Join us on August 1 when we are excited to welcome Erica Sutherlin as our presenter. Erica has visited us before as a meeting guest, but her self-introductions compelled us to want to know more about this renaissance woman and her robust set of accomplishments, skills and passions.

Erica Sutherlin is a multi-hyphenate: filmmaker/writer/theatrical director/producer. Erica, recently, accepted the new position of Artistic Executive Director of the Studio@620. She embraced her passion for the performing arts at an early age while growing up in St. Louis, MO. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Television Production from the prestigious University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Erica earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Performance from Southern Illinois University/Edwardsville.

Erica’s increasingly challenging journey in the performing arts space would lead to her selection for Lifetime Network’s mentoring program called Broader Focus where up-and-coming creative women are intentionally exposed to the machinations of programming content. More exposure to the dynamics of directing came from the Blackhouse Foundation Sundance Fellows program, followed by being a part of Facebook’s SEEN initiative, launched to illuminate underrepresented voices in the entertainment industry. Ms. Sutherlin made her directorial debut with the release of Lifetime Network’s hit movie, Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas. A Gospel Christmas marked her second feature following Stratosphere, which she directed and co-wrote.

Erica has directed numerous plays and musicals during her 20+ years in the business. As an equity actor, she performed in the American Stage productions of Doubt and Steel Magnolias. In 2022, she became the theatre company’s Director of Community Engagement. Recently, Erica found herself as the director of the award-winning musicals Ragtime: The Musical in the Park, and The Color Purple . In addition to stellar reviews for productions of Pass Over by Antoinette Nwandu, and Dutchman by Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones..

Ms. Sutherlin’s keen writing prowess led to narrative features for Village Roadshow and the United Kingdom-based production company, iGeneration Studios. She was a writer for the multiple award-winning film, Voodoo Macbeth, which was produced through Warner Brothers and the University of Southern California (USC). Sharing the spotlight with peer writers, she developed and executive produced the sitcom, Unschooled.  Erica would conclude her time at USC in a writer’s room, developing, writing, and producing the short-form, limited dramatic series called Sugar Land.

As a poet and essayist, Ms. Sutherlin has contributed content to Building Womanist Coalitions: Writing and Teaching in the Spirit of Love and Hooked on the Art of Love:  bell hooks and My Calling for Soul-Work, both works by Dr. Gary Lemons, Professor of English at University of South Florida.

Erica was awarded for her ongoing impact in the arts when she received a highly competitive 2022 Creative Pinellas Individual Artist Recovery Grant. She was selected as a Fellow with the Advancing Racial Equity on Non-Profit Boards, class of 2022. Erica’s broad experience in the performing arts led to an appointment by Mayor Kenneth T. Welch to the City of Saint Petersburg Arts Advisory Committee in 2023. Recently, Ms. Sutherlin was appointed to Committee Chair of the Arts Advisory Committee. Her latest distinction, graduate of the class of 2024 Leadership St. Pete, a competitive leadership program.