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I'm a Colombian and New York-based Creative, Strategic Communicator, Curator, Researcher and Educator *
ANGÉLICA CUEVAS-GUARNIZO

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Creative | Journalist and Strategic and Communicator | Anthropologist | Colombian Fulbright Alumni | Spanish Native Speaker and Fluent in English
Holds a 01 US Visa.
︎ acuevas@newschool.edu
︎Brooklyn, NY, USA.

EDUCATION

Colombian Fulbright Scholar 2021-2023

M.A., Anthropology and Design, The New School for Social Research, NYC. 2023

B.A., Social Communications and Journalism, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín, Col. 2011.

Contemporary Curatorial Practices in Colombia Program, Experimental School of Arts and Humanities, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Col. 2022.

Podcasting: Telling Stories in Sound Course, Berkeley Advanced Media Institute, Berkeley, CA. 2017.

Languages: Spanish: Native | English: C1 Advanced



PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Communications Coordinator, ESCR-Net - International Network for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, NYC.
Dec, 2023 - Present 
  • Design and execute a communication strategy to enhance the visibility of over 100 civil society organizations and advocates within the network. My work involves contacting journalists in the United States and worldwide to coordinate coverage and collaboration on the network's key issues.

Communications Consultant, The Shipibo Conibo Center, NYC.
 Dec, 2022 – Dec 2023 
  • Co-designing a communications strategy with the Shipibo Conibo Indigenous community to promote their efforts to reclaim their right to govern their land in the Peruvian Amazon. Responsible for contacting international journalists to coordinate coverage of Shipibo’s stories. I created https://www.areaecologicaindigena.org 

Teaching Assistant, Objects of Revolution, Parsons School of Design, The New School, NYC.
 Fall, 2022
  • Assisted curator Hala Abdel in grading and leading discussions for a 17-student undergraduate course that focused on examining the recent global wave of mass revolts by studying the artifacts, their symbolism, and their meaning.

Black Fashion Collection Research Intern, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), Washington, D.C. Summer, 2022
  • Assisted Elaine Nichols, Senior Curator for Culture, in researching a garment belonging to a black suffragist by conducting a literature review and gathering numerous photographic archives and illustrations.

Strategic Communications Consultant, Fauna Flora Funga Initiative, NYU School of Law, NYC. 
May-Oct, 2021
  • Co-designed a website, a brand book, and a communications strategy for an international initiative aimed at integrating the protection of fungi into conservation policy frameworks. I was also responsible for engaging with the international press to gain coverage for the initiative, which was ultimately featured in a National Geographic Documentary.

Journalist Training Consultant, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Bogotá, Col.
 Aug, 2021 – May, 2022
  • Developed and managed a training program for 40 local journalists to enhance their reporting on the climate crisis.

Senior Editor, Activamente: A Transnational Mental Health Journalism Network, Mutante.org, Bogotá, Col.
 Aug, 2020 – Jan, 2021
  • Led the project's digital and journalistic strategy, which involved creating a network of five Latin American media outlets and 750 volunteers, health specialists, data journalists, and reporters. Together, we investigated the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on youth mental health in the region. The Open Society Foundations and the Pulitzer Center funded the Activamente.

Part-Time Faculty of Journalism and Innovation, School of Communication and Language, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Col.
Jan, 2020 – July, 2021
  • Educated undergraduate students on managing innovative journalistic projects and developing business plans for a newspaper company.

Communications Coordinator, Center for the Study of Law, Justice, and Society (Dejusticia).
July, 2017 – Jan, 2020
  • Transformed the press office into a multimedia lab to foster public debate on the Colombian Peace Agreement, Amazon protection, migration, gender issues, and indigenous rights. Produced news articles, podcasts, and social media content while partnering with various media outlets for broader distribution. Conducted training on creative activism and communication for social change.

Science, Environment & Education Senior Reporter, El Espectador Newspaper, Bogotá, Col.
Jan, 2011 – Sep, 2015

  • I managed and coordinated the daily coverage of issues related to science, health, the environment, and education in Colombia, leading a team of five reporters. I also created The River Blog, an environmental media project focused on Colombian rivers and tributaries. In recognition of my work, I received the Amway National Environmental Journalism Award in 2014.


AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS  

Open Society Foundations Drug Policy Reform Grantee
 Jul 2024 - Jan 2025
  • Liana, our curatorial research collective, received a grant from the Open Society Foundations (OSF) to create the "Coca, Palabra-Mundo" exhibition at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

Colombian Fulbright Scholar
 2021-2023
  • Awarded with the Fulbright Scholar Program for Artists 2021-2023. The Colombian Ministry of Culture and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) funded the program.

Canal Projects Curatorial Research Residency, New York.
May – Aug, 2023
  • Liana, the artistic research collective I started in NYC, was selected to investigate the relationships and transfers between plants and humans and artistic practices that address plants' mystical, political, and healing values.

