Josephine Ramirez Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

Greater Los Angeles Area

Supervising all arts and cultural programming at The Music Center (TMC) the performing arts center of Los Angeles County. TMC provides accessible, diverse, inclusive and equitable arts experiences to deepen residents’ cultural life by emphasizing low cost and free participatory, immersive, digital, and civic engagement activities. Programs take place at Grand Park (12 acre LA County Park operated by the Music Center), on the 35K square foot Jerry Moss Plaza, inside the iconic TMC theatrical venues, and in schools and neighborhoods all over LA County.

Specializing in arts leadership, organizational capacity-building towards cultural equity, and arts philanthropy. Developed a project about individual philanthropic giving in arts and culture at the University of Southern California's Center for Philanthropy and Public Policy. Also Advisor and workshop facilitator from 2016 to 2019 at Stanford University's Impact Program for Arts Leaders (later Stanford Arts Strategies Lab), a one-week intensive workshop aimed at cultivating innovation, entrepreneurial approaches, and change leadership in cultural organizations across the US and Canada. IPAL was organized by the Office of the Vice President for the Arts in collaboration with the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Other clients included the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, The Arts Community Alliance in Dallas, The Music Center of Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

San Francisco And Los Angeles, Ca

As Program Director I exercised principal leadership for the then largest funder of the arts in California, awarding an average of $18 million per year in rural and urban California. I conceived, developed, launched, and implemented a new strategic direction for Irvine’s arts investments that aim for organizational transformation and a renewal of the arts nonprofit field through a focus on relevance, diversity and sustainability.As Portfolio Director, I supervised cross-initiative, cross-disciplinary investments aimed at integrating artistic and creative expression into initiatives advancing political and economic opportunities for lower-income working Californians, with a focus on the creative economies and the use of arts and cultural practices to strengthen community organizing. (Note: The Foundation's revised strategic framework in 2016 called for the elimination of the Arts Program. I left the foundation in 2017 after negotiating a successful transition for our arts grantees.)

Developed and launched a new programming department. Created, designed, developed, and launched “Active Arts at the Music Center”, year-round participatory dance, music, and storytelling programs, a national model for multi-disciplinary, participatory-based arts programming. Created and launched “Global Pop” in Walt Disney Concert Hall featuring Mexican, Korean, and Filipino music groups popular among Los Angeles’ immigrant diaspora populations. Produced a high profile international speaker series as well as other public events in all four theatre venues as well as outdoor and rehearsal spaces, including an international dance presenting series. Led the creation, fundraising, and production of an annual festival in collaboration with peer arts and business leaders. Liaised with public agencies and a private developer during the development phase of an adjacent multimillion-dollar civic park project.

At the Foundation (then known as the Getty Grant Program) managed portfolios related to undergraduate and international graduate internships, Los Angeles cultural organizations, arts education research, arts policy, museum collections cataloguing, and organizational capacity building. Coordinated and edited a report on a national arts education research summit, produced an international cultural policy conference; created and implemented summer intensive philanthropy seminar and grantmaking workshop for young adults.At the Research Institutute created and implemented a multi-year research project about art-based community building among recent immigrants in East LA, partnering with the Urban Institute’s Arts and Cultural Indicators Project; coordinated and led a regional discussion about cultural policy issues; curated a series of contemporary social practice artist lectures; curated and produced a monthly international lecture series about world cultures, politics, preservation and history; coordinated an international art history conference.

Produced and Co-Curated a month-long bi-national exchange of performance and cultural-political dialogues in Mexico City and Los Angeles featuring Mexican and U.S. Latino performance, literary, visual artists. As a consultant, led major expansion and implementation of program and related organizational policies for low-income and homeless children from one room venue to new multi-discipline space at Inner City Arts in Los Angeles’ skid row. Also conducted management assessments for the National Endowment for the Arts Planning and Stabilization Program, and participated as writer and advisor for Kennedy Center/Arts Presenters Adult Arts Education Project.

Created and produced theatre productions for 40,000 elementary school students annually; produced and managed all programs for young people, including the creation and implementation of a high school education program; developed multi-year initiative to produce Latino theatre and community festivals.

Loeb Fellowship

Activities and Societies: This fellowship supported my ongoing research on informal, non-professional and participatory arts practices.

Master Of Fine Arts (Mfa)

Activities and Societies: MFA magna cum laude, Theatre/Child Drama, and post-grad coursework, Urban Planning.

Ba In Theatre