07/08/2025
Let us introduce the people behind the Blue Hour Sessions. Today, meet Joanna Arteaga Ferrin, Marketing Director.
Born and raised in New York, Joanna Arteaga Ferrin is a first-generation Latina American. Ferrin has lived in North Carolina for 8 years and she has a background in illustration, art history and marketing.
In 2026, Ferrin will be working towards a Doctorate in Art History and has an Undergraduate degree in Museum Studies, with minors in Art History, History, and Anthropology from Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University. She also holds certificates in Arts & Heritage Management from the Universitá Bocconi, Arts & Cultural Organization Management from the University of Maryland, and an Associate's degree in Commercial Art and Advertising from Dutchess Community College. Her academic research focuses on exploring Latine/x-American identity through oral accounts, visual culture, and the practice of curatorial activism. Ferrín was a recipient of the Jose Franco and Francisca Ocampo Quesada Research Endowment for her thesis, Interpreting Self: A Collection of Contemporary Oral Histories Exploring Generational Latine/x Identity & Narrative in 2024. Most recently, her thesis was represented at the SUNY New Paltz Undergraduate Art History Symposium in April 2025.
She works professionally as a Creative Manager, Travel Writer and Photographer for a marketing company and travel magazine. She has also worked in various museum roles from leadership to visitor services, as an art restoration technician, and in a marketing capacity for tourism development authorities across the state of North Carolina. Ferrin served in an internship capacity with the Center for Digital Antiquity at Arizona State University, and as a grader for undergraduate courses. She also served as a Board Member for the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corporation, and their Arts District initiative. Ferrin also served as a representative for the Arts District on a Neighborhood Planning Committee for the HUD program, Choice Neighborhoods.
Aside from her academic and career-oriented pursuits, Ferrín’s passion for the arts extends from her role as an illustrator, which she infuses in both her marketing and academic roles. Raised on disco, funk, jazz, and East Coast hip-hop in her formative years, she’s an avid collector of music. This enthusiasm also extends to her love of learning and reading books.
