Black Arts for Thriving Communities: Learning From Atlanta with Heather Infantry and Katrina DeBerry

An inspiring panel on racial equity in the arts highlighting catalytic women leaders in Atlanta’s arts and philanthropic landscape.

Full video available to view here:

The Center for Business and Management of the Arts at Claremont Graduate University invites you to join Dr. Amy Shimshon-Santo and Prof. Robin Sukhadia for an inspiring panel on racial equity in the arts highlighting catalytic women leaders in Atlanta’s arts and philanthropic landscape.

We are thrilled to welcome:

Heather Infantry, Executive Director

GENERATOR , Ideas to Regenerate Cities

and

Katrina DeBerry, Program Officer, Thriving Communities

Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

Infantry and DeBerry will discuss how Atlanta’s Black arts community organized this summer to demand equity, and as a result garnered philanthropic reparations. Their unique perspectives explore the possibilities for community organizing where Black voices must be central to broader efforts for racial equity and community flourishing.

Panelist Biographies:

Katrina DeBerry

Program Officer, Thriving Communities

Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

DeBerry serves as Program Officer for Thriving Communities. Katrina’s commitment to the Atlanta region is aimed at uplifting and amplifying resident voice in decision-making to advance social and economic mobility in their communities. As the manager of the Thriving Communities pillar within the Foundation’s Equity of Opportunity framework, Katrina provides vision and leadership that support the preservation and development of affordable housing, uplifts community centered economic development, strengthens equitable transportation access and promotes safe and inclusive neighborhoods as a right for all metro Atlanta communities. Katrina manages initiatives like the Neighborhood Fund that provides grant and coaching supports to resident-led groups seeking to have greater impact at the local level. Her role within community supports the Foundation’s mission of connecting donors’ passions with the purpose of nonprofits that work diligently on the pressing issues affecting our communities. Before joining the Foundation, Katrina worked as Principal Program Specialist in the Community Partnerships Division at the Atlanta Regional Commission. There, she was responsible for the planning and implementation of the Community Partnerships division’s leadership development programs and the coordination of the agency’s Poverty, Equity Opportunity (PEO) Committee where the ARC facilitated conversations around poverty and economic inclusion for all residents in the Atlanta region. Katrina earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Georgia State University and her Master’s in Public Administration from Walden University.

Heather Infantry

Executive Director, Generator

Infantry is the Executive Director of Generator whose mission is to bring people together to generate ideas that shape the future of cities. Prior to this position, Heather was the Director of Strategy and Expansion for a creative youth development program, where she led a $9M building campaign. Throughout her career Heather has fostered an ongoing curiosity for people, places and ideas at the intersection of culture and equity. Currently she serves as the Arts & Culture Champion for the TransFormation Alliance, on the arts councils for MARTA and the Historic District Development Corporation and on the board of the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta. In May, Heather publicly called out the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta for excluding Black arts organizations in COVID relief funding resulting in an unprecedented contribution of $1,082,392 to 23 Black-led and identifying organizations. Heather holds a B.A. in Theater from Georgia State University and an MBA in Nonprofit Management from Trinity University.

Amy Shimshon-Santo, PhD / MFA

Associate Professor of Practice in Arts Management

2020 Cohort Academic Lead

Shimshon-Santo is the past director of the Arts Management Program at Claremont Graduate University. Her interdisciplinary work bridges the arts, education, and urban planning. Earlier in her career she co-founded the Brasil Brasil Cultural Center, directed UCLA’s ArtsBridge Program, and designed the first VAPA minor in the UC system. She represented the State of California to the National Endowment of the Art’s Education Leadership Institute, and was a founding member of Create California. Amy has served on grant review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the CA Arts Council, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and was a Development Officer for the Art Center College of Design. In 2020, she presented at the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE), and the European Network or Cultural Management and Policy (ENCATC). Her research has been published by SAGE, UC Press, ArtPlace America, Zócalo Public Square, Imagining America, ASAP/J, and SUNY Press, among others. She is the author of two books of poetry, and has performed internationally at venues including the Kennedy Center for the Arts.

Robin Sukhadia, MFA

Adjunct Professor

Robin Sukhadia brings over 20 years of international community organizing, technology leadership, project management, music performance, and teaching experience to his arts education and fundraising areas of expertise. A performing artist first, he is a disciple of tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. Robin most recently served as the Major Gifts Officer at the Colburn School in Los Angeles where he oversaw a $10 million endowment fundraising campaign to double scholarships for the school's neediest students. The campaign has raised $10.2 million to date. Prior to his work at the Colburn School, Robin served as the Director of Development and Communications for artworxLA, a 25 year old arts education non-profit serving continuation high school youth. During his tenure, he implemented a fundraising strategy that helped raise over $3 million through foundations, corporations, individuals, and government agencies. He completed a Fulbright Senior Research fellowship in 2010 to expand his work with 6 music education programs across India and Nepal, each serving children in some of the poorest regions and communities of south Asia. Robin holds an MFA in World Music from the California Institute of the Arts.

About the Center for Business and Management of the Arts

Claremont Graduate University’s Center for Business and Management of the Arts is Southern California’s academic center dedicated to graduate education in the business and management of arts and culture. The program places students at the heart of Los Angeles’s arts and cultural offerings. Four Master’s degrees and myriad extracurricular programs challenge students to understand and imagine anew the operations and intersections of the civic, commercial, nonprofit, and philanthropic worlds of international arts and culture.