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.about

As a child growing up on a farm in the rural Midwest, Christopher learned from his father that humility, patience and perseverance were needed to work the soil to yield a crop. Christopher believes that profound things can happen when these principles are applied with thoughtful intention and combined with a rigorous aesthetic. Perhaps we can all become less isolated from one another and more full of grace as a result.

Widely recognized as a leader in culture, strategy and international program design, Christopher most recently was the Global Director for Videos for Change, a worldwide community of young people creating original, short-form video content on social issues that mattered most to them. In his role as the Director of Sundance Institute’s Theatre Program, Christopher built one of the world’s leading brands and most diverse rosters of artists, including a host of artist residencies around the world. In his role, he worked to expand the Program’s cultural impact outside the American context, with an emphasis on storytelling from East Africa and the Arab Region/diaspora. Click to learn about his approach to designing Artist Residencies.

Christopher is a member of Creative Capital’s National Advisory Council, a US organization that invests in artists to shape the future, the Founding Chair of the Board of Trustees for Zoukak, world-renowned theater ensemble in Lebanon, and a Senior Advisor to Ettijahat-Independent Culture, a Syrian organization based in Beirut. Christopher has served as a consultant & collaborator to flagship organizations and institutions like Harlem’s The Apollo Theater and the global design firm, IDEO. Christopher is a member of Guild of Future Architects, a refuge for people shaping an inclusive & prosperous world where he has designed the FoodxFilm Festival and was a Co-Lead for Cinereach’s Justice Capsule.

Christopher supported early development for projects like the stage adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World & Me for the Apollo Theater and premiered on HBO as well as Somi Kakoma’s Dreaming Zenzile which premiered in Fall 2021 and Shadow by Back to Back Theatre in Australia.

Christopher has explored how rituals infuse meaning in our environments as well as how this moment is an opportunity for a more inclusive future. He extended support for creatives who have been affected by the 2020 explosions in Beirut with an artist relief fund for individual artists called TO BEirut. He strives for creativity in our collective spaces so that we may move beyond binaries to embrace nuance.

Christopher is co-creator of Creative Tensions, a fresh approach to dialogue that asks participants to reveal where they stand on an issue by where they stand - and move - in a room. Deep, nuanced conversations have been had in places such as Aspen Ideas Festival, NPR, Sundance Film Festival, CES, Creative Mornings and National Geographic. This event format, a 2016 Core 77 Design Award winner.

He served as the Interim Senior Artistic Producer at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis on the Senior Team and oversaw the Artistic Team (including Producing, Professional Training & Education and Community Engagement). Early in his career, he was the Minnesota Boychoir’s first General Manager and Theater Latté Da’s first Managing Director before serving as an Assistant Director on The Lion King on Broadway.

Christopher crafts environments for artists to luxuriate in their animating impulses. He has designed spaces & programming at MASS MoCA in the Berkshires, at Ucross Foundation on a cattle ranch in Wyoming, at Luma Foundation in Arles, France and in capitals across the Arab region and East Africa. He has developed a set of organizing principles and anticolonialist values when developing programs with partners across international borders and contexts. He has been a Mentor to the Nairobi Musical Theatre Initiative as well as a partner to the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative.

Christopher also led the inaugural FoodxFilm Festival as its first Festival Director which explored the future of food through feature film, gaming and immersive events in support of the UN Food Systems Summit, Good Food for All and the World Food Forum. The FoodxFilm Festival was held in association with The Rockefeller Foundation and emboldened by Guild of Future Architects. He’s currently developing projects across live performance, film, TV and podcasts. Christopher is a member of White Men for Racial Justice, an anti-racist pro-justice community of practice rooted in personal transformation, relationships of mutual accountability, and taking action in spheres of influence.

Christopher incorporates the principles rigor, grace & intention as he cultivates the talents of storytellers as he designs into their best instincts. Click for a list of Current Projects.

He married to his husband and has a daughter.

"Christopher is a virtuous leader with a profound ability to cultivate meaningful, long-standing relationships, which makes him a dynamic leader in the cultural and philanthropic field."

