We are excited to share that after assessing the evolution of our organizations and opportunities to be of the highest and best service to the cultural sector, we have agreed to CultureSource’s acquisition of EmcArts.

Approved unanimously by both organizations’ boards of directors, EmcArts will dissolve and transfer its assets to CultureSource, which will then take the reins in deepening and expanding the work of helping people through the arts ecosystem build adaptive capacities, make change, and innovate iteratively, beginning July 2022.

The timing of this collaboration could not be more urgent.

Spurred by Covid-19 and other societal disruptions, the cultural sector is experiencing historic upheaval revealing insufficiencies of traditional planning and operating practices and the opportunities for building new changemaking muscles.

As a result of this acquisition, CultureSource’s Southeast Michigan programs and support to our members will become much more robust. Additionally, CultureSource will root national service in its existing local practice, using its Metro Detroit home base as an incubator of ideas and talent accessible across the US and Canada.

This transaction is also a significant act of EmcArts stewarding investments that have been made in its capacity over two decades, and it means that the legacy and vision of EmcArts co-founder and long-time president Richard Evans will continue to grow, despite his untimely death in April 2022 after a brief battle with an aggressive cancer.

As validation of this acquisition strategy, in December 2021 CultureSource received funding from SeaChange Capital to cover due diligence expenses. SeaChange is a national nonprofit that specializes in investing in nonprofits changing how they do business, most often resourcing mergers and acquisitions—and we are encouraged and honored that they believed in the potential of ours.

We look forward to continuing to work together on advancing adaptive capacities in the arts and culture ecosystem.

For more information contact Omari Rush, CultureSource executive director at [email protected].