IJA Board Elections
Nominated Board Candidates
The names of nominated IJA Board candidates are shown below, in the order nominated. Click on a name to go to the nominee’s candidacy statement, or scroll down the page to see all the statements.
Vote for up to three candidates in 2017.
Nominated Board Candidates and Their Candidacy Statements
The names and candidacy statements of nominated IJA Board candidates are shown below, in the order nominated.
Eric Shibuya
I am deeply honored to be nominated to serve on the IJA Board of Directors. I have spent the last several years at more “flow festivals” than “juggling conventions,” but juggling is and always will be my first obsession. Coming back to the IJA is in many ways coming home.
My recent experience in the flow arts community has convinced me that juggling is alive and well, but the connection to the IJA is not. Fewer flow artists see a value in being part of the organization unless they come from a primarily juggling background. This is unfortunate and needs to change. The onus is on the IJA to reach out to these new, innovative artists and bring them into the juggling world, and I hope to be part of that endeavour.
The IJA has made great strides in the use of the internet for video tutorials and presentations, but the internet has grown so vast that the IJA is not often a primary stop for many young jugglers who find Youtube or even Juggling.tv. While the IJA should continue pushing new content, it should not try and compete with these platforms. Rather, the IJA should rely upon its vast repository of historical knowledge and bring that to the attention of the new and young jugglers and flow artists of today. As a professor with nearly 20 years of teaching experience, I hope to be a part of an IJA that connects our future with the roots of our past. Thank you for your consideration.
Eric Shibuya, PhD
Exuro Piechocki
I have used juggling and flow arts to transform my life. It has become my mission, for purely intrinsic purposes, to share the life changing joy that juggling and the flow state have brought me with those that seek the same ecstatic, raw feeling of being alive as I do. I have worked for 6 years with a variety of organizations including Flow Arts Institute and Flow Fests to help curate and cultivate our culture as best as I can, and have been present at 46 different juggling and flow arts conventions. It would be an honor to do my best to serve the IJA.
Johanna (Josie) Marks-McQuade
My name is Josie. I am a juggler, advocate and adventurer based in Portland, Oregon, and I am humbled to accept this nomination for the IJA Board of Directors.
I believe providing access to IJA programming for all people regardless of race, religion, creed, sexual orientation, social status, or gender identity, to be a paramount objective in our developing world, and I hope to use my extensive knowledge of non-profit management, cultural advocacy, social circus coaching, and object manipulation to support this vision. For the past 70 years the IJA has been the leading juggling community organization and I believe that by creating socially relevant content, connecting social circus organizations with the IJA, and continuing to fund programming outside of the U.S, the organization will make great strides in fostering community diversity and allyship.
As a queer and female identifying juggler I believe my voice will bring a valuable perspective to the IJA Board of Directors and I would be honored to receive your vote.
