Calling culture leaders!

Let's connect, converse, and co-create so we can be stronger together.

Grays Harbor is one of the most beautiful and varied places to live, work, play, and stay. Beaches, forests, arts, and history create new and different experiences around every corner.

Culture organizations steward everything from coastal interpretation to timber history and today's environmental restoration. We have music, arts, theater, pirates, and more.

We asked and learned. 

Grays Harbor culture leaders say that top challenges they face are how to:

• Attract new and diverse people to their mission.
• Develop sustainable fundraising.
• Collaborate as a culture sector in a rural county that is bigger than some States.
• Engage volunteers.
• Sustain a future-focus.

Area newcomers and youth want to know more about what's available and how to get involved. 

One stakeholder interview asked: "What arts and cultural heritage activities will people find in Grays Harbor that they can't find anyplace else?" A common response was "I don't know."

Are you involved in a culture organization? 

You are invited. 

Staff, Board, committee members, employees, volunteers: all!

Me & We: Future Visions of Success for Culture Leaders

Join this three-month workshop co-lab series designed to 

🔆 Deep dive on 3 top success factors for culture leaders:

1.  Fundraising
2.  Create your Ideal Board 
3.  Engage your Volunteer Base

🔆 Create connections and conversations 

🔆 Plant seeds of collaboration.

Together, we are stronger and smarter. 

Let's work together for vitality within and between our organizations.

Sign up today to begin.

Save the Dates

10/3, 11/7, 12/5 First Tuesdays 3pm - 4:30pm PT

Zoom Tech Check at 2:46pm

Kick Off Orientation Session: Tuesday, September 26 3pm - 4:30pm PT

To finalize your registration, complete the Intake Survey: link in your welcome email. Responses due by 5pm on October 2 for your completed registration. 

Sessions will be on Zoom, designed using the XCHANGE approach, an energizing method for strategic team building online and in-person.

FAQ: How can this program be free of charge?

Since 2021, Sheila is on a mission to discover Grays Harbor's culture sector landscape. In her development and executive director roles in Seattle, she was a key representative in national cohorts with Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), Emily Hall Tremaine, and Joan Mitchell Foundation for artist support. She led city-agency collaborations for arts education and projects for ArtsWA's Creative Economy Vitality Index.

Naturally, Sheila wants to make big-picture sense of the Grays Harbor culture sector. Sheila recently researched for 18 months, speaking with arts and culture leaders, conservation leaders, and residents. She discovered that culture leaders face challenges mentioned above while newcomers and long-time residents are unaware of what makes up Grays Harbor character. 

So, she created this invitational co-lab to connect with culture leaders, support foundational learning, and create connections across the sector so all boats can rise with the tide.

There is no charge, however response to several surveys is required. When you register, you'll receive a welcome email with a link to the intake survey. Responses will be used to design the sessions.

Me & We: Future Visions of Success for Culture Leaders Round 1 will run through 2023.

"Sheila's guidance has been invaluable in showing me creative ways to create meaningful conversation landscapes about the Coastal Interpretive Center with my Board, staff, and public". 

Barbara Hayford, Executive Director, Coastal Interpretive Center

Meet Sheila Siden

Sheila helps nonprofit and social enterprise leaders who are frustrated and disappointed with their results so they can get on the same page with their teams, communicate, and enjoy working together to make their mission happen. 

In the business of philanthropy for over twenty years, Sheila is an experienced leader, MBA, and life-long learner. 

Sheila's local client, the Coastal Interpretive Center, completed their first Board Retreat. Sheila led fundraising and development in cultural institutions like Nikkei Heritage Association of WA, Artist Trust, and Northwest Folklife.

As an XCHANGE Guide, Sheila helps culture leaders adapt and evolve from within and together so they can create their vision of success for themselves, their teams, and their mission.

Sheila has called the WA North Beach home since 2010. When she's not zooming locally and globally, you can find her tilling her gardens, beach walking, forest bathing, or herding cats.

Unlock Collective Wisdom

Strategic team building helps leaders and groups get on the same page, communicate, and enjoy working together to make their mission happen.

Stronger Together

What possibility are you inspired to create for you, your team, and your community?

Don't miss this opportunity to learn, connect, and create your future.

Forests, rivers, and beaches. Oh my.

To live, work, and play in Grays Harbor is to immerse yourself in natural environments from Pacific Ocean surf, to the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, to Olympic National Forests and the vast riparian Copalis River watershed in between.

Innovations in environmental restoration are mitigating the great timber industry of the past that physically changed the landscape.

Action sports deliver direct experiences of beaches and forests.

Arts, theater, music, and historic ephemera are alive and well.

Let's connect as culture leaders for strategic team building so together we can strengthen the culture sector that creates our quality of life in Grays Harbor.