Judith Jamison, Renae Niles, and Robert Battle. Photo courtesy of Niles

By Myko Lyric for LA Sentinel

For the last 30 years, award-winning performing arts leader Renae Niles has intentionally brought arts education, curation and consultancy into domestic and global spaces, including The Music Center, the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 2026, she received the Service to the Field Award at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference in New York City. While still accruing accolades, she remains relentless in her pursuit of elevating and honoring the rigor of dance workers — both artistic and administrative.

The Knoxville, Tennessee, native and Los Angeles-bred polymath has served the dance world in a variety of roles, from senior administrator and chief fundraiser to grantmaker, moderator and board president. Before holding these titles, she was a performing artist.

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