The Walker Arts Center announced that Theatre Management and Producing alumna Seena Hodges '13 has been elected as the president of their board of trustees. She is the first person of color to ever hold the position.
Hodges is the founder of The Woke Coach. Her business is focused on engaging her clients on issues surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, antiracism, and empowerment. Much of her work centers on helping clients to take the next step in their education of antiracism, tagging the phrase “From Ally to Accomplice.”
Hodges has had the opportunity to work within the industry as a marketing and communications consultant at The Guthrie Theatre, Theatre Latté Da, and the St. Paul and Minnesota Community Foundation. In 2017, she joined the Walker Arts Center’s board of trustees.
The executive director, Mary Ceruti, says that Hodges is “exactly the right leader for the Walker at this moment as we embark on a new strategic plan that focuses on connecting the brilliant creativity of artists to the lived experiences of the audiences.”
Hodges is working alongside an all-women staff, another first for the arts center. The staff includes Vice President Karen Heithoff and D. Ellen Wilson, Treasurer Sarah Lynn Oquist, and Secretary Teresa Rasmussen.
Seena Hodges is a member of the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums, and is currently working on her first book, From Ally to Accomplice: How to Lead as a Fierce Antiracist. The book will be published in early 2022.