Arts & Culture Roundtables with Ayisha Elliott

Ayisha Elliot. Photo by Todd Cooper.

Lane Arts Council approached her about the project, and with characteristic enthusiasm, as well as an expansive and probing mind, Ayisha Elliott said, “Yes,” to exploring a conversation around the white savior complex. The two-part virtual series Arts & Culture Roundtables with Ayisha Elliott is set to begin Nov. 9, and if the subject matter seems big, well, it is, but Elliott is ready to take it on. “I’m excited to do this,” she says. “We’ll see how it goes. I don’t know how deep we can go in four hours. It will be a rapid-fire two-part series.” Elliott is a motivational speaker, race equity educator, small business consultant and founder of Kids for the Culture, a nonprofit whose aim is to “cultivate future leaders who center Black wellness and perspective.” That’s on top of her Black Girl From Eugene podcast and periodic column in Eugene Weekly with the same name. She is busy, and, says Lane Arts Council in a press release, Elliott is the perfect vehicle for the Arts & Culture Roundtables (started in 2020) to continue the program’s “greater conversation of diversity, equity and inclusion in the arts with a focus on racial justice.”

Lane Arts Council’s virtual two-part series of Arts & Culture Roundtables with Ayisha Elliott is 4 to 6:30 pm Tuesday, Nov. 9 and 4 to 6:30 pm Tuesday, Nov. 16. Register at LaneArts.org/roundtables. FREE.