Executive Director
Ingrid Askew is a life-long cultural activist, evocative theatre maker, thoughtful educator, powerful speaker, and razor-sharp organizer.
Ms. Askew is the Founder and Executive Director of Crossing the Waters Institute for Cultural Exchange where she leads the important work of developing cultural awareness, sustainable exchange partnerships, and opportunities tailored to the needs of communities at home and abroad through education, arts and culture, and healthy living initiatives. Among her many accomplishments, Ms. Askew led the historic year-long walking pilgrimage 1998-1999 known as the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage:Retracing the Journey of Slavery, that followed the Transatlantic slave route in reverse from the United States, through the Caribbean, Brazil, West Africa, and ending in South Africa, where she ended up living for ten years continuing the work of the Pilgrimage. The Pilgrimage is featured in the PBS documentary series This Far By Faith: African American Spiritual Journeys.
Ingrid was the recipient of the 2020 Black Excellence on the Hill Award presented by the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and in March, 2022 she received the Radical Truth Tellers Award from the Truth Telling Project. On her most recent trip to Benin, West Africa she was named honorary Ambassador to the City of Ouidah.
Ms. Askew’s work has always been centered around the goal of bringing people from diverse backgrounds together to build transformative communities and lead effective and lasting social change initiatives.