• Taneshia Nash Laird

      From the day she held the glossy commemorative book from the King Tut Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in her hands when she was just nine years old and sat dreamy-eyed watching "Great Performances" on PBS, Taneshia Nash Laird has led a life immersed in the visual and performing arts. Thanks to her single mother’s effort to expose her to the arts and reveal it as a catalyst for opportunity, Taneshia’s journey toward becoming a nationally recognized leader in arts administration - and champion for equitable community development - was solidified.

       

      Since her appointment in November 2018, she has expanded programming to respond to community needs and announced plans to restore the 1925 opened concert hall in a $40 million renovation. She will do so not only with philanthropy, but also by leveraging the property’s status on the National Register of Historic Places for federal historic tax credits and location in a Designated Qualified Opportunity Zone and NJ Urban Enterprise Zone for additional investment. The restoration process will create 500 construction jobs and opportunities for 50 small businesses, important economic activity because nearly one out of every three people in Newark live below the poverty line.

       

      Taneshia has had an extensive career in the public and private sectors and across industries. As an entrepreneur, she is the founder of Legacy Business Advisors, a business and community economic development consultancy serving social entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and government agencies. With her late husband Roland, Taneshia co-founded MIST Harlem, a popular entertainment center in New York City. Together Taneshia and her husband also co-authored the critically acclaimed book Still I Rise: A Graphic History of African Americans.

       

      Taneshia is an adjunct professor in Drexel University’s Entertainment & Arts Management Bachelor of Science program. She was appointed a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts during the Obama administration. Taneshia is a member of the Leadership Council of Arts Ed Newark and her board service includes recently concluding nine years as a trustee of Artpride New Jersey for which she is the co-chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. In 2019 Taneshia was elected the a three-year term of president of the board of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, the community arts organization founded in 1995 by siblings Danny, Russell, and Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons.

       
      Widowed in 2013 and a pink lady warrior since an early stage breast cancer diagnosis in 2019, Taneshia is most proud of being a mom to aspiring ballerina and budding cellist Naima, age 10, and self-proclaimed future doctor Imani, who in 2019, two months shy of her 13th birthday, played violin with her youth orchestra in Sicily.
    • Taneshia Nash Laird One Sheet

      One Sheet

      Click the pic above or the button below to download a PDF with clickable links.

    • Video

      CBS New York:

      Once-Great Newark Symphony Hall Rising Again As Destination Venue

      Revitalizing Newark Symphony Hall

      NJTV News:

      New director inspires enthusiasm for Symphony Hall's future

      Appointment remarks at the Arts Council of Princeton

      My9 TV:

      Promoting women and economic development

    • Press

      Just A Sample of Press Mentions

      "How Taneshia Nash Laird Built A Legacy While Pivoting Through A Personal Tragedy"

      Forbes.com - May 27, 2019

      Taneshia Nash Laird, president and CEO of Newark Symphony Hall, is on a mission to revitalize the Symphony Hall brand for a new generation of artists and music connoisseurs. Throughout her vast career, which includes urban planning, the sports and entertainment industry and local politics, Laird has taken each pivot in stride and continues to build a legacy.

       

      Read the entire story online here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylrobinson/2019/05/27/taneshia-nash-laird-newark-symphony-hall/#2f9cd2423c88

      "Rush Philanthropic Foundation Elects First Black Female Board President & Moves to Philly"

      Electronic Urban Report - June 6, 2019

      Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation (Rush Arts) co-founder Danny Simmons has announced the organization’s main office has moved from New York City to Philadelphia, PA. The move coincides with a restructure of the governing body, its board of directors.

       

      “I’m pleased to announce that Taneshia Nash Laird has been elected President of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation’s board of directors,” Simmons said. “Taneshia has chaired our advisory board for our expansion to Philly since we launched RAP – Rush Arts Philadelphia – three years ago. She was instrumental in us establishing relationships with the city’s community leaders. She also chaired our first Art for Life Philly fundraiser back in November,” he added. Laird is the organization’s first female board president since it was founded 24 years ago.

       

      Read the entire story online here:

      https://eurweb.com/2019/06/06/rush-philanthropic-arts-foundation-elects-first-black-female-board-president-moves-to-philly/

      "Hitting a high note: New CEO aims to revitalize Newark Symphony Hall"

      ROI-NJ - February 27, 2019

      Newark Symphony Hall has a new CEO and president, its parent, Newark Performing Arts Corp., announced this week.

      Taneshia Nash Laird joined the organization in November after a national search, succeeding interim Executive Director Leon Denmark, NPAC said in a news release.

       

      “Today, a new curtain rises at Newark Symphony Hall,” Alfred Bundy, chairman of the NPAC board, said in a prepared statement. “Our board of directors is proud to announce that we have selected Taneshia Nash Laird as our new president and CEO of our historic arts organization. The members of our search committee recognize that we have chosen a bright and shining star for the Newark arts community.”

       

      Laird was most recently the executive director of the Arts Council of Princeton — only the third executive director since 1967 and the first one of color. She has decades of leadership in the nonprofit, government and private sectors, NPAC said.

       

      Read the entire story online here:

      https://www.roi-nj.com/2019/02/27/lifestyle/hitting-a-high-note-new-ceo-aims-to-revitalize-newark-symphony-hall/

      "Taneshia Nash Laird to black girls: It’s important I became leader of Princeton Arts Council"

      The Trentonian Newspaper - April 2, 2017

      Laird was one of about 10 panelists who spoke at the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls event. The seven-hour session was hosted by U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who became New Jersey’s first black woman elected to Congress in 2014.

       

      Read the entire story online here: http://www.trentonian.com/20170401/taneshia-nash-laird-to-black-girls-its-important-i-became-leader-of-princeton-arts-council

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