Nicole Upton (she/her)

Nicole Upton is the Executive Director of Ingenuity Incorporated Chicago, where she leads efforts to advance equitable access to high-quality arts education across Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Working at the intersection of public education, arts and culture, and philanthropy, Nicole leads Ingenuity’s efforts to strengthen the systems, policies, partnerships, and investments needed to make arts learning an essential and sustained part of every student’s education.

Since becoming Executive Director in 2022, Nicole has guided Ingenuity’s work across data and research, partnerships and professional learning, advocacy, and strategic grantmaking. Under her leadership, Ingenuity continues to advance a collective impact approach, bringing together CPS, educators, cultural organizations, civic leaders, and philanthropic partners to address systemic barriers to arts education and strengthen opportunities for students across the district. Through the Creative Schools Fund, an initiative created and led by Ingenuity, more than $24 million has been invested directly in CPS schools to support meaningful arts learning experiences.

Nicole joined Ingenuity in 2015 as Director of Partnerships and Professional Learning, later serving as Managing Director before becoming Executive Director. She brings more than two decades of experience spanning arts education, public education, nonprofit leadership, and the performing arts. Her career has included roles as a teaching artist, theatre educator, director, stage manager, CPS administrator, and Senior Director of Education at the Auditorium Theatre, where she developed ArtsXChange, a professional learning program for educators, and led Hands Together, Heart to Art, a summer camp for children navigating the loss of a parent.

Nicole has played an important role in shaping arts education policy and practice in Chicago. She helped develop CPS’s first districtwide Arts Education Plan in 2012 and contributed to the development of its five-year Arts Education Plan 2.0, Cultivating Creativity, launched in 2025. Her work is grounded in the belief that equitable access to the arts requires more than the availability of programs. It requires thoughtful systems, sustained investment, strong partnerships, and a commitment to the quality, depth, and continuity of students’ learning experiences.

Nicole holds a BA in Comprehensive Theatre Studies from Northern Illinois University and an MA in Educational Theatre from New York University.