workers, food and drink-based artisans, community organizers, and other changemakers.
Creatives in Residence will have access to our community workspace and resources from September 1, 2024 - September 30, 2025. They will also have the opportunity to engage with Ruby community members through workshops, readings, community meals, and other events.
The program is open to both emerging and established creatives.
Meet Our 2024-2025 CIRs!
Rebeca Abidaíl Flores (So-Youn Kim Creative in Residence)
Rebeca Abigaíl Flores, a Salvadoran and Mexican artist from Fresno, CA, creates compelling stories and narratives that invite audiences to engage in playful exploration. Her debut solo exhibition featured a giant volcanic yard with sculptural interventions, including paletas, mangüeras, and a larger-than-life camisa. Rebeca's artwork transforms tools and items used by the working class into objects of play.
She has been a part of creative fellowships, serving as the Latinx Teaching Artist Fellow at Root Division and as a Teaching Artist at the University of San Francisco. Additionally, she has been honored with artist residencies at Story Knife and the Laureate Lab Visual Wordist Studio alongside Juan Felipe Herrera. Rebeca's debut solo sculpture exhibition was showcased at Medicine For Nightmares, and her visual creations have been exhibited at venues such as Juan R. Fuentes Gallery, SOMArts, and Root Division.
Robin J. Foster
Robin J. Foster is a writer, video editor, photographer, and croissant enthusiast originally from Lake Tahoe, CA. She received her MFA from the University of San Francisco, where she served as co fiction editor for the program's literary magazine, Invisible City. Her writing centers around magic, queerness, absurdism, and trauma. She is chipping away at her first novel, a fantastical story about two women struggling with their respective family legacies in a world where the line between life and death is thin. She lives in San Francisco.
Cristina Fríes
Cristina Fríes (Tina) is a Colombian-American fiction writer from the Bay Area. Currently, she is at work on a collection of short stories, an opera libretto, and a novel. She loves film, visual art, music, travel, and being in community with like-minded artists and creatives. She teaches High School English and lives in San Francisco with her dog, Rio.
Angela Han
Angela Han (she/her) is a Chinese-American multidisciplinary creator (artist, musician, educator, storyteller, curator, and mythmaker) who builds speculative worlds where women are eternally celebrated. In a process she calls “mythmaking,” Han weaves together research on various disciplines, including music, herstory, and Chinese folklore, with reflections of her own lived experiences to create new narratives that embody her hopes for the future. These stories are brought to life through intricate, multilayered paintings featuring rich, lyrical compositions. Her artwork has been exhibited at Arc Studios & Gallery, International Hotel Manilatown Center, Sanchez Art Center, SOMArts, and Voss Gallery. Han is the recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission Artists Grant (2021) and California Arts Council Individual Artists Fellowship (2023). She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors at the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA).
Lisa Holewa (Tillie Olson Creative in Residence)
Lisa is a former national news reporter turned elementary school teacher who’s working to recover her creative writing spirit. She is a mom of three who moved to the San Francisco Bay area from the Midwest in 2022. She currently teaches upper elementary students at a public Montessori school in San Mateo. In her professional life, Lisa’s written books on topics as wildly disparate as the crimes of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer vs. the secrets of the nation’s best kindergarten teachers. She’s now working on a novel as well as a series of poems … and is grateful to the Ruby for helping connect her to a community of writers and artists as she rediscovers her love for creating.
Harriett Jernigan
Harriett Jernigan was born in California and raised all over the place. She earned her B.A. in creative writing and German in New College at the University of Alabama and her Ph.D. in German Studies at Stanford University. She has published works in apt, Telos, L2, and Academfic. In 2019, she joined the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford, where she teaches courses on race and ethnicity and cultural rhetorics. A passionate baker, fencer, and traveler, Harriett is also the founder of First Person, a live storytelling workshop and show for marginalized voices.
Tracy Jones (Dorothea Gertrude Flynn Creative in Residence)
Tracy Jones is a Thai-American poet, multidisciplinary artist, and literary citizen. Her poems explore existential dimensions of spirituality, technology, and relationships and have been published in juried anthologies. She also experiments with filmmaking, performance, and interactive art. Tracy is a Center for Cultural Innovation grant recipient and has received fellowships from the San Francisco Writers Grotto Rooted & Written Program, Kearny Street Workshop’s Interdisciplinary Writers Lab, The Watering Hole, and the ARTogether Mentorship Hub for Literary Artists. When she is not working on a deadline, Tracy indulges in hot springs, divination, and foraging (she is an avid seaweed collector) — and is thrilled to be a Ruby! ♥️
René Peña-Govea (Leonore Peyser Creative in Residence)
René Peña-Govea is a multi-instrumentalist composer, bandleader, writer, educator, and librarian working in her hometown of San Francisco. She released her debut album and published her first poem when she was still in high school, and since then, has played Latin music as an accordionist in her family band all over the Bay Area. During the COVID-19 shutdown, René composed twenty bilingual children's songs with her son, Diego, which aired over three seasons of KTVU's SF Loves Learning and formed the basis for her children's album, Somos Diferentes. René has been recognized for her music and writing as a 2023 YBCA-100 Honoree and a 2023 Brown-Handler Resident, respectively, and is currently composing music and editing her debut young adult novel, Estela, Undrowning, for publication in 2026.
