The Catalyst
June 2018
The Whelan Group Strategic Advisors to Nonprofits
Griot Arts:
From Start-Up to Sustainable

The Mississippi Delta

.....where nearly half the young people are poor and only about half graduate from high school.

.....where there are deep roots to the Mississippi blues.

..... where Griot Arts connects young people with the life-transforming potential of music, dance, theater, and visual arts.
Finding Hope, Music, and Art in the Delta
Griot Arts is a youth development organization located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Its focus is clearing a path out of poverty through creative expression and the arts. A small but intensely dedicated non-profit with a faith-based approach, Griot Arts' mission of “creativity, compassion, and intentional community” needed a rock solid growth strategy anchored in a well-conceived financial plan to ensure the non-profit's effectiveness.

The Whelan Group worked with Griot Arts to create a five-year strategic plan.  With funding from The Walton Family Foundation, TWG enabled Griot Arts to:

  • Revise and focus the arts program curricula
  • Clarify student recruitment and retention plans
  • Expand partnerships to maximize arts education and job preparedness
  • Build staff and board capacity
  • Create a sustainable financial plan, with a reserve fund
Creating Their Future through Their Art
Griot Arts has a passion for pursuing "beauty, justice, and healing" in its community. Its new Strategic Plan will help Griot effectively navigate into that vision. It will be able to achieve its ambition of lifting up poor young people through their own creative expression. 

Over its history, TWG has worked with many arts and culture groups, faith-based groups, poverty-response and youth development groups. Through our work with Griot Arts, we brought this rich and varied experience to strengthen an important organization in the Mississippi Delta. 
To learn more, please go here to review highlights of
our strategic plan for Griot Arts.
To learn more about our creative Business and Strategic Planning Services , and our other capabilities, you can reach us by phone at 212-727-7332 or by email at: [email protected] .