At the FOA

Kristi’s love of people and the arts (specifically community theatre) drives her love of non-profit.

Her early experience was in academia, teaching high school, then for 9 years on the university level at Crowley’s Ridge College and Arkansas State University. She obtained Education degrees in Theatre, Communications, and Literature with a Masters in Theatre and Communications.

Registering 25 years of nonprofit work (culminating at The Foundation of Arts), she served as Executive and Artistic Director for 8 years.  Under her tenure, programming doubled, patronage reached 30,000 per year, volunteerism more than doubled, and her business plan increased income by 100%. 

She created the annual marketing plan, cast the organization’s vision to stakeholders, and managed the FOA’s brand - recruiting partners, sponsors, and donors, overseeing numerous public events, supervising all operations, and reporting progress to the board. 

Kristi led the Foundation of Arts through the highest level of growth in its 35-year history and the 2020-2021 pandemic crisis, never closing in the midst of public pressure.  Instead, finding creative ways to serve in order to stay viable, including the Major Gifts Ramp-Up organizational plan. The FOA never stopped growing throughout the crisis. Her passion for communications, community, and education has helped the FOA expand its “Turn no child away” outreach component.   

At the FOA, Kristi has begun the dramatic shift toward building to scale by using solid, non-profit principles to lay a firm foundation, i.e. rewriting the by-laws, reorganizing the structure and systems, and creating the case for support to make donors the primary customer. This shifted the mindset for readiness to receive the income that will inevitably chase after the good idea that is the mission.