Ben Johnson is joining the City of Minneapolis as the first director of the recently created Department of Arts & Cultural Affairs. His decades of experience include managing departments and programs focused on arts and culture across the nation as well as here in Minnesota. He begins his role at the City March 13.
The department works with internal and external stakeholders to promote Minneapolis as a center for arts and culture and advance cultural equity, equality and inclusion through the arts.
Johnson comes to Minneapolis from Beverly Hills, California, where he served as arts and culture manager. Before that, he was the director of performing arts for the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Johnson’s experience includes leadership roles in arts and culture at UCLA, the nonprofit foundation United States Artists Inc., University of Minnesota’s Northrop Concerts and Lectures, the University of Michigan’s University Musical Society, and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. Johnson received a bachelor’s and master’s in arts administration from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota in Winona.