About Dr. Kheli

Dr. Kheli Willetts is Principal and Founder of Dira Professional Development. Prior to starting her own firm, Dr. Willetts was Director of Professional Development at Mid-America Arts Alliance (MAAA) small to midsize arts and cultural organizations as well as practicing artists.

Before relocating to Texas in 2016, she was the Executive Director of Community Folk Art Center (CFAC) and Professor of Practice of African American Art History and Film in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University, in Syracuse, New York.

Dr. Willetts has worked with a number of arts organizations including, Black Box Press Foundation, Texas Association of Museums, Jazz Houston, Real Art Ways, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Amistad Foundation at the Wadsworth Atheneum, and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.  She has also served on several boards including, Association of African American Museums , BIPOC Arts Network and Fund, New York Consortium of Museums and Art Centers, as well as Houston Center for Photography.

Dr. Willetts has been a grants panelist for various arts and culture organizations including, New York Council on the Arts, Institution of Museum and Library Services, Texas Commission on the Arts and the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA).