2025 Annual Convening Speakers

Beryl Briane Ford (she/her) is a cultural strategist, fundraiser, and advocate dedicated to advancing Black cultural production, racial equity, and healing justice. She partners with cultural and community-based organizations to strengthen their resources, deepen impact, and expand opportunities for communities of color. Her work lives at the intersections of the visual and performing arts, urbanism and placemaking, racial equity, and healing justice.

Beryl Briane has advanced the missions of leading institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Aperture Foundation, and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. She now serves as Executive Director of viBe Theater Experience, a Brooklyn-based performing arts nonprofit uplifting Black girls, young women, and gender expansive youth. She is also the principal consultant of Knollwood Arts & Creative, a boutique consultancy supporting nonprofits, small businesses, and individuals through fund development and capacity building.

A proud former member of the inaugural Board of Directors for BlackSpace Urbanist Collective, Beryl Briane continues to champion work that reimagines public systems and urban infrastructures through the lens of urbanism. She holds a B.A. in Art History from Smith College and an M.A. in Arts Administration from Columbia University’s Teachers College.