UB Arts Management Program, Why Manage the Arts Speaker Series, Fall 2019

William Flood, assistant professor and active Equity actor, will tackle issues of race in the US theatre and the ways in which future arts managers might contribute to disrupting and dismantling systems of racial inequity that are so pervasive in the arts. Despite laws and acts signed by United States Congress, racism exists in the US. As the United States confronts and unpacks the history of racism, it must acknowledge and untangle the systems and perspectives born out of this viewpoint. Arts institutions are not exempt.

William Flood is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Tennessee State University and proud member of Actor’s Equity. He investigates blackness at the intersection of theatre, social change, queer theory and gender. His governing questions center on the performance of black masculinity throughout the diaspora, and the semiotics of blackness. He has taught classes and developed curricula for many educational venues, including (but not limited to) Tennessee State University, University of Louisville, University of Georgia, Spalding College, Georgia College, Youth Performing Arts School, and Jefferson County Public Schools. He partnered with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to direct and produce the Every 28 Hour Plays, addressing state sanctioned violence against people of color in America at the University of Louisville. He toured the continental United States, starring in musicals and has over 20 years of professional acting practice, including stage work in New York City.