Piedmont Arts is seeking input on its future and how it can positively impact the community. The museum will use this feedback to create a new strategic plan that will guide its goals through the next five years.
Community members are asked to complete a public input survey about their experiences at Piedmont Arts and how the museum can shape these experiences going forward. The survey will go live on Aug. 1 and remain open through Sept. 30. It can be accessed on the museum’s website at PiedmontArts.org/info/Public-Input-Survey.cfm.
Members of the public are also invited to a listening session about Piedmont Arts from 6-7 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 10, at the museum. The listening session will give participants the opportunity to share their opinions in a safe and welcoming space and hear from others about the impact of the arts in the community.
A listening session for members of Piedmont Arts will be held from 6-7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 11, at the museum.
The museum’s strategic planning process is being facilitated by Natalie Hodge Davis and Jennifer Reis.
Hodge Davis is a seasoned facilitator, speaker and lifelong arts advocate with a deep commitment to community-centered storytelling. A former president of the Piedmont Arts board of directors and the 2023 recipient of the prestigious Clyde Hooker Award, she brings a wealth of experience in strategic leadership and creative engagement. As founder of Rudy’s Girl Media, she has spent her career using narrative to inspire, uplift and mobilize communities. Her work co-facilitating Piedmont Arts’ strategic planning process reflects her ongoing dedication to ensuring the arts remain a vibrant, accessible force in Southern Virginia and beyond.
“Strategic planning is more than paperwork,” said Hodge Davis. “It’s a promise to listen, to grow and to imagine a future shaped by the people who live, work and create here. When community voices lead the way, the arts become a mirror of who we are and a map for where we’re going. The process only works if it’s honest — and that means making space for real community input. We can’t serve people with programs designed in a vacuum. This planning process is about slowing down long enough to hear what matters most and building from there.”
Reis is a creative entrepreneur, arts administrator, artist, author and educator with 30 years of experience in arts entrepreneurship and management. A master facilitator for adult learning initiatives such as AIR Collaborative’s courses in arts-based community and economic revitalization, she is also an arts entrepreneurship curricular consultant for Nest NYC, Triangle Artworks in the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina and the Tamarack Foundation in Charleston, West Virginia. Formerly arts entrepreneurship faculty at UNCG, she is utilizing a decade of experience teaching artists and artisans creative venture development and is currently the lead author of the forthcoming book via Routledge, “The Creative Entrepreneur: A Practical Guide.” Through her consulting company Make Do Creative, she works with community and economic development, trade, governmental and cultural organizations to design, manage and deliver creative entrepreneurship curriculum for makers of all kinds to develop sustainable ventures. For more than a decade, she has provided strategic planning facilitation for cultural organizations ranging from large, international associations to smaller, local arts agencies. Her earned degrees include a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design and graduate work in arts management, instructional design, studio art and arts education from Syracuse University, UNC-Greensboro and Morehead State University.
“The strategic planning process is just that — a process that involves community and stakeholder engagement, review of an organization’s assets and needs and the invaluable opportunity for the board of directors to envision a thriving future for Piedmont Arts,” Reis said.
For more information on Piedmont Arts, visit PiedmontArts.org.
