Arts and culture bring a community together.

We help you lead the organizations that make it happen.

Search, strategy, and support for arts and culture since 1983.

What we do

Management Consultants for the Arts (MCA) was founded to help the individuals, teams, and boards of arts and culture organizations serve their communities with greater confidence, ease, and success.

Search identifies leadership.

We have led 1,200+ searches through a clear, tested process. We introduce you to candidates beyond your own networks and stay with you and your new leader through the transition.

Explore Search

Strategy clarifies direction.

We help you see where things stand, then write a plan together that your team will use, drawn from 500+ strategy engagements across the field.

Explore Strategy

Support aligns people and systems.

We coach leaders at every career stage, equip teams to succeed together, and partner with boards on how they govern, because people shape arts and culture.

Explore Support

GET IN TOUCH

We work in arts and culture

Theater

Theaters of all sizes, musical theater companies, theater for young audiences (TYA), festivals, touring companies, and new play and dramaturgy organizations

Music

Orchestras, jazz, chamber, choral, early, new, and world music organizations, and youth and community ensembles

Dance

Ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, tap, hip-hop, and culturally rooted dance companies

Opera

Opera houses, chamber companies, festivals, young artist programs, and new work development

Performing arts centers and presenters

Civic, independent, and multidisciplinary venues and the organizations that program them

Conservatories, colleges, and universities

Music, theater, dance, and design schools, community conservatories, campus performing arts centers, and academic museums

Museums and cultural institutions

Visual art, history, science, and children's museums, libraries, cultural and community arts centers, and literary organizations

Service organizations, foundations & public agencies

Service organizations, foundations, and public agencies

National, regional, and local service organizations, private and community foundations, arts councils, public media, cultural affairs offices, and state and city government

see clients

WHO WE WORK WITH

The Music Center: L.A.'s Performing Arts Center

active SEARCHES

David and Francie Family Foundation Director | The Gund at Kenyon College

Gambier, Ohio • Accepting applications

Managing Director | Florida Studio Theatre

Sarasota, Florida • Accepting applications

Artistic Director | Florida Studio Theatre

Sarasota, Florida • Accepting applications

Florida Studio Theatre - Cancelation of Lauren Fein

Director | Flint School of Performing Arts

Flint, Michigan • Applications closed

Flint School of Performing Arts - The Hobbit

Artistic Director | Studio Theatre

Washington D.C. • Applications closed

Artistic Director | Syracuse Stage

Syracuse, New York • Applications closed

Executive Director | The Town Hall

New York City, New York • Applications closed

Executive Director | Kansas City Ballet

Kansas City, Missouri • Applications closed

active searches

Share Your Materials

We help arts and culture organizations
prepare for what comes next.

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WNO has loved working with Carlton and Rebekah, and we have just started our third engagement with them. They have deep knowledge of our field and they are energizing and invaluable partners. Our artists, staff, and trustees alike have been so grateful for their advice, support, and hard work in helping us achieve our goals.

Timothy O'Leary

General Director, Washington National Opera

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There’s a difference between knowing how to do the job and knowing how to get the job. I felt confident in my skills as an executive director, but when I began interviewing for CEO roles, I realized I didn’t know how to articulate my value concisely and powerfully in an interview. Rebekah taught me how to answer like someone who was already a CEO, not someone who aspired to become one. Her guidance helped me move through a rigorous, multi-round interview process, negotiate my employment agreement, and ultimately land a life-changing opportunity.

Katherine Powers

President & CEO, Los Angeles Master Chorale

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We worked with MCA in our search for both the Artistic Director and the Executive Director of American Conservatory Theater. I highly recommend MCA for your recruiting efforts. They led two terrific processes for us. MCA's sound judgment, their extensive network and their deep experience guided us through the recruiting process. They delivered a diverse group of candidates, all of whom were qualified for the position.

Kay Yun

Board President, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.)

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We got more out of the engagement than we could have ever imagined. It was so incredibly thorough, holistic, human-centered, positive, and inviting... We left our work feeling energized, closer, and with a better understanding of one another after the workshops... This process gave us confidence at an important moment in our growth.

Marina Balko

Executive Director, Radiant Hall

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We find ourselves continually returning to Management Consultants for the Arts for searches as they have proven time and time again they cast a wider net than we ever could to find strong candidates and, perhaps even more importantly, encourage us to think critically and creatively about who we really need - and with what skills - to succeed as part of our team. They are also a lot of fun to work with, making challenging tasks and decisions a pleasure!

Howard Sherman

Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, The Music Center of Los Angeles

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They were tremendously helpful in supporting our organization. Carlton Ford led the work and provided wonderful support, knowledge, guidance, and innovative assessment tools. We greatly appreciate the care and thoughtfulness that he put into working with our leadership, staff, and organization as a whole... he provided a high quality experience and helped us to think deeply about how to create a more inclusive and welcoming workplace for all.

Senior Director

Community Programs and Inclusion, Please Touch Museum

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We worked with MCA in our search for the Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Public Theater. MCA brought experience, structure, and credibility to our search effort. And importantly, MCA identified and brought us a diverse group of candidates to consider, all of whom were well-qualified for the position. In the end, we hired a fabulous, talented, and energetic leader whom I am convinced we would never have met if it hadn't been for MCA's work on this project.

Michael Ginsberg

Search Committee Chair for Artistic Director Search, Pittsburgh Public Theater

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With a new leader onboard, we were looking for a partner that could help us to 'press pause' and assess tangible actions and opportunities to further our equity agenda - Carlton delivered in every way. We are excited for the journey ahead!

Ashia Johnson

Board Member, New York City theater client

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I am most happy to recommend Management Consultants for the Arts for their extraordinary professionalism and insight. MCA proactively managed the search process for our COO from beginning to end, taking the time to understand our institution, our needs and our culture to bring a pool of highly qualified, unique and diverse candidates for our consideration. MCA made an inherently challenging process a seamless one.

James Farkas

Former Vice President & CFO, New York City Center

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Rebekah was wonderful to work with. Her work was thoughtful, tailored to our organization's specific needs, and impactful.

Clare Drobot

Co-Artistic Director, City Theatre Company

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The work with Rebekah and Carlton... has opened the conversations to actionable ways in which we can implement IDEA throughout everything we do... the priority to ensure all voices are seen and heard has been crucial to our collective work.

Artistic Director

Pathways youth program

Our story begins with a founder
who put artists and communities first.

MCA was founded in 1983 by Greg Kandel, a producing director who put the artist first and built the firm on honest, personal relationships. He was a strategist boards trusted, a teacher who brought people into the field, and an advocate who stood behind the leaders he believed in. The firm he built still works that way, because all of us at MCA share what drove him, a love of arts and culture and a belief in its power to bring a community together. We hold our work to one standard, which is that the people and organizations we serve are stronger when we leave than when we arrived.

Executive searches

CEO, executive director, managing director, or artistic director searches

Strategy engagements

of engagements come
from a returning client

years median tenure of artistic directors since 2011

Insights

Planning what comes next?

get in touch