Innovation Lab for the Arts

New York, New York

Over seven years, 49 arts organizations nationwide participated in EmcArts’ Innovation Lab for the Arts — a rigorously designed program that created the conditions for cultural institutions to take strategic risks, prototype new ideas, and strengthen their capacity to adapt in the face of complex change.

National versions of the Lab were developed for performing arts organizations, museums, and arts development agencies, each supporting leaders in designing and implementing experiments that addressed systemic challenges across the arts ecosystem.

CSC was engaged by EmcArts to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Innovation Lab’s impact and to synthesize learning from across cohorts. The inquiry examined how adaptive practice influenced participating organizations and explored the Lab’s potential to inform broader cross-sector initiatives.

The work focused on:

• Identifying patterns of organizational transformation
• Examining how structured experimentation strengthened adaptive capacity
• Assessing relational and leadership shifts within participating institutions
• Articulating principles emerging from the field of adaptive practice

Rather than measuring discrete program outputs, the assessment explored how organizations evolved — culturally, structurally, and relationally — through intentional risk-taking and learning.

The resulting resource contributed to the emerging field of adaptive practice, offering insights into how cultural organizations — and potentially other sectors — can cultivate the internal conditions necessary for sustainable innovation.

This engagement reflects CSC’s broader commitment to advancing adaptive capacity as a core dimension of transformational change — aligning experimentation, reflection, and institutional design to strengthen long-term resilience.