Ella Baff was the Senior Program Officer for Arts and Cultural Heritage at the

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

in New York City until 2018. Previously, Baff was the Executive and artistic director of

Jacob's Pillow Jacob's Pillow is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for a Summer dance festival. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive archives a ...

, a 225-acre historic site that encompasses an international dance festival, professional school, archives, exhibits, artist residencies, public venues, and education and community programs. Under her leadership, the organization was designated a National Historic Landmark and was awarded the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

from President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

at the White House. Prior to Jacob's Pillow, Baff was the Program Director of Cal Performances, an international presenting organization at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. As a certified Literacy Instructor through the Public Library System, she taught children and adults to read. Baff received several awards in the cultural field including the

Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and letters, Arts and Letters) is an Order (distinction), order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Ministry of Culture (France), Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the w ...

from the Ministry of Culture of France and the Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. She has received Honorary Doctorates from the

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) formerly known as North Adams State College (NASC) is a public liberal arts college in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is part of the state university system of Massachusetts. It is a member of the ...

and the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

. Baff has been a moderator for the Works & Process series at the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

. She has served on the board of directors of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) and

MASS MoCA The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is a museum in a converted Arnold Print Works factory building complex located in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing ar ...

(Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art). She is a member of the Advisory Council of the American Friends of the Batsheva Cultural Center in Tel Aviv, designed by

Sir David Adjaye Sir David Frank Adjaye (born 22 September 1966) is a Ghanaian-British architect. He is known for having designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C ...

, opening in 2023.

References

Dance in the United States Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres {{dance-bio-stub