Upcoming Engagements
#EquityWithQuo
Bishop Arts Theatre Center Rx Racial Healing Circle™
Bishop Arts Theatre Center
Dallas, TX | April 29, 2024
Bishop Arts Theatre Center and Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation partner to bring a second Rx Racial Healing Circle™ to Dallas. Join in healing community as Quodesia D. Johnson and Diane Hosey cofacilitate this powerful healing experience designed to eradicate the belief in racial human hierarchy through storytelling and shared experiences. Created by Dr. Gail Christopher, this conversation-based methodology provides opportunity for people of all racial and ethnic identities to honor our humanity by connecting with others, deepening relationships, and restoring to wholeness.
Past Engagements
The Dallas Opera | Dallas, TX | February 24, 2024
Opera tells stories of the human condition, often focusing on conflict, drama, and passion. Healing through conflict and participating in meaningful engagement are necessary, human experiences. The Dallas Opera presents its second Community Healing and Dialogue Circle to explore healthy methods of responding to conflict. Join Dallas-based healing practitioners Stefanie Tovar (Healing Arts with Stefanie Tovar) and Quodesia D. Johnson in this offering of mindfulness, healing, and restoration to reset and courageously engage in in familial, social, and professional relationships.
Bishop Arts Theatre Center
Quo brings her impactful facilitation and healing practice to the Bishop Arts Theatre Center’s annual One-Act Festival post-show talkback conversations for The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee. The festival presents a collection of short plays by six local playwrights inspired by Heather McGhee’s brilliant analysis, exploring the far-reaching costs of racism and the path to healing as a community
Dallas, TX | February 29 - March 3, 2024
The Racial Justice Opera Forum continues to welcome opera professionals who are committed to moving racial justice forward in the opera field to three days of intentional learning, engagement, and practical application for enacting racial justice.
Quo Johnson continues to make opera history, designing, curating, and facilitating this intentional space of learning, healing, and community of international participants committed to racial justice in the opera field.
Online | March 5 - 7, 2024
National Day of Racial Healing Rx Racial Healing Circle™
Bishop Arts Theatre Center
For National Day of Racial Healing, Quodesia D. Johnson and Stefanie Tovar cofacilitate this powerful healing experience designed to eradicate the belief in racial human hierarchy through storytelling and shared experiences. Created by Dr. Gail Christopher, this conversation-based methodology provides opportunity for people of all racial and ethnic identities to honor our humanity by connecting with others, deepening relationships, and restoring to wholeness. Acknowledging the impact of race and racism, participants engage in the Rx Racial Healing Circle™ to reduce harm and eradicate racism by sharing their experiences and listening to the experiences of others.
Dallas, TX | January 18, 2024
The Dallas Opera | Online | December 9, 2023
Opera requires the collaboration of people, interests, and dedicated work. Responding to conflict is certainly a part of what allows the show to go on. The Dallas Opera presents a Community Healing and Dialogue Circle for administrators in the opera field to explore healthy methods of responding to conflict and a meaningful approach to administrative roles. Join Dallas-based healing practitioners Stefanie Tovar (Healing Arts with Stefanie Tovar) and Quodesia D. Johnson (Quo Johnson Co Project, LLC) in this offering of mindfulness, healing, and restoration to reset and courageously administer the bold work of opera as a community.
Quo Johnson moderates a panel discussion considering the brain, heart, resilience, and creativity in leadership. Robyn Short, PhD, Marta Torres EdD, and Quo Johnson discuss the importance of engaging in creative ways in spaces that champion dignity and respect as a part of the curriculum for The Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute for Women Conductors.
Online | November 16, 2023
Dallas Symphony Orchestra | The Dallas Opera
Dallas, TX | November 13, 2023
Quo Johnson brings her skills as an impactful moderator to a panel discussion for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Women in Classical Music Symposium in collaboration with The Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute of Women Conductors. Accomplished conductors who have navigated their unique paths through the classical music world share their experiences, inspiring stories, insights into the opportunities that lie ahead, and the challenges they've overcome, shedding light on the evolving landscape of conducting in the 21st century.
HGO’s 75th world premiere, Intelligence, tells the remarkable story of Americans Mary Jane Bowser and Elizabeth Van Lew and their daring work to supply secret intelligence to the Union during the Civil War. In a conversation moderated by Opera America Equity Consultant Quodesia Johnson and featuring a panel including Librettist Gene Scheer, Director/Choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, BSNM Director of Exhibitions Cale Carter, Fifth Ward Development Corp. Director of Arts and Culture/Urban Souls Dance Company Artistic Director Harrison Guy, and Houston artist and activist Deniz Lopez, HGO explores what it means to question existing narratives, uncover the truth, and discern the authenticity of stories we hear, those we don’t hear, and those that are suppressed.
