Our Story

Thomas-Whit Ellis was appointed at Fresno State in 1991. He currently holds the rank of full professor in the Theatre Arts Department. He also serves as department chair of Africana Studies. Professor Ellis has directed dozens of plays for the University Theatre program including Native Son, Colored Girls, and The Gospel at Colonus. He also directed numerous productions throughout the region including God’s Trombones at the Central California Women’s Facility, Chowchilla. He was appointed Fulbright Scholar at the National Taiwan University where he directed the university’s first main stage production, David Henry Hwang’s Golden Child, (performed in English and Mandarin). Other international credits include El Hajj Malik at the National Theatre of Nigeria, Lagos and Death and the Maiden, Van Troi Theatre, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. He has appeared in several movies and is an active member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists. He currently serves on the boards of The Fresno Arts Council, Valley Public TV Community Advisory, Arte Americas, and The William James Association, Santa Cruz.

Henry Robinett is a guitarist and composer living in Sacramento, Ca. He has released 7 albums under his own name and has three more in the can. His latest Jazz Standards Vol 2 Then Again, reached #10 on the prestigious JazzWeek chart. He has taught jazz at the University of the Pacific and The American Institute of Music in Vienna, Austria. Henry’s father was the first cousin of jazz great Charles Mingus. Henry lived with him briefly where he met luminaries such as Joni Mitchell, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, Dizzy Gillespie, and Woody Shaw. For the last 30 years, Henry has been teaching music in the California prison system. He believes in giving back.

Rachel O’Malley Ph.D is a Professor of Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. O’Malley’s research interests include Insect Ecology, Conservation & Restoration; Environmental Justice & Impact Assessment; International & California Coastal Sustainable Agriculture. O’Malley also maintains a working relationship with the Center for Agroecology at UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, and is an advisor for Master of Science students in research on conserving pollinators, reducing farm runoff, and understanding pest/enemy dynamics in farm fields in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara Counties, California. Internationally, O’Malley supervises students working on the ecological impacts of banana production, shrimp farming, cacao, and cattle production in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Colombia, respectively, and runs the sustainable agriculture garden on Campus at San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. O’Malley serves on boards of a range of local nonprofit organizations, government commissions, and political organizations.

Jack Bowers is a pianist, performing musician, songwriter/composer and arts administrator. For twenty-five years he directed the Arts in Corrections program at Soledad State Prison, which involved hundreds of inmates in weekly fine arts activities, ranging from creative writing classes to music theory to luthiery. Currently, in addition to performing, teaching, and recording in the Santa Cruz area, he is an active advocate for arts programming for prisoners and at-risk youth through the William James Association.  For the past seven years he has been a mentor for artists teaching in California prisons.

Nigel Sanders-Self is a theater, film and multimedia producer/ director. He has been a member of the board for over thirty years and has directed and performed in productions in institutions including Vacaville, Soledad and San Quentin. He is the recipient of three California Art Council grants. He created a relationship between the University of California Shakespeare Santa Cruz touring both Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Nights Dream in prisons throughout California. Nigel is dedicated to Arts programs in prison that reduce recidivism and promote human rights for incarcerated individuals. He has been influential in recruiting and establishing artists in prisons, in theater, visual arts, creative writing, and music. He was appointed to the board by founding members Page and Eloise Smith.

Wayne D. Cook is a proud retiree from the California Arts Council, where he was Program Manager of the Artists in School’s Program and the ADA/504 Disability Coordinator. Retirement hasn’t slowed Mr. Cook down, as he continues to consult for the William James Association and Arts in Correction at Solano Prison. He continues working with the Educational Department for the Sacramento Theatre Company (STC) and prior to the pandemic, continued to act in such productions as, To Kill A Mockingbird at STC, The Iceman Cometh for the Actor’s Theatre of Sacramento and only a few years ago received the Elly award for acting in Learning Spanish at the Wilkerson Theatre. Mr. Cook is the author of a drama curriculum, Center Stage, A curriculum for the Performing Arts. First published in the ninety, you can still purchase Center Stage on Amazon.

Wesley Haye, is a Vietnam-era combat veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division. He is committed to assisting other veterans and aims to assist them in finding their way out of the dark. He has first hand experience with the many struggles veterans go through, including homelessness and prison. But he believes that with the opportunity to live as a community, veterans can raise each others self-esteem and sense of self-worth. He is the founder of Wesley Haye Enterprise, LLC, which is dedicated to assisting veterans with finding affordable housing options in Monterey County, California.

Jose Antonio Aguirre has received national and international awards, including the Fulbright-Garcia Robles awarded by the United States State Department and the Cultural Exchange International grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs to produce a community public art project in Mexico. Aguirre has been a teacher and Artist-In-Residence in various institutions, and given several lectures and workshops at universities, museums and cultural institutions around in Germany, Mexico, Scotland and the United States. He obtained a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1982) and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts (1990). Since 1976 he has lived and worked in Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Colima City, currently resides and works in Pasadena, California.

William “Bill” Cleveland is a pioneer in the cultural community development movement and one of its most poetic documenters. His books Art in Other Places and Making Exact Change and Art and Upheaval, are considered seminal works in the field. Organizer, teacher, researcher, and musician, he also directs the Center for the Study of Art and Community. The Center works to integrate the arts and community life, focusing on, the development of cultural partnerships, and training for artists, and their community, and business partners. Bill has also led the Walker Art Center’s Education. Department (1995-97). California’s Arts-In-Corrections Program (1981-1989), and the California State Summer School for the Arts (1989-1991). His most recent book Between Grace and Fear: The Role of the Arts in a Time of Change written with Patricia Shifferd was published in 2012. His CD, SongLines, based, in part, on stories from Art and Upheaval, was released in 2014.

Felix Lucero is of Mexican descent, a Returning Resident (coming up on 10 years), a sheet-metal worker, a husband and father. He is a visual artist, specifically a block printer. He has produced museum quality prints and has prints in the Library of Congress. He is a prolific writer and a self-taught guitarist. Since then, he has been focused on his life and his family. Now that he has established his life, he reached out to Henry and asked him, “how can I give back?”.  He appreciated his time in the Arts in Corrections and wants to make sure that the WJA is around long after all of us are gone. He brings to the board insight into the struggles, challenges and needs of the populations (currently and formerly incarcerated individuals) we are serving.  He is ready to be of service and become an active participant in moving the William James Association into the future.