UW’s Littlesun Selected for National Leaders of Color Fellowship Program

The University of Wyoming Art Museum’s assistant director has been selected as the Wyoming Fellow for the 2023-24 National Leaders of Color Fellowship program.

Debra Littlesun is one of 54 Fellows selected to participate in the program. She will represent the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) jurisdiction of the United States Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs), a national collective of six place-based, nonprofit arts service organizations.

The National Leaders of Color Fellowship program is a transformative leadership development experience curated by WESTAF to establish multicultural leadership in the creative and cultural sectors. By partnering with the other USRAOs, the program has expanded nationwide, and its mission has become a national endeavor.

During the online, eight-month fellowship, selected Fellows receive access to specialists in the field; strategic learning objectives determined to deepen thought on anti-racist and culturally oriented leadership practices; and national-level network and cohort building. Upon completion of the program, participants are granted alumni status and have opportunities to collaborate with the USRAO in their region as advisers, funding panelists and/or other professional capacities.

This year’s applicant pool was very diverse, and the application reviewers and WESTAF chose Littlesun as a strong candidate for the latest cohort.

“I am very appreciative of this opportunity to represent Wyoming in this fellowship,” Littlesun says. “The key purpose is to deepen relationships among alumni, with WESTAF and in the arts field at large to create an intersectional, intergenerational and multiracial movement on behalf of cultural equity, culturally oriented leadership practices and national-level networking.”

For more information about the National Leaders of Color Fellowship program, visit https://artslead.org/leaders/leaders-of-color-fellowship/.