Houston, TX | September 25, 2023
Opera is full of passionate decisions and dramatic situations. Why do characters respond the way they do? Why do we respond the way we do? The TDO Connections opening panel discussion will explore the matters of the brain and the heart when responding to conflict through the season productions. Join the conversation on September 23, 2023 at the Winspear Opera House, or virtually and livestream this fascinating discussion about the brain, heart, and opera. Panelists: Cheryl Edinbyrd, PhD (Tree of Life Birth, Counseling, and Wellness Center), Associate Director Adam Da Ros (‘Tosca'), and Hilda McClure, LPC (Cannenta Center for Healing and Empowerment). Co-moderated by Quodesia D. Johnson and Kristian Roberts.
Dallas, TX | Online | September 23, 2023
Quodesia D. Johnson is one of 20 Dallas-based thought leaders who will participate in the 2023 Cohort of the Dallas Public Voices Fellowship. The intensive three-month fellowship will provide twenty of the city’s most promising women thought leaders with extraordinary support, journalist coaches, leadership skills, and knowledge to ensure their ideas shape their fields and the greater public conversations of our age.
The OpEd Project’s Public Voices Fellowship is part of a prestigious national initiative to change who writes history. Partners include Yale, Dartmouth, Northwestern, The Ford Foundation, and more.
June 2023 - May 2024
Black Administrators of Opera Symposium
Founder and space moderator, Quo Johnson designs and leads the second annual, national gathering of Black administrators and educators in the opera field. The Black Administrators of Opera Symposium is an annual gathering to create sustainable, equitable change in the opera field through the professional development, networking, support, research, and celebration of Black administrators.
The 2023 Black Administrators of Opera Symposium is hosted by No Dream Deferred, in partnership with Caged Bird, OperaCréole, and Historic New Orleans Collection. The Welcome Reception is hosted by New Orleans Opera and sponsored by OPERA America. Symposium meals are sponsored by Opera Theatre of St. Louis.
June 14 - 17, 2023 | New Orleans, LA
OPERA America Conference
Building upon an unforgettable opening and closing of the 2022 OPERA Conference, Quo Johnson returns as OPERA America social justice advisor, panelist, healing practitioner, and moderator for the 2023 OPERA America Conference.
The Opera Conference is the world’s largest gathering of opera administrators, artists, trustees, and advocates. Opera Conference 2023 will examine the human dimensions of opera — the needs of artists and arts workers, the patterns and behaviors of audiences, and the subjects and scope of the operas we produce. Together, we will work to articulate core human values we can elevate internally as the foundation for our service to our communities.
May 17 - 20, 2023 | Pittsburgh, PA
Quo Johnson joins a panel of historians, equity specialists, scholars, and community engagement specialists in the opera field for a panel discussion addressing race and equitable practices in the arts presented by Fort Worth Opera. Stemming from the leadership of former general and artistic director, Afton Battle, this national panel discusses race in opera centered around Aida performances with an all-star cast.
April 13 - 16, 2023 | Fort Worth, TX
OPERA America’s 2023 Racial Justice Opera Forum
The Racial Justice Opera Forum welcomes anyone who is committed to moving racial justice forward in the opera field to three days of intentional learning, engagement, and practical application for enacting racial justice. Participants will learn about, discuss, and develop organizational policies, practices, and field-wide standards as key takeaways of this year’s forum. Through collective discussion and truth-telling, we will identify ways to strengthen our commitments to racial justice.
Quo Johnson continues to make opera history, designing, curating, and facilitating an intentional space of learning, healing, and community of international participants committed to racial justice in the opera field.
March 7 - 9, 2023 | Online Forum
Quo Johnsons joins a panel of artists and administrators to investigate the history of Blackface and Yellowface, ethnic and cultural considerations when casting, and the role of makeup in performance. Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and engage in dialogue to help them apply learning to their own situations, productions, and companies. Panelists shared strategies and resources for engaging with donors and audiences on this topic.
April 6, 2023 | Online Webinar
Quo Johnson serves as a guest speaker for the TRAIN workshop series, a series offered by the Canadian government. In the Artists as Civic Engagers workshop series curated by Rebecca Hass, Quo speaks with artists and advocates about the importance of building meaningful relationships with communities as a crucial part of civic engagement and successful projects.
March 6, 2023 | Online Class
Mindfulness, restoration, and holistic celebration are important for everyone, and opera is no exception. The Dallas Opera presents a Community Healing and Dialogue Circle as we continue to explore the leadership, creativity, and representation of women in our communities and the opera field. Join local healing practitioners Stefanie Tovar (Healing Arts with Stefanie Tovar) and Quodesia D. Johnson to celebrate the women in our lives in this offering of mindfulness, movement, storytelling, and healing.
March 4, 2023 | Dallas, TX