Melissa Orion Riggs
Melissa Orion Riggs is an artist, performer, emcee, and social-permaculture designer whose work moves fluidly between creative expression and regenerative practice. Through Common Grounding, she stewards a constellation of land-based projects in the North Fork Valley and beyond, weaving together community imagination, ecological design, and storytelling.
Melissa creates regularly with Paonia Players, contributing to local theater and collaborative arts, and is energized by the potential for future joint projects with Elsewhere Studios. Her work is shaped by the landscapes she calls home, the networks she helps cultivate, and the daily inspiration she finds with her husband JJ, and their four children.
Lisa Mead
Lisa Mead is a movement artist, community builder, and a professional seeker of the magic ever present in everyday life. She finds inspiration in the poetry of the natural world. Her medium is embodiment - exploring the body as a place for creativity, connection, and play through dance, fitness, yoga, song, and written word. She writes poetry, leads song circles, and believes laughter, music, and shared experiences are some of the greatest ways we come home to ourselves.
Lisa is the creator of a local zine made to spread happiness, a (self-proclaimed) vibe curator, and someone who will never turn down an excuse to wear a costume. Her passions are bringing people together, making life a little lot more magical, and helping people illuminate their curiosity, play, and possibility... She is excited to join Elsewhere Studios and contribute to a space where creativity, imagination, and community grows.
Tara Seren
Tara Seren is an integrative healing practitioner and lifelong student of holistic and cross-cultural arts. With more than two decades of experience, she supports people through life’s threshold moments, drawing from studies in anthropology, holistic medicine, entheogenic traditions, folklore, and whole-cycle doula work.
Her approach weaves somatic and energetic practices, sound and DreamWork, and culturally aware, sacred methodologies that help individuals and artists return to their inner clarity, resilience, and creative spark.
Tara brings to Elsewhere a grounded presence rooted in cultural awareness, sacred stewardship, and a deep commitment to community wellbeing and the alchemy that emerges when creative minds gather.
Pipi Ann
Pipi Ann brings over 15 years of deep-rooted experience in community art spaces and event production to the board of Elsewhere Studios. Beginning their journey as a passionate volunteer, they systematically worked their way up to high-level project management and organizational consulting.
Throughout their career, Pipi Ann has specialized in drafting foundational policies and operational procedures that stabilize and empower creative organizations. In addition to their administrative expertise, they are an active artist focused on the design, fabrication, and physical installation of immersive, interactive spaces.
By blending a pragmatic understanding of nonprofit logistics with a hands-on love for spatial artistic experimentation, Pipi Ann is dedicated to supporting Elsewhere's mission as a vital incubator for resident artists and the Paonia community.