Jorge Silva is a writer/performer, producer, and the Director of Business Operations & Managing Director for Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts at Northwestern University. Prior to this role, Silva was the Managing Director for The Neo-Futurists in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a dual degree in Government and Theatre (Advanced Undergraduate Theatre Program) at Cornell University’s College of Arts & Sciences. Most recently, he was a Neubauer Civic Scholar and MBA Candidate at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, concentrating on General Management, Behavior Science, and Economics. Silva is also an alum of the inaugural WESTAF-Arts Midwest Leaders of Color Fellowship (2023).
He previously served as the Producing Coordinator for the Goodman Theatre, a producorial role liaising for community engagement projects and the curation of artistic programming; the Production Manager for the Smithsonian Institution’s Discovery Theater in Washington, D.C.; and as a founding teaching artist for the District of Columbia Public Schools’ in-school arts education program, ‘Tools of Discovery.’ Silva is also an Artistic Affiliate with Teatro Travieso (Wooster, OH) and the Executive Artistic Director for Pivot Arts (Chicago, IL).
Silva is also a freelance writer and essayist, however, much of Silva’s work is identified with The Neo-Futurists beginning as a 2016 recipient of the Artists of Color Scholarship. From there, he joined the experimental essay show THE ARROW (Kurt Chiang, Lily Mooney) and was the lighting designer for REMEMBER THE ALAMO (Nick Hart). Silva has been nominated for a Chicago Latino Network Award and several Alliance for Latinx Theatre Artists of Chicago Awards.
Outside of theatre, Silva has been an Affinity Group Leader for the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund’s mentoring program and, similarly, was a Career Coach with the The Posse Foundation: Chicago. He was a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Writing Program and an advisor for graduate projects. Notably, Silva was a featured speaker at Latinos Progresando’s flagship community event, MEX talks [2018], and continues to serve as a member of the event’s Host Committee.
MSLCE Course: Influencers IRL: Decision-Making + Strategy in Creative Context