United States

Roberta Uno

Senior Program Officer New York

Roberta Uno focuses on arts and culture in the United States. Her grant making concentrates on developing and sustaining vibrant arts spaces that can serve as artistic exemplars and promote cultural diversity and public participation.

Before joining the Ford Foundation in 2002, Roberta was the founder and artistic director of the New WORLD Theater at the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The theater, which was founded in 1979, has earned a national and international reputation as a visionary cultural institution dedicated to works by artists of color. Roberta was also a professor of directing and dramaturgy in the university's theater department.

Roberta's directing and dramaturgy experience spans 30 years, with a primary focus on new plays, interdisciplinary work and solo performance. She is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Her books include "The Color of Theater: Race, Culture and Contemporary Performance" and "Unbroken Thread: An Anthology of Plays by Asian-American Women." She is co-editor of "Contemporary Plays by Women of Color: An Anthology" (New York: Routledge, 1996) and editor of "Monologues for Actors of Color: Men" (New York: Routledge, 2000) and "Monologues for Actors of Color: Men and Women."

Roberta has a master's degree in dramatic literature from Smith College, a master's degree in fine arts in theater directing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a bachelor's degree from Hampshire College.