Spirit/ARTS! Project
 

Who is Spirit/ARTS! Project!

Ouida Joi Cooper-Rodriguez, MA

Spirit/ARTS! Project Founder/Executive Director

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Ouida Joi Cooper-Rodriguez is a transformative improvisational performance artist, facilitator, writer, storyteller, sacred drummer, chant circle leader, and interdisciplinary arts producer whose work explores the intersection of the creative arts, culture, and sacred traditions. She is also a student of traditional shamanism and the Neo-Shamanic practice of Trance Dance and studied Butoh, the Japanese art of expressive movement, for more than eight years with her esteemed internationally recognized teacher, Judith Kajiwara.

Also, an ordained Interfaith Minister, she has served in radically inclusive, interspiritual leadership for more than two decades, creating welcoming spaces that honor diverse wisdom traditions while embracing people of all faiths, cultures, gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, and backgrounds.

In 2012, Ouida Joi founded the Spirit/ARTS! Project to create participatory artistic experiences that foster creativity, belonging, cultural understanding, and transformation. She also created and produced Spirit/JAZZ!, a monthly jazz performance series that showcased emerging and established women musicians, vocalists, and poets. Featured artists included Mary Watkins, Tammy Hall, Cava Menzies, Victoria Theodore, Donna Keiko Ozawa, Robin Nzingah Smith, Jan Martinelli, Stephanie Lee, Anna Maria Flechero, Lady Sunrise, Queen Michelle Jordan, Cheri Anderson, and Lisa Cohen.

After more than three decades in executive nonprofit leadership, Ouida Joi is now dedicating her encore career to expanding the Spirit/ARTS! Project. Her artistic vision is to create opportunities for people to experience joy, peace, belonging, and greater understanding of one another through shared creative experiences that blend music, storytelling, movement, visual arts, and cultural traditions.

Throughout her nonprofit career, she has served as an Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer, consultant, and organizational strategist. She also served as Administrator for Fifth Stream Music in San Francisco, home of the internationally acclaimed Asian American [Jazz] Orchestra, an experience that further deepened her appreciation for the transformative power of music and artistic collaboration.

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Ouida Joi holds a Master of Arts in Management and a Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Science/Psychology (Magna Cum Laude).

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An Air Force veteran, mother, grandmother, lifelong explorer, and Jazz and arts enthusiast, Ouida Joi is relocating to the greater Pasadena area to expand the Spirit/ARTS! Project and develop new collaborations with artists, cultural organizations, and community partners.

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