Idea Director

Muse joins OSF as part of the leadership team to strengthen the internal capacity for operationalizing IDEA values and for fully embracing its commitment to be an anti-racist organization.

(April 6, 2021) The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced today Anyania (Ahn-ya-nigh-ah) Muse will become its Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) on April 12, 2021. In this newly evolved role, Muse will join OSF’s leadership team, providing vision and strategy for the integration of IDEA into all facets of OSF’s operations. Muse will design, communicate, execute, and monitor programs and initiatives that actively promote and foster a radically inclusive culture that is anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, and anti-ableist at the company.

“As OSF continues to emerge from the COVID crisis, there is immense opportunity for organizations across all industries and disciplines to lay the foundation of anti-racist structures, systems, and processes,” said David Schmitz, OSF executive director. “We are thrilled that Anyania Muse, with her deep background, passion, and dedication to this incredibly important field of work, will be joining us as Director of IDEA, and as a key leader and voice in this ongoing, industry-wide conversation.”

Muse is well known throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for her growing body of work in equity and inclusion. In her most recent role as Director of Equity for Marin County, Muse developed, led, and implemented program initiatives to target and dismantle existing systems of oppression within the County, while helping to build and evolve anti-racist frameworks across 22 departments with over 2,700 employees, including but not limited to the County Administrator’s Office, Cultural Services, Children and Family Services, Public Health, and Parks. This includes but is not limited to: launching of a county-wide “Equity Champions” program, partnering with Marin Community Foundation to create the first Universal Basic Income Demonstration providing participants $1,000 per month for 24 months, ensuring ongoing communication and engagement with communities of color in Marin, advocating for equity data collection in Health and Human Services programs, initiating and supporting application of a racial equity lens to the COVID response, and leading the Equity Capacity Building and Community Empowerment Action Teams of the Health and Human Services Department Strategic Plan to achieve health and wellness equity.

“Anyania’s presence in a role created for someone with her breadth of experience and expertise further acknowledges the importance and prioritization of respect and transparency for artists and theatremakers in their workplaces,” said Nataki Garrett, OSF artistic director. “As a foundational leader for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the American theatre, OSF continues to expand this groundbreaking work through the Director of IDEA position. It is yet another critical step toward ensuring all of our artist-centric spaces are truly transformed.”

For more than 10 years, OSF has led the theatre and non-profit arts industry in developing equity, diversity, and inclusion programs and creating relevant, leadership roles where none previously existed. The Director of IDEA position at OSF was forged out of the critical, foundational work carried forth by OSF Consultant Carmen Morgan, whose community organizing framework directed the institution toward adopting social justice as a core institutional value and aspiration. Morgan is the founder of artEquity, a national initiative providing tools, resources, and trainings at the intersection of art and activism for creating and sustaining cultures of equity, inclusion, and justice through arts and culture. More than 5,000 individuals have gone through these trainings, with a growing alumni community.

Morgan’s groundwork led to the hire of Sharifa Johka, who joined OSF in 2011. Johka applied her vision for building an antiracist, radically inclusive, social justice–focused community by operationalizing the institution’s values through structuring and modifying its policies, daily practices, and methodologies. Johka’s appointment as the Interim Director of Equity was the first of its kind across the field, a post she held for five years.

“I have been inspired by Jean Wiley, Dr. Shakti Butler (Founder of World Trust), Sonali Balajee (Founder of Our Bodhi Project), Daphne Muse, and Dr. VeVe Amasa Clark. These incredible titans have all paved the way for me to do work that I love, to bring passion, clarity, authenticity, and the ability to call out racism without fear,” said Anyania Muse. “They each impart the wisdom to break through artificial barriers, and center the voice of the oppressed as the catalyst for change in systems ranging from academia to government. I stand on their shoulders and forge ahead excited about what’s to come.”

Over the past two decades Muse has fulfilled a variety of leadership, mentor, and instructor/scholar roles in civic, non-profit, and academic arenas. These include her work overseeing the Sankofa Scholars program at California State University, East Bay, and as a founder and principal consultant of S.A.V.A Rising, a self-investment advocacy community action group operating in multiple states and cities, including California and Oregon, with a vision and mission to utilize Transformational Education as a way to overcome barriers, poverty, and lack of access to educational opportunities.

“Anyania has provided tremendous leadership while at the County of Marin. Her efforts have led to a dramatic and important shift in the overall culture of the County as an employer and in the thinking of many individuals.” —Benita McLarin, FACHE, Director, Health and Human Services Department, County of Marin.

“If we look back five years from now and have seen radical, transformational change, it will be because Anya prepared the ground carefully, with intent and commitment, with heart and heartbreak. We are honored to continue the work she began.” —SURJ Marin (Showing Up for Racial Justice).

“Anyania Muse possesses qualities that speak to her deep competence within the field of social justice, combined with her ability to speak truth to power and her complete transparency about her analysis that cuts to the core of racial justice change…. In our work at the county [Marin], we have managed to shift perspectives and, more importantly, help people directly address the barriers of fear, guilt, and shame that normally stymie change efforts. None of the work that World Trust has offered in our attempt to change people’s meaning schemes—specific beliefs, attitudes, and emotional reactions—would have been possible without Ms. Muse’s input, guidance and clarity.” —Dr. Shakti Butler, Ph.D., Founder/President, PhD. World Trust – Social Trust & Equity Movement Building.

Muse has dedicated her career to helping target strengths, issues, and opportunities surrounding a model of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Access (DEIBA) as entry points to develop strategies and plans for engagement that allow organizations to dismantle barriers to becoming anti-racist. She earned her BA from Mills College, an MA in Educational Leadership, Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management from Mills College.

ALJP Consulting, established by Al Heartley and Jocelyn Prince in 2019, led the rigorous and inclusive search process in collaboration with OSF leadership for the Director of IDEA position.

“Muse is a visionary leader with extensive experience in education, facilitation and community engagement with California State University and the County of Marin. ALJP Consulting puts artistry and equity at the heart of our practice. We work from an anti-racist framework to facilitate equitable and inclusive search practices for arts and culture organizations." —Jocelyn Prince, Principal, ALJP Consulting.