Kemati Janice Porter
About
Kemati Janice Porter is an eminent theater director, producer, performer, and administrator whose tremendous career has centered on a 40+ year relationship with Chicago's eta Creative Arts Foundation, where she has contributed to and supported over 500 productions, workshops, conferences, and programs.
Porter received her terminal degree in Directing from The Theatre School of DePaul University. She was one of the organizers of the first African American Women in the Arts Festival (1991-94) and has served as an administrator with The Martin Luther King Jr. Arts Complex and The Columbus Urban League. From 2003-2007 she was a TCG Fellow at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. In 2007, she became the first Producing Artistic Director for eta Creative Arts Foundation in Chicago; she subsequently served as both the Executive Director and Producing Artistic Director until resigning in 2019 to prepare the groundwork for her company, FirstVoiceWorks, LLC.
