Speaker: Chike Nwoffiah - Silicon Valley African Film Festival

How do you move from "managing" to "empowering"? Join Chike Nwoffiah (Silicon Valley African Film Festival, Executive Director; Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Board President) as he shares his blueprint for shifting organizational structures to foster true staff ownership. After hearing how Chike has transformed meetings as Board President of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts from a chore into a catalyst for growth and how he redesigned the organizational structure of the Silicon Valley African Film Festival to work for the team, you’ll spend time auditing your own leadership style. You’ll leave with immediate, practical steps to spark more autonomy and shared purpose within your own team.

Speaker: Hugo Garcia - San Jose Jazz

In an era of shrinking arts budgets and disappearing funders, one tool of survival might be found in proving how indispensable the arts are to other sectors. In this session, Hugo Garcia (San Jose Jazz, Progressions Program Director) explores how to move beyond the "arts silo" by positioning our work as a vital solution for other sectors: health, economic development, youth development, and social justice. Using a deep-dive case study on youth mental health, Hugo demonstrates how to speak the language of non-arts funders to secure new support. Explore real-world examples of successful cross-industry alliances, and then work with peers to identify potential partners in your own backyard.

Speakers: Carman Gaines and Karen Kienzle - San José Arts Advocates

Oftentimes, arts organizations, individual artists, creative businesses, and grassroots arts supporters find themselves fighting over scarce funding dollars and social media likes when we could and should be uniting against the one enemy we all face: ignorance. This session will help participants identify and leverage opportunities to engage in meaningful interaction with elected officials, business and neighborhood leaders, friends, family, and coworkers to create a shared understanding and vocabulary around the economic and social value of the arts. Through facilitated dialogue, small breakout groups, and an interactive advocacy challenge, we’ll dig deep to uncover the personal stories that create connections and inspire investment, and help participants learn how to weave the arts into any conversation, conference, or convention. We hope to leave you feeling fired up, ready to go, and equipped for success.

Speaker: Preeti Vissa Kristipati - Abhinaya Dance Company

As communities shift and audiences change, traditional arts organizations and artists face a profound question: how do you honor the depth of your art form while making room for who's coming next? This panel brings together practitioners navigating that tension — exploring how they're adapting for diaspora communities and generational differences, what they hold sacred, and how they're rethinking the path to mastery in an era of competing demands on students' time. What does it mean to steward a living tradition? This conversation gathers artists and arts leaders who are doing the hard, nuanced work of preserving the integrity of their craft while meeting new generations where they are, wrestling with the question every tradition must eventually answer — what is sacred, and what is simply habit?

Speakers: Melissa Momboisse, Elizabeth Santana, and Stefanie Wilen - Palo Alto Players

Ready to rebuild subscriptions and increase retention? Presenters from Palo Alto Players share how they surpassed pre-pandemic subscription numbers by analyzing subscriber data, adjusting package models, and prioritizing retention. Attendees learn to use reporting tools to guide decisions, convert first-time buyers into repeat patrons through targeted incentives, and implement three free social media tools to expand reach. Interactive exercises help participants identify actionable insights for their own organizations. The session closes with four principles: let data lead, adjust the model, build habits, and communicate clearly.

Speaker: Jessica Paz-Cedillos - School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza

What happens when our institutions unintentionally reinforce the very inequities we claim to address?

In this candid, strategy-driven session, Jessica Paz-Cedillos, CEO of the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, challenges the “arts for arts’ sake” narrative and examines how cultural organizations intersect with gentrification, education inequities, and structural racism. Drawing from real-world community development work in East San José, she will unpack the civic footprint of arts institutions—where we’ve fallen short and where we hold transformative power.

Participants will explore how to move from passive presence to active stewardship: shifting from programming culture to building community power. Come ready to interrogate your organization’s role, confront hard truths, and leave with a clearer framework for leading with accountability and impact.