Sixto A. Wagan, Jr.

Learn. Challenge. Evaluate. Adapt.

Facilitating change at the juncture of art, community, and equity.
image of a male-identified figure with graying black hair and a salt and pepper beard dressed in a blue suit with a white and blue striped shirt. In the background is the Houston skyline.

Sixto Wagan is the Project Director for the BIPOC Arts Network and Fund (BANF), a community-led collaborative fund and a resource network guided by arts leaders, practitioners, and funders. Wagan leads the $12.6M initiative to build a more vital BIPOC arts ecosystem in Greater Houston by devising equity-focused and community-led resource initiatives and evaluation methodologies. In three years, BANF invested over $8 million in more than 150 organizations, artists, and artist collectives dedicated to supporting and celebrating Houston’s communities of color.

Prior to BANF, he founded the Center for Art and Social Engagement (CASE) in the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts (KGMCA) at the University of Houston. At CASE, Wagan developed pilot programs, community partnerships, and research initiatives that centered creativity and community in impact conversations for 21st century cities. With Ryan Dennis, Wagan co-created the KGMCA-Project Row Houses Fellowship, a research fellowship for artists, academics, and creatives. The Fellowship used Project Row Houses’ People and Place methodology as framework and learning for creative collaborations and community-engaged learning practice.

He previously led the contemporary arts center DiverseWorks, serving as Artistic Director, Co-Executive Director and Performing Arts Curator. He has been recognized for his advocacy of artists and culture bearers, utilization of community-participatory methodologies, and collaborations with artists whose works tackle prescient cultural, social and political issues.

He is currently on the Board of Grantmakers in the Arts and MAP Fund. He has been a speaker at national convenings around equity, leadership development, transition planning, and community stewardship. Wagan’s consultant practice as a facilitator and evaluator focuses on strategic visioning, organizational health, and cultural equity.

Wagan completed a Master’s Degree in Teaching focusing on multi-disciplinary curriculum development. Artistically, Wagan has a degree in visual art, studying drawing and printmaking with Karin Broker and painting with Bas Poulos. He co-founded QuAC: The Queer Artist Collective in 1996, a performance collaborative of multi-gendered, multi-ethnic queers. They created 17 original full-length productions in 3 years and queered non-traditional art spaces with creative actions and open mics.

Wagan continues to expand his work as a strategic visioning and cultural equity facilitator and evaluator. Wagan completed Adaptive Leadership Facilitation training with EMC Arts and Anti-Racist Facilitator training with ArtEquity.