Maria Arriola is a composer currently studying with Matt Rahaim at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She has created text scores and multimedia compositions that explore sincerity within surrealism, often giving performers the opportunity to make 'beautiful decisions' in her open-form pieces. Outside of composing, she was a cohort member of the Minneapolis-based dance-liberation project Don't You Feel It Too?, and currently serves as an administrative team member for the UMN New Music Ensemble and as a artistic co-director and performer in the UMN Bakken Center's community-arts-healing project, Waking the Oracle.