artsHERE
Focus: Capacity Building & Program Facilitation
Timeline: August 2024 – June 2025
Services: Coaching, Program Design, Facilitation, Evaluation
The Client
artsHERE is a $12 million national pilot initiative designed to expand access to community engagement and arts participation across the United States. The program was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Wallace Foundation, and supported by the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs). In its first year, artsHERE served 112 grantee organizations across all 50 states and U.S. territories, representing a wide range of artistic disciplines and communities.
The Need
As a new national pilot, artsHERE required expert facilitation and coaching to help participating organizations clarify goals, align with the program’s equity and access framework, and develop sustainable strategies for engagement and growth. The initiative also sought to test and refine capacity-building models that could strengthen the infrastructure of the arts field nationwide.
The Process
Serving as a Professional Coach and Facilitator, Bryan Joseph Lee oversaw the development, design, delivery, and evaluation of multiple cohort programs within artsHERE. Working in collaboration with a national network of program administrators and regional partners, CNTR ARTS contributed to:
Facilitating cross-cohort learning sessions and peer exchanges among grantees.
Coaching organizational leaders through program design, implementation, and evaluation.
Proposing and piloting new programs aligned with artsHERE’s mission and strategic goals.
Guiding organizations in building equitable, community-driven engagement models.
Supporting data collection and reflection processes that informed national reporting.
The Outcome
Through this work, CNTR ARTS helped arts organizations across the country strengthen their internal capacity, deepen local partnerships, and create more accessible pathways for arts participation. The artsHERE pilot has since informed national approaches to funding and infrastructure-building in the arts, establishing a new standard for how federal and philanthropic partners collaborate to expand community access and organizational resilience.