Shanta Thake is the Ehrenkranz chief artistic officer at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where she leads all artistic programming. Since joining in fall 2021, Shanta has played a key role in Lincoln Center’s efforts to ensure the arts remain central to the civic life of New York City welcoming new and returning audiences, championing genres historically underrepresented on campus, and introducing more accessible ticketing models to help reduce cost barriers.
Prior to Lincoln Center, Shanta served as associate artistic director and director of artistic programs at The Public Theater in New York City. Earlier, she spent ten years as director of The Public Theater’s world-renown cabaret venue, Joe’s Pub. She is co-director of globalFEST, a festival and service organization dedicated to moving global music to the center of North American touring. Additionally she serves on the executive committee of the Avery Fisher Prize Foundation and the boards of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Middle Collegiate Church.
Shanta earned a degree in theater from Indiana University and lives in Brooklyn. She is a Fellow in the inaugural class of the Michael D. Eisner Arts & Culture Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