ECA Alumni Engagement Grant, International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), Washington DC.
March – Oct, 2020

Gabo Foundation - Grant recipient of the Migration Storytelling Program, Colombia
 Jul – Dec, 2020

International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Fellowship, Washington DC.
 May – Jun, 2019

Simón Bolivar National Journalism Award, Colombia. 2019
  • Received recognition from the jury of the most important Colombian Journalism Award for the radio chronicle “The Invisible Massacre”.


NOTABLE JOURNALISM PROJECTS 

Relatos Anfibios Podcast,  Dejusticia
May, 2018 – Feb, 2020
  • Co-created and produced the first podcast for narrative journalism made by an NGO in Colombia. The podcast tells a series of stories related to gender issues, migration, drug policy, armed conflict and historical memory in Colombia and Venezuela.

Cúcuta: Emergency Exit, Dejusticia, Provea, Open Society Foundations
 May – Jul, 2018
  • Coordinated the training program for journalists at risk and editor of the featured article written by 13 Venezuelan and Colombian reporters.

Río Quito – Life Fragmented by Mining, El Espectador
 2015
  • This transmedia story describes how illegal mining in Rio Quito, Chocó, displaced hundreds of families.

Bathed In Mercury, Vice News Colombia
 2015
  • The article explains how Colombia's illegal mining boom is turning the rivers of 17 departments into polluted highways.

Savia Botánica Editorial Collection – Grupo Argos
 2015
  • I authored two compelling chapters for a project culminating in five impressive printed volumes showcasing Colombia's botanic richness.


NOTABLE EXHIBITIONS AND CAMPAIGNS

COCAWORLDS

Coca, Palabra-Mundo at the UN
Nov 2024
  • Our pioneering exhibition, featuring seven Colombian and one Bolivian artist, aimed to destigmatize the coca plant and highlight its traditional uses. It was supported by the Permanent Missions of Colombia and Bolivia to the UN and the Colombian Ministry of Culture. The exhibition was held at the UN headquarters until November 8 and will continue at the Open Society Foundations in New York City until January 18, 2025.


First Exhibit at Taller Boricua Workshop, Harlem, NYC.  
Mar 8 -May 2024
  • I am a co-curator of COCAWORLDS, a curatorial research project that vindicates the coca plant's mystical, political, medicinal, and nutritional significance through contemporary art. Our first exhibition showcased the works of three Colombian artists and Indigenous authorities in New York City from March 8 to May 11, 2024.

Riografías del Baudó, an exhibith for Doctors Without Borders LATAM  
July-Sep 2024
  • I curated Riografías del Baudó, a photographic exhibition exploring remote communities' confinement, violence, and resilience. The exhibition highlights the harsh realities faced by Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in Colombia's Chocó region. Through Fernanda Pineda's powerful photography, the exhibition aims to raise awareness of the crisis in the area and its traditional healing practices.


The Right to Defend Human Rights: Campaign to Protect Social Leaders, Dejusticia.
2018-2020
  • Co-created the campaign that supported a legal advocacy strategy demanding protection for Colombian human rights defenders amid the rising number of murders of peace defenders. This initiative involved taking over public spaces with posters, forming alliances with activists and journalists, and publishing newspaper articles.

Twenty-five youths get Colombian Amazon declared as a Subject of Rights
2018


Venezuela Solidarity Initiative (Dejusticia)
2018-2020

Guaimaros: An Exhibition to Commemorate an Invisible Massacre, Dejusticia and Mochuelo Itinerant Museum of Memory and Identity of Montes de María, Colombia
2019
  • Curated a photographic exhibition around the survivors of a little-studied massacre.


Unhealed Wounds Multimedia Journalist Project and Exhibition, Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO)
2019
  • I successfully led the Colombian chapter of the project, ensuring its impactful execution and collaboration.


SOME PRESS AND REVIEWS

  • Colombians arrive in New York to change perceptions about coca leaf - Semana Magazine, Colombia.
    With works of plastic art, audiovisual installations and silk fabrics dyed with coca leaves, a collective of Colombian artists will exhibit their proposal to rdefine this plant beyond its illicit use starting March 8 in Harlem. Link.

  • COCAWORLDS: Art to think coca beyond cocaine - Bacanika Magazine, Colombia

A collective of Colombian artists and researchers launched an exhibition in New York to detonate new conversations around the coca plant, challenging the reductionist and problematic views brought about by the cocaine trade. Link

  • An exhibition of Colombians in New York to reflect on the coca plant- El Espectador, Colombia

A collective of Colombian researchers and artists presents an exhibition on the coca plant in New York that reflects beyond the narratives of the war on drugs.

  • Contemporary And América Latina- Critical art magazine focusing on Afro-Latin America, The Caribbean and Africa.
Feature exhibitions: “Las Yerbas” Apothecary - 01 July 2023 - 31 October 2023/ Canal Projects / New York City, United States
Brooklyn, New York
Contact
︎ ︎ ︎

︎ acuevas @ newschool.edu
      ANGÉLICA CUEVAS-GUARNIZO
    • Social Justice Researcher and Designer • Strategic Communicator • Journalist • Anthropologist •  Curator • Educator •

      © 2025