Kristen Engebretsen  |  Development Consultant, Capacity Partners

Kristen is a nonprofit leader with 16 years of experience in the field of arts and education. In 2019 she joined Capacity Partners, a firm specializing in consulting with nonprofits. Additionally, she currently serves as the Director of Strategic Operations at CRE Outreach, a small theatre company in Los Angeles. She began with CRE Outreach as a teaching artist in 2003, helped the company incorporate as a nonprofit in 2007, and has served as a board member ever since, currently as the Vice President. Prior to becoming a full-time staff member of CRE Outreach in 2016, Kristen served as the Arts Education Policy Manager at Americans for the Arts for five years. There she was responsible for promoting public policies to advance arts education throughout the country. She was a prolific blogger, frequent speaker at national conferences, and was the mastermind behind the brand of publications, videos, and toolkits called the Arts Education Field Guide and the Arts Education Navigator. Before her stint in DC, she served at several arts organizations in Los Angeles, including the Music Center and the LA County Arts Commission. She has also been a teaching artist with several education organizations. She holds a Master of Education from Harvard and a Bachelors Degree from the University of Southern California. She works remotely for all of her current clients from her home in Takoma Park, Maryland with her daughter and dog, where she is an active volunteer with the Girl Scouts and an avid explorer of the U.S. National Parks.