GOOD GROUND

Harlem Stage Is Betting Big on Women+ Leaders - And Their Ideas

It's being called the Great Breakup - Black women leaders exiting organizations at the highest rate ever recorded. A 2023 Washington Area Women's Foundation survey found that 90% of Black women nonprofit CEOs, presidents, and executive directors reported the role had damaged their health. Leaving isn't about lack of talent. It's about the absence of support structures that let leadership last.

Harlem Stage built Good Ground as a direct response. Early-career leaders from performing arts institutions, theaters, and HBCUs across the US and UK spend 18-months in an intensive leadership initiative. What they build doesn't stay in the room. Harlem Stage sends it into the world. Grounded in our commitment to access and equity, all Fellows received fully covered transportation and accommodations, as well as an honorarium for their participation.

The inaugural cohort is underway now.

"Where in the world is there a sacred and safe space for fourteen remarkable early-career Black women and beyond leaders to come together to write a radically new chapter for the field of arts and culture? Good Ground is that space."

- Dr. Indira Etwaroo, CEO & Artistic Director, Harlem Stage

Inaugural Fellows

Partner Institutions Across the World

20+

Guest Speakers

200+

Hours of Immersive Leadership Development

"Leadership inequity is not a question of capacity; it is a question of support.

Good Ground is about building the systems that ensure brilliance is not only recognized, but sustained.

Mentorship, networks, and knowledge are not luxuries, they are lifelines."

_-_{LaTanya Richardson Jackson}_{, Chair, The}_{Good Ground}_{Circle · Tony Award-nominated actress and director · Spelman College alumna}

What our fellows are doing between now and the end of the 18-month long program.

Immersive leadership labs

Masterclasses with subject-matter experts

Mentorship

Investment in fellow-led initiatives

Fourteen leaders nominated by partner institutions across the US and UK. In their own words, mid-journey.

“Initiatives like Good Ground create space for leaders to be shaped, to play, and to radically interrogate resources. Good Ground is not just about dreaming. It's about investment, care, and writing a new story of possibilities.”

- Alisha Artry (Tiata Fahodzi, UK)

“The investment that Harlem Stage has made in all of us cannot be understated. At Good Ground, I am encouraged to show up authentically in every room I find myself in; a lesson that I will carry with me for the rest of my life and career.”

- Kayla Marie Bowles (Society of Voice Arts and Sciences, New York, NY)

“When we wait for an invite to the table, we will wait forever. I’m done waiting. For Harlem Stage’s Good Ground, we are building our own table.”

- Kyla Jeanne Butts (Columbia University, New York, NY)

"Because of Good Ground, I can embrace my calling with confidence and without reservation."

- Kyria Geneva Cameron (The Billie Holiday Theatre, Brooklyn, NY)

"I am evolving alongside a powerful group of women that also feel the call to change the field. The energy Good Ground nurtures is necessary and truly inspiring."

- Bethany Cintron (Harlem Stage, New York, NY)

"Good Ground has taught me that we won't be silenced and we won't be still…we are coming!"

- Zenzele Daniels (Harlem Stage, New York, NY)

"I am allowed. Good Ground has instilled in me the courage to take risks, to learn from mistakes, and to continue to drive myself forward. This journey with my amazing peers and the insightful leaders has been the most impactful experience for my future."

- Njeri Holland (North Carolina A&T University, Greensboro, NC)

"Good Ground has helped me to not only step into my power, but do so without hesitation or overthought. There is no doubt in my mind that my cohort and I are a FORCE to be reckoned with."

- Asili N. Johnson (MFA, Duke University, Durham, NC)

"Learning from not only such accomplished and visionary women leaders in the field, but also from the brilliance of the emerging leaders in this cohort, has been the opportunity of a lifetime."

- Julianna Faye Márquez (Harlem Stage, New York, NY)

"Due to Good Ground, I've watched myself evolve into the groundbreaking force the world has no choice but to be ready for."

- Taylor Mills (Spelman College, Atlanta, GA)

"Good Ground is evidence that when you give young Black women leaders the space and support to speak their minds, they will do so unapologetically. And what they say will shake foundations some thought were secure."

- Lauryn Newly (The Ensemble Theatre, Houston, TX)

"Good Ground's mentorship, community and direction has equipped me to meet this moment. I am deeply grateful."

- Jasmine Reed (The Theater Offensive, Boston, MA)

"The power of Good Ground has reshaped my fundamentals to show up as a torch bearer for tactical leadership within the arts. There is no doubt that our execution of promising initiatives will have undercurrents of radical belief and camaraderie."

- Jaadyn Rogers (Howard University)

"The personal, emotional, and financial investment Harlem Stage is making not just in us, but in our initiatives is life-changing. It is hard to grasp the depth of the commitment made to and for us."

- Alexis Kulani Woodard (MFA, Yale University, New Haven, CT)

Invest in the next generation of leadership

Good Ground is powered by people who believe leadership deserves infrastructure, not just encouragement. Support the initiative, or start a conversation about partnering with Harlem Stage. Funding for Good Ground is made possible through a Leadership Gift by Barbara and Amos Hostetter, as well as the generous support of LaTanya Richardson Jackson who chairs the Good Ground Circle.