As a Development and Strategic Planning Consultant, Krista provides services to local, regional, and national artists, arts organizations, and foundations. Smith also serves as the Senior Grant Specialist for the Queer Cultural Center, the Grants Specialist for Intersection for the Arts, and the Co-Creator and Co-Director of World Arts West's Grants Accelerator Program.

 

Krista’s work is rooted in her experiences as an artist, performer, producer, program administrator, and arts advocate. Her work has been published in the Register of Kentucky History, Femmes of Power, Glitter & Grit, and Queer Appalachia. Krista co-founded several ground-breaking Queer performing arts groups including ButchTap, a tap dancing troupe that centered LGBTQ+ People of Size, People of Color. and Gender Non-Conforming people. 

 

In 2015, she launched Krista Smith Development and Strategic Planning, to support artists, arts organizations, and foundations who are working towards social justice and equity and/or are of, by, and for the communities they serve. 

 

Born and raised in Lexington, Krista is a white queer fat femme who holds a BA from the University of Kentucky where she founded the annual University of Kentucky Women’s Studies Conference. She lived in Oakland from 2005-2020, where she was an active participant in the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ+ Performing Arts Community. She now lives in Columbus, Ohio, where she continues to supports emerging and mid-career artists and arts leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the United States, especially those who identify as Queer, Trans, BIPOC, and/or Disabled.