AUG 14-16, 2026
THE TEAM
Gretchen Leggitt
Co-Founder
Gretchen Leggitt is a muralist, artist, educator and business owner based in Bellingham, WA. Her passion to help found Noisy Waters Mural Festival is based on her desire to preserve, protect and cultivate creative culture in areas where rapid economic growth has historically displaced artists. Her vision behind Noisy Waters Mural Fest is to facilitate an event that promotes diversity, equity and opportunity in the public art realm.
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Nick Hartrich
Executive Director & Co-Founder
Placemaking enthusiast and public art curator, Nick Hartrich, has spent over 20 years sparking large-scale public projects (including murals) that breathe life into cityscapes. Noisy Waters isn’t just a call to raise the bar for high-impact murals—it's proof of how fast bold, intentional art can turn a city into a thriving, connected community. Let’s make it beautiful, friends.
GRACE ROGERS
EVENTS MANAGER
Grace is driven by the joy of working with others to create shared spaces and experiences that reveal beauty and our innate connection. With a background in civil engineering, she is passionate about building infrastructure that is both functional and deeply meaningful. Through Noisy Waters, she works alongside the community to reimagine local infrastructure as a vibrant canvas for shared expression - bringing shapes, colors, and a bit of magic into everyday life.
EMMA MINDEL
DIGITAL MARKETING SPECIALIST
Emma is a marketer with a heart for the arts and a passion for the Pacific Northwest. She uses her promotional expertise to share information and connect people to cultural experiences that build a more vibrant community and world. She started her career with placemaking in the Chicago Loop, and is thrilled to be using the skills she honed over the past 15 years to impact public spaces here in Bellingham. When she’s not behind the scenes, you’ll find her in an art class, out in her garden, or somewhere in the mountains.
Savannah LeCornu
INDIGEVERSAL COLLECTIVE CO-LEAD
Savannah is an Indigenous artist from Ketchikan Alaska. She is Ts'msyen (Wolf Clan), Haida and Nimiipuu. She was the recipient of the Native American Fellowship from Ucross in the Spring of 2022 and the recipient of the Harpo Foundation Fellowship for Native American artists from the Vermont Studio Center in the Fall of 2023. This is her third year as a returning artist to Noisy Waters Mural Festival.
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KAPLAN BUNCE
INDIGEVERSAL COLLECTIVE CO-LEAD
Kaplan Bunce is an Apache artist, carpenter, and designer from Kauai, Hawaii. His works are representative of his prayers that he has made in ceremony and ideas around sacredness and positivity. Kaplan is the originator of the Indigeversal Collective, a program designed to create uplift for artists from Indigenous communities globally. The purpose is to provide time and space for artists to further develop their craft. The Indigeversal Collective is here for the future voices of art!
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ELLA SCHINDEL
VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR
Ella is a Western student originally from Minnesota. She works with a deep passion for promoting the arts as well as creating their own work. Their journey in arts promotion started in Western’s student art gallery where she serves as the Director of the B Gallery. She believes that art is what truly connects us all as humans and has made it her mission to encourage and support artist. She is honored to be serving as Paper Whale’s intern this summer.