Geanina Riley (she/they) is a multi-hyphenated artist, scholar, and program manager shifting through Brooklyn and Philly. Her work takes root in ancestral memory, black queer femme praxis, and healing modalities.
She’s created curriculums, performances, and social justice campaigns alongside advocacy nonprofits including Broadway Advocacy Coalition, The National Urban League, and the African American Policy Forum. Her commitment to equity frameworks and artmaking earned her the LGBTQ Center Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advocate of the Year Award; The Pace University Jurors Prize in Art; and the Working Theater’s Mark Pleasant Commission Fund for Playwrights. As a lifelong learner with a passion for decolonization and collaborative arts, her work is a reflection of her devotion to developing pathways toward accessible, innovative, and culturally responsive community initiatives.
She has developed her multi-hyphenated practice in the Art and Public Policy Masters Program at New York University (May 2023) where she expanded her research on performativity, corporealities, and cultural intimacies; as a freelance director and dramaturg; and as a company member/teaching artist with ViBeTheater Experience. In all of the positions she’s held, Geanina has integrated radical joy to strengthen work culture and interpersonal relationships.
