Our Team
Side Street Projects is artist-built and artist-run. #ArtistsWorkHere
Emily Hopkins (she/her/they/them), Executive Director
Emily works to develop sustainable, community-based systems that connect working artists directly to communities. She is an advisor to PUSD and, the Vice President of her Neighborhood Association. Emily has a BFA & MA from CalArts.
Stephanie Aviles (she/her), Communications & External Relations Manager
Stephanie is an artist, filmmaker, and photographer whose drive for knowledge and storytelling is never-ending. She believes in the power of story to be of great value and capturing it for resonance, and connection. She received her BA in Mass Communication with a minor in Marketing from Cal State LA.
Madeline Aubry (she/her), Artist Project & Operations Manager / Teaching Artist
Madeline is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on storytelling through art. She has a BA from Occidental College in Urban Environmental Policy and a minor in Spanish. She is interested in exploring the ways that communities can and do use art to form better relationships with their built environments and each other. She is invested in learning about and preserving the history of the neighborhoods and surrounding communities in which she lives and works. She enjoys crafting with friends, rock climbing, and taking a neighborhood walk with a cup of tea.
Sarah Espinoza (she/her), Education Manager / Teaching Artist
Sarah has +15 years of experience developing and managing educational programs that serve our community. She’s been teaching with Side Street Project for over 10 years and brings creativity, fun and engaging approaches to empowering diverse communities in the creative arts. Sarah loves the outdoors, traveling and being an awesome mom!
Max Geldman (he/him), Facilities Manager
Max Geldman is Los Angeles born woodworker and educator, who received his formal training at the Krenov School in Fort Bragg, CA. A tinkerer and experimenter by nature Max’s personal work interrogates traditional forms and explores solutions for individual and cultural utility.
Angelina Coppola (she/her), Teaching Artist
Angelina Coppola grew up in Los Angeles and has worked with a variety of art nonprofits teaching students ages four to eighteen years old the visual and literary arts. She's bounced around doing small and large-scale community art events and enjoys bringing people together. You can find her rummaging for thrifted treasures and turning them into things.
Teresa Espinoza (she/her), Teaching Artist
Teresa is a natural born dancer and enjoys expressing herself through many forms of art.
Teresa comes from twenty plus years of working in the mental health field. Currently, she is working on finishing her Master's in Marriage, Family, Therapy. "I am excited to be working with an organization that allows me to combine my love for art and community."
Daniel Gaines (he/him), Teaching Artist
Daniel Gaines is an artist and therapist from Los Angeles. He received his bachelor's degree in visual art from The Evergreen State College, and his art practices include drawing, wood carving, and sculpture. Aside from making art, he enjoys hiking, watching animations, and playing ukulele. As someone with lived experience of mental illness, he is also dedicated to helping others find community and healing through the arts.
Maria Maea (she/her), Teaching Artist
Maria Maea is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation, performance, film and sound. Through her art practice, she deepens her connection to land, somatic memory, and ancestry. Her works act as a residue of her lived experience as a first generation Los Angeleno of Samoan and Mexican heritage. Using plants and repurposed found material gathered throughout Los Angeles, Maea builds film set-like sculptures that relate to storytelling & myth-making.
Nandi Mathews (they/them), Teaching Artist
Nandi is a multidisciplinary artist exploring sculpture, fashion, and performance through materials like ceramics, textiles, and photography. With a background in theatre and gardening, their work challenges the idea of art as a luxury, instead positioning it as a vital tool for community-building and cultural transformation.
Caroline Zorthian, (she/her/they/them), Teaching Artist
Caroline is a native Los Angelino who has tremendous appreciation for art of all kinds! She can often be found organizing classes/workshops at a ranch in the San Gabriel mountains or out and about talking to strangers about their lives. She enjoys repurposing materials and likes to live by the Triple P rule: Performance, Permaculture, Play.
Kelly Austin (she/her), Teaching Artist
Has spent 14 years at Side Street Projects and 30 years as a Professional Organizer and Bookkeeper, guiding financial and logistical processes with individuals and small businesses.
Margaret Adachi (she/her), Teaching Artist
Margaret Adachi was born in Los Angeles, California. She has an MFA from Claremont Graduate University. She is a sculptor and installation artist.