Blog : oppfund_bio

Ian-Julian Williams is the Program Officer/Arts at Opportunity Fund, where he guides the foundation’s arts grantmaking strategy, administering flexible funding for artists and small to midsized arts organizations while advancing equity, artistic expression, and experimentation. Ian collaborates with members of the Opportunity Fund team to implement the foundation’s arts funding vision and build relationships by engaging artists, grant partners, and funders to strengthen Pittsburgh’s arts ecosystem.

Prior to joining Opportunity Fund, Ian served as a Theater and Musical Theater Specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts. In that role, he administered a national grant portfolio focused on expanding equitable access to federal funding. Ian also played a key role in distributing emergency general operating support during the COVID-19 pandemic through the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan.

In addition to grant administration, Ian contributed to national research, convenings, and interagency initiatives focused on the evolving needs of arts nonprofits. He co-led research design for publications examining post-pandemic challenges facing the theater field, supported arts learning and workforce development initiatives, and collaborated with federal partners to expand access to disaster preparedness and recovery resources for arts organizations.

Before federal service, Ian worked in nonprofit theater and local government in Los Angeles. At the Department of Cultural Affairs, he managed grant programs supporting community-led, site-specific cultural activity across all city council districts. As a member of Center Theatre Group’s artistic staff, he helped launch Block Party, a program focused on strengthening 99-seat theaters across the Los Angeles region through resource and knowledge sharing and by presenting their work at CTG’s Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Ian’s grantmaking practice is also shaped by his experience as a theater maker. He has served as an associate producer with Playwrights’ Arena and Circle X Theatre Co., as a company management assistant on the national tour of “Hamilton,” and as a line producer for international work presented in collaboration with Poland’s Adam Mickiewicz Institute. He was also an associate artist, dramaturg, and reading committee member with the Ojai Playwrights Conference.

His selected directing credits include a site-responsive production of “Wolves” by Steve Yockey and “Heartless: A Concert,” an ensemble-generated, interdisciplinary, funk music mash-up of Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler.” He has served as assistant director on “Father Comes Home from the Wars…” by Suzan-Lori Parks and the world premiere of “Archduke” by Rajiv Joseph at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum, as well as on multiple productions at Arena Stage under the mentorship of Molly Smith and Wendy C. Goldberg.

Ian holds an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in Sociology from Georgetown University.

jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org

Jake Goodman is Opportunity Fund’s founding Executive Director. Previously, Jake directed Auburn Seminary’s national LGBTQ campaign, Groundswell, and managed their media program to train multi-faith religious leaders to speak through the media about issues of justice. Jake was a founding member of Queer Rising, a NYC-based group that, in its heyday, demanded full equality and dignity for all LGBTQ+ people through direct action and civil disobedience. Jake was the Associate Director of Storahtelling (now Lab/Shul), worked for Foundation for Jewish Camp, and was a LABA Artist Fellow at the 14th Street Y. As an actor, Jake performed at Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Berkshire Theater Festival. He is the co-creator and performer in “Kaddish,” a stage adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author Imre Kertész’s book, Kaddish for an Unborn Child. “Kaddish” has been produced at Jurányi Incubator House in Budapest; The Old Synagogue in Szeged; Archa Theatre in Prague; the Sibui International Theatre Festival in Romania; the Varna International Theatre in Bulgaria; the 14th Street Y in NYC; Double Edge Theatre and Charlestown Working Theatre in Massachusetts; as well as various other cities across the US.

twilhelm [at] theopportunityfund.org

Ti Wilhelm (she/they) supports applicants and the internal workings of the Opportunity Fund through the role of Program Officer/Operations. They are committed to continuously supporting the shifts, large and small, that are needed to move philanthropy toward more just cultures and practices. Previously, she was Deputy Director of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council where she raised funds, oversaw programming, and co-led initiatives on accessibility for people with disabilities and racial equity. Ti has been involved with several collectives focused on educating and organizing white people for racial justice, both in Pittsburgh and in the national theatre field. Prior to Pittsburgh, they were Executive Director of the Central Wisconsin Children’s Museum and taught in an undergraduate arts management program at University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. A theatre person at heart, she has an MFA in Theatre Management from Florida State University and also worked as the Artistic Administrator at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.

Ti was honored to be part of the first cohort of the national artEquity anti-racist facilitator training program in 2015 and is now part of the board and facilitation team. They have facilitated with Equity Quotient (led by long-time arts professional Keryl McCord) and currently with Farsight as well as other justice-seeking collaborators including Meena Malik. Ti is also part of an organizing group that periodically hosts sessions for people in the theatre sector working to implement the WeSeeYou White American Theatre demands, and they serve on the board of the City of Bridges Community Land Trust. Ti’s sources of joy and resilience include a community garden, dear ones near and far, embodied and somatic practices, and five (yes, five!) still-slightly-feral cats. She is constantly seeking the places and spaces where she can be of the most use in building toward more justice and collective liberation.

yshipman [at] theopportunityfund.org

yvette shipman is a Program Officer/Repair at Opportunity Fund, where she works with a fantastic team and board to advance trust-based philanthropy and support transformative change. A proud transplant from the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia), yvette’s work in justice and repair began in Ghana, where she served as an informal liaison between Black people of African descent and Ghanaians, helping navigate cultural divides shaped by colonization. This experience became the foundation for her ongoing commitment to healing—rooted in humanity, love, acknowledgment, truth-telling, and accountability.

yvette is deeply passionate about our collective healing and the importance of recognizing our interconnectedness and interdependence. She believes that we cannot survive without one another—without community, and without a mutual collective of care. Care is at the heart of everything she does, from the ways we show up for ourselves to how we care for each other in our shared commitment for justice and equity. In order for Black people of African descent and people of the global majority to heal, we must choose a different path from the one we have been taught to follow. Philanthropy, too, must take bold risks to support equitable and radical efforts led by those most directly impacted.

yvette has also had the privilege of consulting for the United Nations Foundation’s Peace on Purpose program, traveling internationally to share practices of mindfulness and compassionate leadership. Though she was trained to, she was not interested in formally practicing yoga professionally, yet her work continues to be shaped by a holistic approach to leadership, collaboration, and transformation. In 2024, she was ordained as an interspiritual, interfaith minister, which deepened her commitment to service, healing, and community.

Her work and personal philosophy center on the belief that philanthropy has the power to shift systems by trusting and empowering the people and organizations doing the front-line work. yvette holds a B.A. in Communications and an M.A. in Social and Public Policy, with a focus on Conflict Mediation and Peace Studies.

She is deeply committed to centering and affirming the identities and dignity of Black people of African descent, people of the global majority, and LGBTQ+ communities.