OPERA America Reveals Participants of the 2024‒2025 Mentorship Program for Opera Leaders of Color

OPERA America has announced the opera professionals selected for the 2024‒2025 Mentorship Program for Opera Leaders of Color. The program advances racial equity in the field by pairing BIPOC administrators with established leaders who can help them achieve their career goals.  

The mentee-mentor pairs are: 

• Mentee: Jasmine Johnson, Corporate Relations Manager, Portland Opera 
  Mentor: Dennis Robinson, Director of Programs and Partnerships, Seattle Opera 
• Mentee: Dione Parker Bennett, Creative Programs Manager, Opera Columbus 
  Mentor: Jennifer Bowman, Director of Community and Learning, Houston Grand Opera 
• Mentee: Zuly Inirio, Founder and Executive Director, Afro-Latinx Song and Opera Project 
  Mentor: Alejandra Valarino Boyer, Director, Ravinia Steans Music Institute 

See below for profiles of the participants. 

The yearlong Mentorship Program provides mentees with guidance and support from veteran BIPOC arts administrators and helps establish action plans for professional growth and long-term career development. Mentee-mentor pairs will meet remotely and in person over the next 12 months, including at Opera Conference 2025 in Memphis, Tennessee. 

The Mentorship Program was established in 2021 by OPERA America with guidance from the Racial Justice Opera Network as part of OPERA America’s commitment to advancing equity in the field. It addresses the industry’s goal to counteract practices of exclusion toward Black, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian, Arab, Middle Eastern, North African, and Native American administrators who face systemic barriers that can adversely impact professional advancement.  

“The Mentorship Program for Opera Leaders of Color exemplifies our commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion within the opera community,” stated Marc A. Scorca, president and CEO of OPERA America. “We deeply appreciate the steady help we receive from members of the Racial Justice Opera Network in developing this program and are excited to support this new cohort of talented mentees and their exemplary mentors.”   

OPERA America is committed to achieving racial equity in the opera field. The Racial Justice Opera Network is led by a group of volunteers from all areas of the sector and organizes an annual, multiday, online forum to discuss issues at the intersection of racial justice and opera. OPERA America also offers IDEA Opera Grants (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) to advance the careers of composers and librettists of color, supported by the Charles and Cerise Jacobs Charitable Foundation. More information about OPERA America’s grant programs is available at operaamerica.org/Grants.  

Other OPERA America programs focused on the advancement of opera administrators include the Mentorship Program for Women Administrators, Leadership Intensive, Leadership Launch, and New General Directors Roundtable. To learn more about leadership development programs at OPERA America, visit operaamerica.org/LeadDev. 

Mentee-mentor pairings of the 2024‒2025 Mentorship Program for Opera Leaders of Color are generously underwritten by BIPOC Arts and an anonymous donor, with additional support from Anne-Marie Blancquaert and Walter Bruyninckx, and Corey Kinger. 

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