BIO

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Nolan Williams, Jr. is best described as a creative force. An award-winning artistic producer, composer/lyricist, music director 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 extensive body of creative work includes: theatrical productions workshopped/mounted at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Play House, and The Clarice; curatorial festivals produced in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia’s Mann Center, and more; cultural programming developed in collaboration with The Smithsonian, U.S. State Department, and the Embassies of India and South Africa; video and documentary projects; choral/orchestral works premiered by the Philadelphia, National Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Atlanta Youth Symphony, Philadelphia Youth, and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestras; numerous choral commissions; songwriting credits on two Grammy®-nominated projects; music for television; and, collaborations with an impressive roster of artists, including Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Vanessa Williams, Smokie Robinson, Raul Esparza, Vanessa Williams, and Denyce Graves.

Standout projects include: GRACE, a critically-acclaimed new musical (with music and lyrics by WIlliams and book by Williams and Nikkole Salter) presently premiering at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., March 19 - May 14, 2022; "Becoming Douglass Commonwealth," a one-hour documentary that chronicles the long and complicated journey towards Washington, District of Columbia becoming our 51st state, Washington, Douglass Commonwealth (produced and directed by Williams); STIRRING THE WATERS ACROSS AMERICA, a touring theatrical concert production that illuminates key events from the Civil Rights Movement, hailed by D.C. Metro Theatre Arts as "Electrifying. Awakening. ...Exquisitely bold and utterly holy"; "I Have A Right To Vote," the award-winning viral voting rights anthem featuring Billy Porter, Billy Jean King, Carla Hall, Christopher Jackson, Hill Harper, Ebony JoAnn, Ryan Jamaal Swain and Sheila C. Johnson that garnered nearly 1.5 million views during the 2020 U.S. election cycle; #ByGrace, an award-winning live Instagram and Facebook conversation series co-hosted by Nolan and celebrity Chef Carla Hall that has reached a global audience of more than 500,000; "Woke!," a multifaceted digital arts campaign to raise civic awareness and civic engagement; a choral setting of "The National Anthem" commissioned by Major League Baseball for the 2018 MLB All-Star Game, broadcast nationwide on FOX featuring a choir of over 400 voices; and "Hold Fast To Dreams," a classical song cycle for orchestra, choir, soloists, and narrator, premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra and heralded by the Philadelphia Inquirer as "soaring... lovely... [and] dreamily upbeat...". 

In 2019, Williams was named the inaugural Social Practice Resident at The Kennedy Center REACH. He is also the recipient of The Center's National Committee for the Performing Arts' 2019 Award for Arts Advocacy. Most recently, Williams' inspiring work has garnered three 2021 Telly Awards Bronze Prizes.  

A resident of Washington, D.C., Williams is CEO of NEWorks Productions.