COPLA TEAM

CLAUDIA VALENTINO

Founder and Creative Director

As Founder and Creative Director, Claudia guides the core of Copla’s mission and creative direction. She is also full-time muralist who specializes in community-driven art. The daughter of parents who were exiled by dictatorships in South America, Claudia was born in Mexico, grew up in Argentina and Chile, and currently lives in the United States. Questions surrounding identity, belonging, and social justice are the defining themes of her life and artistic practice. She loves how making art can be a tool for communities to strengthen bonds, organize, and protect themselves.

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Claudia has 10 years of experience making murals in community and has been awarded several grants for mid-career artists, including from Forecast Public Art and the Walker Arts Center. In 2019 she was invited to participate in the ChromaZone Mural Festival in Saint Paul, MN. She was also one of 10 artists selected to develop a 4,000 square foot mural for Power of Vision: Mural on the Ave, in partnership with the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Hope Community, and Project for Pride and Living.

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Claudia is bilingual in Spanish and English.

AMELIA NIELSEN

Managing Director

As Managing Director, Amelia handles all the administrative details of Copla and is the resident grant writer. She earned a B.A. in International Studies from Macalester College, built a career in non-profit fundraising, and then earned an MBA at IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. Her business philosophy is that all businesses should operate to lift up and invest in the long-term wellbeing of the environment and people that sustain them.

Amelia has deep roots in the Midwest, but that hasn’t stopped her from traveling and living abroad as much as she can. She is a lifelong enthusiast of the arts and an obsessive birdwatcher. When she’s not at work, you can find her working on her latest textile project or in the woods on the hunt for birds.

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Amelia is bilingual in English and Spanish.