EMILY SIMONESS

Founding Executive Director

Emily Simoness is originally from Apple Valley, Minnesota (as cute as it sounds). Prior to founding SPACE, Emily attended college in the great state of North Carolina and moved to Brooklyn in 2007 to pursue an acting career. Emily worked at some of the premier theatrical venues in the nation including The Public Theater and Williamstown Theatre Festival as well as a bunch of very shoddy off-off-off-off-off Broadway ‘venues.’ She’s now a teacher, facilitator, speaker and the Co-Founder and Executive Director of SPACE on Ryder Farm. Under Emily’s leadership, artists and activists such as Hillary Frank, River Gallo, Rupi Kaur, Christopher Vu Gandin Le, Young Jean Lee, Shakina Nayfack, Antoinette Nwandu, Naima Penniman and Rebecca Traister have developed new works. Emily is the inaugural Kenan Arts Research Fellow at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In 2015, Emily gave a talk at TEDx Broadway entitled “Following Your Life’s Path, Not Your Life’s Plan.” In 2017, Emily was honored with the Lucille Lortel Visionary Award by the League of Professional Theatre Women. Emily is also a Green Bay Packers shareholder and an Aquarius (with Scorpio rising - very important!). She may not be a farmer yet, but she loves to weed. She really really really loves to weed.