Event will kick off with a Fireside Chat between New England Foundation for the Arts Executive Director Harold Steward and Arts Foundation Executive Director Julie Wake
August 26, 2025 (Cape Cod, MA) – The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod is excited to announce that registration is now open for its Creative Exchange Conference on Wednesday, October 8th, 8 am to 4 pm, at the Cotuit Center for the Arts.
“Whether you’re an artist, an arts leader, you work at an arts organization, or you’re simply interested in the arts, the Creative Exchange Conference is for you,” said Arts Foundation Executive Director Julie Wake. “It’s a chance to build your network, talk about your work, and gain insight into the creative sector. You’ll connect with others who are making a difference and leave inspired by the many ways arts and culture strengthen our community.”\
Tickets for the one-day professional development conference are $60 per person and can be purchased at https://artsfoundation.org/. Admission is open to the public and includes lunch, provided by Pizza Barbone in Hyannis, and a full lineup of entertainment, interactive conversations, and panel discussions centered on arts and culture.
The theme of this year’s conference is The Art of What’s Next, inviting artists to envision bold futures for their own work while gaining the tools, connections, and inspiration to keep creating in challenging times. This gathering is intended to support the artists who make our community vibrant and colorful, and to find concrete ways to move forward together as a creative sector.
The day will kick off with a Fireside Chat between New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Executive Director Harold Steward and Julie Wake.
An arts practitioner, cultural equity advisor, strategist, and educator, Steward was tapped by NEFA to lead the organization in 2023. In that capacity, Steward oversees a 49-year-old organization that invests in artists and communities; fosters equitable access to the arts; and enriches the cultural landscape in New England and the nation.
Earlier this year, Steward launched a series, From New England to the Nation, focused on strategies the arts sector can take in today’s uncertain political climate. “Yet, within this polarized landscape, I urge us all to lean on a powerful force for unity, healing and liberation at our fingertips: art,” he wrote in the first piece published at the beginning of February.
Steward said the series is intended to be a clarion call for artists, arts leaders, and arts and cultural organizations to “focus on being accountable. …It also talks about what it means to navigate this new normal in our lives where we’re navigating through rapid changes – one might say we’re going from one crisis to the next.”
After the Fireside Chat, Lecolion Washington, the executive director at the Community Music Center of Boston, will deliver the keynote speech.
Following lunch, attendees will have the opportunity to attend panel discussions that include:
Grant Writing That Gets Funded: This session will demystify the grant writing process through insights from funders and arts leaders, offering practical tools, sample language, and a mock proposal review to help artists and organizations craft stronger applications.
Creative Conversations: Back by popular demand, Creative Conversations explores how artists stay inspired; collaborate; connect with Cape Cod’s unique geography; and use their work to build community.
From Collaboration to Integration & Building Stronger Creative Ecosystems: A conversation that highlights innovative partnerships between municipalities and cultural organizations — from the Town of Franklin’s Arts Prescriptions initiative to Cape Cod CAN and Cotuit Center for the Arts — showing how collaboration can expand impact, strengthen services, and address community needs.
The Creative Exchange Conference is sponsored by William Raveis Real Estate Company; Massachusetts College of Art and Design; The Cape Cod Foundation; The Donald C. McGraw Foundation; The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod; John K. and Thirza F. Davenport Foundation; Southshore Playhouse Associates/Cape Cod Melody Tent; Seaside Cannabis; and Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast.
Businesses interested in sponsoring the Creative Exchange Conference should contact Arts Foundation Director of Development Amy Tuttle at atuttle@artsfoundation.org.
About the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod
Founded in 1987, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod’s mission is to support and strengthen a vibrant arts and cultural sector for everyone in the region. It fulfills its mission by funding grants; by increasing access to arts and culture in the region for all on Cape Cod; by advocating for more awareness on the impact the Cape’s creative economy has on our region and beyond; and by building a strong arts community network through membership as well as professional development opportunities that fall under its Creative Exchange program.