Arts and Culture Advisory Commission Chair Named: Ella Goode Johnson

The City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture will begin its 2022 calendar year with a new chairwoman of the Arts and Culture Advisory Commission, Ella Goode Johnson.  

Nominated by Mayor Eric Johnson and confirmed unanimously by City Council, Johnson has more than five years of previous service on the Arts and Culture Advisory Commission where she represented District 3 as the nominee of City Councilman Casey Thomas.  

The commission was charged with implementing the 2018 Dallas Cultural Plan which addresses equity, diversity, space for arts, support for artists and a sustainable arts ecosystem, as well as communications about the arts. Johnson was instrumental in the success of that planning effort that engaged more than 9,000 Dallas residents and was unanimously approved is the first Black female to serve as Chair of the Arts and Culture Advisory Commission.  

For the past four years, Johnson served as the Chairwoman of the Allocations Committee which oversees all OAC funding programs for the Commission. This Committee annually recommends more than $6.5M in funding each year to more than 125 arts organizations and artists.  

“Especially during the pandemic, I was committed to steering these funding efforts with an approach of flexibility and responsiveness to best support an arts industry in turmoil,” said Johnson, who is also a two-time president of the Dallas Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., an international public service organization. 

Johnson has also championed the rehabilitation of the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House and Museum. As a proud lifelong, 50+ year member of Delta Sigma Theta, Johnson helped secure a landmark gift of $10,000 from the Dallas Alumnae Chapter for the restoration project.  

With Ella Goode Johnson as the Chairwoman of the Arts and Cultural Advisory Commission of the City of Dallas, this coming year promises to be one of continued recovery and growth for the entire Dallas arts ecosystem. A few highlights include: the planned Craft House re-opening, the work towards an updated economic impact report (AEP6), and the investments of $250,000 recently received from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the largest NEA grant OAC has ever received.  

A Superb Woman for June 2021, Johnson is a graduate of UNT, where a library was established in her name, and Amberton University. A General Motors retiree, she is a wife and mother to two adult sons.  

A native of Hearne, TX, she was instrumental in chartering the UNT National Pan-Hellenic Council. Johnson’s community and civic involvements, include the Theodore and Bertha Roddey Foundation, Dodd Education and Support, Inc, the Priscilla Art Club, Project Male (Cedar Valley College), African American Museum,  NCNW, Natl Assn. of Parliamentarians, and the Power of Woman Coalition at Paul Quinn College. 

The Board Chair of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, she is a graduate of Leadership Southwest and serves as a volunteer administrator for the Heads Up! Foundation. Johnson has received UNT President’s Green Glory Award; Texas PTA; Blackshear High Academic Hall of Fame; KKDA’s African American Hero; Dallas Women’s Center/SMU MAURA AWARD; South Dallas BP&W Trailblazer Award; Concord Church Lydia Award. 

An event planner and Dallas County Elections Precinct Judge, Johnson has served as President and Program Chair for Women’s Council of Dallas. 

 Ella Goode Johnson can be reached at ella.goode-johnson@dallascityhall.com