Embodying Distributive Leadership: A Case Study of HMD/The Bridge Project

In 2020 LSC supported arts organization HMD/The Bridge Project as they transformed from a white-led hierarchical structure to an equity-centered distributive leadership structure. The motivation to change started with the organization’s arts programs demonstrated commitments to cultural and racial equity not being reflected in the organization’s decision-making and power-holding structures. Join us to hear from HMD’s leadership team about their journey, lessons they learned along the way, and the ways that their organizational structure currently embodies equity. Moderated by Safi Jiroh, Principal Consultant at LeaderSpring Center.

The Bridge Project creates and presents equity-driven live arts that centers artists as agents of change.

In their own words…HMD/The Bridge Project’s Commitment to Distributed Leadership:

There is no such thing as a race-neutral arts organization; every arts organization is producing either racial inequity or equity. A commitment to institutional re-structuring is an essential step in becoming a fully inclusive, anti-racist, multicultural organization. As The Bridge Project’s programs became increasingly driven by a commitment to cultural and racial equity, it became clear that there was a pressing need for the organization to evolve toward distributed leadership and increase artist ownership over programs. Only in this way can we align our internal structures with the values that drive our programs.

This is about more than perfunctory title changes. It's about going beyond the optics of diversity or handing out checks to artists of color. It's a sea change in organizational culture.

Organizations tend to calcify.

Like skilled dancers, we must constantly re-awaken ourselves to respond to a changing world.

We do this work to re-align our intentions and our organization with collective liberation.

We do this work to give power to artists and artists of color.

We welcome dialogue about this work so we can grow together.

Our Presenters:

CHERIE HILL is HMD’s Director of Arts Leadership and a Bridge Project Co-curator with Hope Mohr and Karla Quintero. A choreographer, dancer, teacher, and scholar, her art explores human expression and how it is conveyed through the body in collaboration with nature, music, and visual imagery. Cherie studied dance at a young age, taking classes at the community parks and recreation center, then competed in dance competitions with a local dance studio. Her love for dance continued into her teens, where she trained and choreographed her first group dance piece as a student at Orange County High School of the Arts. Later, Cherie achieved a BA in Dance and Performance Studies and African American Studies from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Dance with graduate certificates in Somatics and Women & Gender studies from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Cherie has co-curated HMD events for the Power Shift: Improvisation, Activism, & Community Festival and the Anti-Racism in Dance series. As a researcher, she has published essays in Gender Forum, The Sacred Dance Journal, Dance Education in Practice, and In Dance. She has presented at multiple conferences, including the International Conference on Arts and Humanities, Western Arts Alliance, Black Dance, and National Dance Education Organization Conferences. Recently, she sat on a Dance USA panel with HMD Co-Directors to discuss distributed leadership. Cherie has held artist residencies with Footloose Productions, Milk Bar Richmond, CounterPulse's Performing Diaspora Residency Program, and the David Brower Center as a choreographer. She has danced with Bay Area Repertory Dance, Makomba West African Drum & Dance, David Dorfman, Kiandanda Dance, & Helander Dance Theater. Cherie is Co-President of the CA Dance Education Association and a National Guild for Community Arts Education Leadership Institute alumnus. She lives with her partner and two children, practices Surat Shabd Yoga, and is a meditator and teacher of movement and wellness.

HOPE MOHR co-directs The Bridge Project with Cherie Hill and Karla Quintero. She has woven art and activism for decades as a choreographer, curator, advocate, and writer. In 2007, she founded HMD to create and support embodied art and social change. In 2010, she founded HMD's core program, The Bridge Project, which creates and supports equity-driven live art that centers artists as agents of change.

As a dancer, Mohr trained at S.F. Ballet School and on scholarship at the Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown Studios in New York City. She performed in the companies of dance pioneers Lucinda Childs and Trisha Brown.

Passionate about pursuing both activism and dance, Mohr earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a Columbia Human Rights Fellow. She is currently a Fellow with the Sustainable Economies Law Center and is on the stewardship team of the Non Profit Democracy Network. Her law practice, Movement Law, supports workers and organizations at the intersection of the arts and the solidarity economy.

In 2015, Mohr was named to the YBCA 100, a list of cultural leaders. Her new book, ""Shifting Cultural Power,"" a publication of the National Center for Choreography, is out now.

KARLA QUINTERO co-directs The Bridge Project with Cherie Hill and Hope Mohr. She is HMD’s Director of Marketing and Development. Quintero graduated from Barnard College with a BA degree in Urban Studies and later earned a BFA from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. For five years she worked for leading pedestrian and bicycle advocacy group Transportation Alternatives (NYC) supporting pedestrian safety and community health efforts in Latino and immigrant communities.

In performance and dance, Karla's work explores themes of intimacy, consumption, biculturalism, and defamiliarization. Recent highlights include the dance film Flavedoom, which screened at the 2021 San Francisco Dance Film Festival. Karla also enjoys performing in the works of other artists, including Gerald Casel, Catherine Galasso (NYC), Hope Mohr, and Maxe Crandall.

As an arts administrator, Karla worked with PUSH Dance Company coordinating their annual mixed-genre dance festival, PUSHfest for many years. She also served as the Production Manager for the Festival for Latin American Contemporary Choreographers in 2019.

About LeaderSpring Center:

For twenty-five years, LeaderSpring has invested in the extraordinary talent, dedication, and vision of progressive grassroots leaders in the San Francisco Bay area. Through our signature leadership development program, we have equipped over 250 social sector executives with the knowledge, skills, and networks needed to lead high-performing organizations and drive lasting change. Learn more at www.leaderspring.org."