About me
Cjala Surratt is a passionate advocate for equity and restorative justice in the arts, working to create inclusive, community-centered spaces that amplify the voices of historically excluded artists. A Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts graduate, she has spent over two decades advancing arts, culture, and social justice organizations through advocacy, programming, and strategic partnerships.
Cjala serves as a juror for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and played a pivotal role as Central New York and Finger Lakes Regional Advisor for Creatives Rebuild New York, helping to implement a $125 million initiative that provided guaranteed income and employment to 2,700 artists statewide, strengthening the creative economy across New York State. As a co-founder of the Black Artist Collective, she supports Black and Brown artists in leading political, arts, and culture conversations. Through her curation of Black Citizens Brigade, a vintage fashion and book store in Downtown Syracuse, Cjala honors and celebrates the rich legacy of Black culture, history, and movements. It is not just a retail space but a site of radical remembrance and reclamation, where books, records, and garments serve as artifacts of survival, resistance, joy, and labor.
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