Anastasia Surrena grew up on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. She earned a full scholarship to study classical fresco in Florence, Italy. She spent fifteen years co-running a custom home building company. She founded Portland's First Thursday Project, which opened cafes and public spaces across the city to independent artists. She painted commissioned work for collectors at the highest level. She also hand-painted a sign for a cafe in a town most people drive past without stopping.
The thread through all of it was the same. Find someone authentic. Invest in them. Watch what happens to the community around them.
In 2025, Anastasia Surrena and Joshua Vermeille formalized that vision as ProjectART UBU, a 501(c)(3) · 509(a)(2) Public Charity based in Wyoming — building on years of hands-on community work across the West.
Recognition replaces rescue. Amplification of authentic excellence already present, rather than fixing what is presumed broken.
The two vans go where fixed institutions do not. Wyoming's arts and digital infrastructure sits in Jackson, Casper, and Cheyenne. Most of the state is too far from those centers to participate. UBU drives there.
We back the artist painting on the side of a building in a town of 250 people. We back the dog sled competitor returning to her team after brain tumor surgery. We back the family whose home burned down.
We are the Authenticity Movement.
The People Who Make It Happen
Anastasia Surrena
Founder / CEO / Visionary
Three decades of community work across the West. Full tuition scholarship to Gonzaga University for pre-law, and classical fresco training in Florence, Italy on a separate full scholarship.
Joshua Vermeille
COO / Director
Strategic partnerships and growth. Co-founded ProjectART UBU alongside Anastasia.
Daniel Kraus
Illustrator / Partner
Visual identity and creative direction across UBU projects and partnerships.
Linda Levitt
Author / Partner
Author of Just Breathe. Bringing deep experience in healing arts and creative expression to the UBU community.
Holly M Moore
Operations
Operations leadership, grant infrastructure, and organizational systems that keep the work moving.
Courtney Lowe
Director of Productions & Events
Experienced in theater and production. Dedicated to the healing arts and creating spaces where communities come together.
