Rina Faletti, PhD, creates art and photography exhibitions, community programs and publications that open conversations about environmental and social issues in California and beyond. In October 2018, she and her special team included 11 artists and 3 filmmakers for a gallery exhibition, online public photography show, film event and series of public gatherings to come together around the devastation of the new phenomenon of wildfire in California. In addition to “Art Responds: The Wine Country Fires,” her exhibits have included “Hydraulic Architecture: Water, Photography and Urban History in California.” At UC Merced’s Center for the Humanities and Global Arts Studies Program, she has produced gatherings such as “The Bridge Is History: Water and the Humanities Conference and Exhibition.” After the 2017 fires, she and her family were long-term evacuees from their home in the Mayacamas Mountains near Mt. Veeder, where she co-leads an oral history project documenting volunteer firefighters’ experiences.