Roberto Bedoya is the Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Oakland where he shepherded the City's Cultural Plan. - "Belonging in Oakland: A Cultural Development Plan". Through-out his career he has consistently supported artists-centered cultural practices and advocated for expanded definitions of inclusion and belonging in cultural sector. His essays “Creative Placemaking and the Politics of Belonging and Dis-Belonging” ; “ Spatial Justice: Rasquachification, Race and the City” and “ "Poetics and Praxis of a City in Relation" has reframed the discussion on cultural policy to shed light on exclusionary practices in cultural policy decision making. He is the recipient of the United States Artist 2021 Berresford Prize.