Lauren Kennedi Ozie Dixon

is an investigator of light and color. As a is a designer, innovator, visual artist, and all-around creative, she has learned to explore lighting as a mechanism to infuse productions with multi-layered meaning.  Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Southern Mississippi, Lauren recognizes a deficiency in the current industry when it comes to having Black designers light people of color well and with intention. She aims to create work that emphasizes art as a tool of freedom, a tool of self-care, and a place where the imagination can provoke material change in reality. Lauren also recognizes a deficiency in the current industry when it comes to lighting people of color.

Laurens range of work and research includes a summer internship in Shanghai exploring lighting, working for the lighting teams of high-profile televised events: The Emmys, The Oscars, and the BET Awards. Lauren has been able to grow her skills under the careful tutelage of top experts in her field and explore a wide range of lighting styles and aesthetics in opera, dance, fashion, and theatrical lighting.

She is determined to create impactful and thoughtful performances and productions and she takes particular pride in work that emphasizes the joy and accomplishments of people who look like her. She consistently aims to be a part of teams where the creation of the work is as safe and imaginative as the art that is produced.

Other theater and production credits include working for the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern (GA), Alliance Theater(GA), The Southwest Arts Center(GA), Destination Theater(GA/FL), The Pittsburg Public (PA), Spelman College, Morehouse College, Carnegie Mellon University, California Institute of the Arts, The Pacific Chorale (CA), WACO Theater (CA).

She earned her BA from Spelman College, where she created her own major and freelance design and consulting company, KaLeiDoscope Designs. Her major was Innovative Design for Production and Live Events, with a concentration in Lighting Design and a minor in Education. She also has an MFA in Theatrical Design from the California Institute of the Arts with a focus on Lighting Design.

Lauren also has several experiences inside the classroom as a UPS Scholar at Spelman College, Camp Coordinator for the Alliance Theater in Atlanta GA, Artist in Residence for Pre-K to Kindergarten for the New School at Carnegie Mellon University, and teaching an enrichment course for middle school students at Oakwood Preparatory School in North Hollywood, CA. Lauren is also a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and an advocate for serving her community, especially through the arts.

As Shirley Pendergrass and Kathy Perkins have pioneered the way for her to make space in the lights of the entertainment industry, Lauren hopes to serve as a beacon for future aspiring Black Women Designers as we “Light the Way '' to a better future.