Generous Fullness
abundance, creativity and care flow outward as of a well-nurtured self. generous fullness honors pleasure, gratitude, suffering, and the art of being so alive there is enough to share.
Joyful Creation
to create is to praise, to play, to breathe new futures into being. joyful creation treats art- and community- making as a dancing rebellion and a practice of connection and overcoming hate.
Embodied Mystery
the divine, the deep and infinite wisdom are her in body, sweat, tears, desire, breath, and struggle. embodied mystery is living the unknown and true calling through the body, creating from what cannot be explained.
Courageous Honesty
truth, vulnerability, and openness create trust, curiosity, dialogue, and innovation. I am, I’m not, I can, and I can’t lose all shame and integrity names what is real even when it trembles.
Jocaca
Jocaca exists to make art and community to deeply pause for authentic connection and liberation beyond hate.
Jocaca envisions an irresistible movement where art and connection gather us in toward our truest selves and opens us to reach out toward one another with radical honesty, care, and courage. We nurture compassion and discomfort to imagine better futures together.
Values
Liberated Togetherness
liberation is never solitary. liberated togetherness is collective becoming and undoing, while community is power, source, and freedom.
How It Started
In 2018, Toni Rose and Jaffa (husband) launched Jocaca honoring the power of art, music and song, ancestors, community, and becoming rooted within and among. Together, they have made a home for themselves and those wanting a space to connect. They carried the values from home to Jocaca to make change and a model of mutual and reciprocal growth, creation, reflection and connection.
In 2022, Jocaca exhibited its inaugural art show, Obstructed Landscapes. The show featured four transgendered/nonbinary artists, which was a tremendous success.
Toni Rose Castañeda Carrera
Child of Yolanda, who delighted in radical laughter, and George, who created intimate, Chicano-rooted music, knows there are always more reasons to dance than to cry. She carries forward this inheritance of joy with curiosity, humor, and a deep desire for connection.
As a creator, curator, and cultural organizer, Toni Rose weaves together people, ancestors, and future possibilities through painting, fiber work, and storytelling. Her practice explores how bodies and materials fall apart and return to wholeness, nurturing sacred joy, diversity, compassion, and transformation.
With over 20 years of experience in organizational leadership, program management, and arts-based initiatives, Toni Rose has built spaces for learning, healing, connection, artistic collaboration, and selah. She has exhibited her artwork, curated shows, and facilitated community-based programs. Her leadership has extended to founding ADORE LA, a queer BIPOC community of faith; consulting in diversity, equity, and inclusion; and serving in management roles at the Southwest California Synod and El Centrito Family Learning Centers.
Toni Rose holds a Master of Public Policy from California State University, Northridge and a Bachelor of Arts in English & Political Science from UCLA, completing a seminary program at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. She brings together strategic vision, relationship cultivation, and high-quality change. As a traveler and pilgrim, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador and an international learner in . She believes deeply in cultural responsiveness and the kaleidoscope of human diversity.
Rooted in Santa Paula, she carries the spirit of Southern California into all endeavors, holding in her heart the hope of a more just, creative, and connected future.