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An award-winning producer, arts manager, artistic director, composer/lyricist, and cultural curator, Nolan Williams, Jr. has dedicated his professional career to the curation of works that illuminate issues of civil rights, social justice, and cultural curiosities.
Named the inaugural Social Practice Resident at the Kennedy Center REACH in 2019, Nolan believes in the fundamental power of music and the arts to effect positive change. Over the course of the past 19 years, he has forged his NEWorks Productions into one of the nation's premier creators of inspirational-arts projects, producing educational initiatives, music, cultural festivals, concert events, videos and documentaries, theatrical productions, art exhibitions, community dialogues, and other signature works that reflect the change he seeks in our world.
Altogether, these projects have reached a global audience of nearly 10 million, garnering broad acclaim along the way. Standout projects include:
Nolan is highly regarded as a composer/lyricist who, as The Washington Post’s Peter Marks asserts, "is able to compose convincingly in every popular genre..." Nolan’s versatility is reflected in the songwriting credits he has garnered on two Grammy®-nominated projects; the music he has composed for television, including the original soundtrack for Tavis Smiley’s 2009 documentary, STAND; his Major League Baseball-commissioned arrangement of "The National Anthem" for the 2018 All-Star Game; and, his slate of theatrical productions, including the new musical he has co-written with Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Nikkole Salter, GRACE, winner of eleven 2022 Broadway World D.C. Awards and hailed by The Washington Post as “a rousing, boisterously melodic new musical.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Peter Dobrin adds, "Williams has a musical language all his own. It brims with vernacular American optimism…" This optimism is certainly reflected in Nolan’s choral/orchestral works that have been performed by the Philadelphia, National Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Atlanta Youth Symphony, Philadelphia Youth, Kennedy Center Opera House, and NEWorks Philharmonic Orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra’s world premiere of his song cycle, “Hold Fast To Dreams,” lauded by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “soaring… lovely… [and] dreamily upbeat.”
The list of artists with whom Nolan has collaborated reads like a who’s who of music and entertainment including: Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Leslie Odom, Jr., Vanessa Williams, Louis Gossett, Jr., Smokie Robinson, Raul Esparza, and Denyce Graves.
Nolan’s versatility is not limited to musical composition, his entire career is marked by diverse and creative invention. Here are a few highlights:
There is little wonder why Nolan and the projects he has produced have garnered a staggering 27 prizes in just the past two years (2021-23), including 13 Telly Awards, 11 Broadway World Washington, D.C. Awards, two Davey Awards, an Anthem Award, a Communicator Award of Excellence, and a CAAPA Legacy Award. He is also the recipient of the Kennedy Center's National Committee for the Performing Arts’ 2019 Award for Arts Advocacy and an honorary doctorate of music from Richmond Virginia Seminary.
A resident of Washington, D.C., Nolan serves as chair of the Center's Community Advisory Board and is co-artistic director of the newly-formed Washington Douglass Chorale. performance ensembles: the NEWorks Philharmonic Orchestra, NEWorks Voices of America, and NEWorks Voices of Inspiration.
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
Talk about artistic excellence, Nolan and projects he has produced, directed, written, composed, and hosted have won a staggering 27 prizes in the past two years. Here is an exhaustive listing:
"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
"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
"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"
"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"
Nolan Williams, Jr., Director, "Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"
"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"
"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
"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"
"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"
"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
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
#ByGrace Live Chat Series
"Becoming Douglass Commonwealth"
"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
Nolan WIlliams, Jr.
GRACE, the Musical
GRACE, the Musical
Robert Barry Fleming, GRACE, the Musical
Nolan Williams, Jr., GRACE, the Musical
Robert Barry Fleming, GRACE, the Musical
GRACE, the Musical
Nova Payton, GRACE, the Musical
Xavier Pierce, GRACE, the Musical
Dominique Fawn Hill, GRACE, the Musical
Jason Ardizonne-West, GRACE, the Musical
David Budries, GRACE, the Musical
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.
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
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