Dawn Gibson-Brehon

A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Dawn Gibson-Brehon is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford and the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She currently teaches courses in arts management, funding the arts, and business planning at Purchase College.

In 2009, she launched Gibson & Brehon & Company, a consulting firm dedicated to supporting nonprofit organizations in their own development. Her current and past client base includes the Apollo Theater, Philadelphia Dance Company, New York Foundation for the Arts, and National Black Arts Festival, among others. In addition to managing GBCo, she was a peer advisor through the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and a mentor with the Kennedy Center’s Arts in Crisis program. She recently served as project and tour manager for the Apollo Theater’s James Brown: Get on the Good Foot, a Celebration in Dance, a full-evening length work highlighting the music and choreography of legend James Brown.

Before launching GBCo, Gibson-Brehon served as executive director of Evidence, A Dance Company, a professional dance company based in Brooklyn, New York. Before her position at Evidence, she launched a new performing arts series at California State University at Monterey Bay and managed a performing arts series at Palm Beach Community College’s Duncan Theatre in Lake Worth, Florida.

Her previous work experience includes company management for the Lincoln Center Summer Festival; programming and artist services at George Mason University’s Institute of the Arts in Fairfax, Virginia; marketing and public relations for the Central City Opera in Denver, Colorado and Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland; booking manager for the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in New York City; general management for the Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre in New York City; and operations management for the School of Music Opera at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
 
She has served as a grant panelist and site visitor for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Dance Advance/Pew Charitable Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Boston Dance Alliance, the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, the Rockefeller Foundation, the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, and the State of Ohio Arts Council, among others. She has also participated in panels and conducted workshops at local, regional, and national conferences.

Gibson-Brehon is currently on the national advisory committee for strategic initiatives and partnerships for the Philadelphia Dance Company and serves as an advisory board member for the Northeast Ohio National Center for Choreography. She volunteers as secretary for the Hill North Community Management Team, a neighborhood group that serves as the voice for residents with local developers and city officials.

She is a former board member of Youth Rights Media, the New Haven Urban Design League, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and Chamber Music America. She is a former participant with Leadership Palm Beach County/Class of 1999 and Arts Leadership for the Future/Class 2002. In 2002, she received the Marina Business Association’s Businesswoman of the Year Award. In March 2000, she was recognized by JM Family Enterprises and awarded the African-American Achiever Award in the Arts category for making a difference in the community and improving the quality of life for South Florida residents.