Brandon Gryde was appointed director of Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works and Artist Communities in March 2020. In this position, he manages the Art Endowment’s grantmaking for presenting and multidisciplinary works and artist communities.

Gryde previously served as director of government affairs for both Dance/USA and OPERA America for more than nine years, representing the dance and opera fields on a wide range of policy issues that impact the nonprofit performing arts. Additionally, he served as OPERA America’s inaugural equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) officer, where he provided training and learning opportunities for membership and staff, guided the development of OPERA America’s EDI Values Statement, and founded the ALAANA Opera Network. Gryde also served as communications director at Youth Service America, an international organization that engaged young people in service and service-learning initiatives, where he developed resources for arts-based service opportunities. Additionally, he was publications director for Jump Street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he managed the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts grant program in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and launched AND Magazine, a quarterly arts-and-healthy-lifestyles teen magazine written by local students.

Gryde has served on the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) Advisory Committee and Independent Sector’s Public Policy Advisory Committee and served as a speaker and panelist for Dance/USA and OPERA America conferences and forums, AEP’s annual convening, the Dance/NYC Symposium, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture’s Advocacy Leadership Institute, and many others. Gryde has a BA in ethnomusicology (jazz studies emphasis) and American literature and culture from UCLA and an MA in American studies from Penn State.