Sara Nash

Sara Nash is a nationally recognized arts leader who brings more than two decades of national and international experience as a grantmaker, program director, producer, and organizational leader in both the nonprofit and government sectors. Her work has included leading large-scale grant programs and emergency funding distributions, advancing equity-focused grantmaking strategies, partnering on research and field scans, and developing program evaluation and storytelling approaches to surface and showcase impact. Throughout her career, Sara has championed artists, creative process, and equity, and as a disabled leader, has worked to increase access and investment in disabled artists.

She most recently served as Interim Executive Director at Dance/USA, where she stewarded the organization through a leadership transition. Sara was honored to serve as the National Endowment for the Arts’ Dance Director from August 2018 through May 2025, where she led all aspects of the agency’s grantmaking and initiatives for the dance field. Sara was the Program Director for Dance at the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) for seven years, where she oversaw NEFA’s dance programs, including the National Dance Project, the development of the New England Dance Fund, and the Regional Dance Development Initiative in Chicago.

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