Congratulations, 2025 WAA Award Recipients!
Celebrating Leadership, Creativity, Service, and Mentorship
Congratulations to the recipients of the Leadership, Emeritus, Mentoring, and Tim Wilson Distinguished Service Awards, who will be honored at the WAA Annual Conference. We recognized the 2025 WAA Service Awardees last week, honoring three extraordinary organizations for their leadership, compassion, and resourcefulness of the Los Angeles community.
We will be celebrating these incredible colleagues at the 2025 Annual Luncheon & WAA Awards Ceremony on September 4 in Los Angeles as part of WAA^LA. Join the celebration — add the luncheon when you register, or reach out to add luncheon tickets to your existing conference registration through August 18.
2025 Emeritus Award
Joan Braun | University of Colorado Boulder
& Pamela Green | PMG Arts Management, LLC
The Emeritus Award honors members upon retirement for exemplary and extensive service both to WAA and the field.
Joan McLean Braun recently retired after 31 years of service to the University of Colorado Boulder as Executive Director of CU Presents and Director of the Artist Series. She is most proud of building a stellar team of professionals, maintaining the Artist Series as a stable self-funding program, and accomplishing the successful integration of all the university’s performing arts programs under the CU Presents banner. She views her collaborations with presenter, artist manager and agent colleagues as one of the most enjoyable aspects of her career and credits WAA with providing opportunities to establish and nurture these important relationships.
“Joan… not only dedicated herself to a presenting program of excellence, but also to building a community across campus and the greater Boulder area. Joan always operated selflessly but with clear purpose… (and) embraced dialogue, fostered relationship building, and always treated colleagues with respect and empathy. Joan has been one of the great listeners in our business and was always approachable.” -Rob Robbins (Alliance Artist Management)
Pamela Green began her arts administration training at the Durham Arts Council and worked for the American Dance Festival, the Chuck Davis African-American Dance Ensemble, and the NC Arts Council before founding, in 1992, PMG Arts Management. The company provided booking, management, producing and consulting services to well-established and emerging artists, including the renowned Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, Philadanco!, Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, and Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon, among others.
The recipient of the NAPAMA Liz Silverstein Agent/Manager of the Year Award and the DANCE USA Ernie Award, she has served as a board member, consultant, panelist, or workshop leader for national, regional, and local organizations including the NEA, APAP, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the International Association of Blacks in Dance and the Duke Performance Advisory Board. Over her two terms on the WAA Board, she chaired the Black Arts@ WAA Committee, and served on the Executive, Finance and Executive Director Search Committees. She currently serves on the board of Trillium Arts, a new artist residency space in Western, NC.
“Working with Pam Green, in any capacity, is a rare opportunity for enlightenment. Both as an agent and as a fellow WAA Board colleague, Pam is a moral accelerator for what is precious in the arts and life. Like the companies she managed and booked, Pam is thoughtful, purposeful, sometimes provocative and always profoundly human. It was clear that she enjoyed a deep trust with her artistic partners — when one talked to Pam, you understood how deeply she had absorbed the work she was supporting. We should all be so lucky to have someone like Pam advocating for the importance of our work—and so willing to turn over every stone to make sure it was presented in the best possible context.” -Rob Tocalino (Mondavi Center, UC Davis)
2025 Leadership Award
Jackie Lopez and Leigh Foaad | Versa-Style Street Dance Company
The Leadership Award honors extraordinary vision, distinguished leadership, and artistic achievement.
Founded in 2005 by Los Angeles natives Jackie "Miss Funk" Lopez and Leigh "Breeze-Lee" Foaad, Versa-Style Street Dance Company (VSDC) was created to promote, empower and celebrate the artistry of Hip Hop and Street Dance culture. In 2009, they created the youth program Versa-Style Next Generation, setting the organization’s path to mentorship and education, while touring began in 2013. Named “Los Angeles’ Best Dance Troupe for Hip Hop Empowerment” by LA Weekly (2017), as well as “Heroes of the Year” by The Red Bulletin (2019), VSDC is recognized for its electrifying performances and inspiring engagement activities for schools and local communities. Jackie and Leigh are recipients of the Lester Horton Artist Appreciation Award presented by the Dance Resource Center Los Angeles and the 2024 Dance Teacher Magazine Honorary Award.
