Arts Unscripted with Monica Holt

Museums are economic engines, gathering places, and vital contributors to civic life. But to secure their future, we need to tell a fuller story of the many ways they serve our communities.

That's a challenge Marilyn Jackson knows well. Over more than two decades in the museum sector, she's held leadership roles at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Architecture Center, and Muhammad Ali Center. Today, as President and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums, she's working to strengthen the field through shared learning, collaboration, and advocacy while helping museums make a more compelling...

What if the purpose of music education was about more than developing musicians? What if it was about developing more empathetic, creative, and collaborative human beings?

Tony Mazzocchi has spent his career challenging assumptions about who gets to make music and why it matters. After beginning his career as a professional trombonist, an unexpected opportunity to teach middle school band in Brooklyn transformed his understanding of what young people are capable of when given the right resources, opportunities, and expectations. Today, as President and CEO of Kaufman Music Center in New York City, he is working to...

AI is changing how audiences discover arts and cultural experiences, and the implications extend far beyond marketing and IT teams. For arts leaders, understanding how audiences find, evaluate, and choose cultural experiences is essential to staying relevant.

In this episode recorded live at Capacity Boot Camp 2026, Dan Titmuss, Senior Consultant, AI & Organic Search at Capacity, demystifies how AI-powered search works and what it means for the future of audience engagement. 

This episode builds on our past conversations with Baratunde Thurston, Jen Taylor, and others, turning our attention to one of the most immediate ways AI i...

Arts and cultural organizations are constantly being asked to demonstrate their impact. Data can help us make that case, but how do we bring the stories behind the numbers to life?

For Giorgia Lupi, award-winning information designer and partner at Pentagram, data is far more than a collection of facts and figures. Approaching numbers with an artist's mindset can help us communicate not just what we do, but why it matters. 

As Giorgia gets ready to take the stage at Capacity Boot Camp 2026, we're bringing you a special encore of her Arts Unscripted episode where w...

For Cory Pattak, lighting design has always carried a sense of magic.

Over a 20-year career, Cory has designed productions across Broadway, regional theatre, international stages, cruise lines, and more. He is now bringing that same eye for spectacle to a new Pixar-themed production for Hong Kong Disneyland, set to premiere in 2027.

In this episode, Cory explains what a lighting designer actually does, and reflects on the mentorship and creative turning points that shaped his path. He also explores the deeply collaborative nature of theatrical design; the balance between individual artistry and serving a director's...

The arts help people feel, connect, and find the courage to act. How can we better harness that power—and communicate it beyond our own circles—to ensure the longevity of our field?

For Lisa Richards Toney, her connection to art is deeply personal. From finding her confidence through youth arts programs in Washington, D.C. to studying at Spelman College and working in arts education and management, she has experienced the many ways the arts give people a sense of purpose and possibility. Today, as President and CEO of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), she...

How do you build a museum around a subject that's constantly evolving? 

As CEO of Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP), Michele Y. Smith is helping preserve what refuses to stand still. With exhibitions spanning music, film, fashion, gaming, and fandom, MOPOP examines pop culture not simply as entertainment, but as a reflection of the ideas, identities, and social changes shaping our lives in real time. 

In this episode, Michele explores what it means to preserve cultural history while remaining responsive to the present, and why our personal connections to pop culture can become a po...

What changes when artists aren't simply invited to perform, but are given a seat at the table where ideas, policies, and solutions take shape?

Joseph Fowler has spent his career moving between artistic disciplines, institutions, and cultural ecosystems around the world. After training at The Royal Ballet School and performing professionally as a dancer, his curiosity took him behind the scenes as a director, producer, programmer, and cultural leader—from London and Paris to Dubai. Today, as Head of Arts and Culture at the World Economic Forum, he brings artists and creative thinking into conversations about some of...

The future isn't something that simply happens to us. It's something we help create through the stories we tell, the technologies we use, and the choices we make about how to live together.

Baratunde Thurston has spent his career exploring what that responsibility looks like across comedy, media, civic life, and nature. Again and again, his work returns to a deeply human question: how do we embrace change without surrendering our agency? His latest award-winning project Life with Machines turns this question on technology, exploring how new tech shapes our lives—and how we might shape it in...

Rebranding a beloved institution requires not only defining what comes next, but building enough trust and shared ownership that both longtime supporters and new audiences see themselves in the future.

Courtney Burke Summers recently helped lead the sweeping rebrand of Celebrity Series of Boston into Vivo Performing Arts, launching a new identity designed to better reflect the organization's role in its community.

In this episode, Courtney shares what it took to bring people along through that transformation and why meaningful change can only happen at the "speed of trust." She also reflects on the opportunities...

What if a museum's job isn't simply to preserve history, but to help us imagine a different future?

