Amy Shimshon-Santo

Photo credit: Daion Chesley

Amy Shimshon-Santo is a writer and educator from Dogtown, a place that no longer exists. Her interdisciplinary work connects the arts, education, and urbanism. Her work crosses genres from poetry and creative non-fiction to choreography and social science. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her creative non-fiction (2017), Best of the Net for her poetry (2018), and was recognized on the National Honor Roll for Service Learning.
 
Her writing has been published by Yes Poetry, Zócalo Public Square, Lady Liberty Lit, Full Blede, Rose Quartz Journal, Awkward Mermaid Press, Inscape, Rag Queen Periodicals, Anti-Heroin Chic, Lady Liberty Lit, Entropy, SAGE Publications, UC Press, SUNY Press, Public!: A Journal of Imagining America, Teaching Artist Journal, Critical Planning Journal, and the Tiferet Journal. Her choreography has been performed throughout the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Singapore — from the Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington D.C. to grunge clubs in New York, terreiros in Salvador da Bahia, and cafetoriums in Point Barrow, Alaska.
 
Amy holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in urban planning (University of California, Los Angeles); an M.F.A. in creative writing (Antioch University), and a B.A. in Latin American Studies (University of California, Santa Cruz). She is currently an Associate Professor at Claremont Graduate University (CGU). She taught artists and classroom teachers for seven years while directing the ArtsBridge Program for UCLA Arts. Amy was on the founding committee of Create CA. She co-founded the Brasil Brasil Cultural Center and served as its Executive Director over a 15-year period. She has taught creative writing, dance, capoeira, and media literacy for youth and adults in community centers, schools, and spaces of incarceration. She began her creative career as a dancer and choreographer in California and New York.

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