enabling creatives to dislodge barriers and forge new connections…
/who
I'm Nicholas, a producer and consultant. I help people craft a resilient creative practice to meet the demands of new media, new economies, and new audiences.
I'm passionate about the place where divergent disciplines meet, and I've built my career around calling others to the spot. From there, it's possible to combine, transform, and adapt our processes endlessly, outwitting the pitfalls of old paradigms.
If you're similarly driven by the search for a new way of doing things, check out some of the ways I've helped others do the same...
/why
to get unstuck.
Let's foster a culture of action-bias based on resilient creative strategies that adapt to future disruption.
to break the mold.
Let’s design our way to unique models that allow you and your organization to evolve authentically.
to inspire a crowd.
Let’s assemble people outside the paradigm and enable their capacity to create meaningful change.
to grow equity.
Let’s build processes and outcomes that center dignity and work for the benefit of everyone involved.
/how
combine.
Silo mentality is one of the biggest blockages to agile innovation, and its seductive comfort is a dangerous allure not only to teams and individuals, but entire industries. I've found that facilitating space for interdisciplinary collaboration is the first step in resisting this trap. Working with MIT Sloan School for Management, I co-directed the Hacking Arts festival to create that space for our partners including Adobe, Bose, and Wayfair. The three-day conference/hackathon mashup brought together over 500 participants, combining their expertise from the arts, technology, and business sectors to address the creative challenges of the future. For our partners, the experience produced new insights about their products and services, and opened access to a diverse talent pool. Our participants forged new connections, built unique partnerships of their own, and even had some fun along the way.
transform.
When we don't engage in experimentation and play with collaborators across disciplines, we risk becoming stagnant, falling back on old paradigms, and missing exciting new opportunities. Working as a creative producer, I've pushed my partners to hold space for little transformations that evolve into big ideas. Through a series of micro-productions that rewarded exploration and minimized risk, we were able to quickly test new performance frameworks that pushed beyond the bounds of the proscenium. Incrementally, we examined a combination of augmented reality, geo-fencing, game theory, and site-specific theater that soon found us pioneering "pervasive performance" models. Continually pushing on the boundaries of our container changed its shape and showed us a relevant mode of theater-making that was previously hidden from view.
adapt.
With uncertainty at an all-time high, those who struggle to sustain an adaptive strategy in their practice may find themselves frozen at a crossroads. But external pressures can be endless inspiration for creatives who resist silos and experiment with new ideas to lead the way in unprecedented times. This is the guidance I gave to A R E A as the gallery's Director of Projects. As a fledgling operation, we continually expanded the gallery's model, leading our peers in online sales, collaborating on transmedia events, and inventing cross-sector partnerships. By combining and transforming our approach, we became resilient in a way that has attracted attention and sustained growth. A R E A recently launched the first digital-forward art fair exclusively featuring contemporary artists with ties to New England.
Structuring immersive storytelling for meaningful connections
Gathering a global network for greater impact
Facilitating interdisciplinary thinking at an elite institution
Adapting the “white cube” gallery for the future
(Case study coming soon)
Putting art-thinking in entrepreneurship on the map at Harvard
(Case study coming soon)
Designing models for art, science, and climate collaboration
(Case study coming soon)
/what
integrative hacks.
Hackathons are more than just coding marathons. They’re thrilling experiences that inspire teams of all stripes to produce innovative thinking in a short time-frame. I work with individuals and organizations to customize internal and external-facing hackathons that play to their strengths and integrate diverse viewpoints.
Whether for ten people or a hundred, hackathons are a great way to…
Recruit a diverse talent-pool to your organization, project, or cause.
Create a safe environment for risk-taking, experimentation, and play.
Generate unheard of solutions to vexing challenges.
transmedia project design.
It's time to adapt your creative practice to the digital world. But where to begin? Let's uncover opportunities that are available to you right now, as well as some that you may not have anticipated. Then let's turn those opportunities into sustainable project designs that will not only drive value now, but for years to come.
Set up a free consultation to discuss…
How to frame your challenges and inspire a transformative vision.
Which resources you can leverage today and who you need to recruit.
The roadblocks you currently face and how they can be dislodged.
social labs.
When project designs aren’t enough to create big, systemic change, it might be time for a social lab. Social labs are sustained platforms for addressing complex challenges with diverse stakeholders. They can be embedded into organizations or started from scratch by anyone.
I facilitate the creation of social labs for…
Creative organizations pursuing strategy for their ambitious change initiatives.
Artistic institutions in need of a disciplined practice of experimentation.
Cross-functional change agents campaigning for reform.
/when
Right now! Let’s have a (virtual) meetup and start talking about how we can get you or your organization unstuck…