Lisa Yun Lee has spent her career exploring what cultural institutions can make possible when they understand themselves as civic spaces. As Executive Director of the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago, she leads an institution created by public housing residents to preserve their own histories, challenge dominant narratives about public housing, and bring arts, culture, and public policy together in the fight for housing as a human right.

In this episode, Lisa traces the winding path...

A great exhibition or performance can draw people in, but a strong institutional brand shapes how they understand the experience—and whether they feel invited to return.

Kim Jakominich has spent more than 15 years working across publishing, public media, museums, and cultural destinations. Now Chief Brand Officer at the Barnes Foundation and Calder Gardens, she leads an integrated team spanning marketing, communications, publications, design, editorial, and visual resources, helping steward two distinctly different brands while creating a more unified audience experience.

In this episode, Kim reflects on the unexpected path that brought her from Minnesota Pu...

As our attention becomes increasingly fragmented, the value of being fully present together has never been greater. The most memorable experiences go beyond spectacle and  create a clear sense of place, invite participation, and give people something meaningful to feel together.

Ann Morrow Johnson has spent her career designing those kinds of experiences. After more than a decade at Walt Disney Imagineering, she now co-leads Gensler's Entertainment practice, applying lessons from theme parks and immersive entertainment to cultural organizations, hospitality, real estate, and other physical spaces.

In this episode, Ann Morrow explores why authenticity matters m...

Join Monica Holt for a live recording of Arts Unscripted with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, an internationally acclaimed cultural strategist, spoken word artist, and Chief of Impact at SOZO.

Bamuthi has built a singular career at the intersection of creativity, leadership, and social impact—from performing on Broadway and co-founding Youth Speaks to shaping civic and cultural strategy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Kennedy Center. Throughout it all, he has approached art not simply as expression, but as a tool for freedom, connection, and collective possibility.

Recorded live at the 2026 Tessitura Learning an...

Producer's Note: While Arts Unscripted is on summer hiatus, we're re-sharing a few of our favorite episodes from past seasons. Clive was actually the first guest to sit down and chat with Monica. The YoungArts application is open now through October 6th, so it's the perfect time to revisit how Clive thinks about supporting young, multi-disciplinary artists.

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Can legacy arts institutions innovate like start-ups? Clive Chang thinks so. As President and CEO of YoungArts, he's reimagining how a 40-year-old organization can support today's multi-disciplinary artists—by questioning everything, embracing experimentation, and making space for cre...

Producer's Note: While Arts Unscripted is on summer hiatus, we're re-sharing a few of our favorite episodes from past seasons. Cody recently celebrated Tony Award-winning runs with two Broadway productions: Ragtime and CATS: The Jellicle Ball. With CATS set to close on August 8, it's an apt moment to revisit Cody's reflections on the production (and grab tickets while you still can).

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Great theater starts by creating trusted conditions for talent and creativity to thrive.

Cody Renard Richard is a Tony Award-winning producer and stage manager whose career spans Broadway, television, opera, and eve...

Producer's Note: While Arts Unscripted is on summer hiatus, we're re-sharing a few of our favorite episodes from past seasons. Carlos Simon is the the inaugural Composer Chair of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Composer-in-Residence since 2021 at the Kennedy Center. Since we recorded earlier this year, his Good News Mass keeps finding new orchestras and new audiences. With its Midwest premiere on July 31st at Ravinia Music Festival, what better moment to go back and hear how Carlos has built his body of work.

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Music has the power to move a room. For composer...

Producer's Note: While Arts Unscripted is on summer hiatus, we're re-sharing a few of our favorite episodes from past seasons. Shanta Thake is the vision behind Lincoln Center's free Summer for the City festival happening right now through August 8 in New York. It's a good moment to go back and hear how she thinks about building a season for an entire city, not just a subscriber base.

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Shanta Thake sees artistic curation as a practice rooted in curiosity and community connection.

As the Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer at Lincoln Center for the...

A festival lasts only a few weeks or months each year, but the work of leading one never stops.

Jeffrey Haydon has spent his career at the helm of some of the country's most respected music festivals, including Ojai, Caramoor, and now Ravinia Festival, where he serves as President and CEO. Drawing on a background that bridges music and business, he has led major capital projects, expanded educational and community programs, and navigated moments of organizational transformation.

In this episode, Jeffrey reflects on what makes festivals such distinctive cultural institutions; the leadership lessons he's learned...

The Tony Awards often celebrate the names on a show poster, but every Broadway production is carried by countless artists whose work rarely fits neatly into a category. So in anticipation of this year's awards ceremony, we're spotlighting a few of the performers, collaborators, and creative forces behind nominated productions.

Beth Callen follows her curiosity wherever the music leads. A multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and educator, she has traveled from indie folk stages and an all-female Guns N' Roses tribute band to some of Broadway's most acclaimed productions, including Head Over Heels, A Strange Loop, Suffs, and now The...

