We were lucky to catch up with Angela Seals recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Angela, thanks for joining us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

In my 20 years as an arts manager, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to stay light and nimble in the work so that you can be responsive and innovative. It’s easy in the nonprofit world for things to get bogged down and overwrought, especially programs and projects that sustain for years. It’s just natural, in our desire to be deep and impactful, to make our work and processes ornate. The best way we can lead is with a touch that is, yes, impactful but also light, efficient, streamlined. That way we can pivot, see the big picture, and seize opportunities quickly.

Angela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Angela Seals has built a strong reputation as a creative project manager, leader, advocate, and speaker over an almost 20-year career spanning Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, PA, and Colorado Springs, CO.

Angela has served in variety of roles over the past decade on staff at the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, the local arts agency for El Paso & Teller counties of Colorado and the City of Colorado Springs, where she is now Executive Director. She has guided strategy, lead communications, partnerships, grant writing, and major programs including the ten-year regional cultural planning initiative “Arts Vision 2030”, the award-winning “Elevated by Art” campaign, the Peak Arts Prize, and the Business + Arts Lunch in coordination with the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC. She produced and hosted the “Peak Radar Live” online show and podcast in various forms from 2016-2022, becoming a well-loved voice for the regional arts scene as a speaker, emcee, and host. Angela served on the City of Colorado Springs’ Lodging and Auto Rental Tax citizen advisory committee and Public Art Master Plan steering committee, the Board of Visit Colorado Springs, and a variety of juries and committees with a focus on community engagement and public art.

Angela led live events at the internationally award-winning Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh for 6 years. As Program Manager for over 250,000 museum visitors annually, she was the founding coordinator of Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire, created the F.I.N.E. Artist Residency Series, and managed the American entry into the International Heritage Photographic Experience in 2010, the Fi’Art Family Art Festival with the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2009, the Meet the Makers series, DeCARstruction, and Carnival Spectaculaire (the Museum’s 25th Anniversary.) She co-produced “The MakeShop Show” for young makers, which was picked up by Scholastic Online in 2012.

Angela is also proud to have worked as Programming Assistant for The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, supporting the Trust Presents, Broadway series, CD Live! and Pittsburgh Dance Council, as well as for Carnegie Mellon University, and the Corcoran Gallery and College of Art + Design in Washington, D.C.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I like to lead by folding people into a larger story – that applies to staff, stakeholders and partners, and the regional arts community I work with here in Colorado. I think people want to understand how their individual experience and contributions are actively building a larger momentum and a larger impact, together, sometimes without realizing it. As leaders with a larger perspective of our organization’s life or of our region’s growth, we can interpret to others how very valuable and necessary their work is to something greater. When each of us understands how we’re part of a collective story, we are more inspired in our work, more committed to the results, and more committed to each other over time. So do a lot of reflecting back to my staff and my colleagues and our local creatives how relevant and valued they are as we build the creative future together.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In November 2021, I went on my first personal retreat. I crashed at a little AirBnB in Pagosa Springs, Colorado that looked like a little mountain grandma’s house. I was exhausted and feeling like something big needed to change professionally, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how to do a personal retreat, but as the hours waned on and I got more rest, I found that I could hear myself more clearly than ever before.

By February, I announced that I was leaving my longtime organization of the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region after 9 years and launching my own arts consulting practice. I had never imagined myself being an entrepreneur, but I went out on that tightrope. In the 8 months that followed, I created Relevant Project Studio, LLC (www.RelevantProjectStudio.com). I dove into a 6-month, dual-certificate program through Cornell University to learn and grow, I worked with a great business coach, and engaged an early client list that reflected my values. It was a huge season of self-actualization, freedom, some confusion and loneliness, but really activating my inner self in the outer world.

By December, something very unexpected happened. The Cultural Office parted ways with the Executive Director, and invited me to return as interim E.D. I have always deeply loved the work and it felt like a chance to go home … but I had to really consider what that would mean for the story I had been telling myself about flying off on my own. We glamorize narratives about the entrepreneurial dream and independence and linear progress that I had to wrestle with as I thought about “turning around” 8 months later and “going back.” Did it mean I wasn’t brave? Did it mean I had failed?

I believe the stories we tell ourselves about our lives are very, very important. And it’s equally important to be able to rework our stories when they end up being different than the one we thought we were in. A lot of pain and confusion comes from needing to actively rewrite the story in your head to better align with what is true and what can be.

Returning was the best, most beautiful choice for me, and it has ended up being a very natural advancement, not going backward. I’ve been able to leverage everything that was actualizing in me to transform this organization I really care about, inspire other people, and set a bold course. The story took surprise turn, but it has never gone backward. And I know that whatever lies ahead, I’ll work to write a story that is true to life, compassionate toward myself, and open to surprises.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.CulturalOffice.org / www.RelevantProjectStudio.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelaseals/

Image Credits
Headshot: by Kira Whitney Photography Speaking in a pink dress: by Gray Filter Photography Kneeling: artist is Wade Kramm, photographed by Don Orkoskey Blue stage: with David Siegel, photographed by 3 Peaks Photography