Catherine Nguyen is an artist, designer, and longtime nonprofit professional with experience in applying creative strategies to empower communities and organizations that are forces for good.
Born and raised in the Bay Area, Catherine traded the motley crew of nuclear physicists, rodeo cowboys, and winemakers in her suburban town of Livermore to study art in the more diverse hub of Manhattan. Trained in painting and printmaking, Catherine received her BFA in Studio Art and minor in Journalism from New York University.
After eight years of studying art and working at galleries, alternative art spaces, and nonprofits like the Lower East Side Printshop and White Columns in New York City, Catherine returned to Oakland and her East Bay roots in 2011. Over the next six years, she curated over 100 exhibitions nationally and internationally while managing the gallery at Creative Growth Art Center, the world’s oldest and largest art center for artists with disabilities. Following a sabbatical in refugee advocacy at the International Rescue Committee, Catherine found her way back to the arts, this time devoting her skills in finance and operations to Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST). In an escalating real estate market, CAST alleviates artist displacement by creating stable physical spaces for the exclusive use of arts and cultural organizations.
Catherine currently lives and creates in Alameda, California.