RONALD K. BROWN (Founder/Artistic Director) raised in Brooklyn, NY, founded EVIDENCE, A Dance Company in 1985. He has worked with Mary Anthony Dance Theater and Jennifer Muller/The Works as well as other choreographers and artists and has been on the faculty of The Juilliard School. Brown has set works on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Jeune Ballet d’Afrique Noire, Ko-Thi Dance Company, Philadanco, Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago, Ballet Hispánico, TU Dance, and Malpaso Dance Company.
He has collaborated with such artists as composer/designer Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya, the late writer Craig G. Harris, director Ernie McClintock’s Jazz Actors Theater, choreographers Patricia Hoffbauer and Rokiya Kone, composers Robert Een, Oliver Lake, Bernadette Speech, David Simons, and Don Meissner, and musicians Jason Moran, Arturo O'Farrill, and Meshell Ndegeocello.
Brown is the recipient of the 2020 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award. His other awards and recognitions include the AUDELCO Award for his choreography in Regina Taylor’s award-winning play Crowns, two Black Theater Alliance Awards, and a Fred & Adele Astaire Award for Outstanding Choreography in the Tony Award-winning Broadway and national touring production of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, adapted by Suzan Lori Parks, arranged by Diedre Murray, and directed by Diane Paulus.
Brown was named Def Dance Jam Workshop 2000 Mentor of the Year and has received a Doris Duke Artist Award, New York City Center Fellowship, Joyce Theater Artist Residency Center Fellowship, Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Choreographers Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, United States Artists Fellowship, New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” award, Dance Magazine Award, and The Ailey Apex Award. Ronald K. Brown is a Creative Administration Research artist at NCCAkron. Brown is the Co-Artistic Director of the Restoration Dance Youth Ensemble and a member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society.