Tonya Lockyer, MFA

Tonya Lockyer is a socially-engaged cultural producer, curator, artist, and writer. The transformative executive and artistic director of Velocity Dance Center (2011-2018) Lockyer has mentored artists, designed programs, produced festivals, directed organizations, and participated in art movements that continue to have a profound impact on the U.S. arts ecology.

Lockyer is active in civic cultural placemaking. She was named a “key cultural change maker” by The Seattle Times, shortlisted for a Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award, and was the inaugural chair of Seattle’s first arts district. She has curated public art events for the Seattle Art Fair, Bumbershoot, On the Boards, the Seattle Waterfront, and Frieze / LA, among others; and is a recognized catalyst for developing impactful interdisciplinary collaborations and incubators for new work and audience experiences. A sought-after Thought Partner and Arts Strategist, Lockyer continues to work in this capacity with select international artists and companies and serves on national review panels, most recently MAP Fund, USA Artists, and Creative Capital.

Lockyer has also enjoyed an international performance career and collaborated with some of the most groundbreaking experimentalists of our times. Her work has been featured on NPR and in The New York Times; presented by TEDx; received recognition and funding from the National Endowment of the Arts, Arts International, and the Canada Council; and has been exhibited by prestigious institutions like the National Museum of Women in the Arts, New York’s Joyce Theater; Canada’s Banff Centre; and Russia’s International Festival of Experimental Art, to name a few. The founder of the first journal of Choreographic Culture, Lockyer’s contributions to publications have been translated and are frequently cited. Her first book “On Creative Administration” will be published in 2024. Lockyer has also taught internationally. She most recently lectured on Arts Leadership at Ohio State, and Princeton University.