Gibney Company is thrilled to announce the appointment of Kyle Bukhari as General Manager, effective January 6, 2026. In this executive leadership role, Bukhari will partner with Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO Gina Gibney to implement the Company’s five-year Growth and Refinement Plan and steward its next chapter of artistic expansion, touring, and institutional sustainability.
As General Manager, Bukhari will oversee the administrative direction of Gibney Company, in close collaboration with Company Director Gilbert T Small II, supervising its full-time administrative team and part-time technical staff while collaborating closely with Advancement, Marketing, Finance, and Operations across the organization. His portfolio will include strategic planning, financial management, day-to-day operations, and cultivating partnerships and earned-revenue opportunities that advance Gibney’s mission and values.
Bukhari brings over a decade of leadership in non-profit finance, higher education, and the performing arts. He joins Gibney from Columbia University’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, where he served as Director of Academic Administration and Finance. There, he managed an $8 million annual operating budget and $15 million multi-year grant portfolio, boosted grant application success rates by over 40%, and increased annual grant revenue by more than 25% through enhanced post-award operations. He led a 13-member team, guided international research initiatives, and developed sustainable financial models that sustained program growth amid significant reserve reductions.
A former dancer with the Joffrey Ballet New York and Zurich Ballet, Bukhari is a Fulbright Fellow in Dance and a published writer on dance history and philosophy, with contributions to the Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet and International Journal of Screendance. He has choreographed for Saarländisches Staatstheater under Marguerite Donlon, Augsburg Ballet, and Zurich Opera; toured internationally; and won “Best German Dance Solo” in Leipzig in 1998. In New York, he has produced and moderated programs for the Whitney Museum, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Movement Research at Judson, New York Live Arts, El Museo del Barrio, and Museum of the City of New York. Most recently, he co-produced and moderated the U.S. premiere of Becoming Giulia at Metrograph Theater.
Bukhari holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University (Phi Beta Kappa) and an M.A. with distinction in Dance Studies from Roehampton University, London. He has presented research internationally and served as Visiting Lecturer in Sarah Lawrence College’s MFA Dance program from 2016–2020.
“Joining Gibney is a tremendous privilege and an opportunity to advance its mission to empower artists, innovate contemporary dance creation, and further equity through the art of dance,” said Bukhari. “I look forward to collaborating with Gina and Gilbert to fortify sustainable systems and programs, and to help bring Gibney Company into its next phase of artistic influence and social impact.”
“Kyle brings a rare combination of rigorous financial and operational expertise with a lived artistic practice,” adds Gina Gibney, Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO. “His leadership will be essential as we refine the Company’s model, deepen touring and partnerships, and continue to use dance as a powerful vehicle for connection and social change.”
“What excites me most about welcoming Kyle is his instinct to lead with the needs of artists and then build structures around that vision,” notes Company Director Gilbert T Small II. “His experience across both the studio and the administrative landscape makes him uniquely equipped to guide this moment of growth. I look forward to our collaboration as we shape Gibney’s future together.”
Gibney Company is a world-class contemporary dance company that commissions and performs works by renowned and rising international choreographers exploring the intersection of rigorous physicality and responsive, humanistic storytelling. Led by Artistic Director Gina Gibney and Company Director Gilbert T Small II, the Company is committed to reimagining the possibilities of dance—both on stage and in the community.
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