The Community Arts Training Institute

A new organization. A 30 year legacy.

In 2025, The Community Arts Training Institute was established as an independent non-profit organization.

As a program of the Regional Arts Commission from 1997-2025, CAT trained over 350 fellows in developing collaborative community-based arts programs. CAT focuses on the belief that art has the power to be an agent for social and civic change, and brings together community-focused artists of all disciplines and their partners, including social workers, educators, grassroots organizers, and civic leaders who are committed to collaborative community building through the arts.

In 2026, The Community Arts Training Institute is building its distinct identity and infrastructure and developing the organization's governance, operations, and funding strategies.

Our Mission

The Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute harnesses the power of the arts to advance social change. We equip artists and community partners to lead creative initiatives and strengthen the field of arts-based community development through research, network building, and convenings.

Our Vision

We envision a joyful and just future where people activate and build their collective creative power and agency, using the arts to amplify voices, foster radical change, and nurture the seeds of hope.

Our Values

  • We believe our work must be rooted in collaboration and shared agency. We are replacing a model of doing things for people in our communities to one in which we work with them - side by side - to create a better world we wish to live in together. Never extractive, our partnerships engage community members, not to just take part in our work, but to determine and direct it.

  • We are an institute that focuses on sharing the power of community arts through training, research, skill sharing, and technical support. We take an inquisitive and practice-based approach to education. Our work is richer when we honor our past, lean on the wisdom in the room, champion our alumni, and integrate lived experiences.

  • We understand the significance of our connection to one another and our broader communities. Our togetherness is necessary, and we must focus on building trusting, ethical, and authentic engagement in order to thrive.

  • Our work is justice-centered and civically-engaged. We are a catalyst for positive change. Organizing and activism inform our work, and we work to ensure community members are able to freely exercise their agency and power.

  • Our work is rooted in the arts and all forms are necessary to bring inspiration, imagination, and fun to the positive changes we will achieve.

  • Crossing differences and divides is integral to our work in community. Creating and sustaining inclusive, diverse, and accessible spaces for our work must always be at the forefront of everything we do.

  • We believe that our work requires us to be transparent and responsible to one another. Designing programs and projects that integrate checks, guide-posts, evaluation, and fair compensation is central to our process. We seek to ensure that the capacity and input of our collaborations is respected and honored.

  • Rooted in care, CAT cultivates and amplifies love and joy to forge a more authentic path toward our goals.