The Art of Advocacy: Practical Steps to build your Advocacy Movement

Keasha Dumas Heath, Executive Director, Museum of African American Art

Keasha Dumas Heath is Executive Director of the nonprofit Museum of African American Art (MAAA) in Los Angeles, where she manages operations, communications, member engagement, visitor experience, community outreach, and program development. She curated the museum’s first-ever online exhibitions as part of the Google Arts & Culture platform. Prior to her role as Executive Director, Keasha was a longtime member of the board of directors for MAAA. She also served for six years on the board of directors for the California Association of Museums. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in African American Literature from Howard University, and she is an alumna of the Getty multicultural museum internship program. Keasha’s residence and the Museum of African American Art are both located in CA Senate District 30, CA Assembly District 54, and U.S. Congressional District 37, and she brings a deep understanding of how arts organizations impact their communities. In addition to advocating for museums and the arts, Keasha is a writer, editor, poet, wife, and mother of two sons whose beautiful black lives matter. She is a latte-drinking, mural-gazing, backyard-tangerine-growing, side-street-driving native Angeleno.

Ron Muriera, Owner/Consultant, RPM Consulting

Ron P. Muriera has 20 years of experience and knowledge as an arts and cultural administrator, performing artist, community activist, educator, historian, consultant, and advocate for underrepresented populations serving communities in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, California and nationwide. He has dedicated his life focusing on issues of racial, social and economic justice, arts and culture, and educational equity with his life’s mission focused on creating a healthier, better educated and more equitable society.

Ron is owner/consultant of RPM Consulting, a sole proprietorship business that supports the mission of arts and cultural organizations and educational institutions through strategic fundraising. He has served as an Arts Commissioner on the City of San José Arts Commission, where he served as the Vice Chair, and Chair of the Arts Commission’s Public Art Committee. He has also served as board trustee with the California History Center at De Anza College, and served as a national trustee for the Filipino American National Historical Society. Currently, Ron serves on the advisory board of the Global Artists’ Creative Collaboration for Empowerment, an international arts/creative nonprofit organization, the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, and is the founding board president of Red Ladder Theatre Company.  He is also a co-founding core member of San José Arts Advocates.

Ron holds professional membership with Americans for The Arts, American Evaluation Association, and Grant Professionals Association. He has a BA in Humanities from New College of California and is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.