September 2017 saw Artist Communities Alliance (ACA) launched the Diversity + Leadership Fellowship, a groundbreaking initiative to support emerging arts administrators of color and administrators with disabilities. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the fellowship aimed to address persistent inequities in the residency field by building a more inclusive leadership pipeline.
Six fellows—Nora Alami, Arielle Julia Brown, Nicole J. Caruth, Amanda Flores, Mayumi Hamanaka, and Teresa Silva—were selected from across the U.S. for their demonstrated leadership and commitment to arts equity. These fellows received comprehensive support, including funding to attend ACA’s annual conference, a site visit to a leading residency, peer learning exchanges, and participation in the 2018 Emerging Program Institute.
Beyond professional development, the fellowship emphasized reciprocity and visibility. Fellows contributed to ACA’s blog, led sessions at the 2018 conference in Philadelphia, and were paired with mentors—continuing a cycle of intergenerational learning by supporting the incoming cohort.
ACA Executive Director Lisa Hoffman highlighted the importance of this initiative, stating that the fellowship “creates a platform to amplify the voices of administrators early in their career and contributes to a pipeline for diverse leadership.”
The fellowship underscored ACA’s dual priorities: advancing equity in the arts and cultivating sustainable leadership across the residency field. By centering historically marginalized voices, the Diversity + Leadership Fellowship marked an important shift toward a more inclusive, representative, and resilient future for artist residencies.