Sonya Rose Pendrey
Sonya Rose Pendrey is a radical San Francisco based creator, educator, and ecologist determined to protect people and the planet. Their work is dedicated to the sweetest pup, Lily. More at sonyarosepoetry.com
Geetanshi Sharma (Rachel Khong Creative in Resident)
Geetanshi Sharma is an emerging writer based in the Bay Area. She received her BA in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley, and after two years working as a product manager and accessibility specialist in the tech industry, is now pursuing her MFA in creative writing with a concentration in fiction and teaching at San Francisco State University. She is also on the team for the San Francisco Disability Cultural Center, the first municipally funded disability cultural center in the country. Her poetry, young adult fiction, and memoir works explore the intersection of chronic illness, disability, the medical industrial complex, and queerness through an Indian American lens. In her free time, she runs a bookstagram, @book.noted, and loves photography, baking, and playing board games!
General Creatives in Residence Opportunities
We are excited to offer 5 CIR opportunities to LGBTQ+ individuals and/or BIPOC who would not otherwise be able to afford a Ruby membership. These are year-long Full Ruby memberships that will span a year, from September 1, 2024 - September 1, 2025.
Specialized Creatives in Residence Opportunities
We also have five specialized creatives in residence opportunities available for those with financial need who would benefit from a Ruby membership. These are also year-long Ruby memberships spanning from September 2024 - September 2025.
The Dorothea Gertrude Flynn CIR Opportunity will be given to a recipient who was the first in their family to enroll in higher education. Dorothea Gertrude Flynn was born in 1917. She had planned to attend Barnard College (Columbia did not accept women at the time) and dreamed of a becoming a writer—specifically, a journalist. After her mother died in childbirth and her father subsequently lost everything in the Depression, she was no longer able to afford college, and never attended. She was always a passionate advocate for education for women, and would have been thrilled by the community of writers and creatives here at the Ruby. This is a full, one-year membership to The Ruby.
The Leonore Peyser Davis CIR Opportunity will be given to a musician or music writer with financial need. Leonore Peyser Davis was a devotee of all the arts, and music, especially opera, which was something she adored. This CIR opportunity celebrates her passion for music and is dedicated to cultivating emerging voices in the field. This is a full, one-year membership to The Ruby.
The Rachel Khong CIR Opportunity will be given to a LGBTQ+ and/or POC fiction writer with financial need working on their first novel. Rachel Khong is a San Francisco-based writer and the founder of The Ruby. Rachel worked tirelessly to provide a collaborative, safe space for women and non-binary people to pursue their goals and creative work in community with others. This CIR will join the Ruby for a year as a full member and as a welcome contributor to the mutually affirming community that Rachel built.
The So-Youn Kim CIR Opportunity will be given to an emerging Bay Area LGBTQ+ and/or POC writer tackling topics relating to social justice. So-Youn Kim was a writer and activist, tackled the injustices she saw all around her. She was passionate about advocating for women and girls, the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color. She loved deeply and recklessly, leaving a lasting impression on anyone who met her. A San Francisco native, she died at the age of 23 in 2009, while serving with the Peace Corps in Morocco. The So-Youn Kim Creative in Residence opportunity celebrates her life and creativity. In addition to a year-long community membership at the Ruby, the CIR will be able to contribute to a chapbook, housed in the Ruby library, that includes writings from So-Youn and prior So-Youn Kim Creatives in Residence.
The Tillie Olson CIR Opportunity will be given to a creative over the age of fifty with financial need. Tillie Olson was a Bay Area-based writer and labor organizer who stopped writing for thirty years because of financial issues before publishing her seminal work, Silences, at 66. Her interest in long-neglected women authors inspired the development of academic programs in women’s studies. This is a full, one-year membership to The Ruby.
Creatives in Residence Values
The Ruby Creatives in Residence program extends and expands on The Ruby’s values for collective support and collaboration for artists and creatives. In applying to this program, we expect alignment with the below values:
Collective Support and Care: Creatives in residence, as all Ruby members, are expected to contribute time and care to the Ruby. Each member is expected to contribute approximately 3 hours monthly to the community. This may include organizing opportunities for members to gather, staffing the front desk, supporting an event, or mentoring and supporting other members of the collective.
Dedication to work: Creatives in residence are expected to use the provided communal space for working and showcasing on their art and creative projects.
Respect for the community: Creatives in residence are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful manner towards other community members. They should treat the space and resources with care and be mindful of the impact their work may have on the community.
Active participation: As the crux of our work is collective support and community empowerment, creatives in residence are expected to participate actively in workshops, exhibitions, events, and, like all members of our community, contribute time in support of community stewardship of our space.
Overall, artists in residence of a creative collective are expected to be collaborative, dedicated, respectful, and active. In exchange, they will have access to a supportive and inspiring environment to create new work, develop their skills, and build connections with other creatives.
Application Season
Applications for the 2024-2025 had a deadline of June 15, 2024 and are now closed. Applications will be back up next spring!
Please note: If you are interested in applying for a standard Ruby membership, you can do so via the membership page.