Los Angeles, CA – Shelby Williams-González has been named Chief Executive Officer of Inner-City Arts. Founded over thirty years ago, Inner-City Arts is widely regarded as one of the nation's most effective arts education providers, recognized as an oasis of learning, achievement and creativity in the heart of Skid Row and a vital partner in the work of transforming the lives of young people in Los Angeles and beyond.
Williams-González, a native Angeleno with more than twenty years of professional experience in arts, arts education, and youth empowerment, comes to Inner-City Arts as the Executive Director of artworxLA, a nonprofit that aims to reduce high school dropout rates through arts programming. She begins her transition into the role of CEO at Inner-City Arts this spring, with an anticipated full-time start date of June 1, 2021. Williams-González will oversee Inner-City Arts’ annual budget of $4.5 million, 30 full-time staff, and a robust network of schools and partners.
"I am so thrilled and deeply honored to be joining the Inner-City Arts team of educators, artists, creatives and advocates that are dedicated to ensuring the arts are a part of so many young people's lives,” says Williams- González, “As we re-emerge from the last 13 months of isolation, as well as a historic public health crisis, repeated atrocities of racial injustice and polarizing politics, it is the arts that will serve as a platform for healing and a catalyst to reimagine a future where we can all thrive.” She adds, “There is so much work to be done but we, as a team and as a community, are up for the challenge."
The appointment of Williams-González follows a thorough recruitment process overseen by the Board in partnership with Envision Consulting—an executive search and nonprofit strategy firm based in Pasadena and New York.
See more of Envision Consulting's nonprofit executive search successful placements.