TILA Studios’ founder Tiffany LaTrice leaving Atlanta for museum job in Seattle

Tiffany LaTrice, founder and executive director of TILA Studios and artistic director of National Black Arts (NBAF) since January 2020, will relocate to Seattle in June to join the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) as marketing director.

She will oversee marketing, public relations, communications, media relations and retail operations. The Northwest African American Museum is dedicated to opening minds and changing lives through African American history, art and culture.

“I am excited to join the executive leadership team at NAAM and join a visionary CEO, LaNesha DeBardelaben, former [senior vice president] of the Charles H. Wright Museum,” LaTrice stated in a press release.

In 2019, LaTrice received the ArtsATL Luminary Award for Arts Innovation in recognition of her work with TILA Studios, the organization she founded in 2016 to support Black women artists. Her goal is to build an inclusive art economy that makes it possible for Black women artists to build sustainable careers. Says artist Marryam Moma, “through [TILA’s] numerous art programs, resources and paid art projects . . . I have received many opportunities to grow and thrive.”

LaTrice will continue to lead and oversee TILA as executive director and plans to expand operations in the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast.

TILA currently has a gallery at 944 Marietta Street. The organization’s Garden Fellowship artist-in-residency program makes it possible for five candidates to attend and exhibit their work at Art Basel in Miami Beach. In 2019, TILA held an Art Basel kickoff event at Hammonds House Museum. Moma, one of the fellows, describes the program as “an unforgettable experience.” The fellowship was on hiatus 2020 through 2022 and will relaunch in 2023.

At NBAF, LaTrice launched the inaugural Horizon Awards honoring emerging Black artists in film, music and visual arts. She produced numerous programs, secured partners and supported more than 300 artists nationwide during the Covid pandemic. She distributed $96,000 to employ and empower artists by launching the Artist Project Fund and through programs such as the Drive-In Black Film Festival.

“Atlanta has served as my artistic home for the past eight years,” LaTrice said in an email. “I was able to imagine a career that I couldn’t have imagined anywhere else . . . Atlanta has gifted me with lifelong friends, peers and colleagues in this work from museum administrators, non-profit leaders and corporate partners. Everything I wanted to learn, build, connect and dream flourished in this city.”