About – The Office Arts

Dynamic Programming Collective
Visionary Creative Producer
Incubator for Social Impact Projects

Who we are

THE OFFICE performing arts + film develops, produces, and presents art that makes a difference in the world.

Our work as creative producers is to amplify the work of critically engaged artists in the world, strategizing how to share their diverse points of view with the public. As curators, we create cultural programming that speaks to our partners’ missions and responds to the communities they serve.

As a business, we are built upon core values of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and an “everybody in, no one out” mindset. THE OFFICE is committed to creating spaces for everyone and anyone to experience transformative art, amplifying the voices of artists making change in the world, locally, nationally, or internationally. We are committed to creating unique cultural programming that caters to the communities it serves and brings a diverse and representative group of stakeholders to the table.

Additionally, we developed, launched, and operate the ARTISTS AT WORK (AAW) initiative during the catastrophic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts. A national workforce resilience program in the spirit of the WPA, AAW provides artists with a W2 salary and benefits to deepen their art practice and work collaboratively in response to local community needs across a range of issues including mental health, substance abuse recovery, cultural preservation, youth welfare, climate resiliency, antiracism, and migrant justice, among others.

Across our projects, our goal as an organization is to continue to develop a diverse generation of young creative producers and curators whose perspectives will help to shape how art functions in society as we move into the future.

THE OFFICE is deeply grateful to receive programmatic support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

What we do

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Programming
THE OFFICE provides bespoke, long-term artistic curation for extraordinary venues, festivals, and presenting organizations. Our programming work with partners is driven by our understanding that the artists and projects they share with their audiences tell the story of who they are. Programming is how an institution communicates its values and priorities to audiences; we are deeply attuned to this process, and sensitive to its challenges and opportunities. We also provide interim programming solutions for venues, from single shows to stand-alone seasons. Our experience extends across all performance disciplines including music, theater, dance, spoken word and beyond. Our deep relationships with artists and the teams that support them create systems of scale across all of our projects, introducing high-profile, established talent to new venues and finding opportunities for emerging artists in legacy institutions.
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Producing
THE OFFICE works as a creative producer to develop and support visionary performance projects on scales large and small. We serve as an engine room, strategizing and executing the realization of complex projects from early stages of creative inspiration through developmental workshops, fundraising and commissioning, tour planning, and on to world premieres and beyond. Our producing work encompasses unique artist projects, like the work for the stage of William Kentridge and Carrie Mae Weems, large-scale, site specific public art projects, like Little Amal and the Mile Long Opera on the Highline in New York, and major festivals like the Run AMOC* Festival at Lincoln Center and the REACH Opening Festival at the Kennedy Center. We also produce galas, benefits, and other events for all manner of organizations both inside and outside the culture sector. Across our producing practice, we have fostered a premier cohort of artistic and technical collaborators, from stage managers to lighting designers to set fabricators and sound engineers.
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Convening
We organize and produce gatherings of creative thinkers and industry leaders aimed at fostering critical dialogues around art and culture. We have organized convenings for the Ford Foundation, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Initiative, and produced the weekend-long For Freedoms Congress in Los Angeles. We feel it is crucial to foster these opportunities for the culture sector to collaboratively grapple with changes and upheavals in our field and reimagine itself in a future where the arts and their relation to society has dramatically shifted.
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Consulting
THE OFFICE has an enormous well of experience in professional arts development, gained through working in and with organizations in music, dance, film, theater, and across the arts, as well as in commercial settings outside the cultural sector. We put this experience to use in developing strategies for cultural initiatives of every incarnation for venues, institutions, municipalities, and corporate collaborators who require external support thinking through their cultural platforms. Examples include a multi-year project with New York University, for whom we created a strategic business, artistic and operational plan for an Arts Center on its Abu Dhabi campus. This effort, shaped by the university’s need to reimagine what an arts center in this region could be, included writing the Arts Center’s mission, vision and values statement, designing its artistic program, and overseeing an executive search. Many of these engagements become ongoing relationships after the initial project is completed.

How we work

Each project of THE OFFICE is led by a senior member of our team, who is supported logistically and creatively by a deep infrastructure of producers, programmers, and administrators. Throughout our work, we strive for non-hierarchical collaboration across areas of specialization. We believe the expertise of creative producing and programming are mutually instructive, and consistently work across departments to bring the most direct expertise to each project. We believe the arts are stronger together, and nurture dialogue and collaboration between practitioners across disciplines.

People

A dynamic programming collective, visionary creatives, social impact projects. From concept to reality, let's create something extraordinary. Together.

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