Broadway Advocacy Coalition is pleased to announce that Elz Cuya Jones, who is currently serving as Managing Director of Special Campaigns for North Star Fund, will serve as our Executive Director starting this September.

ALJP Consulting led an inclusive and nationwide executive search process, in partnership with a committee of BAC staff, artists and board members. ALJP Owner and Principal Jocelyn Prince commented, "Elz brings a wealth of NYC fundraising experience to BAC, rooted in a passion for social justice. Her values and commitment to the organization's legacy and critical work will bolster its exciting next phase of development.”

"I believe that storytelling is our greatest power, which is why I am thrilled to join the team at Broadway Advocacy Coalition,” said Jones. “At BAC, artists and activists create a culture that values our communities, encourages dialogue and activates our empathy. I won’t remember every detail of a 76-page policy paper, but I will never forget a young person’s poem about her parents’ immigration, or a letter written by an incarcerated elder, or the song of a mother whose son was murdered by the police—because those stories didn’t just raise my awareness, they moved me to act."

“We are excited to have Elz Cuya Jones as the new Executive Director for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition,” said Richard Gray, Chair of the BAC Board of Directors. “Elz comes to BAC with a tremendous range of leadership capacities and experiences and, most importantly, a new energy and vision of transformational change that will lovingly challenge us to seek new ways for our work to grow and have greater impact.“

"Seven years of working with Robb Nanus, our first Executive Director of the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, gave us great success and laid a strong foundation, preparing us for the opportunity to partner with a leader like Elz,” said Britton Smith, President and Artistic Director of BAC. “Her unwavering commitment to equity and the intersection of arts and advocacy is evident in both her expertise and her impressive history in ethical fundraising and leadership. Elz's vibrant vision and passion for our next phase are the driving forces we need to guide us through our next step of growth. I couldn’t be more excited for what lies ahead with her leadership."

Elz Cuya Jones is a storyteller, fundraiser, and mother with 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership. Before joining Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Elz led the all-women of color development team at North Star Fund, a community foundation that supports grassroots organizing for social justice movements in New York. Today, she serves as Vice Chair of Advocacy Institute, an organization that supports the legislative and policy work of community leaders working for equity and justice. 

Over the span of her career, Elz’s highest and most humbling honor has been fundraising for the Let Us Breathe Fund, the only New York-based fund led by and for Black activists organizing for Black liberation. The fund started in 2015 following the death of Eric Garner and has since made over $5 million in grants to Black-led organizations fighting police violence and structural racism. 

Prior to working in the nonprofit sector, Elz spent a decade in the newsroom. There she witnessed the magical power of storytelling which later drove her communications and development strategies at Harlem RBI (now DREAM), Women’s Project (now WP Theater), Hip-Hop Theater Festival (now Hi-Arts) and Youth Speaks. Working in several arts organizations repeatedly affirmed Elz’s belief that art is essential. She has seen firsthand how art mobilizes marginalized communities and how culture paves the way for political change—both of which make her move to BAC feel like an inspired return home. 

Born to immigrant Filipino parents in the San Francisco Bay Area, Elz earned her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications at the University of California, Berkeley, and her Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Nonfiction at Hunter College. 

Elz is obsessed with the theater, documentary films, and finding the perfect postage stamp. She lives in Manhattan with her son Bolden, incandescent and enchanting, to whom she dedicates every move and every breath.