Adam Banks named faculty director and A-Lan Holt director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts

September 16, 2019

Adam Banks, STS Affiliated Faculty and professor of education in the Graduate School of Education, is the new faculty director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA). In addition, A-lan Holt, formerly the associate and then interim director of IDA, is the new director.

The Institute for Diversity in the Arts trains and supports undergraduates in arts leadership by stewarding the power of the arts toward social justice. IDA collaborates with student and professional artists to develop courses and public programming that empower difference, dismantle oppression and build more sustainable futures.

“A-lan and I are thrilled to continue the legacy of IDA from its founding through the work of our past directors,” Banks said, adding, “The work of IDA is aligned deeply with the arts at Stanford under Vice President for the Arts HARRY ELAM’s leadership: When we make the arts a core part of the learning experience for everyone from students to staff to faculty, we are challenged to ask new questions and explore new possibilities. The role of diversity in the arts and IDA is an extension of this challenge.”

Banks is also faculty director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric and an affiliate faculty member of the African and African American Studies Program, the Science, Technology and Society Program and the Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity Program, all in the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Before joining IDA in 2015 as the associate director, Holt earned a BA in comparative studies in race and ethnicity at Stanford and went on to be the youngest writer awarded a two-year playwriting residence at the Tony Award-winning Public Theater in New York. Several of her plays have been developed in the United States and Uganda. She was a Sundance Fellow and an SF Film Screenwriting Fellow in 2018.