Board Member
Lorna Harris is a strategist, cultural curator, advocate, producer, and provides solutions that enhance performance, operational, governance, and fiscal success for individuals and organizations. With 40 years of expertise in cultivating and presenting diverse cultural experiences, she specializes in bringing complex artistic and cultural projects to fruition. As a seasoned producer of acclaimed Jazz Festivals, Dance Performances, Visual Art Exhibitions, Symposiums, and Convenings, Ms. Harris has a proven track record of audience development across African, Latin, Asian, and Native Indigenous cultures within the United States. A few noteworthy productions and events include Universal Temple of the Arts Staten Island JAZZ Festival, Museum Hue 10th Anniversary Symposium, the Harlem Fine Arts Show, Immigrants Are US: The Generation Project, the Romare Bearden Homecoming Celebration, the Green Roof at Silver Cup Studios and the 80th Birthday Celebration for El-Hajj Malik, opening of the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Cultural Center. Through her dedication to education and the arts, Ms. Harris helped establish the Center School, a sustainable arts-based public middle school in New York City, as well as the first social-emotional curriculum K-5 charter school in Richmond County, N.Y. Her commitment to creating infrastructure and systems to house ideas in socially conscious facilities earned recognition at the 2016 Architecture Venice Biennale and with the 2018 Frame Award in the category of architectural social projects designed by the architect Louise Braverman. As a visionary, she has held leadership roles at the Ford Foundation; consulted with Canvas Institute, the Alliance of NY State Arts Organizations, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment of the Arts, and the National Performance Network. She worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the office of Business Diversity and Civil Rights, where she was charged with creating financial opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses.
Lorna serves on the Board of Sundog Theatre, Hue Arts, New Yorkers for Culture & Arts (NY4CA) and Advisory Board Member with Staten Island Arts and Honk NYC. She holds a professional Certificate of Leadership from Cornell University School of Labor and is an alumna of Beloit College.
