Gabriel Gutierrez

Creative Jobs Collective Impact Initiative, Arts for LA

Originally from Chicago, IL – Gabriel Gutierrez (he/him) is an adult adoptee, first generation street dance artist, founder of MoFundamentals, and artivist dedicated to highlighting the resiliency of the foster and adoptee community. His work centers on elevating narratives and lived experience of artists and culture bearers in Los Angeles who belong to the: street dance culture, houselessness, former foster, and adoptee communities. Gabriel brings important ancestral practices from his P’urhépecha lineage into his artist + advocacy work.

For 10 years, Gabriel’s contributions at the intersection of performing arts, education, healing practices, and foster care advocacy have led to: hosting the first foster youth led dance festival in the U.S., representing Los Angeles City District 1 as an ACTIVATE Cultural Policy Fellow, recruitment to pilot re-entry through performing arts program, and being selected as a 2022 DanceUSA fellow to create the first foster youth dance collective in the United States, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Gabriel is currently leading the Creative Jobs Collective Impact Initiative at Arts for LA – a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to leading communities, artists, and organizations to advocate for an equitable, vibrant, and creative Los Angeles region through the arts.