Americans for the Arts announced today that Quanice G. Floyd, educator and founder/director of Arts Administrators of Color Network, will be awarded the 2018 American Express Emerging Leaders Award. The annual award recognizes an exceptional new and/or young arts professional for their exemplary leadership, deep engagement with community, and strong commitment to advancing the arts. 

 

Floyd founded the Arts Administrators of Color Network (AAC) in July 2016 as a network focused on community building and empowering artists and arts administrators by providing resources and tools to advocate for access, diversity, inclusion, and equity in the arts in the Washington, DC, and Baltimore metropolitan areas. The advocates continue to fight for equity in the arts through collaboration, forums, and other outlets that provide a voice for arts administrators and artists of color.

 

Floyd is also a public school music educator and teaches elementary school general and vocal music. She serves as an advisory committee member for the Arts Education in Maryland Schools Alliance, and is an alumna of the ArtEquity Facilitator Cohort, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Music Educators Academy, Arts Administrators Academy, 4pt0 Schools Essentials Program, and the Arts Education Collaborative’s Leadership Academy. During her studies, she served as an Arts Education Fellow at the National PTA, the Arts in Education Chair for her local school district’s PTA, and an Arts Education intern at the National Endowment for the Arts. 

 

Born and raised in New York City, Floyd has spent over a decade in Washington, DC, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education from Howard University and Kent State University, respectively. Her passion for arts administration led her to pursue her second Master’s degree in Arts Management at American University, and she is currently a doctoral student at Drexel University. 

 

“Quanice Floyd is a renaissance woman who wears many capes. She motivates, inspires, and invests in youth as our most important resource, and her extraordinary work shows the power that the arts have to transform a community,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “Americans for the Arts has been a strong proponent for the advancement of new arts leadership, and Quanice exemplifies that next generation.” 

 

“For more than a decade, American Express has committed to recognizing and developing talented, emerging leaders across the social purpose sector,” said Timothy J. McClimon, president of the American Express Foundation. “Ms. Floyd’s devotion to her craft, and the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion, represents the future of nonprofit leadership.”

 

American Express, Americans for the Arts, and the Emerging Leaders Network will present the award at Americans for the Arts’ Annual Convention on Saturday, June 16, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Through its Emerging Leaders Network, Americans for the Arts works to identify and cultivate the next generation of leaders in the arts and arts education. Currently, Americans for the Arts serves a network of approximately 6,000 members in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. 

 

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Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has a record of more than 55 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

 

American Express: Developing New Leaders for Tomorrow

One of American Express' three philanthropic platforms is Developing New Leaders for Tomorrow. Under this giving initiative, which recognizes the significance of strong leadership in the nonprofit and social purpose sectors, American Express makes grants focused on training high potential emerging leaders to tackle important issues in the 21st century. More than 70,000 emerging nonprofit and social sector leaders worldwide have benefitted from American Express leadership programs, including the American Express Leadership Academy among others. Launched in 2008, the American Express Leadership Academy addresses the growing need of leadership development programs in the nonprofit sector by bringing together emerging leaders from a diverse set of nonprofit, social sector and non-governmental organizations. For leadership journey stories and additional resources, visit LeaderStories.org.

 

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Contact:

Inga Vitols

202-371-2830

[email protected]