Bau Graves


James "Bau" Graves is an American musician, musicologist, and arts activist. He is the former executive director of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. In 2005 his book on folk arts and community, Cultural Democracy: The Arts, Community, and the Public Purpose, was published.
Graves and his wife Phyllis O'Neill co-founded the Portland, Maine, Center for Cultural Exchange around 1982 and were co-directors until fall 2005. The Center for Cultural Exchange described itself as being "dedicated to advancing cultural understanding through arts and education programs in collaboration with diverse communities and artists in Maine and throughout the world." Graves was the artistic director and O'Neill was the executive director. In November 2005, Graves became the president and executive director of Jefferson Center, a performance venue in Roanoke, Virginia, which was financially troubled at the time. He left it in better financial condition than he found it, 14 months later, to become executive director of the Old Town School of Folk Music.
At Old Town, Graves quickly took the lead in an $18 million effort to develop a for the school, which was completed in 2012. With the support of the Board, Graves was able to complete fundraising years ahead of schedule. At the same time, Graves was the architect behind a significant expansion of the school's community-based programming in Chicago Public Schools and with other non-profit and institutional programs in Chicago's most underserved communities.
Also in Chicago, Graves helped for a groundbreaking collaborative focused on equity in the arts called .
In 2019, Graves retired from the Old Town School and moved back to Maine.