Ms. LaVon Bracy Davis
ORANGE COUNTY | 1/22/2021 - 12/31/2022
Reappointed by Senate President Simpson
LaVon currently serves as the Senior Director of Community Programming for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, FL. She has been a team member with this nonprofit since 2008, starting with the design and community engagement teams prior to its opening in 2011. During her tenure, she has been part of significant milestones for the arts center such as groundbreaking in 2011, grand opening in 2014, groundbreaking on Phase 2 in 2017 and the pending opening of an acoustic hall fall of 2021. LaVon's key contributions there include leading the diversification of community programming and the production of free concerts, events and educational experiences. She annually contracts over 175 performances featuring local arts groups, nonprofits of all sizes and Central Florida community arts organizations. She helped create an incubator system that assists new and start-up arts organizations develop by providing a performance platform, event space and production assistance. Through this leadership, she generated over $800,000 in revenue for Dr. Phillips Center last, but more importantly, contributed to the cultural and artistic economic impact of Central Florida.
For these and the many other accomplishments of the Dr. Phillips Center, the arts center received the prestigious 2018 Venue Excellence Award from the International Association of Venue Managers. LaVon was pleased to be selected to join the executive leadership team to accept this award in Toronto.
Among LaVon's key personal accomplishments is the legislative appointment as Chair of the Florida Council on Arts and Culture - a 15-member advisory council convened to advise the Secretary of State regarding cultural grant funding and matters pertaining to culture in the state. LaVon is entering her eighth year of service to this council which also gives her an opportunity to chair grant panels for arts funding and serve as a peer reviewer. One of her most memorable accomplishments while on the panel was the opportunity to select the sculptor who is currently creating the image of Mary McLeod Bethune, a champion of education and racial and gender equality. The sculpture will be placed in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, DC. This historic selection will make this statute only the second of an African American woman in this governmental display. Other contributions in this role include serving as a member of the advisory committee for the 2020-2025 Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs strategic plan.
LaVon has spoken on several diversity panels and round table discussions for numerous organizations in the Central Florida region including the Orlando Business Journal. She is a proud graduate of the Connect Downtown Orlando, a Downtown Orlando Partnerships initiative that selectively identifies emerging leaders for a six-month course that offers in-depth insights into the Downtown Orlando infrastructure. She is also a panel member for both the Art of Tomorrow Scholars program application review panel and the Public Artist Selection Panel for the Orange County Multicultural Center.
LaVon is a long-time member of the NAACP, a charter member of New Covenant Baptist Church of Orlando, a member of the Orlando Jaycees civic organization and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority Inc. She is also a committed board member for Pace Center for Girls – Orange County and a volunteer for Valencia College’s Take Stock in Children mentorship program. She is the proud publicist for an autobiographical children’s book on integration in Gainesville, Florida at high school during the Civil Rights Era, A Brave Little Cookie, written by a 4 time -delegate for the Democratic National Convention for District 10 – her mother. In 2018, LaVon was chosen by the Orlando Business Journal as one of the honorees of the annual 40 Under 40 Awards.
LaVon is a licensed attorney and has previously worked as a Senior Attorney for the Department of Children and Families and as the Project Community Coordinator for Hines, a real estate investment company.
LaVon holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theater Arts with a concentration in Acting from Howard University and a Juris Doctor from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, College of Law.
She is the loving caretaker for two Yorkshire terriers and has planted roots in historic Ocoee with her husband, Pastor Adrian R. Davis.
