Click here to Download: Curriculum Vitae
Cristian J. Roldán
(b. Puerto Rico) Based in Chicago since 2014 | cjroldan.com
Diaspora Designs Founder, est. 2021
Education
2020 - School of the Arts Institute of Chicago,| Master in Art Education.
2018 - Universidad de Puerto Rico en Cayey, Bachelor in Arts: Sociology
Grants & Awards
2024 - DCASE, Individual Artist Program, Grant
2022 - DCASE, Together We Heal, Grant
2022 - Rincon Family Center, Youth Care Award, Award
2020 - Chicago Artist Coalition, Spark Grant, Grant
2018 - DCASE, Year of Creative Youth, Grant
2018 - School of the Arts Institute of Chicago, Social Practice Grant, Grant
2017 - Dean Scholarship, School of the Arts Institute of Chicago, Scholarship
Selected Commission
2024 - Pisales Puerto Rico - Sidewalks Artwork Intervention, Lead Artist
2023 - National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture - Staircase Mural - Lead Artist
2023 - Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción - Aestheticization of Plaza Betances, Lead Artist
2022 - Chicago Department of Transportation in collaboration with the Puerto Rican Cultural
Center - Al Fresco, Chicago Sidewalks, Lead Artist
2021 - Casa Museo Juan Antonio Corretjer - Mural for Inauguration and 40th Anniversary of
poems Boricua en la Luna- Lead Artist
2018 - Barrio Arts & Culture Youth, Project founder, manager, and creative director,
Gentrification Mural, Lead Artist
2017 Doors of Paseo - Latina/o/x doors intervention, Coordinator/Co-curator
Selected Panels & Lectures
2024 - New England Foundation for the Arts: Managing your Public Art Projects
2024 - Colby College, Maine: Artist Talk: Puerto Rican Street Art: Murals as Emancipatory
Tools Against a Colonial Mentality
2024 - Dartmouth University, Vermont: Artist Talk: Murals as a Tool to Emancipate from a
Colonial Mentality in Marginalized Communities
2023 - Dartmouth University, Vermont- Artist Talk: Afro-Latine/ Latinx Symposium
2018 - University of Chicago at Illinois, Illinois: Pa’Lante Conference: Doors of Paseo Project
Selected Committees & Affiliations
2023 - City of Chicago: Arts & Culture Mayoral Transition Subcommittee (Member)
2023 - The Puerto Rican Agenda: Arts & Culture Subcommittee (Co-Chair)
2020 - CPAG: (Artist member)
Selected Articles
2022 - Block Club Chicago, Puerto Rican Artists Bring Colorful Murals To Humboldt Park’s Division Street, Article
2021 - Contratiempo, Identidad Boricua, Author
2021 - La Voz del Paseo, Celebrado Astista del Paseo Boricua, Cristian Roldán, pinta mural dedicado a “Boricua en la Luna”, Article
2020 - Xochipilli Magazine, Cristian Roldán: La Pintura Mural como Intervención Política, Interview
2019 - Univision, No a tu gobierno, no a la colonia": Un artista boricua crea un mural en protesta contra Roselló en Chicago, Article
2019 - Suntimes, Humboldt Park’s murals help Puerto Ricans fight cultural ‘amnesia to who we are’, Article
Selected Interviews
2022 - HITN, Voces con Cristian Roldán, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOhl5MbPt3o&t=119s , Video
2022 - PRCC, Alfresco Project 2022,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCzWz-qJj6M&t=3s , Video