Convening Update: Two Powerhouse Keynotes Announced!
We are thrilled to announce the keynote speakers for AAC’s 2025 Annual Convening, Rooted in Care, Rising in Joy. This year’s keynotes will set the tone for a weekend of connection, reflection, and action, offering candid insights and inspiring strategies for BIPOC and global majority arts leaders. From deeply personal storytelling to visionary approaches for building more equitable futures, these speakers bring the wisdom, humor, and courage our field needs right now.
Saturday Keynote:
In This Moment: What Matters, What’s Missing and What’s Next
Featuring Amber Hamilton
Get ready to meet your new work bestie. The one who cracks you up, makes you question everything, and holds you accountable. Amber Hamilton brings unapologetic realness about what it means to fight the good fight in the arts today. This isn’t your standard conference talk—it’s a cookout conversation you’ll be reflecting on long after the program ends.
About Amber Hamilton
Amber Hamilton has over 25 years of experience as a business trailblazer, coach, and trainer with expertise in leadership strategies and nonprofit management.
She has worked at the NFL Players Association, Fannie Mae’s Office of Community Giving, and Rebuilding Together, where she served as a vice president overseeing 165 local affiliates.
Amber served as the Interim CEO of the Soulsville Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee. Most recently, she served as the President and CEO of the Memphis Music Initiative. She is now a full time presenter, consultant, and professional truth teller.
Amber has a B. A. in political science from Howard University, a master’s degree in executive leadership from Georgetown University, and a certification in executive coaching from Georgetown.
Sunday Keynote:
Dance as Resistance, Joy as Practice
Featuring CONTRA-TIEMPO
Join CONTRA-TIEMPO, a bold activist dance theater company based in Los Angeles, for an embodied session that nourishes our bodies and spirits through movement, joy, and collective care.
Rooted in the belief that cultural work is political work, this interactive activation invites participants to move together in community, exploring ancestral technologies of joy, call-and-response activities, and somatic practices that restore and resource us. Whether opting into high-energy group dance or reflective body care, the session offers inclusive options for all bodies and states of being—reminding us that our bodies matter, that our bodies hold wisdom, that joy is a revolutionary act, that rest is resistance, and that moving together is a powerful practice of repair, resilience, and collective liberation.
About CONTRA-TIEMPO
CONTRA-TIEMPO is a multilingual activist dance-theater company that uses art as a catalyst for social change. Rooted in the belief that dance is a powerful form of resistance and healing, their work centers communities of color and creates spaces where all people are awakened to a sense of themselves as artists and social change agents who move through the world with compassion, confidence, and joy.Their practice is grounded in three core trunks: Artistic Production, Community Engagement, and Dance Education/Leadership Development—each working in synergy to inspire action, build collective power, and reimagine a more just and loving world.
Spread Some Joy—Sponsor a Registration!
More than a conference, AAC’s Convening is a celebration of BIPOC brilliance and a space to strategize, connect, and reimagine what’s possible—together.
This year, we launched a fund to offer free registration to a cohort of attendees, helping ensure that cost isn’t a barrier while still covering core event expenses.
Thanks to generous support, we’re set to provide 44 registrations already—and now we’re inviting you to help expand who can join us for our first-ever convening in LA! Help make someone’s day—and spread a little joy this week.