Renae Williams Niles

Renae Williams Niles has worked in the nonprofit sector for over 30 years serving in many capacities including executive director for an education foundation, the first chief operating officer/associate dean of administration/diversity liaison for a university dance school, dance company manager, arts grantmaker for Los Angeles County, VP of Programming for The Music Center, chief content and engagement officer for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, adjunct professor for Claremont Graduate University Arts Management, grant panelist/nominator, consultant, and guest curator. Renae’s career has allowed her to work with/ advise/ present/ commission new work by over 100 different dance companies, choreographers, directors, and composers. 

Career highlights include: created first economic impact study for the LA County Arts Commission funding over 300 performing, visual, film, and literary arts organizations; produced The Music Center’s first outdoor simulcast and created Moves After Dark (site specific series) and BalletNOW; commissioned the World Debut of Los Angeles Dance Project in The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall; created USC Kaufman’s first Diversity and Inclusion Plan and co-led EDI commitment; acquired the first gift of $250,000 from Amazon Studios for an education foundation; led the LA Phil programming and marketing teams through a successful collaboration with CNN and Live Nation Urban in co-producing the nation’s 2022 Juneteenth Celebration, live on CNN.

She also enjoys moderating conversations with acclaimed dance, music, literary, and film trailblazers, including the feature film La La Land’s creative team, dozens of award-winning choreographers, the legendary Yo-Yo Ma, musician and author Ben Folds, and composer Kris Bowers, to name a few.

Consulting and guest curating clients include Ballet Hispanico, Jacob’s Pillow, The Joyce Theater, Ventura Music Festival, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Renae serves as a panelist/advisor for national grant makers and regularly mentors artists and dance companies. She also serves on non-profit boards and is currently the immediate past board chair of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. Renae also serves on the board of councilors for University of Southern California Kaufman School of Dance. For 13 years she served on the Western Arts Alliance (WAA) board, including as President, and previously served as a three-year advisor for New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project. She has served on the national Dance/USA Board of Trustees, as a founding member of the Culver City Cultural Affairs Foundation and on the board of American Dance Movement. Since 2014, Renae has been a fellow with the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities. Renae received the 2017 WAA Service to the Field Award, and in 2021, she was named as an Unsung Hero by the State of California Legislative Black Caucus. Renae’s advocacy for the national dance field was recognized in 2024 by Dance Lab New York.

An alum of USC’s School of Journalism, she holds a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University and participated in the inaugural USC Racial Equity Leadership Academy in 2019/2020. Renae is a proud mother of three and resides in the greater Los Angeles area.

photo by Cathryn Farnsworth

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