The wait is over! Dr. Indira Etwaroo is the new artistic director and CEO of the arts and social justice organization Harlem Stage, inheriting the mantle from longtime leader Patricia Cruz.
At its 40th anniversary gala last month, the performing arts center revealed Etwaroo as Cruz’s successor, marking a pivotal moment in their five-year strategic plan for elevating the organization.
“It feels like the privilege of a lifetime to be able to join this collective of change-makers,” says Etwaroo.
Etwaroo was discovered through a referral early in the search process, according to Courtney Lee Mitchell, president of the Harlem Stage Board of Directors. She said Etwaroo’s artistic and administrative background, which includes inaugural director of the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple in California and executive artistic director of the Billie Holiday Theater in Brooklyn, qualified her for the role.
“She is an artist; she has that as a background, so she understands what being an artist of color is,” said Mitchell. “We think that Indira’s background—coming from a small organization [and] working with a large organization—is just great. She’s just a great person to take us to the next level.”
Etwaroo said her immediate goal is to learn and adjust to the culture of the organization and to connect with the community. For the long term, she plans to secure consistent funding.
“This is an organization that has been creating rigorous, authentic, world-class art for 40 years, and they’ve been on the front lines of social justice long before it was in vogue, so it’s an organization that deserves extraordinary resources. I’ll be really focused on figuring out ways that I can increase investments on behalf of this incredible organization.”
Etwaroo’s leadership approach is marked by three pillars: democracy, technology, and equity.
She said all three intersect to improve civilization and enable the organization to serve the community better.
“Technology: pushing and progressing a civilization forward; democracy: the fundamental will of the people; and equity: ensuring that all people have the right to flourish and all communities have the right to flourish,” she said. “All of those things often historically have been deconstructed and talked about in a silo, [but] I think they’re best served when they’re holistically considered as intersections.”
For Etwaroo, carrying forward the legacy of social justice is critical.
“It’s really about just figuring out ways to double down on that and stay true to that,” she said.
Both Etwaroo and Courtney said that taking Harlem Stage to the next level means raising its profile beyond Harlem, beyond New York City, and even beyond the country by emphasizing its role as a haven for artists of color to express their voices and provoke change.
“I would also love to see Harlem Stage [get] this incredible work that is happening here at 150 Convent Ave. at the Gatehouse shared out across the world,” said Etwaroo. “Whether that’s online, more so, or we’re bringing artists to spaces across the world, our North Star is going to continue to be that ‘Harlem is our home, but the world is our stage.’”