Nataki Garrett is the Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, one of the largest theatre-producing organizations in the United States, and is widely recognized as an innovative and influential arts leader. She has led the 86-year-old OSF through one of the most cataclysmic periods in its history, raising $19 million while mobilizing federal support for the non-profit theatre industry during the pandemic. At the start of her tenure, in 2019, she conceived an interactive and immersive digital platform, O!, which became all the more vital in live theatre’s absence as a source of groundbreaking performance, art, and discussion. Garrett is the first woman to artistically lead a $44 million theatre company and OSF’s first Black female in this role. She was selected for the prestigious 2022 United States Artist fellow. A champion for the arts, artists, and the industry, Garrett has testified before Congress on the need to support the creative economy. Born and raised in Oakland, stemming from a family of educators, artists and community organizers, she garnered a deep appreciation for theatre and for telling the untold stories not typically seen on the main stage.
Nataki Garrett
