In this episode we’re talking to Toya Lillard, one of our faves over at Black Art Futures Fund, and champion of safe spaces and theater and strong voices for our young Black women and girls. We met when viBe Theater Experience was awarded our inaugural Shay Wafer Legacy Fund, then decided to continue to do good and deep work together through Red Olive. These days we enjoy sisterhood and laughter, and pointing towards the absurdities of what it means to be Black women in this work, in the fields where we find ourselves.
Toya Lillard is Executive Director of viBe Theater Experience. She has directed plays, developed curricula, led advocacy efforts and implemented innovative teaching artist training programs both in and out of New York City schools. Prior to joining viBe, Toya served as Director of School Programs at The New York Philharmonic, in the Education Department, where she helped to develop its nationally recognized School Partnership Program. In addition to leading viBe, Toya is a facilitator of “difficult" conversations” around racial equity and inclusion; most recently having served as a reflection facilitator for The National Guild for Community Arts Education’s Anti-Racism as Organizational Compass series. Toya part-time faculty at The New School, where she teaches Collaborative Theatre Practice, and serves on the Cultural Change Taskforce. Toya serves on the Board of the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable, where she is co-chair of the Roundtable’s TaskForce on Equity and Inclusion. Toya is also an Affiliate Representative on the Board of the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance. Toya holds a B.A. from Vassar College, and an M.A. from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
This episode was recorded on March 12, 2021
Produced by Lauren Francis
Music by audionautix.com
