Holly Bass

Holly Bass is an award-winning, socially-engaged artist working across multiple disciplines including dance, theater, visual art and writing. She has collaborated with governmental agencies, cultural institutions, nonprofit organizations and academic communities to create innovative artistic experiences that foster connection among groups of strangers. She is the 2025-2026 Roman J. Witt Visiting Artist at the University of Michigan, a joint program of the Stamps School of Art and Design and University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA). Her artwork can be found in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

She contributes book reviews for the "New York Times" and was the first journalist to put the term "hip hop theater" into print in a 1999 article for "American Theatre" magazine. She was a founding member of DC WritersCorps which sent her into schools, community centers and women's shelters to teach poetry workshops. From 2014-2018, she directed a year-round creative writing and performance program in DC's juvenile detention center. For six years, she was the national director for Turnaround Arts at the Kennedy Center, a program which used the arts strategically to transform under-resourced public schools. She lives and works in Washington, DC.