NOLAN WILLIAMS, JR.

NOLAN WILLIAMS, JR.NOLAN WILLIAMS, JR.NOLAN WILLIAMS, JR.

NOLAN WILLIAMS, JR.

NOLAN WILLIAMS, JR.NOLAN WILLIAMS, JR.NOLAN WILLIAMS, JR.
  • Home
  • BIO
  • PRESS ROOM
  • PRODUCTIONS
  • CULTURAL CURATION
  • PHOTOS
  • VIDEOS / DOCUMENTARIES
  • CONCERT EVENTS
  • Contact
  • More
    • Home
    • BIO
    • PRESS ROOM
    • PRODUCTIONS
    • CULTURAL CURATION
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEOS / DOCUMENTARIES
    • CONCERT EVENTS
    • Contact
  • Sign In

  • My Account
  • Signed in as:

  • filler@godaddy.com


  • My Account
  • Sign out

Signed in as:

filler@godaddy.com

  • Home
  • BIO
  • PRESS ROOM
  • PRODUCTIONS
  • CULTURAL CURATION
  • PHOTOS
  • VIDEOS / DOCUMENTARIES
  • CONCERT EVENTS
  • Contact

Account


  • My Account
  • Sign out


  • Sign In
  • My Account

BIO

Nolan Williams, Jr. is best described as a creative force. An award-winning producer, artistic director, composer/lyricist, playwright, film maker, musicologist, and cultural curator, the multi-hyphenate Williams has dedicated his professional career to the curation of works that illuminate issues of civil rights, social justice, and cultural curiosities. His work includes: choral/orchestral works premiered by major American orchestras; music for television; the bestselling African American Heritage Hymnal (over 500,000 copies sold worldwide); songwriting credits on two Grammy-nominated projects; arts and educational festivals produced in partnership with The Kennedy Center and Philadelphia’s Mann Center; cultural programming developed with the Smithsonian, U.S. State Department and multiple embassies; video/documentary projects, including the star-studded viral video “I Have A Right To Vote” (over 2,000,000 social media hits) and “Becoming Douglass Commonwealth” (winner of three gold media prizes); and a slate of theatrical productions, including his critically-hailed new musical, GRACE (Broadway World Washington, DC's 2022 choice for best musical and best new musical).


A resident of Washington, DC, Williams is the Kennedy Center’s Inaugural Social Practice Resident and CEO of NEWorks Productions, one of the nation's premier creators of impact-arts projects.


For a deeper dive into Nolan's career, click here.

PHOTO CREDITS: (1) Nolan music directing "A Monumental Celebration," Lincoln Memorial (2018), photo courtesy of The White House Historical Association; (2) Nolan participating in a panel discussion for the opening of the West Side/South Side exhibition at NYU-Washington, D.C., photo courtesy of NEWorks Productions; (3) Nolan conducting the National Symphony Orchestra and NEWorks Voices of Inspiration at THEARC (2012); photo by Kadesh DuBose, courtesy of NEWorks Productions

27 PRIZES IN 3 YEARS!

Talk about artistic excellence, Nolan and projects he has produced, directed, written, composed, and hosted have won a staggering 27 prizes in the past three years. Here is an exhaustive listing: 

Best Social Video - Dance & Performance (Telly Awards Silver Prize, 2023)

"Hold On" 

Negro Spiritual / Freedom Song

Setting by Nolan Williams, Jr.


Nolan Williams, Jr., artistic director

Kevin Parisi, video director

Xavier Mack, associate director

Music produced by Nolan Williams, Jr. and Robert Ellis

Choreographed and performed by: Xavier Mack, Bianca Melidor, Terrell Rogers Jr., and Isabel Wallace-Green

Filmed on location at Griggs Park and Klyde Warren Park, Dallax, TX

Monique Steele Griffiths, soprano

Nova Y. Payton, soprano

Vocals recorded at Bias Studios, Springfield, VA

Engineered by Brian Jacobs

Photographic images by Sam Teague 

Additional images by Jack Delano, Bernard Gotfryd, Warren K. Leffler, Jim Peppler, Peter Pettus, Rowland Scherman, and Marian Trikosko, courtesy of The Library of Congress and the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Footage courtesy of The Library of Congress

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Communicator Award of Excellence for Best Documentary (Gold Prize, 2023)

"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth" is a one-hour documentary that chronicles the long and complicated journey towards Washington, District of Columbia becoming our 51st state, Washington, Douglass Commonwealth. The documentary has aired in five CBS east coast markets and on DCTV.


