Freddy Janka
A contemporary art and museum professional with more than two decades of experience curating and fundraising for artists and exhibitions, advocating for the preservation of cultural resources, and advancing Black, Brown, and Indigenous solidarity as a practice of collective healing. He regularly consults on nonprofit leadership and development, curatorial initiatives and public programming, artist career development and legacy planning, editorial and brand partnerships, and contemporary art focused travel.
Highlights
Blood of The Nopal / Sangre De Nopal
Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB)
Sangre de Nopal/Blood of the Nopal is a multi-vocal, multi-lingual, and intergenerational project produced by Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara for PST ART: Art & Science Collide presented by Getty. The accompanying publication is a culmination of over five years (2020-2025) of collective labor including three exhibitions (Fowler Museum at UCLA, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, and the British Textile Biennial) and is intended to be a resource for those looking to further their own research and interests into the impact of the Indigenous Oaxacan Diaspora on global culture, contemporary Indigenous and Latinx/Latiné artists, and cochineal as a case study in Indigenous innovation deeply rooted in Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The exhibition is co-curated by John Connelly, Dalia Garcia, Frederick Janka, Audrey Lopez, with Artist Advisors Tanya Aguiñiga and Porfirio Gutiérrez. The publication is edited by Mishell Carcamo and Frederick Janka.
Since reopening the museum in January 2023, and with the current leadership of Dalia Garcia, Executive Director, and Frederick Janka, President of the Board of Trustees, MCASB has produced over 20 exhibitions, and developed signature exhibition series and public programs. Trustees and staff have worked in close collaboration over the past three years to develop a community accountability statement to guide the museum’s engagement with the communities it serves as well as community agreements between trustees and staff that center accountability, care, co-creation, and transparency. Institutional transformation has reshaped the museum to challenge sector norms of racism and gatekeeping, while continuing to do the work of presenting the art and ideas of our time. The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara remains the only free contemporary art museum between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. mcasantabarbara.org
All photography unless otherwise noted: Ingrid Bostrom Photography
Artworks: Adriana Arriaga and Claudia Borfiga, Nurture Out Mother, 2021; Cole Sternberg, Pacificist Tee, 2023; Installation View Fowler Museum at UCLA, Elon Schoenholz, of photograpahy by Javier Lazo Gutiérrez, Tanya Aguiñiga and Porfirio Gutiérez in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2022; Installation View Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara: DJ Javier, San Milano Drive, 2025