I provide research, analysis, and strategic counsel on the structural questions at the intersection of arts, culture, and public systems.
Research that informs decisions. Analysis that leads somewhere.
For state agencies, municipalities, and organizations working at the intersection of arts, culture, and public life.
Policy Analysis and Legislative Strategy
Cultural policy is made in legislative committees, city councils, and agency offices — and the quality of analysis available to decision-makers shapes the decisions they make. I provide rigorous, sector-specific analysis that translates complex cultural and economic dynamics into clear recommendations: bill analysis, implementation frameworks, advocacy tools, and strategic counsel on policy positioning.
Recent work: AB812 implementation toolkit for California Arts Advocates; multi-year legislative analysis across cultural districts, gig worker policy, arts funding, and education.
Creative Economy Research and Measurement
Understanding the creative economy requires more than counting jobs in creative industries. It requires integrating multiple data systems, accounting for workers and enterprises that standard frameworks can't see, and connecting empirical findings to policy questions that actually need answering. I develop original research frameworks, workforce analyses, and sector definitions — work designed to be both analytically rigorous and practically useful for program design, legislative strategy, and public investment decisions.
Recent work: Statewide creative workforce analysis and sector definition for the California Office of the Small Business Advocate; economic research for the California 100 Initiative.
Institutional Design and Cultural Governance
Building a cultural institution — or rebuilding one — requires navigating the intersection of public oversight, nonprofit management, community accountability, and financial sustainability. Getting the governance structure right from the beginning shapes everything that follows. I lead feasibility studies, develop operational and partnership models, and help municipalities and organizations design institutional structures that allow arts and cultural facilities to function as durable community assets.
Recent work: City of Emeryville Arts and Cultural Center feasibility study and governance model development; City of Oakland cultural policy and General Plan advisory.
How I work
I'm a solo practice, which means clients work directly with me — not with a team I'm managing at arm's length. I bring the same analytical rigor to a two-week engagement as to a two-year one, and I'm most useful when the problem is genuinely complex: when the question hasn't been asked before, when the existing frameworks don't quite fit, or when research needs to connect directly to decisions.
I also genuinely enjoy working collaboratively, and I maintain a network of trusted colleagues — researchers, designers, community engagement specialists, and policy practitioners — whose expertise I can bring in when a project calls for it. Larger engagements don't require a different firm; they require the right team, assembled for the work.
Working with people who want to make a difference
