NAS Homecoming
Reconnect with yourself and an amazing community of leaders nestled in the Berkshires of Massachusetts this June!
NAS Homecoming
Reconnect with yourself and an amazing community of leaders nestled in the Berkshires of Massachusetts this June!
NAS Homecoming is more than an event—it’s a moment to pause, connect, and recharge. Join us this June at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams, Massachusetts, for a reunion of minds and spirits. In a world that often feels fragmented, NAS Homecoming offers the chance to rediscover the power of community, the joy of collaboration, and the inspiration that comes from being surrounded by your fellow arts and culture leaders.
NAS Homecoming 2025 is here! Join us this June for an inspiring opportunity to reconnect, learn, and celebrate with old friends and new. This year’s gathering at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams, Massachusetts, is all about community, collaboration, and finding joy in being together again. In a world that often feels fragmented, there’s something special about taking time for yourself and uniting with the other inspiring leaders in this community. Let’s come together to reflect, share, look ahead to what’s next, and experience a little magic. We can’t wait to be in community with you again!
Who This is For
NAS Homecoming is an invite-only event, created for and co-designed by members of the NAS alumni community. Anyone who has participated in an NAS program can join us. Whether you’re currently in an NAS program, completed one recently, or we haven’t spoken in years, you’re invited to come learn and reconnect!
Schedule At A Glance
Afternoon: Arrival & North Adams Community Engagement Activities
Evening: Welcome Party
(Optional) Day Openers: Alumni-led Activities
Welcome: Rise & Shine!
Morning: Keynote by Kristy Edmunds
Afternoon: Explore MassMoCA & Alumni Led Discussions
(Optional) Day Closers: Community or Alumni-led Activities
Evening: Dinner On Your Own
(Optional) Day Openers: Alumni-led Activities
Welcome: Rise & Shine!
Morning: Deconstruction via Visual Description & Cultural Apothecary Exhibit
Afternoon: Fishbowl Conversation & Embodied Practice
(Optional) Day Closers: Community or Alumni-led Activities
Evening: Closing Party
Morning: Breakfast Boxes & Check out
What You Can Expect
Leadership can feel isolating, especially in today’s fast-paced, digital world. Homecoming is your chance to step back, spark new ideas, and find both support and inspiration among your fellow NAS alumni. When we gather, we’re stronger.
Our theme this Homecoming is “Where Do We Go From Here…”
Through it, we’ll explore:
- How to build a sustainable future that balances tradition with innovation.
- The power of art as a tool for healing, connection, and joy.
Our time at Homecoming includes:
- Immersive experiences at MASS MoCA where art drives discourse
- Insightful discussions led by Kristy Edmunds, NAS alum & MASS MoCA’s executive director
- Activities led by NAS alumni to deepen connections
- Engaging with North Adams’ close-knit and vibrant artistic community
Homecoming isn’t just an event—it’s an experience designed by your NAS peers to renew, inspire, and build new relationships. You’ll leave with fresh energy, new ideas, and a deeper connection to both the NAS community and your mission. Let’s come together, embrace creativity, and bring a little of that NAS magic back to our work.
Click below for a breakdown of our days together:
Sunday, June 1
Arrive and [re]connect with fellow alumni and the local community through the Homecoming Experience Trailbook: North Adams Edition—a hands-on guide designed to spark connections, support local businesses, and immerse you in the town’s creative energy.
Wander through curated stops at local galleries, businesses, and community spaces, engaging in creative prompts, collecting mementos, and soaking in the spirit of North Adams. The journey leads into our Welcome Party, where new and familiar faces come together to set the tone for an inspiring week ahead.
In the days that follow, Alumni-led activities in the mornings and afternoons will create space for organic exchanges of ideas and experiences—we’re actively gathering input to shape what this can be!
Monday, June 2
Start the day with an inspiring keynote from Kristy Edmunds, Executive Director of MASS MoCA and fellow NAS Alum from the Chief Executive Program as she leads a powerful conversation on Leadership in a Moment of Competing Values During Ambiguous Times. A dynamic speaker, Kristy will challenge us to wrestle with big ideas, spark meaningful dialogue, and inspire action.
Building on her keynote and the exhibits we explore this day, we’ll move into Alumni-Led Conversations, where we’ll dive deeper into leadership, creativity, and community. Set against the backdrop of MASS MoCA’s exhibitions, these small group discussions will explore innovation, sustainability, and the transformative role of art in healing, connection, and systems change.
Tuesday, June 3
Kick off the morning with our partners Think Outside the Vox as they lead us through Deconstruction via Visual Description—a powerful reflection that will challenge how we perceive and experience the spaces around us.
Next, step into the Cultural Apothecary by Alison Pebworth—a unique, hands-on journey that digs into the root causes of cultural anxiety and invites us to imagine collective healing.
In the afternoon, dive into a dynamic Fishbowl Discussion led by Gail Crider, where we’ll unpack big questions following Cultural Apothecary and uncover new perspectives together. Then, Tanya Birl-Torres will bring it all to life with an embodied practice, transforming ideas into movement and experience.
