ABOUT US
ABRAM KATZ
President / Executive Director / Co-founder
Abram Katz is a passion-driven social artist with over twenty five years of teaching experience in arts education and civil engagement. Abram creates safe and structured classroom environments where students are encouraged to get to know each other and find common ground. His strength lies in his ability to assess the passions and challenges of diverse communities, and respond with dignity and inclusivity. His team-based approach to learning creates unique opportunities for students to connect with their local community, engaging everyone in the learning process, and bringing much-needed awareness of our shared human experience.
Abram is committed to positive change through youth development and school-community partnerships. As Co-Founder and Music Director of Indigital Kids, a SF Bay Area educational non-profit, he brought expressive arts to underserved populations from 2005-2010. Mr. Katz works closely with the Southern Oregon University as a teaching consultant for the School of Education and as a freelance photographer capturing breathtaking portraits for underscored communities internationally.
IAN VILLARREAL
Secretary / Treasurer
Ian Villarreal is a mystic, altruist, poet, artist, videographer, historical video archivist, tax accountant and licensed tax preparer. In 1994 he became part of Vimala Video, a small non-profit historical video archive established in 1980 dedicated to documenting the historical transmission of Varjayana Buddhism to the West.
As one of a team of two primary videographers, he has captured hundreds of hours of footage of largely Tibetan teachers teaching in various venues in California, Oregon, Montana, and Maryland. In addition to editing and producing for dissemination a number of documentary videos, he is engaged in the task of archiving, cataloging, and preserving the body of rare footage accumulated over the last forty years. He serves on the board of Vimala Video, and works in a volunteer capacity contributing to the support and maintenance of the video archive.
He is also a board member of Heartisan Foundation and serves as Secretary/Treasurer.
ANTONIO MELENDEZ
Co-Founder
Over the years Antonio has helped raise millions of dollars for charities around the world. Using his gifts as a deep listener and cinematographer he's connected the hearts of organizations to their supporters.
Currently Antonio, owns and operates Heartisan Films. With award-winning films like, “Gorilla Girl," he is helping people learn about the deep emotional intelligence carried by animals. He is focused on films that inspire, educate and motivate people into action around social and environmental issues. Antonio also focuses on fundraising films for large scale non-profits and NGO’s.
Outside of making art and scoring films, Antonio mentors, consults and teaches wherever he can.
"My life continues to be a blessed journey of growth, evolution and movement toward the best me I can be. ~Antonio Melenzdez