HISTORY
Although Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA) marks its founding with its first formal gathering in 2010, WOCA started its organizing work in 2008, building an informal network across the country in the performing arts field and working to activate leaders of color across the sector.
After seeing the lack of diversity and experiencing an overwhelming stubbornness of the field to not consider the structural inequities that gave opportunities to some and not to others, WOCA co-founder Kaisha S. Johnson began on-the-ground organizing, recruiting colleagues to engage with how women of color could come together and help radically shift the field. Ultimately, with the support of Alison Mcneil, who helped co-found the organization, WOCA was able to launch its first formal meeting at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) conference in 2010. Since then, the work of WOCA has expanded to include widely-lauded programs like our Women’s Leadership Forum and Leadership through Mentorship Initiative to our widely-anticipated annual convening in New York City and has come to epitomize the embodiment of solidarity for women of color working in the arts.
Over the course of our 13 years, WOCA has been able to produce impactful events like “’Til The Street Lights Come On: Celebrating Double Dutch in NYC,” “The Art of White Supremacy,” “Speak On It: The Wisdom of Black Women Arts Leaders” and “We Got Us: Women of Color on the Solidarity Economy” which fit into our wider spectrum of programming and our overarching goal of spotlighting the contributions of women of color leaders while igniting conversations that lead to direct field-wide action. WOCA is now a service organization with over 600 members that serves communities both in the U.S. and abroad, affirming the need for an inclusive, far-reaching, and sustainable vehicle to support women of color in both their personal and professional endeavors and move the dialogue of racial equity towards real transformational change.
CO-FOUNDERS
Kaisha S. Johnson
Kaisha S. Johnson is the Founding Director and Co-Founder of Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA), a national, grassroots, service organization dedicated to creating racial and cultural equity in the performing arts field. As a staunch advocate for racial and cultural equity on and off the stage, Kaisha S. Johnson co-founded WOCA in 2010 to help amplify the voices of arts administrators of color with the intent of cultivating a racially and culturally diverse, inclusive, and equitable field. Prior to her position at WOCA, Ms. Johnson served for over a decade as a program director at the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, a non-profit dedicated to building cross-cultural awareness by nurturing and presenting the performing arts traditions found in New York’s immigrant communities. In this capacity, she curated and produced culturally specific work for the stage, worked to help organize immigrant artist communities, advocated for the preservation and presentation of diverse cultural traditions and, generally, worked to affirm the value of cultural diversity as an essential component of the United States’ national identity.
Having traveled extensively throughout Africa, Latin America, and The African Diaspora working with arts organizations and artists, Ms. Johnson created a niche in the performing arts world. Working across the globe and with a strong commitment to facilitating culturally equitable programming, Kaisha has served as a consultant providing vision around curation, program development, and community engagement. She has consulted with countless organizations including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Apollo Theater, and Dance/NYC and has served on numerous grant panels including the NEA, USArtists International, and MAP Fund. Kaisha notably serves as a thought partner providing consultation to organizations to help foster understanding about equity and race and their impact on organizational culture, structure, and systems. To this end, she has consulted with such organizations as the Houston Arts Alliance, Memphis Performing Arts Coalition, WESTAF (Western States Arts Federation), and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and has appeared as a frequent guest speaker and facilitator at gatherings hosted by the likes of Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA), Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), WOMEX (World Music Expo), and WAA (Western Arts Alliance).
A love of community learning led her to teaching positions at City University of New York and as a lecturer at the Center for Bronx Non-Profits. A love of community kept her as a politically engaged 20+year resident of Harlem, NY. Initially, however, Kaisha got her start in the performing arts in her hometown of Houston, Texas - where she now resides - as a classically-trained violinist studying under the tutelage of Dr. Anne Lundy, founder of the Community Music Center of Houston and The Scott Joplin Chamber Orchestra, the United States’ first all-Black orchestra dedicated exclusively to performing the works of Black composers.
Kaisha S. Johnson proudly holds a Bachelor degree in music from the HBCU (Historically Black College and University) Hampton University, a Master of Arts from New York University, and has done post-graduate work in ethnomusicology at Hunter College at the City University of New York. Her proudest accomplishment, however, is that as a mother to her son, a 9-year-old musical prodigy, who is a fourth generation Afro-Cuban cultural bearer, and has been seen performing on professional stages since the age of 4.
Kaisha is a published writer, often illuminating the systemic inequities that exist in the cultural sector, a cultural creative with over 25 years of experience, and is an alumna of the Intercultural Leadership Institute, which she credits with providing her many of the tools she uses today in her work towards a liberated future with her community. Kaisha is a staunch advocate for the arts, believing in its innate ability to create social change.
Alison T. McNeil
Alison T. McNeil is the Founder & Chief Creative Officer of McNeil Creative Enterprises (MCE) Arts, an organizational development consultant firm committed to improving company culture, reinvigorating program operations, igniting growth and facilitating change in the arts and culture sector. Alison is a catalyst for equity and justice in the performing arts. For more than 20 years, she has created pathways for systemic change in the arts and culture sector. Alison operates with a collective mindset and a goal to help the historically excluded to thrive.
Alison has led multi-million-dollar change efforts that have directly informed policy, grantmaking, and strategic partnerships. She has placed quality talent and documented impact for emerging leaders, artists, performing arts and collegiate administrators, and government officials. She has facilitated conversations that have been instrumental in shaping the vision of organizations that foster accessible opportunities in the arts and education including: the U.S. Department of Education, Association of Performing Arts Professionals, Dance/USA, Dance/NYC, Step Afrika!, WolfBrown, Massachusetts Cultural Council, New York Community Trust, The Heinz Endowments, DataArts, MetLife Foundation, Capitol Jazz Productions, National Arts Strategies, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Booz Allen Hamilton.
Alison has served as a thought leader on numerous grant panels, boards, conference panels, and advisory committees including: the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, South Arts, Americans for the Arts, The Heinz Endowments, Black Arts Future Fund, Association of Performing Arts Professionals, Step Afrika!, FRESHH Inc. Theatre Company, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Arts Council of Fairfax County, Alexandria Commission for the Arts, and Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy.
She was recently invited to become a member of the Recording Academy and she is excited to advocate for music and its creators. She is also credited and thanked in the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap for her support in making connections for this project. Previously, Alison was appointed by the Arlington County Board to serve as an Arts Commissioner.
Alison has created invaluable spaces for women of color, authored numerous publications, and delivered presentations on entrepreneurship, equitable evaluation, human centered hiring processes and systemic change. She is a co-founder of Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA), a membership-based service organization dedicated to promoting equity and fortifying leadership in the performing arts administration field. Alison also serves on the board of directors for SOLE Defined and the Black Genius Foundation.
Alison has been involved in the performing arts since she was five years old. She started out performing on stages around the world. She shifted to working behind the scenes (e.g., production work, grantmaking, board service) later in life. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Hampton University and a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from American University. When Alison takes a break from advocating for the arts and her community, she’s spending time with her nephew and dog, caught up in a West African drum circle, listening to music, or dancing to one of her favorite Stevie Wonder songs.