Natalia Neira

Co-Director

Natalia Neira (She/Her/Ella) is a cultural worker and strategist whose work bridges cultural revitalization, healing, and systemic change. She is based in Huchiun, Lisjan Ohlone land (Oakland, CA) with roots in the Andes and Wallmapu, Mapuche territory (Chile).

During her tenure at La Peña Cultural Center (2016–2024), where she served as Executive Director and Co-Director, she became attuned to the needs of historically marginalized arts institutions, arts administrators, artists, and culture bearers across the Bay. ​​She also served as co-chair of the Berkeley Cultural Trust’s Equity & Inclusion Committee (2019 to 2023), leading advocacy efforts that centered racial justice and equitable distribution of funds.

Natalia is an Organizing Fellow with Creative West’s Greater Bay Area Arts Coalition (GBAC), where she advances cultural equity through advocacy, strategy, and community-centered design and  a Fellow with Californians for the Arts’ Grassroots Artists Advocacy Program (GAAP) where she is developing a plan to bring in more sustainable investments to the arts and culture sector in Oakland. 

Natalia is founder of the Caracol Collective, a framework based on practical tools and resources to support community leaders in organizing from the inside out, centering ancestral knowledge, somatic embodiment, and self-sovereignty as pathways for well-being and collective liberation.

As EAP’s newest hire, she is eager to contribute to EAP’s mission of resourcing and uplifting the next generation of arts and culture leaders to build a sustainable and thriving arts ecosystem.