Brea Heidelberg

Brea is an arts management educator, consultant, and researcher focusing on the intersection of the arts and other fields of study. Her work focuses on helping the cultural sector become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Her current research focuses on mapping and recording the professional evolution of the field of arts management in the United States, with an emphasis on honoring the voices often silenced or ignored for their contributions to the field.

Brea’s ongoing research interests the professionalization of the field of arts management, the training and development of arts managers, and management issues unique to small and midsized nonprofit arts organizations. Her consulting work focuses on human resources issues in the nonprofit arts including employee recruitment and retention, stakeholder engagement and empowerment, organizational structuring, and succession planning. She conducts all her work through an equity and organizational justice lens.

Brea holds degrees in Arts Administration, Education and Policy from The Ohio State University, as well as a MS in Human Resource Development and Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Villanova University. She is a contributing author to three books focused on equity-based human resources. She has also written multiple articles on theory building and knowledge equity in cultural and nonprofit management. She has worked with Americans for the Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, Dance/USA, and a number of small and mid-sized arts and cultural organizations. Brea has served as Vice President of the Association for Arts Administration Educators, Co-Chair of Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leaders Council, and as a multi-year panelist for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.