Sade Lythcott

Harlem native Sade Lythcott is the Chief Executive Officer of the historic National Black Theatre (NBT), the nation’s first revenue generating Black Arts complex and one of the longest run theaters by a woman of color. Sade is the daughter of the late Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, founder of NBT and legendary champion of African-American arts and culture. Sade currently serves as the chair of the Coalition of Theaters of Color, an alliance of 65 theaters across New York City; founded by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee in 2004 to combat the systemic inequities in the field and to ensure that theaters of color are funded equitably. As a leader and staunch advocate for the cultural sector, Lythcott proudly serves on the national board of advisors for the Black Genius Foundation and Art in a Changing America, HueArts NYC Project and has served New York State on the Governor’s Task Force to reopen live performance statewide after its shuttering in 2020. Lythcott also co-leads Culture @ 3, an unprecedented space that brings together more than 700 non profit cultural leaders from across NYC with funders and friends in government to help navigate pressing fieldwide issues of the ever shifting cultural landscape.  

A graduate of New York University with a bachelor’s degree in art history, her activism work has been written about in national publications including New York Times, American Theater Magazine, New York Magazine, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamor, Ms. Amsterdam News and Essence magazine and enjoys  guest lecturing at colleges and universities across the country including Harvard, Yale, Columbia and NYU. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Key to Harlem for her excellence in the Arts, An OBIE award for Sustained Excellence in Production and continued Advocacy on behalf of Black Artists, The Mark Segal Center’s Change Maker Frankie Award, the Democratic Club of El Barrio Freedom Flame award, the Networks Journal’s top 40 under 40 award, the Legacy Award from Black Theater Network and the Cultural Icon award by Harlem Fashion Week. In 2012, Sade wrote and produced the highly acclaimed musical A Time To Love, garnering three AUDELCO nominations and is currently in development in partnership with the world famous Apollo Theatre.