Strengthen Grow Evolve is a capital and programmatic campaign led by two Iowa City nonprofit arts institutions–FilmScene and The Englert Theatre. Andre is a co-director of the campaign and has co-written and overseen the execution of its vision and strategy while serving as an active fundraising lead. The campaign serves a larger vision for its community: Building the Greatest Small City for the Arts.
The core outcomes of the campaign include the historic preservation of two arts and community spaces, the building of a new arts space for cinema in downtown Iowa City, the launch of an arts education and community engagement program, and the creation of a film festival. Perhaps most important, the campaign explores what in-depth collaboration looks like between separate nonprofits–sharing resources, co-fundraising, aligning boards and staff under common goals–and seeks to use the campaign’s lessons (both successes and challenges) as an opportunity to better connect the various arts nonprofits in Iowa City.
Publicly launched on April 20, 2019, the campaign has so far secured $4.5M of commitments.