Meet our new Executive Director
November 8, 2023
Links Hall is thrilled to announce that SK Kerastas will join the organization as its next Executive Director.
SK is a justice-driven arts leader, community organizer, and artist rerooted back home in Chicago after 8+ years in the SF Bay Area. They served as the Creative Producer of Chinatown SF’s first-ever contemporary public arts festival, as the Artistic Producer at Cal Shakes, and most recently as cultural strategist, facilitator, and coach with the social impact firm Create Forward and the arts activist group artEquity.
Links Hall's board president Doreen Sayegh shares: "With a background in community-centered programming, leadership, and cultural strategy, SK joins Links Hall in a pivotal moment in our trajectory. We are excited by SK's thoughtfulness and connection to the mission of Links Hall, alongside their vision and drive towards deepening the organization's work."
SK begins their work with Links Hall on November 13 - please join us in welcoming them to the Links Hall community!
SK KERASTAS
SK Kerastas is a justice-driven arts leader, community organizer, and artist rerooted back home in Chicago after 8+ years in the SF Bay Area. They were the Creative Producer on Neon Was Never Brighter: A Glimpse Into the Future, Chinatown SF’s first-ever contemporary public arts festival which boldly claimed public space in response to rising anti-AAPI violence. They served as the Artistic Producer at Cal Shakes under Eric Ting’s leadership where they line-produced mainstage productions including Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar, and black odyssey by Marcus Gardley. Additionally, they led the Artistic Engagement department and drove the equity, diversity, inclusion, and access initiatives. Prior to that, they were the Artistic Associate at Berkeley Repertory Theatre through Theatre Communications Group’s Leadership U fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. While there, they created new programming centering trans BIPOC theater artists and brought anti-racism practices to the new work development programs. In Chicago, they served as the Education Director at About Face Theatre where they directed the queer and trans youth theater and all outreach programs.
SK comes with an intersectional queer, trans, disability justice, anti-racist, and transformative justice- perspective. Most recently, they have been working as a cultural strategist, facilitator, and coach with the social impact firm Create Forward and the arts activist group artEquity. In close partnership with activist Mia Mingus, SK co-created the first-ever transformative justice learning intensive specifically for arts workers. They have organized with politically engaged healing and spiritual organizations such as the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, East Bay Meditation Center, and Dhamma Dena Meditation Center. As an artist, SK writes, performs, and dances for both solo and group performance. They received their B.A. in English-Theatre & Women’s Studies from McGill University in Montreal.
Drawing on their deep experience in arts administration, creative producing, community organizing, and artistic practice, SK is honored to amplify the powerful leadership already in place at Links Hall and nurture the longevity of this vibrant and essential cultural home in Chicago.