Arianna Sikorski
Poet • Artist • Traveler
Originally born and raised in Alaska, Arianna Sikorski is a poet, artist, and avid international traveler who writes and creates from her unique travel experiences. She has visited over forty different countries and spent two years traveling solo through New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and South America. During her travels, she completed a poetry series entitled, Rangiora Released, inspired by the natural environments in New Zealand and has had several art pieces selected for group exhibitions at the Pico House Gallery and Jeanie Madsen Gallery in Los Angeles. She has performed her poetry in California, New Zealand, North Carolina and continues to work on publishing a compilation entitled, Brave The Awkward, through the Community Literature Initiative.
In addition to her artistic pursuits, Arianna is also an experienced cultural events producer, curator, and consultant in the arts and culture field. She has
Biography
worked for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO), Community Arts Resources (CARS) on CicLAvia and Getty Family Festivals, USC Thornton School of Music, USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, and the Arts Journalism Programs at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism executing the department's various fellowships, projects, summits, and grants. She holds a B.A. in Communication from USC Annenberg, is an alumna of the Institute for Shipboard Education’s Semester at Sea program, and graduated from Idyllwild Arts Academy in Technical Theatre where she first made a life-changing move to California to pursue an artistic career.
She completed her Master of Management in International Arts Management (MMIAM) in 2017 from the partner universities of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, HEC Montréal in Quebec, SDA Bocconi in Milan, and Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, with a thesis business plan for a start-up museum dedicated entirely to food as a cultural heritage, art form, and educational tool for international cultural exchange and understanding. She was originally inspired to pursue this idea from Taste My Culture, a term she coined to represent the international culinary experimentation and exploration encountered during her travels with a 100+ year-old Alaskan sourdough starter from her childhood (@tastemyculture). Later in 2018, her starter was selected and collected for permanent preservation and study at the Puratos World Heritage Sourdough Library in Belgium. Her starter and story is also featured as part of the library's Klondike Gold Rush "Quest for Sourdough" short film episodes.
After a curatorial internship at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum in New Orleans, LA, Arianna went on to work as Foodways Coordinator for the 2018 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC helping feature Armenia and Catalonia culinary heritage.
When not writing, painting or traveling with her sourdough, you may find Arianna salsa dancing, wine tasting, watching the latest 3D animation film, and/or reminiscing about her New Zealand nature highs and organic farming love.