Renae Williams Niles

Renae Williams Niles has worked in the arts and non-profit sector for over 25 years including roles such as dance company manager, grantmaker, presenter, educator, moderator, consultant and guest curator. She has served as Director of Grant Programs for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Vice President of Programming for The Music Center, Chief Operating Officer/Associate Dean of Administration for the USC Kaufman School of Dance and Executive Director for an education foundation. Recently, Renae served as an advisor to the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project. She is an adjunct professor teaching the Performing Arts Management and Presenting course for Claremont Graduate University. As a leader in the field, she has served as an advisor, grant review panelist and anonymous nominator for regional and national foundations and also for government agencies.

Renae served in several capacities during her 13 year tenure on the Western Arts Alliance (WAA) Board of Directors including chairing the conference and governance committees as well as various officer positions including Treasurer, Vice President and President. She was also previously on the Dance/USA Board of Trustees and is a current board member of American Dance Movement. Renae has been an active member of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals since 1995 and also served on their Innovation Lab team as well as the Board’s Executive, Governance, Conference and Finance committees. She is the recipient of the 2017 Service to WAA and the field Award.