Cézanne Charles has more than 20 years of experience working at the executive and senior management level within the creative industries (nonprofit and for-profit) in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She is the co-founder and director of rootoftwo, a research and practice-driven hybrid design studio that engages in civic future-making, using design methods to facilitate people to imagine and shape collective visions of desirable futures that are more just, resilient, inclusive and adaptive. rootoftwo creates tangible artifacts, spaces, experiences, and strategies so we can better perceive ourselves, the here and now and the future differently.

For the past 11 years, Cézanne served as Director of Creative Industries at Creative Many, where she led the design and implementation of the company’s creative industries research. Here, Cézanne also designed and directed programs that provided the knowledge, funding, networks and advocacy needed to help empower the practices of artists, designers and makers within the state, with a core focus on Detroit. Cézanne serves on the Stewardship Board for the UNESCO City of Design initiative, the Board of Directors of Allied Media Projects, the Downtown Detroit Partnership’s Creative Partnership Advisory Council, the Zoning Advisory Group of the Detroit Planning Commission and the Michigan Council of Arts & Cultural Affairs.