This spring, Marcus Performing Arts Center president and CEO Kendra Whitlock Ingram helped launch the BIPOC Executive Leadership in the Arts Program. It’s the first of its kind — designed to accelerate the development of leadership skills for mid-career BIPOC professionals in the arts, change the culture of artistic organizations, and diversify their leadership.
The Marcus Performing Arts Center, which is part of the Live Arts Center of North America (LACNA), participated in hosting a fellow for the program, arranging for them to meet with several Milwaukee-area Black CEOs and executives that are leading organizations that have been historically white led.
"We were looking at how we could best advance racial equity in our own field... and we noticed that our leadership did not always reflect the diversity of the community we served. So this program was really started to see more people of color in some of these key decision-making roles that are typically underrepresented, and that's chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and chief advancement/development," explains Whitlock Ingram.
She notes that the program focuses on people who are already experienced and ready for the job, but just might need additional resources, more networking, and the ability to envision themselves within new leadership roles.
Dacquiri Baptiste is the vice president and Chief Operating Officer of the Orpheum Theater Group in Memphis Tenn., and is one of six inaugural fellows of the program who recently visited Milwaukee. She says that one major component of this fellowship for her is the networking and preparation for growth, which in turn builds confidence.
"You want to find spaces where you can get with like-minded individuals as you come together to move up," notes Baptiste. "That’s why this fellowship has been so fruitful and I’ve enjoyed being a part of it because there’s that camaraderie."
The structures that have been in place in the performing arts have been traditionally lead by white men, but Baptiste believes that "the times are changing," with more people in these leadership roles retiring.
"If there was no time, the time is now to start to make that shift — to empower the people that have been in these mid-level jobs that want to ascend but never could figure out how to break through the glass ceiling because they've been held by certain people for so long," she says.
While visiting Milwaukee for the fellowship, Baptiste says she was able to meet with Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson, County Executive David Crowley, and Raven Jemison of the Milwaukee Bucks, among others.
"Kendra made sure that I was sitting with the people in Milwaukee of color that now assume roles in historically white-led institutions," notes Baptiste. "...We're taking on roles of service, we're taking on roles where we didn't use to exist and now we're there, and it can be done. It's great to see it."
Whitlock Ingram notes that the program's goal is to see 30% of the C-suite positions within the performing arts centers of LACNA be reflective of people of color. She says after this first year's success this goal is attainable.
"Just seeing this class of fellows and knowing the level of talent, and the expertise, and the forward thinking strategic mindset of these women is really very encouraging for the future of the field," says Whitlock Ingram.
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