Consulting through an equity lens for arts & culture organizations, mission-driven nonprofits, and the public sector (municipal, state, provincial).
Building best practices, systems, and infrastructure including:
Meeting facilitation focused on:
Organizational behavior and work culture
Lean methodologies and process improvement
Leadership and mentorship
Building apprenticeship and mentorship programs
Arts-led gentrification and how to disarm it:
Consulting is the most effective during pivotal, foundational, and capacity-building times because these are times when an organization’s members are prepared to make changes and the structure is the most malleable.
I work closely with leadership and core team members. A good consultant is like a therapist and a vizier rolled into one—I’m an objective party who provides an outside perspective who also has the high level, big picture view necessary to help bring your vision and values into action.
As an independent consultant, I can also be brought onto larger teams for large-scale projects. I have worked on strategic plans both for multimillion dollar organizations with $150,000+ USD strategic planning budgets, and small-to-midsize nonprofits (under ~$2 million) with more modest budgets for strategic planning and other capacity-building efforts. I'll work with your board and leadership to right-size the process to your organization.
Interested in working together? Contact here@jenie.org.
Board President / Centre A
Awesome working with Jenie! Super impressed by the end results of our strategic plan. Super organized and great communication. Would recommend working with Jenie again in the future!
Artistic Director / Centre A
Jenie Gao was instrumental in the development of Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Art’s 3-year strategic plan. Jenie was able to work with both the Centre A staff, board of directors, and community stakeholder to realize and set realistic goals to help grow the organization in the next three years in a collaborative manner. I appreciated their commitment to leading with a community focused lens, which helped our organization identify the needs and priorities of the people that we serve. Our team loved working with Jenie and is deeply appreciative of the care and respect that they brought in to help us imagine the future for our organization.
Visual Poet / Proxima Vera: Micropress
I really enjoyed working with Jenie as a consultant to create standardized artist's agreements and pricing structures so that I can build my practice with more agency and equity, not only in my negotiations but also in navigating this field. With Jenie's strong expertise and ability to tailor solutions that fit my needs, I feel clearer in my financial goals as an artist-business owner and equipped with tools to advocate for the work that I love doing and growing my micropress.
Director / gener8tor Art
What I liked about Jenie's webinars is that she covers both the practical and the theoretical aspects of a topic. For example, Jenie speaks about the artist's role in the creative economy and she gives concrete examples of how to price your work so that you can make a living. It was a pleasure working with Jenie and I hope that we can collaborate again in the future.
President & CEO / Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN)
Jenie's role as a consultant and advisor for Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) has been instrumental in the establishment of our new MARN ART + CULTURE HUB. She has mentored our staff, developed our leadership team, and helped our organization create best practices that prioritize Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in a space for artists, led by artists. We are grateful to have Jenie's experience and wisdom as an arts community leader and an integral part of our team.
Founder / Disrupt Milwaukee and Disrupt Madison
Jenie Gao was one of the Disrupt Madison 3.0 speakers for our third event in Madison this past June. Jenie Gao speaks in depth on subjects that may be tough or uncomfortable to address, in a welcoming way so the audience feels like they can be a part of the conversation. She has a talent to see what is difficult to see, and helps others see it too. She believes ideals are goals and pragmatic thinking and planning is just how you get there. Jenie truly practices what she preaches; working with her it's clear what she shares with her audience and her actions are in alignment. This authenticity wins audiences; it makes her a great speaker. I love working with Jenie and highly recommend her!
Workshop Participant
Artist Jenie Gao's murals and prints are outstanding. Her focus on creating high-quality, thoughtful work is apparent across media and projects. She's also a tireless advocate for the arts. Jenie is extremely generous in sharing her skills and knowledge to educate and encourage other artists. I appreciated her clear, personable style of teaching during the fact-filled 'Managing Time + Money' workshop that she led at Madison's Arts + Literature Laboratory in May 2019. Her dedication to her work and the integrity with which she operates are hugely inspiring.
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