About NACAPA

Who We Are

A California nonprofit public benefit corporation founded in Los Angeles in 2026, and dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and transmitting African cultural heritage through the performing arts, while fostering cultural exchanges.

Our Mission

Why NACAPA Exists

Across North America, millions of people carry Africa in their blood but have limited access to authentic, living expressions of their cultural heritage — the music, theater, dance, language, and artistic traditions that define their ancestry and sustain their identity.

Mainstream cultural institutions have historically underrepresented African performing arts, or presented them through outside perspectives rather than the voices of African artists themselves. NACAPA exists to change that through direct programming, sustained community presence, and institutional commitment.

We work through five core programs: live performance, artist residencies, cultural education, immersive experiences, and cross-cultural exchange. Together they create the conditions for genuine reconnection for people of African descent, and for the broader North American communities enriched by authentic encounter with African cultural life.

“To advance the preservation, celebration, and transmission of African cultural heritage through live performance, immersive cultural experiences, and community education. Reconnecting individuals of African descent born outside the continent with their roots, while building bridges of understanding between African cultures and broader North American communities.”

What We Stand For

Our Core Values

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Artist-Led Authenticity
African culture is defined by African artists instead of being interpreted from the outside in. Every NACAPA program is shaped by the artists, scholars, and communities who carry these traditions in their bodies and memories.
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Preservation Through Practice
Heritage is not preserved in glass cases. It lives in performance, in teaching, in transmission from one generation to the next. We protect African performing traditions by keeping them alive on stage, in classrooms, and in the community.
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Pan-African Breadth, Cultural Specificity
Africa is not one culture. It is fifty-four nations, thousands of languages, and centuries of distinct artistic traditions. NACAPA honors that breadth without flattening it, presenting each tradition in its own context and on its own terms.
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Production Excellence
African performing arts deserve world-class staging, sound, documentation, and presentation. The quality of production is itself a statement about the value of the culture being presented. We do not accept less.
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Access Through Community Pricing
Diaspora communities, especially youth and low-income families, should never be priced out of their own cultural heritage. NACAPA maintains sliding-scale pricing, scholarship availability, and community-priced events as institutional commitments, not occasional gestures.
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Financial Transparency
We are a public trust. Every dollar is stewarded with rigor and reported with full transparency. Our Form 990, board roster, and financial statements are available to any donor or member of the public who asks.
Leadership

Founding Executive Director/CEO

Dr. Anderson Isiagu — Founding Executive Director/CEO, NACAPA
Dr. Anderson Isiagu
Founding Executive Director/CEO
Ex-Officio Voting Board Member

Dr. Anderson Isiagu is the Founding Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of NACAPA. He founded the organization from a conviction that African performing arts deserve a permanent, respected, and professionally governed institutional home in North America. In this role, he leads NACAPA’s program development, partnerships, operations, and strategic planning, while working under the oversight of the Board of Directors. Dr. Isiagu’s work spans composition, conducting, education, acting, production, and cultural advocacy. This multidisciplinary background informs NACAPA’s commitment to performance, preservation, artist support, education, and cross-cultural exchange. Under his leadership, NACAPA is being built as a durable nonprofit platform for African performing arts and as a long-term cultural bridge between African traditions, diasporic communities, and the wider public. To learn more about our CEO, visit https://andersonisiagu.com.

Contact: anderson.isiagu@nacapa.org
Governance

Board of Directors

NACAPA is governed by a founding board of six directors, individuals of integrity, community standing, and deep commitment to the mission.

