Michael J. Bobbitt is an award-winning theater director, choreographer, and playwrighter who has dedicated his professional career to arts leadership. He began his tenure as Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council in February 2021 and is the highest-ranking cultural official in Massachusetts. Bobbitt serves on the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Board of Directors, the National Assembly of State Arts Agency’s (NASAA) Board of Directors and was selected for art Equity’s BIPOC Leadership Circle. He is the former Artistic Director of the New Repertory Theater in Watertown, Massachusetts and the Adventure Theater in Maryland. Bobbitt gained extensive experience in nonprofit arts management by training at Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management, The National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program, and Cornell University’s Diversity and Inclusion Certification Program. As a director and choreographer he has worked nationally and internationally. As a writer his plays have been published by Concord Theatricals, Broadway Publishing, and Plays for Young Audiences. Bobbitt is the recipient of the Excel Leadership Award (Center for Nonprofit Advancement), the Emerging Leader Award (County Executive’s Excellence in the Arts and Humanities), and Person of the Year Award (Maryland Theatre Guide), along with eight Helen Hayes Awards.

James was an American poet, writer, educator, diplomat, Civil Rights activist, and lawyer. From 1906 to 1908, Johnson served as the United States Consul for Venezuela and 1910 to 1913 served in the same role in Nicaragua. In 1917, He began working with the NAACP as the Executive Officer. He served in that role from 1920 to 1930. During that time he was also heavily involved in the Harlem Renaissance, which allowed him to write anthologies, novels, and poems highlighting the Black contribution to American society. He also became the first Black American to become a professor at New York University in 1934. He is most well-known for writing the poem, 'Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing' which would be put to music by his brother Rosamond Johnson, and then adopted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as the National Black anthem.