OPB today announced that Marcos Nájera, an award-winning multimedia journalist, has joined the organization as the inaugural executive editor of OPB’s newly formed Arts & Culture reporting unit.

Nájera brings to OPB a wealth of experience in journalism and public media, as well as a background as an educator, storyteller and artistic leader in a variety of arts and academic organizations. He is also a professional artist himself – working in theatre, film and virtual reality.

Prior to joining OPB, Nájera was a producer for KPCC’s (NPR/Los Angeles) daily arts & culture show “The Frame” and was a contributing correspondent for “Airtalk” and “LAist.” He has also reported for a variety of public news programs including “NPR’s Latino USA,” “All Things Considered” and PRI’s “The World.” His commercial and public media experience includes roles at Arizona PBS, KJZZ-FM (NPR/Phoenix), Sirius XM, KGUN-TV in Tucson and KPIX-TV in San Francisco.

As an educator, Nájera has taught original multilingual storytelling, journalism and theatre for secondary to university students and working professionals at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts and NYU’s Institute on the Arts & Civic Dialogue, UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, San Francisco’s La Pocha Nostra Troupe and the Mark Taper Forum at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.

Nájera’s awards and recognition throughout his career include the Radio & Television News Association (RTNA) Golden Mike, a Rocky Mountain Emmy, and numerous Telly Awards. He was also recognized as one of the “40 Hispanic Leaders Under 40.”

He holds both a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and a Master of Arts degree in education from Stanford University.

“I’m beyond excited to join OPB,” said Nájera. “In all ways, the organization sets a golden standard for public television, radio and digital storytelling in America. I’m humbled to get to work with this powerful community of creative visionaries in a collaborative effort to imagine, evolve and grow arts and culture programming across the region fueled by civic engagement and community partnerships.”

“I’m very pleased that an experienced journalist and artistic talent like Marcos will help OPB build our arts and culture coverage,” said Morgan Holm, senior vice president and chief content officer at OPB. “Under his leadership, we aim to increase our engagement with the incredible diversity of creative talent in the region and play an important role in sharing their stories.”

Nájera will lead OPB’s newly formed Arts & Culture reporting unit, which provides enhanced coverage of the Northwest’s rich artistic landscape, unique culture and diverse history.

Under his leadership, OPB’s team of journalists and producers working on OPB programs “Oregon Art Beat” and “Oregon Experience,” along with opbmusic will regularly collaborate on cohesive multiplatform storytelling with other reporters and producers responsible for arts content across OPB.

This eight-person team will also coordinate with OPB’s newsroom and Science & Environment team to provide diverse and engaging coverage of arts, culture and history to the region.