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Presenter

LaNesha DeBardelaben

Executive Director, Northwest African American Museum

Michigan-native LaNesha DeBardelaben has spent her career in education and museum work. She relocated to Seattle in December 2017 when she was appointed Executive Director of the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) in Seattle. Under LaNesha’s strategic leadership, NAAM is repositioning itself for accelerated growth, community and regional engagement, and national accreditation. Through the hard work of a strong team, they have initiated new impactful partnerships and have expanded NAAM’s educational programming. In 2019, NAAM was one of only 15 museums in the country as a finalist for the nation’s highest and most prestigious award – the 2019 National Medal for Museum Service Award. Additionally, NAAM won the 2019 Exhibition of the Year Award from the Associaiton of King County Historical Organizations for its Bold as Love: Jimi Hendrix at Home exhibtion.

Prior to relocating to Seattle, LaNesha was Senior Vice President of Education & Exhibitions at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan, the nation’s second largest African American museum. Her 15+ year career in museums began at the National Museum of Kenya in Africa, and she has studied museums and libraries internationally in Ghana, South Africa, England, Germany, and Israel.

As a public historian, LaNesha has contributed scholarly writings to national publications. She is the national President of the Association of African American Museums (AAAM) Board of Directors. LaNesha also serves on the national Board of Directors of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and locally she serves on the Board of Directors of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

Our Sponsors

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    Dream Warrior Group provides graceful yet technologically savvy solutions for Arts organizations. The goal-driven services focus on audience and action. As your technology advocate, we will be your ally and can manage and fully implement your online presence. Our services (à la carte or contracted) include: Web site design and development, e-marketing, e-promotion, social media management and optimization. We implement your message in a digital environment.

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    Substrakt is a leading digital agency specialising in the arts and culture sector. We partner with over 70 cultural organisations around the world to create digital experiences that connect people to art, ideas and each other. We’re here to make cultural experiences more accessible, engaging and impactful through thoughtful design, smart technology and strategic thinking.

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    InstantEncore connects Arts & Culture Organizations with their communities through beautifully designed, affordable and easy to navigate digital engagement tools. IE partners with Arts Organizations to bring their mobile apps and digital programs to life, ensuring a positive experience for audiences of all ages.

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    BroadwayWorld is the largest theatre site on the internet, covering Broadway, the West End and beyond to 100 US cities, 45 countries and in 12 languages worldwide. With over six million monthly visitors, BroadwayWorld delivers complete up-to-the-minute Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatre news, in-depth interviews, extraordinary photo coverage, entertaining video features, lively message boards, ticket discounts, reviews, and more.

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    F+H Partners offers tailored development and planning services for arts and culture organizations of all sizes. With our extensive experience as advancement professionals and consultants, we collaborate directly with you to strengthen your fundraising and deepen your impact. Our personalized approach, informed by best practices and pragmatic solutions, has contributed to millions of dollars raised for our partners. We focus on building organizational capacity, ensuring you internalize the tools and processes for long-term success by actively working with you to translate robust plans into ongoing achievements.

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    Spektrix is a complete solution for ticketing, marketing, fundraising, and CRM, designed specifically for the performing arts. With world-class technology and support, Spektrix helps 650+ organizations across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. grow their revenue and deepen patron relationships. Powerful, intuitive software, at-a-glance insights, frequent and seamless upgrades, training, support, and strategic consultation with experienced professionals come at no additional cost - making Spektrix the fastest-growing solution for arts organizations today.

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    CourseStorm is an easy-to-use class registration and marketing platform perfect for arts & culture education programs and kids camps. Our cloud-based system offers a single platform to manage individual and group course registration, payment processing, rosters, waitlists, attendance tracking, customizable registration forms, class communication, and more. Learn more at https://www.coursestorm.com

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    NEW Marketing Solutions is a full-service marketing and audience development firm built around the audience development trifecta: marketing, ticketing, and experience.

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    EleeHub was founded in 2021 to address a critical gap in the nonprofit marketing domain. It became evident that most nonprofits could be categorized into three groups: those unaware of the Google Ad Grant, those who had attempted to utilize it but were deterred by its complexity, and those engaged with costly consultants yielding minimal or expensive outcomes. EleeHub emerged as a beacon for small to mid-sized nonprofits seeking an efficient, cost-effective, and impactful marketing strategy.

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