DOWNEY — If Gabriel Enamorado is the face of Stay Arts and Stay Gallery, then Juliana Canty is its compassionate heart.

The 29-year-old Programs Director at Stay Arts was born in San Diego and raised in San Jose.

She says that the arts have “always played a huge role” in her life.

“I was bullied growing up, and I think that the arts was my safe haven,” said Canty. “I was a band kid, I was a theatre kid, I was a dancer, I found solace in drawing. It’s really where I felt I could be myself.

“I always knew that the arts was going to be a huge part of my life, so I’m really passionate about that and I bring my passion into this.”

Canty moved to Long Beach in 2012 to pursue a major in Dance at Cal State Long Beach. In 2017, she would meet Enamorado, Stay Arts co-founder and current executive director, while working as a waitress.

“I was actually his waitress; that’s how we connected,” said Canty. “The rest is history.”

The two had an almost instantaneous connection.

“We didn’t leave each other phone numbers that first day, but then the next week he came back in,” said Canty. “The funny part is that those two nights that we met each other, they were both on Friday nights and at the time I wasn’t working Friday nights at the time that whole year…I had just picked up those shifts for some friends. So, it feels meant to be, serendipitous.”

As the two cultivated their personal relationship, Canty says that they “really connected” on their values, passions, and interests.

“There was a point where I started to work with in him 2018 with his studio, and he taught me how to work Squarespace, do a little graphic design,” said Canty. “I have a pretty strong background when it comes to writing…so I started taking over copywriting, and working with him on projects in his studio.”

In 2019, she came onto the Stay Gallery team.

Canty says the pair “are having a lot of fun and are really passionate about” managing Stay Arts, the gallery, and its programs.

“Working together [with Enamorado] here at Stay feels really special,” said Canty. “We are really collaborative when it comes to working; there’s a lot of strengths that we each carry that compliment each other when we work together.”

While Enamorado been at the forefront of Stay Gallery since taking over in 2019, Canty has worked more behind the scenes and away from most of the spotlight.

And truthfully, she prefers it that way.

“I do like to be more of a background player, and I think Gabriel does too,” said Canty. “We don’t really want to be necessarily the outward face of Stay; we don’t really want Stay Gallery to have one person be who it is; we want it to live on its own as its own entity.”

She says they both “wear so many different hats.”

“I feel like a lot of our day-to-day is corresponding with all the community members that we’re working with, corresponding with our employees, it’s managing our social media, its creating our digital presence online whether it’s through Instagram, or our website, or Facebook,” said Canty. We take care of all of those aspects, and so it’s really collaborative; it’s a really collaborative process when it comes to everything that revolves around program development, what types of events and workshops we’re hosting in the space, how we’re managing after-school programs.

“I draw a lot of inspiration from the community itself, and the artists we work with, the teachers that we work with, because their feedback is really important, and their needs are really important.”

Enamorado says Canty “brings empathy” into Stay and it’s programs.

“Juliana, what she brings to the table is the ability for us to put all of our plans on a timeline, and really thoroughly write out all the steps for whoever – whether it’s her, or me, or both of us – that comes up with this grandiose idea for a project or idea… she definitely brings this kind of flow to the thing that really makes it feel like an entire experience from beginning to end.”

It is Canty’s hope to help make Stay a place where “people feel seen, heard, valued, and free to be able to express themselves through their own personal form of creativity.”

“I never worked in a non-profit setting, or a gallery setting before this, but there’s something about it that’s very familiar to me because of how immersed I was in the arts growing up, and how passionate I am about the arts,” said Canty. “I feel like I fell into this role really naturally, and I’ve always been very compassionate like Gabriel says, and empathetic when it comes to other people. I’ve always wanted to give back to my community, and I think a lot of it stems from my experience being bullied and not really wanting other people to have to feel what I felt.

“I know the power of the arts and how it can really help people get through challenging situations.”

Canty believes that there is opportunity for the arts to grow in the city, it just needs the support.

“I feel like Stay Gallery, even taking myself out of the equation, it’s such an integral aspect of the city; it’s so ingrained in the fabric of this city,” said Canty. “I know it’s had a rocky history, but this is truly a place where a lot of people feel safe, and they feel they can share their artwork, and they feel that they can connect to other people. It’s a gathering place for a lot of people. If this place were to go away, I feel like a part of the city would just disappear.

“There’s a lot of ways the arts could evolve in the city of Downey, and I feel like on a more City Council, staff level, it just needs to be more of an investment in arts and culture, and more of seeing why it’s important, and why it should be valued. I think it’s there, but I don’t think that it’s as valued as it should be.”

Her vision is for Downey to have a visual arts museum.

“I’m thinking of South Gate Art museum, like that genuinely what it comes down to, is that when it comes to the visual arts, there should be a museum and a local art gallery,” said Canty. “It’s like two sides to one coin, I feel like. There’s a museum aspect, the historical, educational part, and then there’s the art gallery aspect where local artists, students, and emerging artists can show their work.

“I feel like the city of Downey is positioned geographically in a region where it could be a leader in the arts in that way. It used to have a museum; it currently has a gallery that shows the work of local artists. There just needs to be more momentum on really wanting that vision to happen on a city level to bring that back.”

Juliana Canty: The Heart of Stay