John Acosta, is a first generation Chicano, born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His parents are both from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. John is a dynamic & multifaceted artist, organizer and educator. He started working in the community seven years ago at an organization called Encuentro – a non profit that works to engage Latino immigrant families in educational and career development opportunities that build skills for economic and social justice. At Encuentro he coordinated a group of community journalists who focused on creating, producing and writing stories that would be published on a weekly basis on Encuentro’s website. This project was developed as a means to empower the community through journalism. From there, he moved on to Working Classroom, a youth arts center located in the historic and most impoverished neighborhood in New Mexico, Barelas. At Working Classroom he wore many hats from creating organizational-wide communications work to instructing youth in media education through film-making. John is also currently a Communication Fellow at The SouthWest Organizing Project in Albuquerque, New Mexico. John hopes to continue doing work with youth and his dream is to start a media literacy center/ community rental space where the community can convene to learn and where artists have easy and affordable access to cameras, media equipment, and music equipment.