Presented by The Executive Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser 

Produced by NEWorks Productions

Nolan Williams, Jr., Producer/Director/Writer 

Mike D. DuBose, Associate Producer 

Rod McDonald, Consulting Producer

Kadesh Dubose, Director of Photography/Lead Editor

Chris Myers Asch and George Derek Musgrove, Co-writers

Hosted by Andrea Roane and Bruce Johnson

Narrated by Ralph UriYah Wesley

ANTHEM AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Human & Civil Rights Film (Anthem Awards Silver Prize, 2023)

"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"

ANTHEM AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Documentary for Television (Telly Awards Gold Prize, 2022)

"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Direction for Television (Telly Awards Silver Prize, 2022)

Nolan Williams, Jr., Director, "Becoming Douglass Commonwealth" 

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best News Feature for Television (Telly Awards Silver Prize, 2022)

"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"  

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Editing for Television (Telly Awards Silver Prize, 2022)

"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"

Nolan Williams, Jr., Producer/Director

Mike D. DuBose, Associate Producer/Editor

Rod McDonald, Consulting Producer

Kadesh Dubose, Lead Editor

Mike Lyon & Adrienne Boykin, Editors

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Political/Commentary for Television (Telly Awards Silver Prize, 2022)

"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"  

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Government Relations for Television (Telly Awards Silver Prize, 2022)

"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"  

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Social Impact Video (Telly Awards Bronze Prize, 2021)

"I Have A Right To Vote," the star-studded voting rights music video composed and directed by Nolan. Featuring Billie Jean King, Billy Porter, Carla Hall, Christopher Jackson, Ebony JoAnn, Hill Harper, Sheila C. Johnson, and Ryan Jamaal Swain, this voting rights anthem garnered over 1.2 million views during the 2020 national election cycle.


Produced by Nolan/NEWorks Productions and Dale A. Mott/Edgewood | Executive produced by David Frederick, Sophia Lynn and Bohemian Foundation

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Online Non-Scripted Series (Telly Awards Bronze Prizes, 2021)

Williams co-hosted the #ByGrace Live Chat Series with celebrity chef Carla Hall from April 21 to May 26, 2020, inspired by the history and themes of Williams' new musical, GRACE. The series, with featured guests like Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell, James Beard Award winner Dr. Jessica B. Harris, culinary historian Michael Twitty, broadcast journalists Michelle Miller and Angie Goff, drew a global audience of 500,000+.


Co-produced by Nolan/NEWorks Productions and Dale A. Mott/Edgewood 

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Food & Beverage Online Series (Telly Awards Bronze Prizes, 2021)

#ByGrace Live Chat Series

TELLY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Documentary - General (Davey Awards Gold Prize, 2022)

"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth" 

DAVEY AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Music Video (Davey Awards Gold Prize, 2022)

"I Have A Right To Vote," the star-studded voting rights music video composed and directed by Nolan. Featuring Billie Jean King, Billy Porter, Carla Hall, Christopher Jackson, Ebony JoAnn, Hill Harper, Sheila C. Johnson, and Ryan Jamaal Swain, this voting rights anthem garnered over 1.2 million views during the 2020 national election cycle.


Produced by Nolan/NEWorks Productions and Dale A. Mott/Edgewood | Executive produced by David Frederick, Sophia Lynn and Bohemian Foundation

DAVEY AWARDS SITE LINK

Legacy Award (Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts, 2022)

Nolan WIlliams, Jr.

Best Musical (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

GRACE, the Musical 

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best New Musical (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Direction (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

Robert Barry Fleming, GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Music Direction & Orchestra Performance (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

Nolan Williams, Jr., GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Choreography (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

Robert Barry Fleming, GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Ensemble Performance (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Lead Performance in a Musical (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

Nova Payton, GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Lighting Design (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022

Xavier Pierce, GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Costume Design (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

Dominique Fawn Hill, GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Scenic Design (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

Jason Ardizonne-West, GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

Best Sound Design (Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, 2022)

David Budries, GRACE, the Musical

BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS SITE LINK

SOCIAL PRACTICE RESIDENCY @ THE KENNEDY CENTER REACH

In 2019, Nolan was named the inaugural Social Practice Resident at The Kennedy Center REACH. His focal projects have been the development of STIRRING THE WATERS ACROSS AMERICA, a theatrical concert production that highlights seminal moments of the modern Civil Rights Movement, and GRACE: Beyond the Stage, The Kennedy Center's first-ever colloquium celebrating African-American foodways.


The first gallery below features scenes from the STIRRING THE WATERS ACROSS AMERICA (STWAA) auditions at The Kennedy Center in July 2019; The Kennedy Center REACH Opening in September 2019; STWAA rehearsals at The REACH; and the Studio-J STWAA workshop performance and talkback at The REACH in October 2019. 


The second gallery features event photos from GRACE: Beyond the Stage.

Stirring the Waters Across America

    GRACE: Beyond the Stage

    The images below feature celebrity chefs Carla Hall and Rock Harper, along with inaugural Grace Awards recipients: Virginia Ali, owner of Ben's Chili Bowl; Dr. Lance London, owner of Carolina Kitchen; and Dr. Erinn Tucker Oluwole and Furard Tate, co-founders of DMV Black Restaurant Week.


    Here's a link to the Broadway World feature story.

    Marc Bamuthi Joseph & Nolan w/ Grace Awardees Dr. Erinn Tucker-Oluwole, Virginia Ali, Furard Tate, & Dr. Lance London (Credit: Jermoni Dowd/ NEWorks) 

      Copyright © 2021, Nolan Williams, Jr. 

      All Rights Reserved.

      COVER PHOTO CREDIT: Marvin Joseph 

      • BIO
      • PRESS ROOM
      • PRODUCTIONS
      • CULTURAL CURATION
      • PHOTOS
      • VIDEOS / DOCUMENTARIES
      • CONTACT

      This website uses cookies.

      We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.

      Accept