Born in San Francisco, Jason Mateo is an internationally recognized poet, performer, arts organizer, and activist. Mateo regularly produces community-oriented festivals such as Pistahan and the Asian Heritage Street Celebration. His first production, 1998’s “Escape the Colonial Mind State,” attracted youth and veteran activists alike, bridged the gaps between art and community, and set the template for his subsequent work. He began his acclaimed performance career while still a teenager, and has since worked with artists and youth throughout the world. In the late nineties, Mateo went to the Balkans to conduct groundbreaking workshops with war survivors—Bosnian and Croatian, Muslim and Christian, refugee and resident alike—using spoken word and poetry as tools for community change. He has brought the word to communities in Japan, the Philippines, and Hawaii, and consistently tours throughout the continental United States. Mateo’s proudest achievement has been working for Youth Speaks, a San Francisco-based literary arts non-profit, where he is Program Director. Through Youth Speaks, Mateo has visited hundreds of schools throughout the country, profoundly affecting thousands of High School students by encouraging voice, leadership, and creative energy. Jason currently produces the largest presentations of Spoken Word Poetry in the nation, packing houses such as New York’s Apollo Theater, San Francisco’s Masonic Auditorium and War Memorial Opera House, and Washington DC’s Lincoln and Kennedy Theaters. In December of 2007, Mateo became the proud father of Kingston, his first-born son. Jason’s struggles are a microcosm of the Pilipino-American experience. First generation American-born, raised by a single mother and hardworking sister, he was the first male in his family to graduate from University, earning a degree in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State. He strives to embody the best in himself, his family, and people. He is proudly committed to the ongoing struggle.