Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Quodesia “Quo” Johnson (she/her) continues to forge dynamic and exciting spaces of shared belonging in arts and culture, gaining local and national recognition for her unique approach as a speaker, facilitator, collaborator, equity specialist, healing practitioner, and creative. Through her original Company Culture Framework™, Johnson combines her experience in the arts, business, organizational culture, and trauma-informed healing practices to cultivate a transformational, human-centered approach to working with employees, boards, artists, and communities to dismantle systems of oppression.

Johnson serves her community near and far through her collaborative consulting practice, Quo Johnson Co Project, LLC, and a personal mission to supporting people, disrupting oppressive systems, and creating connections through truth and collective solutions. The creator, content curator, and cohost of Taking the Stage with Kristian and Quo engages an international audience in meaningful conversations at the intersection of art, community, business, and education through The Dallas Opera’s TDO Network, addressing challenges in the arts and organizational culture. As the founder and space moderator for Black Administrators of Opera, Johnson has the honor of creating and engaging a unique and powerful community of administrators in the opera field who identify as members of the African diaspora working to create greater equity in the opera field.

Johnson currently collaborates with local and national organizations to build a community committed to equity, belonging, and human-centered cultural practices. Through her collaborative consulting practice, she serves as company culture advisor of The Dallas Opera; social justice advisor of OPERA America where she made opera history in creating, designing, organizing, and facilitating OPERA America’s first Racial Justice Opera Forum; senior project consultant for Arts Consulting Group, Inc.; racial equity coach for Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation; equity, diversity, and inclusion committee chair of Bishop Arts Theatre Center; and racial healing committee member of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation. The Dallas native is a proud graduate of Prairie View A&M University and recently earned her MA in Arts Administration from Goucher College.