About Us
Our Story
Empire Arts Collective was founded in 2016 by Emily Perez and Jessilee Windhaus as a performing arts nonprofit created to provide resources, education, and collaborative opportunities to performing artists and performing arts groups in the Sacramento area.
Since then, the goal has been simple: incubate unique, inclusive performing arts opportunities that create joy and community for a variety of experience levels.
Over time, artists gathered, projects took shape, and many successful initiatives launched through the organization before growing into independent efforts of their own.
Empire Pop Choir, created by Emily Perez, eventually grew into its own organization and is now known as Sacramento Pop Choir, which she runs in partnership with Heather Waid. Jessilee Windhaus also launched an improv program through Empire’s incubation initiative, which later became the independent organization Windhaus Improv and has since evolved into her current venture, Haus of Comedy.
As these projects found their own footing, both founders stepped away to focus on the ventures they had launched. The organization continued to grow under new leadership, eventually evolving into what it is known as today, Spectrum Stage.
Spectrum Stage is a home for bold, inclusive performing arts in Sacramento, where artists gather to experiment, collaborate, and bring their stories to the stage.
Our Values
Dedicated Effort
Creative Courage
Radical Kindness
Artistic Excellence
Community Stewardship
DEIA Statement
Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) is part of our core principles. Our organization recognizes the reality that cultural biases and systemic racism impact communities of color in the Sacramento area, and beyond, and it is part of our ongoing goals to dismantle those systems through racially-equitable practices.
We look for creative ways to rethink systems and policies to better serve and support communities of color whenever possible and are in an ongoing process of examining and questioning the practices that have been traditionally deemed “professional,” which have been part of the oppression of marginalized communities, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
As we create our events, programs, and collective projects, we continuously strive to provide an inclusive, accessible environment with a low barrier to entry for anyone interested in experiencing the beauty and joy of the performing arts.
We hope to continue and expand our focus on creating works that are open and welcoming to adults of every age, ethnicity, race, color, religious background, nationality, ability, gender identity, and sexual identity.