We are arts administrators of color. We are ready.
Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are a group of arts administrators. We are Executive Directors, Grantmakers, Chiefs of Staff, Fundraising Officers, Directors of Education, Community Engagement, and Innovation. We are entrepreneurs creating quality arts education and bringing the performing arts to rural communities like Wake Forest, North Carolina, urban areas like Stamford, Connecticut, and metropolitan areas like New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Miami. We are artists who have honed our skills at the top conservatories and colleges and have gone on to have successful performing careers. We have done all of this while simultaneously mastering our administrative leadership skills in orchestral, chamber, opera, jazz, and new music. We identify as Black and Latinx.
We are arts ambassadors of color. We have been ready.
Our group was carefully and intentionally selected by the Sphinx Organization over the last two years for not only our potential but for our existing talent, accomplishments, and experience. In partnership with Knight Foundation, Sphinx LEAD (Leaders in Excellence, Arts & Diversity) now has two cohorts. The program has prepared us to lead for the arts world we now see and the one we desire to see. Our resumes are full and our mentors include leaders dedicated to advancing diversity from institutions such as The New York Philharmonic, University Musical Society, The League of American Orchestras, The Dallas Opera and The Kennedy Center. The inequities of the arts world have been called to the attention of the public like so many of the injustices we have seen in the major headlines. The exposure of the inadequacies of blind auditions in orchestras, racism on the opera and orchestral stages, and the disparity in access to arts education and investment in communities of color reveals the distinct need for something different, a new way of thinking, and a clear pathway for a new generation of leaders.
However, as qualified, key stakeholders in the arts, we find ourselves fighting for seats at our industry’s table and the right for equal voice when we do have those seats. This moment is calling us to lead yet we are not given the access or power to do so. We desire and continually advocate to make changes to policies that are steeped in structural racism but are often met with silence or noncommitment to immediate change that you, the reader, are all too familiar with. We see in responses, reposts, comments, and the ubiquitous Zoom panel discussion that same question: “Where are the administrators of color?”
We are here. We are ready to lead.
If we have any hope of transforming the landscape of arts leadership to one that is more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, arts organizations must expand their vision of what a leader looks like. Diverse spaces require diverse experiences and talents. Experience comes in many forms, and it will not always come wrapped up in the perfect progression of education, title, or career path for people of color in historically white organizations.
Words without action amount to little change. Now is the time to challenge ourselves and our colleagues to think broadly and differently, to set goals and take action — the status quo will no longer be the faithful tool we rely on to weather the storm. This movement and the need for progress are not going away. We need to examine what true equity looks and feels like, and we need to do that now.
We have been here the whole time, ready for the barriers to come down that allow us the moment to emerge and to foster real change.
We are ready.
Christopher Anderson
LaSaundra Booth
Camille Delaney-McNeill
Portia Dunkley
Angie Durrell
Tehvon Fowler-Chapman
Angelica Hairston
Vanessa Kestner
Yvette Loynaz
Jazmín Morales
Elyse Marrero
Jannina Norpoth
Kristal Pacific
Alexa Smith
Elizabeth Steiner
Rod Vester
Ciyadh Wells
