Practice Areas

How can we help you? WolfBrown’s professional services reflect the passions, aspirations, and perspectives of our team members, as well as the rapidly evolving needs of the sector. Our practice areas continue to revolve around the core processes of research, evaluation, planning, and facilitation, but the tools and approaches we use to accomplish our clients’ goals—the research methodologies, the conceptual frameworks, and the partnerships—are continually changing. Our unwaivering commitments are to methodological rigor, intellectual honesty, and equity in the design and conduct of our research. We bring a plurality of perspectives to every assignment.

While our consulting work draws on a wealth of experience and well-developed methods, we are constantly learning in partnership with our clients, interns, and associated consultants. In the end, we are creative problem solvers.

Creative Opportunities

Through innovative program design, research, and evaluation, we collaborate on deepening and amplifying the creative experiences individuals can access throughout their lives. WolfBrown assists institutions and communities in designing, implementing, and evaluating creative learning programs spanning all age groups. Our innovative, sector-leading work includes basic research, integrative landscape and literature reviews, and participatory and summative program evaluations—all with the understanding of how these programs build the diverse creative capital in individuals, families, and communities.  >>

Evaluation

WolfBrown help funders and institutions deepen their effectiveness through rigorous evaluation and creative thinking about program design. With its broad, first-hand experience in the cultural sector, WolfBrown offers the objective, informed perspective and research experience necessary to reflect critically on the design and evaluation of foundation grant programs, programming initiatives, and capacity-building efforts. Our work centers on equity and incorporating the principles of equitable evaluation into our research designs.  >>

Market Research

Arts and cultural organizations and agencies draw on WolfBrown’s audience research and analysis to build demand for artistic programs. Our research draws on a wide range of quantitative and qualitative research designs and analytical methods. Over the years we’ve developed expertise in all forms of survey research, as well as qualitative methods such as participatory interviewing, experiential tours and accompanied visits, and observational research. With every project, we seek a deep collaboration with our clients to achieve the clarity of purpose and trust required to ask difficult questions and the fortitude necessary to act upon the results.  >>

Planning

WolfBrown partners with organizations and agencies to assess programmatic directions and business processes, consider alternative pathways to mission fulfillment, energize stakeholders, and find fresh alignment between community relevance and financial sustainability. We’ve led strategic planning processes for organizations of all sizes and at all stages of development across the arts and culture sector. Each planning project is tailored to the organization’s needs and starts with a dialogue about what sort of planning process will yield the best results.  >>

Sector Support

Through policy research, capacity building and convening, we aim to build a more just and inclusive cultural sector. In fact, field learning is deeply embedded in our way of thinking. This work encompasses sector-level needs assessments, designs for capacity building initiatives, studies of public participation in the arts, designs for agency-level impact and accountability systems, and research on artists and artist support systems.  >>