Collections by Michelle Brown WSG YEPP Co-Founder/Exec Director Bonsai Bermudez

Collections by Michelle Brown

Originally from Puerto Rico Bonsai Bermudez has a bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Dance and has worked professionally as a ballet/modern dancer and actor. Bonsai became a part of Ballet Teatro de Puerto Rico, Conservatory of Ballet Concierto, Broadway Dance Center, Traveling Theatre of Puerto Rico, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, among others. He completed a Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Puerto Rico with a concentration on LGBTQ issues. He has been working in the social justice-service field for over 20 years - focusing on trauma, transformative justice, and harm reduction practices. He joined to Board of Chicago’s Orgullo en Accion in 2010 to politically advocate for the Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Community. He spent five years at the Broadway Youth Center, a Chicago program that serves LGBTQ youth experiencing housing instability or homelessness, as the Drop-In and Resource Advocacy Manager. Bermudez is Co-Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Chicago’s Youth Empowerment Performance Project. YEPP is a program for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness to explore their history, investigate new ways to address their struggles, and celebrate their strengths throughout the process of developing a theatrical performance piece. Bonsai also serves as a consultant to different organizations and collectives around the country that are working to incorporate trauma informed, harm reduction, and art-healing practices into their programs, policies, and institutional work. He is quadrilingual (Spanish, English, French and Sign Language) with a strong interest in multicultural issues.