Arleta M. Little

Executive & Artistic Director

Arleta has worked for more than two decades in nonprofit organizations and philanthropy serving in executive leadership, program officer, and consulting roles including as director of artist fellowships for the McKnight Foundation; executive director for the Givens Foundation for African American Literature; and as an organizational development consultant, providing strategic planning, program evaluation, and grant writing services to nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies. She has graduate degrees in public affairs and social work and an undergraduate degree in English. Arleta’s writing has appeared in multiple journals and publications and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Minnesota Book Award. She is a co-author along with Josie Johnson and Carolyn Holbrook of Hope in the Struggle: A Memoir about the life of Josie R. Johnson. Arleta’s 2024 book of poetry, Black Swallowtail, pairs her poetry with paintings by visual artist Ta-coumba T. Aiken in the African tradition of call and response.

Photo credit:  Ariana Lindquist