The Tony Awards often celebrate the names on a show poster, but every Broadway production is carried by countless artists whose work rarely fits neatly into a category. So in anticipation of this year's awards ceremony, we're spotlighting a few of the performers, collaborators, and creative forces behind nominated productions.

Victor Vazquez has spent his career expanding the possibilities of who gets seen onstage and whose stories Broadway embraces. As the founder of X Casting and casting director for CATS: The Jellicle Ball, Victor has helped build one of the most joyful, original, and culturally electric productions...

The Tony Awards often celebrate the names on a show poster, but every Broadway production is carried by countless artists whose work rarely fits neatly into a category. So in anticipation of this year's awards ceremony, we're spotlighting a few of the performers, collaborators, and creative forces behind nominated productions.

Allison Blackwell knows the power of ensemble storytelling firsthand. Currently appearing in Ragtime at Lincoln Center Theater as Sarah's Friend, Allison is part of the acclaimed company behind one of Broadway's most resonant productions this season. She has built a career defined by extraordinary versatility, emotional depth...

Creative work is often romanticized as spontaneous: a flash of inspiration, a breakthrough moment, a burst of talent. In reality, many artists discover that creativity is less about sudden genius and more about the systems, rituals, and relationships that help ideas grow over time.

For Oliver Richman, creativity has been both an early spark and an evolving practice. As a child, his performances found an audience far beyond his years, from a widely shared rendition of "Defying Gravity" to performing alongside Stevie Wonder at just ten years old. Since then, he has continued exploring new creative paths...

Arts organizations thrive when teams stop operating in parallel and begin building together.

Take it from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, which is wrapping its biggest season in over a decade. By creating shared goals across teams and building systems that encourage communication instead of competition, the Symphony has seen unprecedented audience growth in just a few short years.

In this episode, Monica sits down with three leaders from across the organization—Director of Marketing Charles Buchanan, Director of Artistic Planning Melissa King, and Director of Learning & Engagement John Nolan—to explore how deeper collaboration has resh...

Susan Magsamen has spent her career arguing that creativity and aesthetic experiences are not luxuries, but biological necessities woven into how we heal, learn, and connect.

A researcher, educator, and co-author of the New York Times bestseller Your Brain on Art, Susan has become one of the leading voices in the growing field of neuroaesthetics: the science of how the arts and sensory experiences shape the brain and body. Through her work with the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins and the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, she has helped bridge the gap between scientific research and real-world...

Jacob Jonas consistently questions who dance is for, where it belongs, and how it can be sustained. 

From his early days as a street performer on Venice Beach to founding his own company at just 21, his work reflects a conviction that art must evolve alongside audiences. That perspective has shaped his drive to build new models for the field just as much as it has informed his creative practice.

In this episode, Jacob discusses expanding access to dance beyond traditional ticketed spaces, and bringing movement to the screen through his global platform Films.Dance. He a...

Giorgia Lupi has built a career at the intersection of design, storytelling, and information, treating data not as cold fact but as something deeply human. 

From organizing buttons in her grandmother's tailor shop in Italy to becoming a partner at Pentagram, her work consistently challenges the idea that analysis and artistry exist in separate worlds. 

In this episode, Giorgia reflects on her path from architecture to information design, and unpacks her philosophy of data humanism: an approach that embraces subjectivity, emotion, and storytelling as essential to how we understand data. She also talks about her wo...

What's the root of the audience growth problem? Relevance. Few people understand that better than Ruth Hartt.

Ruth has built a career at the intersection of performance and business innovation, moving from a 17-year career as a professional opera singer to advising cultural organizations on how to rethink audience engagement. Drawing on her work at the Clayton Christensen Institute and her deep grounding in the arts, Ruth challenges long-held assumptions about how and why people connect with cultural experiences.

In this episode, Ruth unpacks the limitations of traditional, product-centered marketing and makes the case for...

Libraries are often thought of as quiet repositories. But at their best, they are living, evolving spaces where culture is preserved, interpreted, and reimagined.

Brent Reidy serves as the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries at The New York Public Library—one of the most expansive and dynamic cultural collections in the world. With a career that spans musicology, consulting with arts institutions, and nearly a decade at NYPL, Brent brings a unique perspective on how libraries function not just as archives, but as active participants in the cultural ecosystem.

In this episode, Br...

The best leaders build conditions for others to shine. 

Derek A. Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer of Seattle Symphony and Benaroya Hall, has built his leadership philosophy around this very idea. Derek brings a thoughtful, people-centered approach to navigating the complexities of today's arts landscape, drawing on years of experience across major cultural institutions like the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center.