“Jackie and Leigh have fearlessly steered Versa-Style Street Dance Company for 20 years now… As educators, they have developed a groundbreaking pipeline program, cultivating the next generation of Hip Hop and Street Dance artists. They embody everything we love about dance, from its social aspect, to its ability to captivate an audience.” -Harry Weston (Versa-Style Dance Company)
2025 Mentoring Award
Christian Wolf | Torrance Cultural Arts Center
The Mentoring Award recognizes excellence in mentoring and a commitment to the professional advancement of the western performing arts community.
Christian Wolf’s background in the arts is as eclectic as they come: From living room plays as a child to work as a performing magician by the age of 12, to wearing nearly every hat the arts world has to offer: Performer, playwright, producer, director, presenter, arts administrator, acting teacher, graphic designer, and marketing pro. He’s written award-winning scripts, directed over 30 productions and special events, and spent 25 years presenting of all sizes. As Artistic & Executive Director of the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, Christian has made it his mission to uplift artists and connect communities through vibrant programming. Beyond his day job, he’s lent his time and expertise to the boards of California Presenters and Western Arts Alliance, where he’s been a dedicated advocate and mentor for emerging artists and arts leaders. He shares his life with his brilliant wife (his biggest fan), two amazing adult children (his other biggest fans), and a small army of cats (who remain blissfully unimpressed).
“The most refreshing thing about Chris is that he wants to bridge the gap between the presenting world and the independent artist world. He is generous with his time and his expertise. He ‘lifted the veil’ and demystified the process making it a more accessible and friendly environment… Often, independent artists can feel like we are on the outside and can't crack the code to figure out how to break into this PAC system. Chris is all about dismantling that hierarchy.” -Megan Dolan (Not the Right Mom)
2025 Tim Wilson Distinguished Service Award
Celesta M. Billeci | UCSB Arts & Lectures
The Tim Wilson Distinguished Service Award honors members who have made an outstanding impact on the performing arts touring and presenting field in the West.
2015 recipient of the WAA Leadership Award Celesta M. Billeci, the Miller McCune Executive Director Emerita of UCSB Arts & Lectures, is the longest-serving director in the organization’s history. Over more than 25 years at the helm, she transformed Arts & Lectures into a nationally recognized leader, growing the organization’s budget, from under $1 million to over $10 million, and reach. Before UCSB, she spent more than a decade in leadership at UCLA’s Center for the Performing Arts, and has served a total of 11 years on the boards of WAA and Cal Presenters, including as president of the latter.
Her curatorial vision established UC Santa Barbara as a key stop for every major American dance company and a host of international companies, while speakers have included President Joe Biden, Jon Stewart, Jose Andres and Nobel laureates including human rights activist Malala Yousafzai. In addition to prioritizing artistic commissions (continuing in the upcoming season, with projects by Tiler Peck, Yo-Yo Ma, Joyce DiDonato and Wynton Marsalis), Billeci launched two enduring programming initiatives serving students and the larger Santa Barbara County community.
“She’s like a force of nature... (W)hen I look at her now I have to smile, because it reminds me of, in those early days, how much of a believer she was in the arts and in bringing people deep experiences. She is so absolutely for real. Her name is always the first one that comes out of my mouth whenever people talk about presenting arts organizations or arts programs on college campuses or arts management. She is the absolute gold standard for this type of work, and even when she was a kid, she had that kind of dedication.” -Wynton Marsalis
“Celesta Billeci has been a transformative A&L Executive Director” -David Marshall (UCSB Executive Vice Chancellor)
“The huge impact that she has made in the Santa Barbara arts community is legendary.” "Truly one of the most passionate and knowledgeable individuals we know.” “Celesta has transformed what was once a mostly campus-facing program into one of the largest and most respected public arts presenting programs on the West coast.”
-Meghan Bush (UCSB Arts & Lectures)
-Walter Jaffe (White Bird)
-Renae Williams Niles (Renae WN Consulting)
The WAA Awards
Since 1985, the annual WAA Awards have celebrated and recognized colleagues and organizations who have advanced the performing arts field and strengthened the WAA community — those who enrich, inspire, and energize our work and our industry. See past award recipients here.