Student Stories: Asili Johnson

Recent Spelman Grad Plans to Build Black Arts Collective: ‘Scholarship I received from UNCF was a godsend’

UNCF is proud of current students and alumni who have received scholarships that help them continue their education and graduate from university. These scholarships are invaluable to students. We are always accepting donations to support students like Asili Johnson in their academic endeavors. Donate today, and read on to learn about one scholar’s journey.

Asili Johnson, a 2024 graduate of Spelman College, one of UNCF’s member HBCUs, received UNCF’s MetLife Foundation Scholarship and UNCF’s Anheuser-Busch Foundation Scholarship both. The MetLife Foundation scholarship supports African American students at HBCUs who are majoring in business, accounting or finance; the Anheuser-Bush Foundation scholarship supports graduating seniors who are enrolled at UNCF member institutions.

“Any scholarship that I ever received from UNCF was a godsend,” Johnson said. “They came at a time I really needed it, when I was at my wit’s end and didn’t know if I would be able to continue at Spelman. I’m so appreciative for UNCF for all they’ve done for me these last four years.”

Johnson majored in economics and dance performance and choreography. She has always had a passion for the business side of art.

“It gave me a broader view of how the arts field works,” she said. “Understanding how trends work, how the environment affects the economy, who makes the rules on who gets paid well.”

Johnson will soon be attending Duke University to pursue a master’s of fine arts for dance interdisciplinary research praxis.

Long-term, Johnson aims to work in the business and administrative side of the arts world. She has lofty plans to “start an arts collective that will give Black and brown people of all ages opportunities to express themselves and to build wealth as they do so,” she said. “The goal is to help artists from all backgrounds receive equitable pay for their work.”

The collective will also serve as an agency for artists, offering a space to create and work.

In recent years, Johnson has seen similar groups and work popping up. Her passion for art and arts administration came from her parents, who are also working artists themselves. Johnson’s mother is a dancer and choreographer, who has also worked in law enforcement for 20 years. Her father is a teacher, West African master drummer and a musician and producer.

“From a very young age, I’ve watched them not always get paid what they were owed, because the company didn’t always have the money to pay them or they were doing it for the love of the art,” she said. “As I grew up in the art community, I fought for them to make sure they were getting paid—to increase the running rate for an artist, especially someone who’s been doing this for decades.”

Her first art form was West African dance and drum, inspired by her parents’ practice and their teachers, Mamady Keïta and Mouminatou Camara, who have been bringing West African dances and drumming to the United States for over 50 years.

“I grew up watching them on the stage,” Johnson said. “I always try to incorporate my roots and heritage into whatever I’m doing, whether that’s ballet, tap, jazz, movement.”

“Any way I can add dances from Guinea or the Ivory Coast, I do,” she continued. “Paying homage to them is important to me in any space I walk into—being able to bring those techniques into spaces they don’t always see themselves being represented, being able to do that in my own little way.”

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