Unlock Your Organization’s Impact Potential
Are you an arts and culture program director eager to measure and amplify your impact—but unsure where to start?
Contina Impact, in partnership with Third Plateau, is launching a free, grant-funded 10-week program evaluation capacity-building cohort for arts and culture organizations across the United States.
Arts and culture are essential to a thriving, diverse democratic society, fostering creativity, civic engagement, and shared understanding across communities. Equipping leaders with the tools to measure the impact of their work fortifies these vital programs.
The Spring–Summer 2025 Arts and Culture Evaluation Lab is officially underway. We’re excited to support this inaugural cohort and hope to offer additional opportunities in the future.
Contina Impact’s Learning Cohorts are pilot programs designed to address critical gaps in the nonprofit sector by fostering professional growth, building organizational capacity, and providing tailored technical assistance. Each offering focuses on a distinct area of support: service-specific communities of practice, field-specific capacity-building cohorts, and skill-based technical assistance.
Through a structured yet flexible learning environment, participants in the Arts and Culture Evaluation Lab will gain the knowledge and tools to assess program impact, refine strategies, and adapt to their communities’ evolving needs. Led by professional evaluators from Third Plateau, this cohort will guide you in designing a tailored evaluation plan that fits your organization’s unique needs and resources. This initiative is designed to help organizations and program leaders who recognize the power of evaluation but may lack the resources to implement it effectively.
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The cohort is open to arts and culture organizations across the United States that meet the following criteria:
Annual operating budgets under $2 million and/or program budgets under $500,000
Participants must be able to commit to the 10-week cohort, with weekly meetings held on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 3:00 PM (Eastern) between early April and mid-June
Limited ability to hire external evaluators due to budgetary constraints
A commitment to learning and applying program evaluation to improve their work
One or more programs that you are ready to evaluate
A focus on arts and culture broadly defined (e.g., visual arts, performing arts, music, theater, cultural heritage, arts education)
Participants must be in a role that is primarily responsible for the design and evaluation of programs
To access the full list of application questions, please visit the Google document linked here.
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Participants will:
Gain practical evaluation skills that align with your organization’s mission and programs.
Develop a logic model and impact framework to strengthen your organization’s storytelling.
Learn how to collect and analyze data using equitable, culturally responsive approaches.
Engage in a collaborative learning environment with peers in the arts and culture sector.
Build a sustainable approach to evaluation that enhances your organization’s long-term success.
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This program is designed to be engaging, interactive, and adaptable to your needs. Participants can expect:
Weekly Cohort Sessions: Live, synchronous discussions on key evaluation concepts, best practices, and real-world applications. Synchronous cohort sessions will take place on Wednesdays from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM (Eastern).
Hands-On Support & Office Hours: Dedicated time to apply newly acquired skills to your organization’s evaluation needs.
20 Hours of Interactive Learning: Approximately 2 hours per week over 10 weeks, including live sessions, workshops, and peer learning activities.
Flexible Independent Work (30 min – 1 hour per week): Optional activities to reinforce session learnings and prepare for discussions.
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Identifying program outcomes and developing logic models
Designing equitable and culturally responsive evaluation plans
Collecting data through mixed-methods, participatory, and arts-based approaches
Analyzing and interpreting data to derive meaningful insights
Storytelling and communicating evaluation findings to diverse audiences
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Contina Impact has partnered with Third Plateau, a social impact and philanthropy consulting firm that partners with nonprofits, philanthropists, and the public sector to create transformative, community-centered impact. Third Plateau’s mission is to help make social change ecosystems healthy and whole, and through this grant-funded evaluation cohort, they are investing in arts and cultural organizations as a vital part of a robust and healthy civic society. Third Plateau believes that data plays a critical role in designing evidence-based strategies, measuring progress, evaluating programs, and inspiring action through shared knowledge.
Meet the faculty, Elena Chernock and Lance Bitner-Laird, below.
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If you have any questions or need assistance regarding the Arts and Culture Evaluation Lab, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Elena Chernock at elena.chernock@thirdplateau.com.
Meet the Faculty
Our cohort is led by experts who are passionate about empowering arts and culture organizations through transformative evaluation. With extensive experience in research and evaluation within the creative and nonprofit sectors, our faculty are dedicated to helping you assess impact, refine strategies, and drive meaningful change.
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Director, Research & Evaluation, Third Plateau
Elena Chernock (she/her) is a Director of Research & Evaluation at Third Plateau, where she leads mixed-methods projects supporting foundations and nonprofits in organizational learning, program quality, and data-driven decision-making. With over 20 years of experience as an artist, arts educator, program director, and evaluator, Elena specializes in the nonprofit arts and culture sector, particularly in arts education, community building, civic engagement, and social justice. She is dedicated to community-centered, creative, and participatory research and evaluation. Elena holds a B.A. in Visual and Media Arts from Emerson College and an M.F.A. in Arts Leadership from Seattle University.
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Senior Associate, Research & Evaluation, Third Plateau
Lance (he/him) is a Senior Associate on the Research & Evaluation Team at Third Plateau, where he helps clients build evaluation capacity and assess program impact. With experience leading both formative and summative evaluations across a range of sectors, Lance has worked with organizations of all sizes — from small nonprofits to large foundations — to integrate data-informed decision-making. He is dedicated to using participatory, liberatory approaches in his research and evaluation work. He previously worked at Mathematica, using data to inform social sector clients like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Lance holds a B.S. in Sociology, with High Distinction, from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
