Speaking
A stage, a room, a conversation
I speak, facilitate, perform, teach, and emcee for community, nonprofit, arts, and leadership audiences. Twenty-five years in theatre and two decades in nonprofit leadership meet on every stage.
- Keynotes
- Panels
- Workshops
- Trainings
- Facilitated conversations
- Podcast interviews
- Performance
- Emceeing
Watch
Reading the Declaration, 250 years later
A panel at the Uptown Knauer Performing Arts Center in West Chester, part of Chester County's America250 work. Everyone on stage had taken part in the county's public reading of the Declaration of Independence. I spoke about what the Declaration, the Constitution, and our government mean today, from where I stand as a Black man in America.
Read the transcript
It wasn't like the Pledge of Allegiance for us. So we weren't given the training or the opportunity to learn how to dissect or digest or to own the Declaration. So for me, I didn't really encounter it until my adult years. And even then... I think your first question was, how does it feel? How did it feel? Even then, the experience was layered. Even when we read it, there was anger, there was frustration, there was despondency. It was a layered experience because it became a little overwhelming.
More from the reading
- Chester County Reads the Declaration of Independence Chester County Community Foundation, on YouTube
- Dare to Declare, Masterworks 3: Made in America Brandywine Valley Symphony, on YouTube
Talks and workshops
Topics
Each works as a keynote, panel, facilitated conversation, or workshop. I also build talks around your event's theme. Request a topic
- 01
From Connection to Collective Action
Building Community Partnerships That Last
A practical approach to listening, identifying shared interests, and helping partners move from goodwill to clear, sustained action.
- 02
The Creative Strategist
What Artists Teach Us About Leadership and Change
Participants explore how creative practice builds adaptability, empathy, collaboration, and the ability to imagine a different way forward.
- 03
Fundraising Is About People
Turning Relationships into Shared Investment
Philanthropy, reframed as relationship building and allyship. Audiences identify the conversations and practices that can strengthen support for their work.
- 04
Belonging Is Built
Facilitating Dialogue Across Difference
Ways to create thoughtful spaces where people with different experiences can speak, listen, and find a next step they own together.
- 05
The RAPPORT Framework
Cultivating, Nurturing, and Sustaining Community Relationships
The ideas from my published chapter, and how organizations can practice a more intentional, positive relationship with the communities they serve. See the framework
Where I've spoken
Rooms I know well
- Community and cultural eventsIncluding the Coatesville Juneteenth Freedom Celebration.
- Leadership programsLeadLab, board and leadership retreats, and professional development cohorts.
- Civic conveningsAmerica250 Greater Coatesville convenings and community planning sessions.
- Fundraising events and galasAs emcee, speaker, and performer.
LeadLab, 2025 cohort
LeadLab, where creative leaders grow
An intensive leadership program for creative professionals in Philadelphia. Each cohort brings people from different fields together to practice leading with more courage, intention, and connection.
-
The cohort
Creative professionals from different sectors learn side by side, and their peers are some of their best teachers.
-
The Summit
Curated learning spaces and fresh frameworks for how creatives lead. The 2026 Summit theme is courage.
-
The Showcase
Each December the program opens to alumni, partners, and the wider community for an evening of reflections, performances, and conversation.
On the mic and on the congas
I was part of the 2025 cohort. That December, LeadLab held its first-ever Showcase at Ballinger's studio in Philadelphia, and I was one of the evening's featured performers.
Voices
From the people in the room
Press
In the news
"Electric"
-
Daily Local News · August 17, 2022
Free Shakespeare performances coming to Chester County -
Daily Local News · October 3, 2022
Coatesville Parks and Recreation Commission forging new paths to create sense of community -
Daily Local News · October 26, 2022
Pavilion of Trees event returning to Coatesville
On stage
Performance and teaching
For event organizers
Speaker bio
Copy it for the program or the introduction. A high-resolution headshot is available on request.
Read the speaker bio
Ajené Livingston is a community-centered strategist, nonprofit leader, and performance artist. With more than 20 years in nonprofit leadership, fundraising, and community engagement and more than 25 years in theatre, Ajené brings people and organizations together to turn shared purpose into practical action. A Brooklyn native raised in a Caribbean home, Ajené is rooted in Chester County and works across philanthropy, leadership and board development, community partnerships, and the arts. Ajené believes fundraising is about people and shared community investment, and that when we work together, we achieve incredible results. Ajené is a contributing author to Nonprofit Sustainability: Strategies for Surviving & Thriving.
Planning an event