Josette Melchor

Josette Melchor is the Executive Director and Founder of Gray Area Foundation For The Arts (GAFFTA), a San Francisco non-profit that applies digital art and technology for positive social impact.

As a community organizer, she led the launch of Seaquence.org, a product of Gray Area Research, an artist-in-research program for creative technologies. She also ran City Centered, a program that connected cities with data artists for public good.

An early social entrepreneur, she started her first art gallery and studio program at the age of 19 by self-funding creative projects through her work in the technology industry.

As a curator, she has worked with notable designers and interdisciplinary research centers including: MiT Senseable City Lab, Institute of Computer Sound and Technology, Stamen Design; artists C.E.B Reas, Robert Hodgin, Aaron Koblin, Camille Utterback, and many more.

She has spoken at PICNIC, TEDx Silicon Valley, Art Center College of Design, MUTEK and Stanford. GAFFTA has received the outstanding support of the City & County of San Francisco, the Knight Foundation, WordPress.org, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, IBM, and its passionate community.

She also serves as a Board Member for the SOMArts Cultural Center and as an Advisory Board Member for the Burning Man Project.