— Kamilah Forbes, Executive Producer, The Apollo Theater

“I cannot imagine collaborating with a more dynamic colleague, whose intellect and heart has influenced the creative output of hundreds of storytellers. Christopher has a rare and deep and inventive spirit, as well as the ability to make visions and ideas come to full-bodied life. He brought into being the most remarkable places around the globe – islands off the coast of Kenya, in the Moroccan desert – designing sensitively for a wide and diverse international cohort of theatre makers. He is empathetic, curious, a gifted producer and blessed with grace and a gentle sense of humor.” 

— Philip Himberg, CULTURAL CONSULTANT

“Christopher has a deep sense of place and people. His attention to detail and the care he imparts to everyone is inspiring. Most of all, I admire his commitment to defying postcolonial practices and unequal production mechanisms in the arts.”

— Jumana Al-Yasiri, Curator

“Christopher is a visionary in the truest sense. His capacity for empathy and sensitivity is limitless and his experience in international contexts has afforded him a profound understanding of the needs of artists and arts sectors all over the world. He faces challenges with immeasurable fresh insight, prodigious poise, and an unwaveringly constructive attitude. The extent of Christopher’s knowledge and drive are second to none: he is a natural leader, an acute listener, and a trusted, valued friend. “

— Abdullah Al-Kafri, Executive Director, Ettijahat

“Working with Christopher over the past two decades has been an honor and a pleasure. His creative mind and thoughtful guidance have been essential to an important partnership. He is collaborative by nature, always an independent thinker, and his good nature is a joy. We are very grateful that he played a meaningful role with Ucross.” 

— Sharon Dynak, FORMER President, Ucross Foundation

"Christopher is the quintessential artist advocate. He possesses a very specific type of quiet power that is always thoughtful, generous, intentional, and honest.  I count myself very fortunate to be among the many artists to whom he has graciously extended that quiet power.  It has enabled me to take great artistic risk towards great reward and fostered a truly global sense of community.  I am so very grateful for his perspective and counsel."

— Somi, Vocalist & writer

“In collaborating with Christopher, we saw both his strategic imagination and his rich, sensitive design sensibility. Plus, he's an absolute pleasure to work with!”

— Casper ter Kuile, co-founder Sacred Design Lab

“I’ve worked with Christopher over a period of five years on the development and evolution of Creative Tensions. Through the many ups and downs of the creative process, Christopher has been an unfailingly gracious and attentive collaborator. He is an astute decision maker with a natural bias toward action, yet he is patient and steady when obstacles arise. I have always appreciated Christopher’s good humor and consider myself lucky to call him a friend.”

— Anna Silverstein, IDEO

Christopher showed up in my post-pandemic, post-uprising, post-optimism, post-faith-in-power, lost-lonely-languishing days with his metaphorical flashlight and brought hope, confidence, and joy. Christopher's singular ability to simultaneously see the systems and the individuals is breathtaking. His gentle permission to his colleagues to take risks, offer vision, change what doesn't work, and extend a helping hand made me glad to show up everyday. Working alongside a leader who allows for our full emotional selves to be brave, creative, and accountable taught me more about leadership than I thought was possible. I am eternally grateful to count him as a friend and fellow creative thinker/agent for joyful change in this wild world.

— Rebecca Noon, Community Arts Organizer

“Christopher had a major hand in architecting some of the most nurturing, productive, inclusive structures for making work and community I have experienced in my thirty plus years of making theater.  He has a great and rare gift for creating and managing systems that manifest an organization’s values in daily practice.”

— Lisa Kron, Playwright & Performer

“One of Topher’s greatest qualities is the way that he imbues any meeting or event that he has organised with the spirit of inclusiveness, graciousness, beauty and respect. This is no doubt because he embodies these qualities himself and leads by example. Topher's thoughtful curiosity and desire to understand the big “why" is a great strength that is increasingly important in a fast-paced world.”

— Roya Baghai, Founder, Videos for Change