Advisory Council

Alexandra Meda

As a stage director, culture producer, and digital media creator, Meda generates original works through collective/ensemble practices that engage in person and virtually with artists and changemakers globally. As a devised theatre-maker, she nurtures women-driven spaces that center Women Of Color in vibrant collaborations between the community, performers, scholars, designers, and thinkers. Positively shifting how we interact with, make space for, and value the femme body is fundamental across her work. She serves as the  Artistic Director for Studio Luna (FKA Teatro Luna / Teatro Luna West), a physical and virtual space specializing in innovating and teaching creative collaboration and storytelling. Luna is stewarded by Latinx and WOC artistic collective that tours original performances internationally with artistic ensembles founded in 2000 (Chicago) and 2014 (LA). As a facilitator and mediator for anti-racist, equity work, and as a collaboration trainer, she is obsessed with leading long-term organizational and individual transformation processes. She works from the premise that theatre and writing can serve as a tool for activating vulnerability and expanding our collective imagination. In 2020 she founded the Culture Change Lab, a  consultancy that focuses on anti-racism, anti-oppression facilitation, and training and change navigation for nonprofits, corporations, educational institutions, and community groups. Recent clients include Sundance, ARTNY, Center Theatre Group, and The Colored Girl Chronicles. She is a board member of the National New Play Network, an Executive Committee member of the BIPOC Storytelling Fund, and serves on the Membership Committee for the Professional Non-Profit Theatre Coalition. www.alexandradirects.com 

Hope Chávez

Hope Chávez (she/her/ella) is a creative producer, facilitator, and non-profit arts consultant. Hope is an Associate Producer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). Prior to her appointment at OSF, Hope was the Director of Artistic Planning at Long Wharf Theatre. As an active community organizer, Hope was invited to be part of the New Haven Co-Creation team who crafted the first cultural equity plan in Connecticut for the City of New Haven and was appointed to the New Haven Cultural Affairs Committee. In addition to her service at OSF, Hope maintains a practice as a facilitator, conference speaker, and consultant for arts organizations specializing in artistic and educational programs, anti-oppression work, budgeting for small to mid-sized organizations, and organizational change management. Hope is a proud alum of the 2019 artEquity Facilitator Training Cohort and the 2018 Leadership Through Mentorship Program administered by Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA). She currently serves as the Vice President of the Board for The New Haven Pride Center and guest lecturer at institutions including the School of Drama at Yale and Juilliard Drama. chavez.hope@gmail.com

Meena Malik

Meena Malik (she/her/hers) is a musician, arts consultant, facilitator, and mediator, who is known as a mover and shaker re-defining what conversations around equity in the arts look like. An alumna of the artEquity Facilitator Training, a member of the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute Facilitation Cohort and an equity-informed mediator, Meena is actively engaged in a national community of practice for anti-oppression work in the arts. Formerly as the Senior Program Manager of Theater at the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), she managed the National Theater Project (NTP), a grant program that supports the creation and touring of devised ensemble theater work. Meena organized and led “Beyond Orientalism: The Boston Forum” in 2017 and is a co-founder and steering committee member of Boston’s first API (Asian Pacific Islander) Arts Network. As an artist, Meena has performed with Opera Providence, MassOpera, Boston Opera Collaborative, New England Orchestra among others. She was a founding member and performer with Voci Angelica Trio, an international band that created a musical fusion of world folk and classical music, for 14 years. With Voci Angelica, Meena toured to the USA’s East Coast, Midwest and Southern regions, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Meena holds a Masters in Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory and a Masters in Arts Administration from Boston University.