Dawn Gibson-Brehon

Dawn Gibson-Brehon serves as Assistant Professor of Practice in Arts Management within the School of Liberal Studies at Purchase College, teaching courses in arts management, funding the arts, and business planning while leveraging her extensive professional experience in the arts sector.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Music from the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford and a Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earned through the Bolz Center for Arts Administration.

Her professional focus centers on arts management, nonprofit administration, and performing arts leadership, with deep expertise in organizational development, funding strategies, and business planning for cultural institutions. Her career spans executive roles in dance companies, programming for performing arts series, and consulting for major organizations including the Apollo Theater and Philadelphia Dance Company.

She has received significant recognition including:

• Marina Business Association’s Businesswoman of the Year Award (2002)
• African-American Achiever Award in the Arts category from JM Family Enterprises (2000)

Gibson-Brehon has served as a grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, and Association of Performing Arts Presenters, evaluating funding proposals for arts organizations nationwide. As founder of Gibson & Brehon & Company (2009), she provides strategic consulting to nonprofits including New York Foundation for the Arts and National Black Arts Festival. Her leadership extends to advisory roles on the national committee for Philadelphia Dance Company and Northeast Ohio National Center for Choreography, alongside community service as secretary for Hill North Community Management Team.