About Us

EmcArts Inc. is a social enterprise for learning and innovation in the arts. We serve as a nonprofit intermediary for many arts funders, and as a service organization for the arts field around innovation. We exist to strengthen the capacities and effectiveness of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, serving their needs in the design and management of innovative change, and assisting them in building their adaptive capacity.

The organization was founded in 1999 as Emc.Arts, LLC, by Richard Evans and John McCann as a merger of their separate consulting interests in the arts and culture sector. Following rapid growth and the development of an increasing range of services to groups of arts organizations and whole fields of work in the arts, the company was re-incorporated in 2006 as EmcArts Inc., a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation with a broader mission of public service. We are governed by a Board of Directors. In 2009, EmcArts operating budget was approximately $2.1 million.

Our core team is currently based in New York City, with offices in central Harlem. Additionally, we work with Associates and Faculty from across the country and many disciplines.

Our Approach

EmcArts offers programs and services to assist local arts communities and their funders in fostering innovation throughout cultural communities across the country. We work closely with our partners to design extended or short-term programs that are carefully tailored to meet local and organizational needs, while basing our recommendations in well-researched frameworks and proven methodologies for managing effective change.

All of EmcArts’ programs are aimed at enabling our clients to achieve sustainable results. In every facet of our work, we seek to generate practical solutions and make high performance possible. Our approach typically prompts our clients to change and to take calculated risks, so we equip them with tools to maximize their chances of success. And, we constantly derive and share new learning from organizational change and experimentation.