who we are
Named after a recurring dream, New Room Studios believes every artist deserves new rooms for opportunity and expansiveness.
We are a home for artists, made by artists.
You can click these links to learn more about our values, story, team, board of directors and partners, or continue to scroll down and read more below.
our values
creativity
We foster a spirit of play and experimentation in both our art and in our programming.
We see creativity as a spiritual act. Art brings deep truths from the realm of the unseen to the world of experience, and we know this can heal us as artists and as communities
We’re a flexible, adaptive, entrepreneurial and continually learning organization. We aim to learn from everyone who participates and to be highly responsive to the needs of our artists and communities.
We honor tradition and legacy while innovating and evolving.
community
We foster welcoming, inclusive, trans-generational and intersectional communities of artists that use our practices to sustain us all and create new possibilities.
Our work is based on authentic and evolving relationships, which we believe should heal and lift up everyone involved.
We partner with artists as they honor, care for and transform their communities.
We explore how communities can transcend boundaries and localities and unearth and explore hidden histories to create vibrant cultural experiences.
power
We know creativity creates power that can generate social good.
We address the impacts of historical oppression on artists (including philanthropic redlining, classism and inequitable access to opportunities), and we seek to share and yield our power. We want to resolve power dynamics and not just create new hierarchies.
We support artists so they can stand firm in their truth and speak with strength.
We know that most systems weren’t set up for individual artists, and we help them advocate for change. We invite authentic engagement, and we want to be changed by our relationships.
our story
In 2021, four working artists started meeting regularly in Portland to dream together about how to support artists, so they could make the art they want to make and have the practices they want to have. We wanted to focus on artists who face significant barriers and work with them to overcome those barriers. We knew that artists deserve that help, and that by supporting artists, we could help build a healthier and more vibrant society.
We were soon joined by the folks who would become our first board of directors, and together we started sketching out New Room Studios (NRS). This new nonprofit would become an institutional home for independent artists and arts groups who want to use their art to improve their communities.
We knew that if we could take care of the things that often come between an artist and their work—lack of resources, lack of community, lack of capacity to take care of all the other “stuff” that comes with being an artist—they could focus more on what they truly cared about, have more fulfilling practices and increase their impact.
We soon started working with the Oregon Community Foundation to provide their Fields Artist Fellows with grant writing services and support. This brought us into relationship with more amazing artists across Oregon, many of whom have become active members of the NRS community.
We received our tax-exempt status in 2023, and we developed our plans and slowly built our community. In 2025, we launched our Arts Partnership Program and our Genius Artist Program, and in 2026, we started Culture Bloc and our Artist Leadership & Development Workshops.
We’re excited to keep growing this community and finding new ways to support and elevate artists. We are proud to keep creating new room for artists so they can become who they want to be and make the art that changes us all.
Ben Moorad, Director, Artistic Principal
Ben’s a writer, performer, producer and MacDowell Fellow. He Co-Founded Write Around Portland, a community arts nonprofit in its 27th year, and Pass the Mic, a free music ed program for immigrant youth in its 8th year. He’s also the Co-Producer of “We Are the Ones Who Live Here,” a storytelling podcast based in Beirut, Lebanon. See Ben's artist profile.
Crystal Akins Meneses, Artistic Principal
Crystal is a singer, musician, conductor, visual artist, arts activist, Fields Artist Fellow, chaplain and death doula. Her main artistic practice is to bring people together through community choirs and community instrumental groups to heal traumas and to increase access to creative expression. Follow Crystal on Instagram.
our team
Every New Rooms Studio is a working artist or long-time cultural worker, embedded in the communities we support. Our team has often had to navigate similar landscapes as the people we are offering mentorship to, those we are co-creating programs alongside, and as communities we are building relationships with.
Joaquin Lopez,
Artistic Principal
Joaquin is a performing artist, musician, and mental health counselor whose work is grounded in personal transformation, self-expression, and community engagement. He served as the Arts & Culture Manager and the Manager of Leadership Development during his time at Latino Network, and he was Creative Laureate for the City of Portland in 2021-2024. Visit Joaquin's website.
Mic Crenshaw,
Artistic Principal
Mic’s a Hip Hop artist, antifascist activist and Fields Fellow who’s mentored hundreds of youth. He’s the Lead U.S. Organizer for the Afrikan HipHop Caravan, and he uses cultural activism as a means to develop international solidarity related to human rights and justice through Hip Hop and education. Mic was the 2001 Portland Poetry Slam’s Grand Slam Champion and Willamette Week's “Portland's Best Hip Hop Artist of 2016.” Learn more on Mic's website.
Robyn Steely,
Operations Lead
Robyn works with nonprofits, unions, and social justice organizations, providing relationship-based and trauma-informed training, curriculum development, facilitation, and leadership support. She’s a criminal justice reform advocate and longtime weekly volunteer at a residential treatment center for men in the criminal justice system. Her creative practice includes pen, paper, needle, and thread. See more on Robyn's website.
our Board of Directors
Our Board is comprised of arts champions from the communty who understand, advocate, and recognize the triumphs and challenges that artists face, both as artists and as community members.
Ben Moorad, Director of New Room Studios, also serves as our Board Secretary.
Shona Carter,
Board Chair
Shona has worked in philanthropy for 23 years and is now the Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives at Seeding Justice. Her previous roles include: Director of Partner Engagement & Investment at the Black Future Co-op Fund, VP of Community Engagement and Strategy at the Community Foundation for SW Washington, Senior Philanthropic Advisor at The San Francisco Foundation, and Associate Program Officer at the Clorox Company Foundation. She’s a co-founder of the Southwest Washington Equity Coalition. She’s also a writer and performer.
Siobhana McEwen,
Board Treasurer
Siobhana is the Executive Director of the Southwest Washington Equity Coalition, and she used to be the Equity & Advocacy Director at the Council for the Homeless. She’s a clinically-trained social worker, she’s worked as a teacher, she’s been a photojournalist and musician, and she serves on numerous boards and commissions devoted to promoting equity and community.
our partners
We wouldn’t be here without our generous partners!
New Room Studios was incubated as part of a generous fellowship from New Expressive Works and the Miller Foundation, which included mentorship and guidance from Subashini Ganesan and George Thorn in our initial planning period.
We have since received generous support from the Echo Fund, Oregon Arts Commission, the Regional Arts + Culture Council, the Oregon Cultural Trust (through the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition), the OCF Small Arts and Culture grant program (funded by the Fred W. Fields Fund), Hand2Mouth Theatre, and Ronni Lacroute, J. Schuberth & John Urang, and many other people in the community.
want to join the New Room Studios community?
attend an event
Join us for artist showcases, gatherings, classes, and community events.
learn about our programs
Explore our artist fellowship, grassroots partnerships, and workshops by and for artists.
help fund the movement
Your support builds the essential infrastructure all artists deserve.