Kamilah Forbes is a visionary leader in the worlds of arts and culture, film, and theater. As the Executive Producer for the Apollo Theater in Harlem, Forbes expanded its artistic reach and reputation, transforming it from a legacy institution into one of the nation’s leading contemporary performing arts centers. She oversaw an $85 million capital campaign, which led to the opening of the historic Victoria Theater, a space dedicated to supporting new, multidisciplinary work and attracting top-tier commercial productions in service of New York City and beyond. In 2021, she was appointed by President Joe Biden to serve on the National Endowment for the Arts Council, and in 2024, she was the director of the Emmy Award-winning “The 1619” series on Hulu. Forbes is also one of our country’s most sought-after theater directors. Her work with Dominique Morrisseau’s musical “Soul Train: The Hippest Trip” and “MIX/MASTER,” a play starring Kara Young and Ruben Santiago Hudson, is scheduled to debut on Broadway in Winter 2026. Under the umbrella of MaceoLyn Productions, she is also an award-winning television and film director and producer who has developed groundbreaking creative works, such as HBO’s “Between the World and Me” (2020) and “When a Witness Recants” (2026), which Variety recently named as one of the top films at Sundance. A Chicago native with Jamaican roots, Forbes developed her innovative spirit at Howard University’s College of Fine Arts. Her collaboration with classmate and close friend, actor Chadwick Boseman, led to the genesis of ‘hip-hop theater,’ a series of plays and an artistic practice that would later propel the creation of the Obie-Award winning Hip-Hop Theater Festival. The entity grew from a fledgling project into a groundbreaking nonprofit organization, now called Hi-ARTS, where Forbes served as its producing artistic director for 16 years. Under her vision and guidance, the festival flourished from a modest endeavor into a nationally recognized nonprofit, providing a vital platform for diverse voices and launching the careers of playwrights Kris Diaz (Hell’s Kitchen), actress Sarah Jones (Sell/Buy/Date), and choreographer Rennie Harris. After Howard, she moved to New York and quickly became one of the most prominent voices in American theater. She was the first tour director of the Tony Award-winning Def Poetry Jam. After which, she became the associate director for Kenny Leon’s Broadway productions, including the Tony-winning “A Raisin in the Sun,” “The Mountaintop,” and “Stick Fly.” Kamilah has since collaborated with some of our country’s most prolific writers, directing “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark”, written by the Pulitzer-prize winning Lynn Nottage, “Blood Quilt,” written by Katori Hall, to “Sunset Baby” and “Detroit 67,” both written by Dominique Morrisseau. Before joining the Apollo Theater, Forbes spent ten years at the John F. Kennedy Center, where she helped launch the hip hop and contemporary music division and developed hallmark projects such as the 40th-anniversary celebration of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” featuring John Legend, the symphonic collaboration for Nas’s “Illmatic” 20 Year Anniversary with the National Symphony Orchestra; and the “One Mic” hip hop festival. As Executive Producer of the Apollo Theater since 2016, Forbes has boldly reenvisioned its artistic direction, catalyzing a cultural renaissance in Harlem. Over the last 10 years, she commissioned 40 new multidisciplinary works, produced over 10 full productions, toured 5 nationally and internally, and launched Apollo’s first-ever publications. She debuted the master artist-in-residence program with Ta-Nehisi Coates and Kamasi Washington. She expanded the Apollo footprint beyond music by investing in Theater, Dance, and Film, presenting a diverse canon of performances, including the opera “We Shall Not Be Moved” with Bill T. Jones (named the Best of Classical Music in 2018 by The NY Times), and adapting the bestselling book “Between the World and Me” for the stage. Amplifying Harlem’s role as America’s cultural epicenter, Forbes launched the first-ever IDEAS festival, featuring artists Barry Jenkins, Kerry Washington, and Nikole Hannah Jones, and energized its mainstage music program by encouraging global stars such as Bruno Mars, Drake, Alicia Keys, Machel Montano, Teddy Riley, Ledisi, H.E.R., and Fat Joe to headline.
Forbes has a singular ability to attract commercial talent and avant-garde artists, a commitment that led her and CEO Jonelle Procope to develop and implement a long-range plan to restore and expand the Historic Theater into a vibrant cultural and civic resource in Harlem. In 2023, they opened the Apollo’s Victoria Theater, conceived as an incubator space for the development of new, experimental works. Their capital campaign raised $85 million, with $20 million dedicated to the future fund to support the creation of the 21st-century African American canon. Her stewardship of the Apollo led the Ford Foundation to name it one of America’s Cultural Treasures, and in 2025, the Kennedy Center honored the Apollo Theater, making it the first such organization to receive this distinction. Forbes was appointed by NYC Mayor Mamdani’s Arts and Culture transition committee and, from 2019 to 2023, served on the TONY Award-nominating committee. Her expansive vision is evident on screen as well. In 2020, she adapted her stage version of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Between the World and Me” into an HBO film special, featuring Angela Bassett, Mahershala Ali, Phylicia Rashad, Courtney B. Vance, and Black Thought. She is currently producing Ta- Nehisi Coates’ “The Waterdancer,” in development with MGM, and Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, and Plan B serving as Executive Producers. Recognized for her transformative leadership, Forbes was honored with the 2026 DramaLeague Award, the 2022 Kennedy Center Next 50 Award, the 2020 Zelda Fichandler Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, and the 2019 NBTF Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award. Her profound and enduring contributions to the cultural landscape are also reflected in her She lends her expertise and guidance on boards such as Howard’s Board of Visitors for the College of Fine Arts, the Yale Swarzman Center Advisory Board, the A Long Walk Home Artist-Advisory Board, and the Meteor.
