New York, New York — Gail Boyd, Founding President of Gail Boyd Artist Management, has been elected as President of North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA). Boyd’s appointment is particularly momentous as she is the first African American woman to step into this prominent role. She is also the first NAPAMA President to come from the jazz music industry.
Gail’s tenure will begin on January 12, 2020 and continue throughout the year. Says Boyd of this great honor: “I am so humbled that I was elected President of NAPAMA. I have had a great experience working with incredible managers and agents who give their time to establish professional development and establish best practices for our community. I look forward to continuing and expanding the mission and vision of this organization.”
For over four decades, Gail Boyd has been a trailblazer in the music and entertainment industry. She has shaped the careers of countless artists as president of Gail Boyd Artist Management. Her present roster includes John Clayton, The Clayton Brothers Quintet, Brianna Thomas, Don Braden, The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Scott Tixier, Richie Goods, Lakecia Benjamin, Michael Olatuja and Dancer/Choreographer Jade Solomon Curtis. She has worked with a virtual who’s who of jazz luminaries in her 30+ years in artist management including multiple GRAMMY ® nominees and winners, NEA Jazz Masters, and many artists that can be considered household names. In addition, she has served as the production coordinator for more than twenty CDs. Other highlights include serving as production coordinator for Quincy Jones producing a concert which took place in Central Park and co-producing a gospel album for the choir of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY. In 2010, Danilo and Patricia Perez named Gail the “International Coordinator of the Panama Jazz Festival” where she served for 4 years.
A graduate of De Paul University, Boyd was a founding partner in Boyd, Staton and Cave, the first African American female law firm in New York. She first became involved in entertainment law in 1976 and in 1979, turned her attention specifically to jazz. As a lawyer, Boyd has represented jazz artists such as Betty Carter, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Barron, Gretchen Parlato, Michael Olatuja, Camila Meza, James Francies, Record Executive Steve Backer, and Randy Weston.
In addition to her position within NAPAMA, she is on the Board of the Martin Luther King/Coretta Scott King Memorial. She is the former Vice Chair of the Entertainment, Sports, and Art Law Committee of the National Bar Association and former chair of the Entertainment, Sports, Art Law Committee of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and she served as a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Entertainment Law. She is a former board member of the International Women in Jazz and she served as a member of the Jazz Jam Committee of the National Association of Recording, Arts & Sciences. She served on the Board of WBGO FM Radio in New York as well as the Noel Pointer Foundation. For nearly 20 years, she served as Chair of the Board of Brooklyn Legal Services.
The rest of the recently elected Executive Committee includes Kris Kaminski of ECE Touring, Vice President; Ben Cohen of Cadenza Artists, Vice President; Tommy Hensel of Moraine Valley Community College, Treasurer and Crandall Rogers of Four Mortals Productions, Secretary. The selections will officially be announced after the board elections meeting on Sunday, January 12, 2020 at Hilton, Concourse Level, Concourse G in New York City.
ABOUT NAPAMA:
Founded in 1979, NAPAMA is a not-for-profit service organization dedicated to promoting the professionalism of its members and the vitality of the performing arts. NAPAMA is the service organization that represents the voice of managers and agents (which are the glue that binds the performing arts). Managers and agents ensure that communities across the nation have access to the very best avant-garde, classical, and modern performing artists in the world. They find artists concert halls, theaters, and festivals in which to perform and arrange regional, national, and international tours for choreographers, composers, dancers, directors, orchestras, theater companies, singers, and youth ensembles. They find artists the stages on which to perform so that audiences can hear, experience, and share in the work. NAPAMA is the service organization that represents the voice of managers and agents.
Committed to the core values of equity, diversity and inclusion, NAPAMA provides members with a platform for networking, communication, information exchange, resource identification, trends in the field, research, and best practices. NAPAMA is deeply dedicated to returning value to its members, respecting the voices of all constituencies in the performing arts.
