Cultural Organizer.
Creative Strategist.
Communications Lead.
Dedicated to supporting community centered leaders as they design processes and programs that align with their vision and values, Ariel is a cultural administrator residing in Philadelphia.
Ariel has a robust background in supporting organizations that uplift cultural expression across diverse communities. In November 2023, she joined CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia as Co-Executive Director, External Relations + Community Impact. In this role, she champions the benefits of fiscal sponsorship in the creative industry for funders and organizers alike through marketing efforts, advocates for alternative approaches and greater support in the nonprofit field, and implements events and initiatives within the organization’s shared coworking and events space, located in Center City, Philadelphia.
She is also the co-founder of The Arts Administrators of Color Network, a non-profit organization she helped establish in 2016. There, she stewarded programs that provide professional development and networking opportunities for arts leaders throughout the United States. She was responsible for the organization’s receipt of its largest gift to date, a $1 million donation from Mackenzie Scott. She served as co-chair and chair of the board for the organization for several years.
As a part of the team for The Lewis Prize for Music, an organization that provided financial support for after school and out of school music organizations across the country for 5 years, she led their communications efforts and helped set the groundwork for it’s philanthropic efforts. She also served as Senior Manager of Impact Communications at The Save the Music Foundation, where she supported the organization in producing content that showcased the impact of the organization’s 25 year body of work.
Between 2017 - 2021, Ariel led Social Impact and Community Engagement efforts as a Program Manager for The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, While there, she managed large scale projects and events geared towards amplifying the work of artists throughout the performing arts sector on local and national levels.
Her first consulting project took place with the Inner City Youth Orchestra of LA, where she helped to gather insights and cultivate the project alongside the LA Chamber Orchestra, and the USC Thornton School of Music. This work was funded by the Mellon Foundation. She has also volunteered her time supporting The HBCU Jazz Education Initiative as a founding member and Consulting Director. Past professional experiences include work with The Pride Center of Maryland, The National Guild for Community Arts Education, National Arts Strategies, The String Queens, The MusicianShip, The Washington Women in Jazz Festival, the International Society for Black Musicians, and Washington Performing Arts.
Ariel has been a guest speaker for organizations including Georgetown University, SphinxConnect, and Chamber Music America. She has contributed as a grants panelist for the Department of Education, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, and the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. You can find her written work in the 2022 publication of A Grassroots Leadership & Arts for Social Change Primer for Educators, Organizers, Activists & Rabble-Rousers. The volume “highlights authors from around the globe, who have contributed to the ongoing effort to expand the field of leadership from a bottom-up, collective, collaborative, and horizontally-based perspective.”
In 2022, she was named one of the Top 50 Marketers on the Rise by the African American Marketing Association. In 2024, she served as a coach for the Environmental Justice Artivist Fellowship, which was organized by the Aspen Institute and Social Art and Culture.
Ariel's passion for cultural expression began as a French Horn player in her hometown - Detroit, Michigan. During her time as a musician, she performed with various ensembles worldwide. Highlights include sharing the Grammy's stage with Lizzo, and participating in an international festival in Guadeloupe honoring composer Chevalier de Saint George. She also spent several years in the hospitality industry, working at Busboys and Poets and Cuba Libre. Nowadays, she enjoys exploring her creativity through visual art making.
She is a graduate of Howard University, where she obtained a degree in Music Business.
Experience Includes Work With The Following Entities:
