Constellations Cultural Studio designs and develops arts and cultural strategy, public engagement, and creative projects. We connect people, places, art, and ideas for the purpose of nurturing vibrant communities and cultural ecosystems. 

We know that bringing people together through arts and culture can improve the capacity of communities to experience joy, deepen mutual empathy, navigate challenges, and forge promising futures. We want more people to experience these benefits, and the cultural ecosystems that support them to thrive. 

Our Approach

Arts, culture, and community are the heart of our practice. Our process is grounded in arts- and humanities-based methodologies that center communities, facilitate partnerships, and invite discovery of opportunities for growing stronger together.

The projects we produce enhance the capacity of our clients to better understand the dynamics of their cultural ecosystems, imagine new ways to thrive, and serve their communities more effectively. We customize creative responses that address specific community needs and build trust among stakeholders. We invest time in the initial stages to clearly articulate the purpose, opportunities, parameters, and anticipated impact of a project. From there, we work with clients to:

01

Contextualize

Illuminate assets, partners, resources, challenges, and understandings shaping an issue.

02

Analyze

Use field expertise, best practices, and data to surface what’s working and what’s not, identify opportunities for amplifying strengths, and enhance focus on impact goals.

03

Create

Articulate a vision that elevates client goals and advances community priorities, define steps to get there, and iterate as we test and learn throughout the life of a project to ensure outcomes meet client and community needs.

04

Present

Reports, presentations, plans, programs, and culminating events – each project calls for a unique response. We deliver what clients need to engage their intended audiences, to innovate, and to promote connections between constituents

Our Services: Strategy. Engagement. Creative Projects.

Constellations Cultural Studios brings people, places, art, and ideas together to facilitate: 

  • arts and humanities field-building
  • community planning and development
  • creative economic development
  • tourism
  • cultural heritage preservation
  • civic participation
  • public/audience engagement
  • community wellbeing

and a range of other potential outcomes in which arts and culture can propel results.

We work with government, universities, non-profit arts and humanities organizations, community foundations and funders, downtown/neighborhood associations, artists, and cultural service providers. And we hope to work with you!

Our services include:

Strategy

  • cultural planning and strategy development
  • community asset mapping
  • project direction and/or management
  • policy-making
  • grant writing
  • program evaluation and/or impact assessment
  • program documentation and reporting

Capacity-Building

  • partnership development
  • technical assistance
  • interim arts management
  • transition planning
  • networking and convening

Engagement

  • public engagement program design
  • networking and community/stakeholder engagement
  • team-building (e.g. coalition development; corporate/community retreats)
  • facilitation
  • public speaking

Creative Projects

  • arts and/or public humanities program development
  • creative process design
  • event planning and/or production
  • informal learning, including online and hybrid
  • digital/print/media content development

Want to learn more about our work?

We’d love to hear your ideas and how our expertise may be of use.

Schedule a 30-minute conversation

Let’s Talk

About Us

We are a women-owned social enterprise based in Rhode Island dedicated to creating arts and humanities projects that connect people, places, art, and ideas for the purpose of nurturing vibrant communities and cultural ecosystems. 

Our studio draws on our decades of experience leading civic cultural initiatives; producing cultural policy; facilitating interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration; investigating arts and public humanities research topics; developing creative placemaking; designing in-person and online learning experiences; producing public programs, digital content, and large-scale events; and commissioning public art.

Our Vision

The cultural constellations that we delineate and nurture strengthen strategic collaborations across disciplines, issues, and perspectives to promote community wellbeing and resilience, civic engagement, cultural sector field-building, and more. 

We measure our success in dimensions that reflect the strength of the cultural organizations we serve, and their deepened engagement with and impact in public/civic/community life. 

Our Values

We believe in the value of attending to our shared humanity; nurturing optimism; and advancing a just, inclusive, and equitable cultural life. In our projects and work, we value efforts to observe and understand, strengthen and uplift, imagine, energize, and inspire.

Stephanie P. Fortunato

(Co-Founder & CEO) is a public humanist and parent on a mission to inspire discovery, delight, and understanding by exploring the transformative power of arts and culture with communities. Stephanie’s approach is informed by her experience within city government where she served as director of Providence’s Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, working at the intersection of cultural planning and community development. Throughout her career, Stephanie has collaborated with local communities to co-create arts-based policies, programs, and partnerships that aim to strengthen neighborhoods, facilitate connections, and animate public spaces. She works as a consultant specializing in arts and cultural strategy and public engagement. Stephanie is the Global Cultural Districts Network’s Special Projects Director and co-host of its podcast The Three Bells, produced by AEA Consulting. In addition to her MA in Public Humanities from Brown University (2008), she holds a BA in humanities from Providence College. 

stephanie@culturalconstellations.com | LinkedIn

Julia Lazarus

(Co-Founder & Director of Strategic Design) is an experience designer and cultural program producer who develops creative public engagement, public humanities, and strategic cultural planning projects. She was the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities’ Culture is Key Fellow on its initiative to develop a civic health index for Rhode Island, and served as Assistant Director of Online Learning & Innovation at Brown University’s School of Professional Studies, where her team developed and delivered online and blended courses for high school students, Brown undergraduates, professional adults, and Brown’s global public. Her prior work included museum programming, educational technology, multimedia content production, community journalism, and film projects. In addition to her MA in Public Humanities from Brown University (2007), she holds degrees in literature from Duke University (MA) and Wesleyan University (BA). She is passionate about making art and ideas accessible and relevant to audiences, and the ways in which culture contributes to vibrant civic life and public spaces. 

julia@culturalconstellations.com  | LinkedIn