Leia Squillace was raised in Charlottesville, Virginia with nine siblings and four parents who instilled in her the values of communal care over individualism and difference over homogeneity. These values still drive her personally and creatively.
Leia’s work as a director, producer, cultural organizer, and artivist (artist + activist) focuses on building and strengthening community bonds particularly in the face of conflict and fostering healing and radical forgiveness. She takes on projects that challenge her and her audience to find commonality where it is unexpected.
Artistically, Leia is attracted to the lyrical and fantastic, whether in a classical text or a street performance. She strives to make the quotidian magical and the seemingly-unachievable a reality.
Leia currently serves as the Director of Impact for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, and a Lecturer at Columbia Law School. In her spare time, she delights in bringing people together over handmade pasta like her Nana taught her.
Guiding Words
"The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible."
- Toni Cade Bambara
"We often tell our students, 'The future's in your hands.' But I think the future is actually in your mouth.
You have to articulate the world you want to live in first."
- Ocean Vuong
"A revolution that is based on the people exercising their creativity in the midst of devastation
is one of the great historical contributions of humankind."
- Grace Lee Boggs
