Stay Connected
Receive the latest news, grant offerings, and community events.
Heena Patel
(He-na Pa-tell)
She/Her/Hers
National Dance Project Advisor
Producer, Coach, Performing Artist,
MELA Arts Connect/Heena Connects
Land Acknowledgement: Land of the Anikituwagi People (Asheville, NC)
Biography
Heena Patel is a dynamic multi-hyphenate, sharing her expertise and talents as an arts worker, guide for creatives and entrepreneurs, somatic and healing arts practitioner, and performing artist. As the founder and CEO of MELA Arts Connect, she has dedicated over 15 years to amplifying South Asian arts and culture within the dominant performing arts sector, driven by a deep-rooted connection to her Indian heritage and experiences as a 2nd and 1st generation immigrant to Canada and the U.S. respectively.
With a dynamic career that spans performance production, cultural strategy, and coaching, her work encompasses a broad spectrum of roles including producer, agent-manager, touring musician, dance instructor, consultant, curator, and advocate for diversity and equity. Credits as a producer and artistic director include the immersive folk dance experience Garba360, multidisciplinary stage shows Bollywood Boulevard and My Bollywood Jukebox, and desi:NOW - a showcase of hyphenated South Asian identities. She has facilitated the commissioning and touring of countless South Asian productions and artists from the diaspora and Indian subcontinent across a multitude of genres at venues ranging from house concerts to stadium productions. Her goals as a coach, mentor, and speaker are to empower creatives and entrepreneurs, particularly those of the global majority, with the tools and understanding to build sustainable careers for themselves on their own terms, embodying a holistic approach that intertwines the realms of artistry, somatics, business, and personal growth.
Beyond her work with artists, Heena strives to facilitate change behind the scenes in the performing arts sector. She was Vice-President of NAPAMA (North American Performing Arts Agents and Manager), an APAP and ISPA Fellow, and has served on numerous committees for Western Arts Alliance, Arts Midwest, and South Arts; as well as being a panelist/jury member for several granting organizations across the U.S.
Photo by Ekta Kumbhani