Chike Nwoffiah is an actor, director, educator, award-winning filmmaker, and a member of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). He is the founding director of the Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF). Now in its 12th year, SVAFF is the only film festival in California that is exclusively focused on films by African filmmakers and provides a platform for Africa’s seasoned and emerging filmmakers to share their stories with a global audience.
He is a leader and a respected voice in the California creative industry and has testified several times before the California State legislature in support of funding for the creative sector. He has served on several regional, national and international arts policy panels including the National Endowment for the Arts – Education Leaders Institute as presenter and coach. He served 8 years as a Trustee and Chairman of the Arts Council Silicon Valley Grants Committee and managed the annual distribution of over $1 million dollars to Artists and Arts organizations in Silicon Valley. From 2004 to 2008, he served as a Fund for Folk Culture strategy panelist on the development of support systems for Immigrant and Refugee Arts in the United States. In 2013, he was appointed by the California Superintendent of Education to serve on the California Blueprint for Creative Schools Task Force.
Nwoffiah is a past president of Mountain View Television (KMVT Channel 15), former Arts Advisory Commissioner for the San Diego International Airport and adjunct African History professor at Menlo College in Atherton. He presently serves on the President’s Advisory Council of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and boards of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Precious Kids Foundation, Families without Borders and Pavilion Afriques at Cannes Film Festival. He has received several commendations and recognitions for his work, including Freedom Fighter Award by the Silicon Valley Chapter of the NAACP, Arts Leadership Award by the Arts Council Silicon Valley, Cultural Icon Award by the Poppy Jasper Festival, Certificates of Special Recognition from the California State House of Assembly and the US House of Congress. He was recently inducted into the Silicon Valley Black Legends Hall of Fame Class of 2021 for a distinguished and outstanding career in the arts, music, theater, television, and movies and enhancing the lives of people in the Black Community.
Nwoffiah is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum – Silicon Valley and a 2021 Creative Ambassador for the City of San Jose, California.
