boot camp 2025 Schedule
Get ready for two days of strategy-packed, super-inspiring sessions. Schedule is subject to change.
Thursday,
Nov. 6, 2025
9:00-10:00 AM ET
Registration + Light Fare
10:00-10:25 AM ET
Opening Remarks
10:25-11:20 AM ET
What Data Reveals About the Shifting Landscape of Arts and Culture
Jen Benoit-Bryan, Executive Director of SMU DataArts, reveals data on shifting revenues, rising costs, and other sector-wide pressures in arts and culture, offering benchmarks and insights to inform strategy, inspire new thinking, and ground board conversations.
11:20-11:45 AM ET
Morning Break
11:45 AM-12:40 PM ET
Permission to Wonder: Rethinking Strategy in the Age of AI
Jen Taylor, Director of AI Strategy & Integration at Capacity Interactive, helps you explore the ethical tensions, organizational gaps, and creative possibilities AI is surfacing in the arts, leaving you with a clearer compass for what matters, what’s possible, and what questions to bring back to your team.
12:40-1:40 PM ET
Lunch
1:40-2:50 PM ET
Feeding the Content Machine: Building a Digital Strategy That Never Stops Working
Leaders from Kaufman Music Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the National Gallery of Art show you how to build a modern content strategy, balancing resources, testing new formats, and keeping your audiences at the center while fueling your organization’s content engine.
2:50-3:20 PM ET
Inside YouTube: Audience Insights and Cultural Trends for Arts Marketers
Maddy Buxton, YouTube’s Culture & Trends Manager for the US and Canada, will share how arts organizations can succeed on YouTube, backed by the latest audience insights and cultural shifts shaping the platform. You’ll discover who is watching, how viewing behaviors are changing, and what types of content are sparking global conversations.
3:20-3:45 PM ET
Afternoon Break
3:45-4:40 PM ET
The Power of Participation: How Reddit Helps Arts Organizations Build Trust and Audiences
Sam Bednarchik, Sr. Client Partner at Reddit, shows you how to engage online communities to build loyal audiences, offering practical guidance on when and how to show up, tap into conversations, and create more human, relevant marketing for your arts organization.
4:40-5:40 PM ET
From Courts to Curtain Calls: Lessons from Sports for Building Audiences
Amber Cox, COO of the Indiana Fever joins Keia Clarke, CEO of the New York Liberty in conversation with CI’s President Christopher Williams to discuss how arts and culture can borrow strategies from professional sports to deepen audience connection, engage new fans, and cultivate the next generation of superfans.
5:40-5:45 PM ET
Closing Remarks
5:45-7:15 PM ET
Reception
FRiday,
Nov. 7, 2025
9:00-10:00 AM ET
Arrival + Light Fare
10:00 - 10:05 AM ET
Opening Remarks
10:05-11:05 AM ET
CI to Eye Live: Deborah F. Rutter on Leading Through Disruption and Designing for Resilience
Deborah Rutter, former Kennedy Center President and current Duke University Vice Provost for the Arts, joins Monica Holt, Senior Advisor at CI and host of CI to Eye, for a live podcast sharing essential lessons on leading transformational growth, building resilient teams, and sustaining creativity to drive lasting impact in arts organizations.
11:05-11:30AM ET
Morning Break
11:30-12:30 PM ET
Beyond Ticket Sales and Grants: Reimagining How We Finance the Arts
Moderated by Mass Cultural Council Executive Director Michael J. Bobbitt, this panel brings together voices from government agencies, social impact investing, and cross-sector partnerships to explore how we stop competing for "arts money" and start creating value propositions that make financing the arts a strategic business and policy decision.
12:30-1:30 PM ET
Lunch
1:30-2:00 PM ET
stellar arts marketing reel
Get excited for a longtime Boot Camp favorite: the Stellar Arts Marketing Reel, showcasing standout video from arts and culture organizations in the past year. This session celebrates creativity, innovation, and storytelling that captivates and inspires.
2:00-2:55 PM ET
First-Person Content: How Human Stories Power Audience Growth
CI’s Aly Gomez and Sana Colter reveal why first-person content is essential for creating authentic, audience-centered storytelling that draws people into your art and drives deeper connection—without requiring big budgets or fancy gear.
2:55-3:20 PM ET
Afternoon Break
3:20-4:15 PM ET
Non-Billionaire Owned Social Media: A Look at Skylight Social
Tori White, Co-Founder of Skylight Social, will explore how decentralized platforms put ownership and control back into the hands of creators, what that means for artists and marketers, and how you can get ahead of a transformation that’s reshaping the social media landscape.
4:15-5:10 PM ET
SEO + AEO: Navigating the next frontier of search
Dan Titmuss, Senior SEO Consultant at Capacity Interactive, shows you how to make your content “answer engine friendly,” ensuring your arts organization is discoverable in AI-driven search and chat results and turning audience curiosity into engagement and ticket sales.
5:10-5:40 PM ET
session coming soon
5:40-5:50 PM ET
closing remarks
