Emily Waters

EMILY WATERS (Executive Director; she/her) is an arts administrator with more than two decades of experience spanning professional dance performance, philanthropy, and arts leadership. Her  career has focused on building programs and institutional support that strengthen artists and the organizations that serve them. 

Prior to joining Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard, she served as Senior Director of Innovation & Impact at YoungArts, where she led the development and piloting of new programs, including financial knowledge initiatives for artists, and oversaw strategic planning, organizational alignment, and systems to measure and communicate the organization’s impact.

Before YoungArts, Waters was Senior Program Associate in the Arts and Culture program at the Mellon Foundation, where she managed strategic development and grantmaking across the dance, creative producers, and disabled artistry portfolios, alongside national multidisciplinary initiatives. During her tenure, she helped shape innovative, field-wide support for artists and organizations, including creating "bubble" residencies during the COVID-19 pandemic and advancing alternative administrative models. Earlier in her career, she held roles in the development and executive offices at American Ballet Theatre.

Waters also regularly provides strategic consulting and convening support to artists and organizations,  and regularly participates in panels and conferences focused on performing arts, arts administration, and grantmaking. In 2022, she received the Bessie Angel Award for her service in the dance field. 

Before transitioning into arts administration, Waters enjoyed a ten-year career as a professional ballet dancer, performing with Philadelphia Ballet (formerly Pennsylvania Ballet) and the Royal Danish Ballet. Following her performing career, she was awarded a BAM Professional Development Program Fellowship through the DeVos Institute. Waters also served on the boards of Pentacle, a management support organization for the performing arts, and Collage Dance Collective, a Memphis-based Black ballet company. 

She holds a BA in Performing Arts from St. Mary’s College of California through the Liberal Education for Arts Professionals (LEAP) Program, graduating summa cum laude, and an MS in Nonprofit Management from Columbia University. Waters joined Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard in 2025.