Laguna Pueblo / Cherokee (she/her)

Ronee Penoi is presently director of artistic programming at Arts Emerson. She is a two-time International Society of Performing Arts global fellow, and has been an Association of Performing Arts Professionals leadership fellow and Theatre Communications Group Rising Leader of Color. Penoi has also produced work with Octopus Theatricals, and is a founding member of The Industry Standard Group (TISG).

Yup’ik (she/her)

Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work. She is of the Yup'ik Nation, is a land and water protector and an organizer for justice, sovereignty and well-being. She lives on the Lower East Side of Mannahatta in Lenapehoking.

Yaqui descendant (she/her)

Kalyn Kendig (she/her) is a visual artist (mixed media, oil, fabrication), jeweler, music industry manager, festival organizer and sustainability advocate. Rooted in the rich intersections of BIPOC and Queer communities, her creations are a vivid exploration of bodily autonomy, the reclamation of space, and the tension between violence and liberation. She is an avid student, plant enthusiast, and Yaqui decedent.

Laguna Pueblo / Cherokee (she/her)
Co-Lead, Working Consortium

Ronee Penoi is presently director of artistic programming at Arts Emerson. She is a two-time International Society of Performing Arts global fellow, and has been an Association of Performing Arts Professionals leadership fellow and Theatre Communications Group Rising Leader of Color. Penoi has also produced work with Octopus Theatricals, and is a founding member of The Industry Standard Group (TISG).

Yup’ik (she/her)
Co-Lead, Working Consortium

Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work. She is of the Yup'ik Nation, is a land and water protector and an organizer for justice, sovereignty and well-being. She lives on the Lower East Side of Mannahatta in Lenapehoking.

Oglala Lakota (she/her)
Advisory Consortium

Lori Lea Pourier, President of First Peoples Fund since 1999, has been a leader in the arts, social justice, and community development fields for 30 years. She serves on the Library of Congress American Folklife Center Board of Trustees and the Jerome Foundation Board of Directors. Lori is a Core Partner with Arts in a Changing America, the Cultural New Deal and the Intercultural Leadership Institute. A Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, Lori received the Women’s World Summit Foundation Prize for Creativity in Rural Life and the Center for Social Innovation Fellowship at Stanford School of Business.

Yaqui / Mayo / Chicanx (he/him)
Advisory Consortium

Reuben is a nationally respected arts administrator with over 20 years in progressive program development, management, artist-centric support systems and grantmaking experience. He is currently Director of Transformative Change Programs at Native Arts and Cultures Foundation.

Mohawk (he/him)
Working Consortium

Ed Bourgeois is a performer and playwright of French-Mohawk descent, whose paternal ancestors came to Acadia in 1642. He has 25 years of experience as an arts administrator, with Anchorage Opera, Alaska Native Heritage Center, PA’I Foundation, and Western Arts Alliance (WAA), where currently he serves as program manager of Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP).

Ally (he/him), Working Consortium

For 20 years, working across live performance in all disciplines, cinema, design and hospitality, Gantner has sought innovative artists, work, and ideas building new experiences and forms of communication for audiences.

He has served as Artistic Executive Director of the Onassis Foundation USA, 2019 - 2021; Artistic Director of Performance Space 122, 2005 - 2017; and is also a consulting curator for BAM (Brooklyn) and Theater de Welt (Dusseldorf). He is the chair of Hoovie, and MKRS; is a board member of Myer Family Investments, and Jianguo. He also serves on the boards of the Chocolate Factory (NYC), VII Photos, In Between Time in Bristol and various philanthropic institutions in Australia

Ally (she/her), Working Consortium

Erin Boberg Doughton, (she/her) Artistic Director & Curator of Performance at PICA (Portland Institute for Contemporary Art,) curates and produces performance programs including dance, music, theatre and multi-disciplinary projects as part of PICA’s TBA (Time-Based Art) Festival as well as year-round presentations, commissions and residencies including the Creative Exchange Lab.