Introducing our PHLAFF 2024 Cultural Producers in Residence - Wilfredo Hernandez
We are so excited to announce Wilfredo Hernandez as one of our 2024 Cultural Producer Residency Program!
Wilfredo is a proud queer, Latinx interdisciplinary artist, cultural producer and consultant. He is the founder and CEO of Communitas Arts & Culture, LLC (CAC), a lab for consulting and producing for social impact, and is Founder & Executive Producing Director of the Drag Arts Oral History Project (DAOHP), a multimedia social impact project documenting the experiences, artistry and needs of drag and queer performance artists in Philadelphia and beyond. Over the years, he has worked and consulted for several notable institutions like Disney Theatrical Productions (Broadway), Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts/Lincoln Center Education, NYU, The Field, the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, the Independence Public Media Foundation, etc. He has produced and directed over 40 full-length theatrical productions (including producing/directing one of the first national pilot productions of “Disney’s Peter Pan Jr.” for Disney Theatrical Productions), launched innovative public cultural programs (including Lincoln Center’s “Boro-Linc” initiative across NYC’s outer-borough communities, and the “LGBTQ+ New Americans Oral History Project” for queer asylees and immigrants in New York City) and brings over 20 years of cultural leadership experience to his work.
He received his M.A. in Producing & Directing Theatre from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and is a proud graduate of Race Forward’s Racial Equity in the Arts Innovation Lab, PISAB’s Undoing Racism for Community Organizers, and the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office on LGBT Affairs’ LGBTQ Leadership Pipeline Program. Through the years he has helped hundreds of artists and organizations grow and secure significant funding (over $2M to date) and has received generous recognition for his own creative work, including: an Honorary Citation from the New York City Council for his direction of the LGBTQ New Americans Oral History Project (2016-2019); a 2020 Everyday Genius Award from the Da Vinci Art Alliance (Philadelphia); and was profiled by The Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Business of Pride 2023”special Pride Month issue honoring LGBTQ+ business leaders in the region.
From 2021-2023, he served as the Interim Executive Director and Trust President at CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia, where he drove organizational development, staff/board/policy overhaul, and planning for implementation of a new co-executive director leadership structure. He directly oversaw capacity building strategy in support of a community of 100+ fiscally sponsored arts/culture projects in Philadelphia with over $7M+ in annual financial holdings and management activities and secured over $120k in grant funding to help support CultureWorks’ sustainability and leadership transition needs long-term. In fall of 2023, he was appointed to a three-year term as a member of the Board of Directors of The Philadelphia Cultural Fund; was selected for the inaugural leadership cohort of the “Building LGBTQ+ Community in Germany & the US'' with the American-German Institute at Johns Hopkins University; and he completed a Certificate in Education for Philanthropy Professionals from Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy & Civil Society.
The PHLAFF 2024 Cultural Producer Residency Program aims to nurture creative talent, promote cultural diversity, encourage and drive for cross-sector impacts and foster meaningful connections between artists and their greater community. Through this comprehensive residency experience, participants will not only develop their creative projects but also contribute to the vibrant cultural landscape of Philadelphia while aligning with PHLAFF's mission of celebrating and elevating Latine/x/a/o culture.