Carlton V. Bell II “cj” (they/them) is a Black, queer producer, director, and cultural organizer. Their work utilizes theatre and film to investigate, fabulate, and document the Black queer experience/aesthetic.

As a community organizer and philanthropist, they have raised over 1.5 million dollars for artists and arts organizations led by and serving people living within the margins of the margins. Carlton’s expansive portfolio as a Director and Producer demonstrates a clear commitment to authentic representation and transformative storytelling for both stage and screen. Their works sits at the intersection of cultural organizing and utilizing art as vehicle for liberation strategies that empower and reinvigorate communities.

As a trained intimacy choreographer, they bring a nuanced approach to storytelling that prioritizes collaboration and consent based practices. Carlton’s leadership in cultural organizing and advocacy extends across various boards and community initiatives, reinforcing their dedication to creating and supporting spaces where marginalized voices are uplifted and celebrated.

“Creating for the stage or screen is, to me, a practice in liberation and social change. I approach storytelling through three guiding principles: Investigate, Fabulate, and Document. Investigate by uncovering the cultural specificity of language and context; as a Southerner it’s important to highlight locality of characters by understanding their rituals, relationships, and restrictions. Fabulate allows me to blend reality with extraordinary circumstances, drawing on symbols from African and African American spiritual cosmologies to reveal emotional truths. Document centers on preserving our stories, reclaiming Black queer narratives, and honoring legacy—a continuous act of “Sankofa,” or going back to retrieve what’s been lost.”

Carlton is currently a Producing Fellow at The Tank NYC, an innovative program designed to support the unique needs of emerging creative producers and to invest in pathways to increase and expand representation for those who have been traditionally excluded from producing opportunities.

Founded in 2003, The Tank is an Obie Award-winning, multi-disciplinary non-profit arts presenter and producer, which provides a home to emerging artists working across all disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, puppetry, and storytelling. Led by Artistic Director Meghan Finn, Managing Producer Molly FitzMaurice, and Director of Artistic Development Johnny G. Lloyd, The Tank champions emerging artists engaged in the pursuit of new ideas and forms of expression.

In doing so the company removes the economic barriers from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers and experimenting within their art form. From the company's home with two theaters on 36th Street, The Tank serves over 3,000 artists every year, presents 800 to 1,000 performances, and welcomes an average of 36,000 audience members annually. The company fully produces a curated season of 8-12 theatrical World or New York premieres each season.

Carlton spends their day to day primarily operating as the Program Associate for the Sex Worker Giving Circle at Third Wave Fund of which they are also a former fellow & advisor to its annual grant-making cohort.  Third Wave Fund resources and supports youth-led, intersectional gender justice activism. The Sex Worker Giving Circle (SWGC) launched in the spring of 2018.

We build on the brilliance of our communities using responsive and participatory grant-making so we can sustain our movements and thrive—now and long term. We define gender justice as a movement to end patriarchy, transphobia, homophobia, and misogyny.  Our grantmaking and donor mobilizing advances the community power, well-being, and self-determination of young Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) most directly impacted by and best positioned to end gender oppression. We specifically resource grassroots movements that are 1) multi-issue, 2) community-led (we define "community-led" movements as being led by those who are directly impacted by oppression) and 3) unapologetically queer, trans, intersex, and sex worker-led.

The SWGC was created because sex workers are best positioned to confront and transform the oppressive conditions of their own lives. However, movements led by sex workers and people with experience in the sex trade are critically under-resourced despite increasing political attacks.  SWGC is a cross-class, multi-racial, intergenerational giving circle housed at Third Wave Fund. The circle is made up of a group of Fellows with current or past experience with sex work or the sex trade. The Fellows make all high-level funding decisions and grantmaking recommendations, and lead many of our fundraising activities.

Carlton also serves as the Development Director for “Write It Out!”, Founded by award-winning Poz playwright and advocate Donja R. Love in 2019, Write It Out! (WIO!) uses art, advocacy, and accessibility to provide a space for people living with HIV and AIDS to tell their stories. The Program consists of free virtual writing workshops for a diverse group of adults (18+) from across the country living with HIV. Anyone can apply; the only requirement is applicants must live with HIV. Participants are selected from an open, barrier-free application process. Participants learn the craft of playwriting and discuss literary work about and by people living with HIV. Then, participants create their own short-form play, which includes a rigorous rewriting process after group discussions. This prepares each participant and their work for a rehearsal process with professional directors and actors. The program culminates in an in-person final sharing (public reading) of each participant's work on World AIDS Day in NYC.

They are also the co-founder, former Artistic Director, and former Director of Development of the award-winning Birmingham Black Repertory Theatre Collective, The award-winning Birmingham Black Repertory Theatre Collective is a Black-queer youth-led grassroots non-profit organization building power and capacity for marginalized artists while catalyzing a culture of Black theatre in the South.

BBRTC envisions a future where artists living within the margins of the margins can thrive, are celebrated, and have access to creative capital* in order to work toward a world of communal liberation. Through our “for us by us' leadership model BBRTC prioritizes the people most impacted by systemic violence centering Black QTGNC people, Black women, Black disabled people, Black youth, and Black senior citizens in our process, practices and organizational leadership.