Katie Johnson
Santa Fe
Summary
Strategic, mission-driven nonprofit executive with 15+ years leading arts, culture, and creative-economy organizations through growth, transformation, and national partnership building. Proven record of organizational turnaround, board engagement, fundraising, coalition building, and program innovation across nonprofit, philanthropic, and cultural sectors. Experienced leading multimillion-dollar budgets, expanding earned and contributed revenue, building cross-sector partnerships, and designing programs that increase access to arts participation and strengthen the creative economy. Recognized leader in arts advocacy, public engagement, and cultural entrepreneurship with deep experience serving artists, makers, audiences, funders, and community stakeholders nationwide.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
Work History
Director of Programs & Events
American Craft Council
01.2023 - Current
- Lead a $1M+ national portfolio of programs and events spanning in-person and virtual offerings across the United States.
- Partner with leadership and board stakeholders on strategic and fiscal planning that helped transition the organization from significant operating deficit to positive fiscal position by 2026.
- Direct American Craft Made Baltimore, the East Coast’s largest craft show, serving 400 artists and 10,000+ attendees and generating $600K+ annually.
- Built national partnerships with organizations including Mechanism, Handwork 2026, Homo Faber, and Nest.
- Created Craft Lab, a national professional-development program serving creative entrepreneurs.
- Designed the Early Career Artist Program and oversaw $250K in direct artist grant funding.
- Rebuilt internal project-management systems and led planning for ACC’s first conference since 2016.
Director, Creative Business Accelerator
Bridgeway Capital
01.2017 - 01.2023
- Founded and scaled a regional creative-economy initiative supporting 300+ historically marginalized artists, designers, and makers annually across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.
- Managed $500K annual budget, oversaw 15+ consultants, and distributed $1M annually in loans and grants to creative entrepreneurs.
- Secured $2M+ in grants and private funding for creative economic initiatives.
- Built and stewarded a network of 1,000+ artists, partners, and institutions.
- Led cross-sector partnerships with regional and national organizations including CraftNOW and Crafting the Future.
- Co-led a major creative manufacturing sector assessment and authored a 58-page development plan with scalable recommendations.
Director
Braddock Tiles / Heliotrope Foundation
01.2014 - 01.2017
- Led organizational turnaround of a nonprofit workforce-development ceramics initiative serving transition-age youth through trauma-informed job training.
- Raised $250K+ in program funding and oversaw operations, partnerships, fundraising, marketing, and earned-income activity.
Education
Master of Arts Administration -
University of Kentucky
BFA Sculpture & BA Art History - undefined
University of North Carolina
Skills
- Executive leadership & strategic planning
- Board governance & institutional leadership
- Fundraising, grant development & donor cultivation ($2M secured)
- Budget oversight & financial stewardship ($1M annual budgets)
- National partnerships & coalition building
- Arts advocacy & creative-economy development
Timeline
Director of Programs & Events
American Craft Council
01.2023 - Current
Director, Creative Business Accelerator
Bridgeway Capital
01.2017 - 01.2023
Director
Braddock Tiles / Heliotrope Foundation
01.2014 - 01.2017
BFA Sculpture & BA Art History - undefined
University of North Carolina
Master of Arts Administration -
University of Kentucky
Additional Leadership
- Curator of Public Art, Robert Morris University | 2014–2017
- Founder & Owner, Birds Eye Ceramics | 2006–2014
- Course Instructor, Westmoreland County Community College | 2020–2024