The Mission

To showcase the diversity and vitality of the Racine/Kenosha visual arts community by supporting the professional development of its artists.

The Goal

To distinguish the region as a place that values the arts, and enhance the area’s desirability as a place for artists to work and live.

2026 Jurors

Photography: Courtesy of the Artist

Rafael Francisco Salas is a Wisconsin based artist. He combines landscape, the legacy of portraiture, architecture, and country music into artwork evoking a singular, rural poetry. He is represented by Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Salas has also worked as an arts writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Newcity Art Chicago, The Isthmus Magazine and Urban Milwaukee.

In 2022, Governor Tony Evers appointed Rafael Francisco Salas to the Wisconsin Arts Board, the state agency responsible for the support and development of the arts throughout Wisconsin. He also serves on the Executive Board of the Museum of Wisconsin Art.

Salas is a Professor of Art at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin.

Photography: Courtesy of the Artist

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, photographer Nicole Acosta is a first-generation Mexican American artist whose work primarily addresses identity, experience, place, culture, and storytelling. Acosta holds a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing Management from Alverno College in Milwaukee. Prior to her transfer to Alverno College, she studied photography at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and Milwaukee Area Technical College. Her work is included in the collections of the Milwaukee Women’s Art Library, the Charles Allis Museum, and the Racine Art Museum.

Acosta’s nationally recognized HOOPS Project—which tells the story of people of the global majority and gender-expansive folks who value hoop earrings—is her current focus. In 2023, Acosta became the 14th and first Latina Artist in Residence at The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, held a solo HOOPS exhibition at the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) Art + Culture Hub gallery, and launched the world premiere of the HOOPS stage play written by playwright Eliana Pipes. In 2024, Acosta’s HOOPS Project was featured at RAM’s Wustum Museum owing to the award of an Equity Innovation Fund grant from the United Way of Racine County.

Photography: RAM Staff

Katelyn Mitchell is the Assistant Curator at the Racine Art Museum, where she curates exhibitions, assists with the production of juried shows, and conducts research on artists in RAM’s collection.