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About the Institute

Arts Administrators of Color Network (AAC) is a nonprofit organization committed to empowering arts leaders by providing opportunities, tools, and resources to advocate for access, diversity, inclusion, and equity in the arts for all.

AAC could dedicate immeasurable resources to providing networking, professional development, and mentoring opportunities—but unless their white counterparts are willing to acknowledge their privilege, power, and work to dismantle white supremacy, major change will be substantially more difficult to achieve. It is to this end that AAC is establishing the Accomplices Leadership Institute (ALI)—which is geared toward white folks in the arts field who are interested in dismantling systems of oppression and racism in their everyday lives and workplaces and ultimately achieving liberation for all. 

AAC does not view “accomplice” as a synonym for “ally.” Connotatively, ally is often passive. An accomplice, however, is an active part of an operation. Therefore, the accomplices of the Arts Administrators of Color Network actively create agency to use their privilege to dismantle oppressive systems in their everyday lives and workplaces.

The work of the Accomplices Leadership Institute is grounded in liberation through:

  • Love
  • Intention
  • Trust
  • Justice
  • Respect
  • Integrity
  • Authenticity
  • Service
  • Reciprocity
  • Accountability
  • Transparency
  • Honesty
  • Boundlessness

It is our vision that:

  • All artists, performers, writers and creative workers have the freedom, agency and platform to share and amplify their stories, art, cultures and experiences with a sense of belonging. 
  • The arts world provides equitable opportunities for artists and administrators from the global majority to thrive
  • The global majority is centered in arts spaces
  • Arts organizations serve as safe and brave spaces for all arts administrators

To achieve that, during the course of the Accomplices Leadership Institute, participants will:

  • Learn about the United States of America’s history of violence toward people of color and the enduring effects today
  • Gain a working knowledge of structural inequalities and white supremacy
  • Understand how the Eurocentric arts in America are a product of⁠—and tool of—white supremacy
  • Do the internal work of acknowledging how they and their organizations are participants in—and benefit from—white supremacy
  • Learn specific methods for attracting, supporting, and retaining board members and employees of color at their organizations
  • Assess power structures and opportunities for change in their organization and across the field
  • Be equipped with a tangible actionable plan to begin anti-racism work in their organizations and daily lives, and a set of strategies to dismantle institutional racism in programs, policies and practices
  • Learn to navigate conflicts that arise in the workplace when white supremacy is challenged—and not re-injure members of the global majority in the process.

Upon completion of the Institute, Accomplices:

  • Use their power to dismantle systems of oppression and racism in their everyday lives and workplaces to achieve liberation for all
  • Make an ongoing commitment to “doing the work” of implementing de-colonization tools internally at their organization and/or externally, with others
  • Serve as stewards of decolonization, belonging diversity, and equity in the arts both in their workplace and with others
  • Advocate for AAC in their own networks
  • Identify and cultivate prospective resources for AAC
  • Help create pathways for potential new members to AAC, and help place members in jobs
  • Provide opportunities, tools, and resources to advocate for access, diversity, inclusion, and equity in the arts for all

As a critical mass of Accomplices complete the Institute and act on these commitments, a national network of Accomplices will emerge to further the mission of Arts Administrators of Color across the field, and across the country.

Steering Committee

  • Kimberly Bender, Executive Director, Heurich House
  • Nicole Brewer, Founder, Anti-Racist Theatre
  • Makeba Clay, Chief Diversity Officer, The Phillips Collection
  • Benjamen Douglas, Grants Programs Manager, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
  • Justin Fyala, Executive Director, Federal City Performing Arts Association
  • Quanice G. Floyd, Founder, Arts Administrators of Color Network
  • Mariana Moscoso, Founder, The Decolonization Project
  • Dat Ngo, Associate Director of Engagement & Inclusion, Shakespeare Theatre Company
  • Leon Seemann, Executive Director, Adventure Theatre MTC
  • Danya Sherman, ArtPlace America, Sherman Cultural Strategies
  • Amy Smith, Artist, Educator, Facilitator
  • Kris Smith, Social Worker, Facilitator, Artists