Ariya Hawkins

Ariya Hawkins is a teaching artist, actor, and multidisciplinary artist, born and raised on Chicago’s West Side. Ariya got her start with CCT through the Red Kite Project, where she now teaches on-site classes, residencies, and in Camp Red Kite. In addition to CCT, she has taught with Goodman Theatre, Congo Square Theatre, A.B.L.E Ensemble, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and South Chicago Dance Theatre. She spent a year teaching and performing with the National Players, America’s longest running touring company. Hawkins is a graduate of both ChiArts and Millikin University, where she earned her BFA in Musical Theatre. She has been nominated for a Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre, and was most recently seen in the Jeff nominated production of The Color Purple at The Goodman Theatre. Ariya’s mission as an educator is to share tools for empathy and self-expression, and for everyone to know that art belongs to all of us!