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Sixto Wagan
Director, Center for Art & Social Engagement

Sixto Wagan is the inaugural director for the Center for Art and Social Engagement (CASE) at the University of Houston. Prior to this role, he led the contemporary art center DiverseWorks, serving a multitude of capacities including Artistic Director, Co-Executive Director and Performing Arts Curator. During his tenure, he nurtured artists, communities and emerging arts organizations through commissions and place-based initiatives. 

Wagan is known for collaborating with performers whose works tackle prescient cultural, social and political issues. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the MAP Fund and is currently participating in the EMCArts' Associate Adaptive Facilitator Training. 

He is a celebrated commissioner and producer of contemporary art works, and has served on the boards  of Dance/USA, Dance Source Houston,The M.A.T.C.H. (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston), the National Performance Network, MacDowell and QFest, in addition to previously serving as a Hub Site for the National Dance Project and on the advisory board for the Texan French Alliance for the Arts.  

Mr. Wagan was a group leader for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters' Leadership Fellows Program, has been part of the Performing Arts Japan Advisory Committee, FUSED (French – US Exchange for Dance), the Contemporary Art Centers consortium and the Performing Americas Project. He has also previously served as Dance Down Under Ambassador for the Australian Arts Council and as a primary consultant to Creative Capital.  

Mr. Wagan has served on a number of granting panels for private foundations, spoken at national conferences on topics from mentorship and next generational leadership, place-based creative practice, and about issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the arts. He was published as part of Counting Beans: Intrinsic Impact of Art (Theater Bay Area) and participated in a creative placemaking conversation, documented in the article "Is This a Human Rights Movement," in Be Here, (CITE magazine, Volume 101, Winter 2018). He served on the Center for Houston's Future Policy Committee for the 2014 Indicator Report on Arts and Cultural Heritage and on the Culture and Tourism committee for the Greater Houston Partnership.