We don’t need to convince you that women’s leadership and representation is essential to build a truly representative and functional democracy. The arts also play a vital role in democracy as they create space for new and diverse perspectives, challenge us to examine established ways of thinking, and invite us to reimagine what is possible.
If you missed the event or would like to revisit the conversation you can watch the event below.
Moderator
Marcie Sillman
Marcie Sillman is an award-winning cultural journalist based in Seattle. In addition to her 35-year career at KUOW public radio, she has contributed hundreds of stories to NPR, Dance Media publications and Crosscut. In 2019, Marcie received the Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award in recognition of her contributions to the cultural community. She currently co-hosts the arts and culture podcast doubleXposure.
photo credit: @Megan Farmer for KUOW
Panelists
Kristin Lee
A recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a top prizewinner of the 2012 Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists’ 2010 National Auditions, Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and educator. S
She is the co-founder and artistic director of Emerald City Music in Seattle and was recently appointed to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music faculty as Assistant Professor of Violin. Born in Seoul, Lee began studying violin at age five and within one year won First Prize at the Korea Times Violin Competition. In 1995, she moved to the US to continue her studies under Sonja Foster and in 1997 entered The Juilliard School’s Pre-College. In 2000, Lee was chosen to study with Itzhak Perlman. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School.
Photo Credit Arthur Moeller
Ellen Walker
Ellen Walker is in her nineteenth season with Pacific Northwest Ballet, and has served as Executive Director for eight years. Ms. Walker oversaw significant audience development initiatives during her tenure as Director of Marketing & Communications for PNB, with an emphasis since 2009 on the cultivation of young audiences. She was named PNB’s Executive Director in July 2014, and now oversees an operating budget of $25 million and a staff of more than 400 full and part-time staff members.
From 1988 to 2000 she was Director of Marketing for Seattle Children’s Theatre, where she managed successful efforts to triple the size of the audience for this renowned regional theatre serving young people and families.
She serves as Vice President of the Inspire Washington board and is also a board member and council chair of Dance/USA. In 2021 she was selected as one of Puget Sound Business Journal’s Women of Influence. Ms. Walker is from Seattle, Washington and attended the University of Washington and Trinity College, Dublin.
Michelle Witt
Michelle Witt , Executive & Artistic Director of Meany Center for the Performing Arts, has distinguished herself as a leader in championing new culturally diverse creative work in the performing arts, nationally and internationally, and catalyzing meaningful long-term partnerships with artists, communities, students, scholars, and leaders from across disciplines. Her work has also led to the commissioning and production of countless new works of dance, music, and theater.
Along with her collaborator Dr. Catherine Cole, she spearheaded the Mellon Foundation-funded UW Arts and Creativity Initiative: designing collaborations between artists and communities, supporting faculty research, developing new interdisciplinary courses on creativity, and furthering artists’ open-ended creative process.
She has served as Executive Director of the nationally acclaimed San Francisco-based dance company Robert Moses’ Kin, as Associate Director of Stanford Lively Arts, and as Director of UC Santa Cruz’ Arts & Lectures.
Amada Cruz
Amada Cruz was named the Illsey Ball Nordstrom Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Seattle Art Museum in September 2019. Born in Havana, Cuba, Cruz studied Art History and Political Science at New York University.
Her first museum position was as a curatorial intern at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, where she subsequently worked as a Curatorial Assistant. Cruz served as The Sybil Harrington Director and Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Art Museum from February 2015 to July 2019.
Her other museum positions have included posts as Assistant Director and Acting Director at the Lannan Museum in Lake Worth Florida; Associate Curator, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at the Smithsonian Institution; Acting Chief Curator and Manilow Curator of Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; Director of the Center for Curatorial Studies Museum at Bard College; and as the former Executive Director at San Antonio-based Artpace, an artist residency program.
Cruz has also worked as a grant maker and was the founding Program Director for United States Artists in Los Angeles, where she was responsible for all programming activities of a Ford and Rockefeller Foundations initiative. She also has been Executive Director of Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue in New York City, which awarded grants to visual artists in San Francisco, Houston and Chicago.