Strategic Planning

The arts sector can move toward greater relevance and equity as well as greater sustainability. CNTR ARTS believes in creating great art with diverse communities at the center; marketing with an inclusive voice; and building a universe of supporters that truly reflect the world around us. We help organizations develop strategic plans that reduce harm against BIPOC folks, shift systems of power to be more equitable, and bring the best out of our artists and ourselves.

Arts Marketing

Centering communities of color isn’t just good ethics. It’s good business. CNTR ARTS can help you bridge your mission with your bottom line by broadening, deepening, and diversifying your audiences. Offering insights from years of arts marketing experience, we help artists and organizations maximize their relevance, impact, and revenue.

Community Development

CNTR ARTS believes in longitudinal, non-transactional, and mutually beneficial relationship building. We reject the Western “engagement” model that leads to exploitation of, and extraction from, marginalized communities. We disrupt that by investing in partnerships and networks through service, and giving without the expectation of receiving in return. CNTR ARTS offers thoughtful guidance on connecting with - and relating to - the communities you serve.

Public Speaking

We thrive in spaces of dialogue, and have held conversations at the local, national, and international level. From classrooms and panels to keynotes and conferences, CNTR ARTS is available to speak on a range of topics related to community development, artistic producing, civic engagement, and the future of equity and justice in the arts sector.

Civic Engagement

Inspired by organizer and activist Eric Liu’s mantra, CNTR ARTS believes “you are more powerful than you think!” CNTR ARTS helps artists, organizations, and communities harness their collective power for change by moving from inspiration to action. We believe in many forms of political engagement: from ‘Capital P’ electoral politics and federal representation to grassroots activism rooted in mutual aid, resource distribution, harm reduction, and collective organizing.

Equity & Justice Facilitation

Anti-racism is in our DNA - AND, we continue to interrogate the ways white supremacy, anti-blackness and colonialism show up in our work. CNTR ARTS can help your cultural organization advance equity and access with facilitated conversations, training sessions, and tools anyone - and everyone - can use.

Ask Big Questions

Who’s not in the room? And who should be? What conversations are already happening on the ground, and how can we lend our resources to support them? CNTR ARTS begins every project by asking the biggest questions possible of ourselves, our partners, and our communities. We lead by listening, centering the artists, activists, and organizers we hold ourselves most accountable to.

Connect The Dots

Activist adrienne maree brown teaches us that everything is connected - and the small is all. Every story we share and every choice we make connects directly to the systems and structures we want to change in the world. CNTR ARTS helps bridge the gap between the work happening on our stages and the world at large, helping you build relevance between your organization and your community.

Create A New Center

CNTR ARTS in invested in correcting for years of erasure, exclusion, and invisibility by uplifting the voices of Black folks, BIPOC folks, Queer folks, Trans folks, folks with seen and unseen disabilities, and those of us at the intersection of multiple identities. Our stories are beautiful in their specificity and inspiring in their universality. We can create the abundant and bountiful future of our ancestors’ wildest dreams.