In this episode, Derek reflects on the power of servant leadership and how trust becomes the foundation for both strong teams and bold ideas. He also shares what it means to step into a s...

The beauty of theater isn't just what happens on stage. It's the community that forms around it. And increasingly, that community is being built online. 

Ashley Hufford is part of a growing group of creators leading that shift. A constant presence across New York's theater scene and on social media, she has built an audience of more than 100,000 followers who turn to her not for theater criticism, but for an invitation to try something new. What began as a pandemic-era hobby of posting about shows has grown into a kind of cultural bridge, connecting productions with new a...

Music has the power to move a room. For composer Carlos Simon, that effect was first felt in church, where music was both a creative act and a shared experience. 

Raised in a family steeped in ministry and musical tradition, Carlos grew up surrounded by gospel, jazz, and the spontaneity of worship. From playing organ by ear during Sunday services to his later work with orchestras, film, and opera, he has built a compositional voice that blurs boundaries: bridging sacred and secular, improvisation and form, tradition and innovation.

In this episode, Carlos traces his path t...

Sara Villagio believes some of the most important leadership lessons begin with listening.

Early in her tenure at Carnegie Hall, she made a point of meeting one-on-one with colleagues across the organization, setting the tone for a leadership style grounded in curiosity, collaboration, and learning from the people around you.

Now Chief Marketing Officer of the historic New York institution, Sara reflects on the moments and mentors that shaped her path from young musician to arts executive, and how she guides a cross-functional team of more than 60 people.

She also reflects on a...

A long history is a gift for any cultural institution, but it also invites a constant balancing act. How do you honor tradition while continuing to evolve for the future?

Pamela Tatge has spent the past decade exploring that question as Executive and Artistic Director of Jacob's Pillow, one of the world's most renowned dance institutions. Under her leadership, the Pillow has expanded from a seasonal festival into a year-round cultural hub, embraced a collaborative curatorial model, and explored how new technologies can broaden how dance is experienced and shared.

As Pamela marks her tenth...

Before audiences fall in love with a story, they fall into a world—one shaped by the unseen artistry that turns empty space into something alive.

Set and production designer Paul Tate dePoo III has built a career shaping the physical environments that hold our favorite stories. From intimate stages to large-scale productions, his work lives at the intersection of architecture, storytelling, and psychology, where space itself becomes a character.

In this episode, Paul reflects on how ideas move from sketch to stage, the collaborative nature of his work, and the responsibility designers carry in sh...

Before a performance is polished, premiered, or reviewed, it exists in a more vulnerable state. What happens when you invite audiences into that space?

As Executive Director of Works & Process, Duke Dang leads an organization built around that idea. By welcoming audiences into the rehearsal room—where new work is tested and shaped—Works & Process transforms performance from a finished product into a shared journey.

Under Duke's leadership, the organization has grown in scale and influence, setting the standard for how institutions can nurture artists at pivotal moments in their development. In this episode, Duke refl...

Great theater starts by creating trusted conditions for talent and creativity to thrive.

Cody Renard Richard is a Tony Award-winning producer and stage manager whose career spans Broadway, television, opera, and even Cirque du Soleil. Along the way, his backstage leadership has shaped acclaimed productions like the 2025 revival of Ragtime and this spring's CATS: The Jellicle Ball.

In this episode, Cody talks about what it really means to lead from behind the scenes, and why stage management is such a powerful training ground for leadership. He reflects on his path through the industry, how he's...

Aidan Connolly knows that institutional growth isn't just a matter of square footage. It's a test of values.

As Executive Director of Irish Arts Center in New York City, Aidan is leading the organization through a major expansion and transformation—one that requires not only bold vision, but the discipline to protect what made the institution matter in the first place. 

In this episode, Aidan reflects on what it takes to lead values-driven change, how his background in politics shaped his approach to advocacy and stakeholder management, and how arts organizations can become not just pre...

Risk is usually something leaders are told to minimize. But for Sammi Cannold, it's essential to success.

As an award-winning director across Broadway, film, and television, Sammi has built her career on ambitious projects—like staging Violet on a moving bus and reimagining Ragtime on Ellis Island. What stands out isn't just the boldness of the choices, but the intention behind them: using place and performance to help audiences experience even the most familiar stories in new ways. 

In this episode, Sammi shares how she found her voice as a young woman in a male-dominated fie...

If you could spend a year visiting arts organizations around the world, what patterns would start to emerge—and which assumptions would fall apart?

Last year, Andrew Recinos, President & CEO of Tessitura, embarked on a global listening tour that took him inside cultural institutions across ten countries. Despite vast differences in geography, scale, and discipline, he heard strikingly similar themes—of reconstruction, resilience, and the challenge of evolving without losing core purpose.

In this episode, Andrew explores what a global vantage point reveals about the state of the field, why innovation requires "eating good ideas," and...