Victoria Murray Baatin Appointed Director Of Social Impact at the Kennedy Center

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces that Victoria Murray Baatin, a respected administrator and stage director, will serve as the Center's first Director of Social Impact, effective March 2, 2020. Baatin will work across the Center, and side by side with Artistic Director and Vice President of Social Impact Marc Bamuthi Joseph, to develop and implement strategies and projects that positively influence creative communities locally and nationally.

"Victoria brings an unrivaled breadth of experience to the Kennedy Center," reflected Joseph. "She is a respected voice in the D.C. arts community, and she has cultivated a national perspective through her work with major organizations and campaigns. Most importantly, through her body of work, she consistently demonstrates her commitment to transforming communities through the arts, uplifting artists who are creating positive social impact, and using the arts as a means to bring people and communities together. Victoria represents all that is great about the D.C. arts scene, and we are thrilled to welcome her into the Kennedy Center family."

The Kennedy Center's nascent Social Impact programming stream builds upon the Center's decades-long community engagement initiatives, and is a fulfillment of the promise of the REACH, the Center's new annex designed as a hub for artist incubation, community development, and dynamic, inclusive cultural experiences. In less than a year, under Joseph's leadership, the Kennedy Center has introduced the Culture Caucus, a grant-based development program for 22 local artists and arts organizations; Office Hours, a weekly residency for national artists creating socially conscious work; and Dance Sanctuaries, a regular free public dance-jam that celebrates culturally specific modes of dance. Additional programming will follow in the coming months and years.

"I am honored and excited to lead the team that will lead the nation in thinking about how we leverage the power of the arts for social good," commented Baatin. "As the nation's cultural center, the Kennedy Center is uniquely positioned not only to present the very best in American culture, but to amplify, create, and curate the artistic and cultural heritage of all Americans. The Social Impact team is already hard at work leading the evolution of the Kennedy Center, and I cannot wait to make change alongside them and the great culture-creators here in D.C. and across the nation."

Baatin comes to the Center from the Mosaic Theater Company of DC, a company committed to making transformational art to address pressing social issues, where she served as the Associate Artistic Director since 2017. Previously, she served at the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the official arts agency for the District of Columbia, where she developed the Commission's policy agenda and formulated strategies to advance the city's cultural priorities. She has also worked with Americans for the Arts Action Fund, where she managed the growth of the Arts Action Fund Political Action Committee (PAC), served as liaison to federal candidates and campaigns, and spearheaded the ArtsVote2012 campaign, a national initiative geared towards ensuring that the arts impact federal elections with a presence at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. She has served on the national team for the Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs dedicated to meeting the special needs of military patients and veterans with traumatic brain injury and psychological health conditions through the provision of creative arts therapy.

An artist in her own right, Baatin has directed numerous productions throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. She has trained both nationally and internationally: New York City (Lincoln Center Theatre Director's Lab, Women's Project Producer's Lab); Ashland, Oregon (Oregon Shakespeare Festival FAIR Fellow); Washington, D.C. (Allen Lee Hughes Fellow, Arena Stage); Italy (LaMaMa, ETC. International Symposium for Directors); Brazil (Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed); and London (British Academy of Dramatic Arts Shakespeare Program). She holds a bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts from Howard University and a master's degree in Art and Public Policy from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

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