Jeremy Hoff
Jeremy Hoff
Board Chair
Jeremy Hoff is a ministry and education leader with more than two decades of experience serving churches and Christian institutions. He spent 20 years at Shepherd Church in Porter Ranch, California, where he advanced from technical leadership to Executive Director of Administration and helped guide strategy and operations for a large, multi-campus congregation. He most recently served as Head of School and immediate past superintendent of Heritage Christian School in Northridge. Known for thoughtful leadership, operational discipline, and Christ-centered service, Jeremy brings administrative expertise, ministry insight, and strategic judgment to his role as board chair.
Ashley L. Douglas
Ashley L. Douglas
Board Secretary
Ashley L. Douglas is a Los Angeles-based dancer, soprano, and actress originally from Wilmington, Delaware. A graduate of Yale University with a B.A. in Theater Studies, she has performed across film, television, and stage, with credits including The Prom, Penny Dreadful, and productions such as West Side Story. She also serves as Chair of the Talent Committee for Yale in Hollywood, where she organizes and moderates industry panels. Known for versatility, creativity, and commitment to the arts, Ashley brings a collaborative spirit and dynamic artistic perspective to her role as board secretary.
Rev. Fr. Kenneth C. Ugwu, SSJ, Ph.D.
Rev. Fr. Kenneth C. Ugwu, SSJ, Ph.D.
Board Treasurer
Very Rev. Fr. Kenneth C. Ugwu, SSJ, Ph.D., is a Catholic priest of the Society of St. Joseph and Pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Church in Los Angeles, California. Appointed in 2020, he leads a historic parish community rooted in worship, Catholic education, and social outreach. His ministry reflects pastoral leadership, faith formation, and commitment to community service. With doctoral training and extensive parish leadership experience, Fr. Ugwu brings spiritual depth, administrative insight, and disciplined stewardship to his role as treasurer.
Dr. Andrea Roberson
Dr. Andrea Roberson
Board Member
Dr. Andrea Roberson is a Southern California-based family practice physician and surgeon who has served families in Southern Orange County for more than 40 years. A Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, she is known for whole-family care, informed decision-making, and respectful patient relationships. Her work integrates conventional medicine, osteopathic care, nutritional support, and collaboration with specialists and holistic providers. Beyond medicine, Dr. Roberson has been active in faith, music, choir participation, and mission-centered healthcare work. She brings compassion, discernment, and a service-centered perspective to NACAPA’s Board of Directors.
Gene Roberson
Gene Roberson
Board Member
Gene Roberson is a Southern California-based music director, organist, pianist, arranger, and composer with longstanding experience in sacred music, church music leadership, and concert performance. He served as the immediate past organist and music director of Presbyterian Church of the Master in Mission Viejo and previously served as organist at Grace Brethren Church in Long Beach. His published arrangements include works for piano, organ, voice, chorus, and instrumental ensembles. Known for disciplined musicianship, arranging craft, and commitment to music in worship and community life, he brings artistic depth and seasoned musical judgment to NACAPA’s Board of Directors.
Julia Isiagu
Julia Isiagu
Board Member
Julia Isiagu is a Los Angeles-based educator with more than a decade of service in elementary education. She earned her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a master’s degree in education from the University of California, Irvine, and has taught with Los Angeles Unified School District, including work with upper elementary students. Her teaching reflects patience, structure, empathy, and commitment to children’s academic, social, and personal growth. A widely traveled educator with a genuine interest in other cultures, she brings practical judgment, educational insight, and a strong commitment to youth development and community-centered learning.

For general inquiries, contact info@nacapa.org.

A Curatorial Note

What We Mean by “African Performing Arts”

Africa is not one culture. It is fifty-four nations, more than two thousand languages, and a vast diversity of performance traditions — from the griot storytelling traditions of West Africa to the elaborate ngoma drum and dance ceremonies of East Africa, from the theatrical masquerade traditions of the Niger Delta to the choral heritage of Southern Africa, from the classical court music of Ethiopia and Morocco to the contemporary performance cultures emerging from Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Accra.

When NACAPA says “African performing arts,” we mean this full breadth — music, dance, theater, oral tradition, and interdisciplinary performance in all its regional, linguistic, and cultural specificity. We do not flatten Africa into a single aesthetic or tradition. We present each form in its own context, by artists with direct relationship to it.

This is the institutional commitment that distinguishes NACAPA from organizations that engage Africa generally. We engage it specifically — tradition by tradition, artist by artist, community by community.

Our Home

Why Los Angeles

Los Angeles is the ideal home for NACAPA. It is home to one of the largest and most diverse African and African-diaspora communities in North America — spanning West African, East African, Central African, and diaspora communities from every corner of the continent.

It is a global center for the performing arts, entertainment, and cultural production. It has a robust network of foundations, government arts funders, and corporate sponsors committed to cultural equity. And it is a city that has historically been at the forefront of multicultural cultural institutions.

Los Angeles is where NACAPA begins. North America is where NACAPA grows.

Preserve
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Celebrate
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Connect

The mission of NACAPA · Los Angeles, California · Founded 2026