Nolan Williams, Jr. is a creative powerhouse and the founding CEO of NEWorks Productions, a premier producer of socially impactful arts and entertainment since 2003. A multi-hyphenate artist—award-winning producer, music director, composer/lyricist, playwright, filmmaker, musicologist, and cultural curator—Williams has devoted his career to illuminating themes of civil rights, social justice, and cultural identity through the arts.
His prolific body of work spans multiple disciplines and platforms, including:
- Choral and orchestral compositions premiered by major U.S. ensembles and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra;
- Music for television and the bestselling African American Heritage Hymnal (500,000+ copies sold globally);
- Songwriting credits on two Grammy-nominated projects;
- Arts and educational projects in collaboration with The Kennedy Center, Mann Center (Philadelphia), Fulton County Arts & Culture, Franklin Institute, Dr. Phillips Center (Orlando), and more;
- Cultural programming with the Smithsonian, U.S. State Department, and international embassies;
- Curation of impactful cultural exhibits, including "DC Home Rule 50," mounted at the DC History Center from April 2023 to February of this year; "West Side/South Side," a 2018 touring photo exhibit commemorating the centennial birthday of American composer Leonard Bernstein (Washington, DC, Philadelphia, PA and Atlanta, GA); and the 2002 “Freedom” exhibition, a celebration of African American history and heritage from emancipation to the end of the 20th century. The "Freedom" exhibit, produced in collaboration with Lon Walls Communications, was adopted by the U.S. Army and toured throughout the nation over a five-year period, including mountings at the Essence Music Festival and the NAACP Image Awards.
- Theatrical productions, most notably GRACE, his award-winning new musical (11 Broadway World Washington, DC awards in 2022, including “Best Musical”); and,
- Film and media projects, including the star-studded viral video I Have A Right To Vote, the acclaimed documentary Becoming Douglass Commonwealth, and his award-winning film short Rise Up & Fight, which has received 87 international honors (from the Paris International Short Festival to the California Music Video & Film Awards).
The roster of artists with whom Nolan has collaborated reads like a list of who’s who in American music and entertainment including: Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Esperanza Spalding, Vanessa Williams, Louis Gossett, Jr., Smokie Robinson, Christopher Jackson, India.Arie, Lenny Kravitz, Billy Porter, Hill Harper, Carole King, Raul Esparza and Denyce Graves.
A graduate of Oberlin College (BA, Music) and Howard University (MDiv), Nolan was bestowed an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Richmond Virginia Seminary in 2013. In 2019, the Kennedy Center’s National Performing Arts Committee awarded him their prestigious Arts Advocacy Award. And remarkably, in just the past five years, Nolan and the artistic projects he has produced, directed, written, composed, and hosted have earned 63 awards, including 26 film prizes, ten Telly Awards (one gold, six silver and three bronze prizes), nine Davey Awards (five gold and four silver prizes), two AVA Digital Awards Platinum Prizes, two Anthem Awards Silver Prizes, a Communicator Award of Excellence for Best Documentary, the 2023 Legacy Award from the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts and his most recent honor, the 2025 Cannes Film Awards Prize for "Best Director, Animation Music Video."
Based in Washington, DC, Williams was the Kennedy Center’s inaugural Social Practice Resident from 2019 to 2024. He serves on the Howard University Divinity School Board of Visitors and is the former chair of the Kennedy Center Community Advisory Board.
