CHANGEMAKING
Inspiring Innovation and Building Resilience
Inspired by the arts, driven by a world in transition, Changemaking is a practice that works alongside individuals, organizations, and communities as they take on their most complex challenges. Through advancing processes of innovation and adaptive change, Changemaking strengthens the resilience of individuals and organizations in the arts sector.
Our Changemaking practice is informed by the work of EmcArts—a national nonprofit arts consulting firm acquired by CultureSource in 2022. For over 20+ years EmcArts engaged more than 2500 individuals, 250 organizations, and numerous communities across the US and Canada to inspire innovation in the arts sector. CultureSource continues the work of Changemaking by rooting national service in our existing local practice, using Southeast Michigan as an incubator of ideas and talent accessible across the national arts sector.
Changemaking Participants
Cities
Changemaking programs take place in cities across the country, including; Tucson, Phoenix, College Park, Washington DC, North Bethesda, New York City, Houston, Providence, East Providence, Westerly, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Mount Clemens, Dearborn, Wyandotte, Grosse Pointe Farms, and Hamtramck.
Leaders
“Attending the facilitation training program was an incredibly enriching experience! The interactive sessions were engaging and thought-provoking, allowing me to hone my facilitation abilities in a supportive environment. The instructors were knowledgeable and supportive, providing valuable feedback and guidance throughout the program. Highly recommended!”
Christina PerkinsPrincipal Consultant, Knowledge Consulting Services
“When I learned about the Facilitator training, I jumped at the opportunity—even though I’ve been a Facilitator for years. It was a breath of fresh air to be in a cohort with other facilitators, to think about our craft, and to learn new activities for engaging participants when leading events.”
Mary Gladstone-HighlandCEO, Spark Consulting Group
Services
Leadership Development
Arts Leaders as Cultural Innovators (ALACI) is a nationally renowned leadership development program consisting of seminars, executive coaching, virtual learning, and practicums that equip leaders to navigate complexity, and seek opportunities for change in their organizations. Participants learn explore strategies to support innovation and adaptive changemaking.
Facilitator Training
The CultureSource Facilitator’s Institute helps multidisciplinary consultants, facilitators, trainers, speakers, and/or change-agents develop their understanding of organizational effectiveness. This program provides an opportunity to add the adaptive changemaking framework to their toolkit and strengthen their ability to help organizations grapple with complexity.
Bespoke Consulting
CultureSource leverages an experienced facilitator network to create curated consulting services for individual organizations. Programs such as Adaptive Planning for Resilience, Adaptive Leadership Circle, and Roots of Innovation. can be adapted to suit organization’s specific needs—with a focus on questioning assumptions and generating adaptive responses to emerging challenges.
Insights
Facilitators
Through interactive workshops, coaching, and labs, CultureSource’s expert facilitators create space and conditions to navigate uncertainty, test innovative strategies, and build adaptive cultures.
Melissa Dibble has always found herself in newly created positions, and she acknowledges she is most comfortable starting from scratch, building functional frameworks to support conceptual ideas. At EmcArts, in addition to serving as Managing Director until 2019, Melissa was a lead facilitator for many of EmcArts’ programs. She has worked with organizations, large and small, in all arts disciplines across North America. These organizational partnerships to foster adaptive change by facilitating Innovation Teams across multi-month processes of exploration, experimentation, and emergent new behaviors and practices include the Public Theater in New York City, Galveston Historical Foundation in Texas, Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC, and Tapestry Opera in Toronto, among many many others. She has also delighted in working with executive directors through EmcArts’ Arts Leaders as Cultural Innovators (ALACI) program in multiple cities, guiding their journeys to develop their adaptive leadership understanding and practices.
Liz Dreyer’s career has focused on helping people see and do things differently; helping them work creatively towards possible solutions to problems they have previously found immovable. She does this by building practice spaces that are open, welcoming and safe enough to allow people to bravely lean into discomfort and risk. Throughout her career—from founding and leading a successful for-profit/non-profit hybrid to the process facilitation, design, and trainings focusing on adaptive change and equity in the arts and culture field—she creates spaces for clients, artists and participants to think, develop and evolve.
Liz’s work on the design, delivery, and management of Adaptive Change workshops, convenings, and coachings have been implemented in more than a dozen cities across the United States and in Canada. Undergirded by innovation and adaptive change frameworks, grounded in the situations and real issues of each organization and community, the cohorts develop organizational awareness, supporting peer-to-peer sharing of effective “next” practices, devising adaptive responses to complex challenges, and building the necessary skills and capacities to design and implement innovative initiatives. Communities include Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, Charlotte, New York, Houston, Philadelphia, Edmonton, Calgary, and Toronto.
Dr. Naimah (Nye-e-ma) Wade is the founder of Nvision Learning Solutions, a boutique consultancy that allows people to expand their personal and professional capacity through customized learning experiences. For 18 years, she has been designing and facilitating transformative learning interventions that equalize access and opportunity in business, higher ed, and nonprofit sectors. Dr. Naimah prides herself on a reputation of resilience in the face of challenges and on her own personal brand of open-hearted leadership. She prioritizes projects and programs that cultivate leadership identity and support the development of women and girls. To make an impact in these areas, she serves on the advisory board as an education advisor for Pretty Brown Girl and on the advisory committee for the Detroit Women’s Leadership Network.
Dr. Naimah holds a B.A. in Marketing from Michigan State University, an M.B.A. with a focus in Organizational Development, and a Ph.D. in Learning Design and Technology, both from Wayne State University. She is a 2018 alum of the German Marshall Fund’s esteemed Marshall Memorial Fellowship (MMF) and a 2019 alum of the Culture Source Arts Leaders as Cultural Innovators (ALACI) Adaptive Leaders Fellowship.
Evolution of Our Changemaking Pillar
Questions? Contact Program Manager Goode Wyche III to learn more about participating in a Changemaking program, or bringing one to your city.
In Memoriam
EmcArts co-founder and long-time president Richard Evans passed away in 2022 after battling an aggressive cancer. Before his passing, Richard spearheaded the integration of EmcArts into CultureSource—securing a permanent home in Southeast Michigan for the practice of adaptive changemaking that he pioneered in the cultural sector.
EmcArts, a social enterprise for innovation and adaptive change in the arts, worked for over 20 years to strengthen the capacity of arts leaders and organizations. Richard designed and implemented a sustained series of groundbreaking initiatives designed to help arts organizations design and manage innovation and adapt to changing environments.
CultureSource is dedicated to honoring Richard’s legacy by continuing his work of ensuring the sustained vitality of our most cherished arts organizations.