We’ll wrap up the day with a closing dinner in North Adams, celebrating our time together with great food, conversation, and new and reaffirmed connections.
Wednesday, June 4
Gather for a final breakfast, share reflections, and say goodbye (for now). Check out with new connections, fresh ideas, and inspiration to carry forward.
On Exhibit at MASS MoCA
Power Full Because We’re Different | Jeffrey Gibson
Cultural Apothecary | Alison Pebworth
Like Magic | Simone Bailey, Raven Chacon, Grace Clark, Johanna Hedva, Gelare Khoshgozaran, Cate O’Connell-Richards, Rose Salane, Petra Szilagyi, Tourmaline, and Nate Young
The Fire Next Time | Steve Locke
Just A Dream… | Vincent Valdez
What Does it Cost
NAS exists to build and support a diverse community of arts and culture leaders who drive inspiring change for the future. You are that community, and the reason we are here. Homecoming was created with the intention of being accessible as possible to everyone in our alumni community. To that end, Homecoming is a Pay What you Will event.
Our suggested price is $967 – the true per-person cost for the event – but we invite you to book the price that’s fair to you.
Homecoming offers two different booking packages:
Lodging Package
- Meeting space
- Full access to MASS MoCA
- Food and beverage except one on-your-own dinner
- Three nights at our event hotel (Note: Hotel space is limited)
Core Package
- Meeting space
- Full access to MASS MoCA
- Food and beverage except one on-your-own dinner
- You are responsible for your own accommodations
We recognize that your time has value of its own, and we know that traveling to this retreat brings its own costs. If you’re able to pay more than our suggested price, the amount over $967 can be a tax deductible donation that also enables NAS to cover attendance of other NAS community members.
How To Book
Ready to join us at Homecoming and book your spot? This is an invite-only event for alumni of NAS programs. Click below to reach out and our team will provide you with our booking form.
What Does it Cost
NAS exists to build and support a diverse community of arts and culture leaders who drive inspiring change for the future. You are that community, and the reason we are here. Homecoming was created with the intention of being accessible as possible to everyone in our alumni community. To that end, Homecoming is a Pay What you Will event.
Our suggested price is $967 – the true per-person cost for the event – but we invite you to book the price that’s fair to you.
Homecoming offers two different booking packages:
Lodging Package
- Meeting space
- Full access to MASS MoCA
- Food and beverage except one on-your-own dinner
- Three nights at our event hotel (Note: Hotel space is limited)
Core Package
- Meeting space
- Full access to MASS MoCA
- Food and beverage except one on-your-own dinner
- You are responsible for your own accommodations
We recognize that your time has value of its own, and we know that traveling to this retreat brings its own costs. If you’re able to pay more than our suggested price, the amount over $967 can be a tax deductible donation that also enables NAS to cover attendance of other NAS community members.
How To Book
Ready to join us at Homecoming and book your spot? This is an invite-only event for alumni of NAS programs. Our team will personally work with you to complete your booking. jade@artstrategies.org
About the Venue
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is the largest contemporary art museum in North America and one of the world’s liveliest centers for making and enjoying evocative art. With vast galleries and a stunning collection of indoor and outdoor performing arts venues, MASS MoCA is able to embrace all forms of art: music, sculpture, dance, film, painting, photography, theater, and new, boundary-crossing works of art that defy easy classification. Much of the work shown in their light-filled spaces, on their technically sophisticated stages, and within their lovely network of late 19th-century courtyards is made on-site during extended fabrication and rehearsal residencies that bring hundreds of the world’s most brilliant and innovative artists to North Adams all year round.
MASS MoCA is situated in North Adams, Massachusetts, nestled in the Berkshires and approximately 30 miles from Albany, New York (and the location of its closest major airport).
Meet the Planning Committee
As NAS works to move away from conventional hierarchical leadership and decision making, we move instead towards coalition building, co-design, leaderful movements/organizations/communities, and consensus.
Homecoming was co-designed by a volunteer committee of alumni who represent the dimensions of our community’s leaders. Together in two groups they worked enthusiastically to design a space that is uniquely by and for this family to connect, reflect, learn, and reimagine.
Salwa Abdussabur
Creative Community Fellows: New England
Renee Benson
Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy
Cristina Benz
Creative Community Fellows
Ilana Brownstein
Creative Community Fellows: New England
Jade Elyssa Cariaga
Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy
Carolyn Clayton
Creative Community Fellows: New England
Alison Curry
UK Creative Community Fellows
Fabiola R. Delgado
Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy
Emily Arden Eakland
Creative Community Fellows
Jess Gelter
Creative Community Fellows: New England
Kaye Glamuzina
Chief Executive Program
Vee Hua
Chief Executive Program
Nan Joubá
Creative Community Fellows: New England
Murad Khan
UK Creative Community Fellows
Jana La Sorte
Chief Executive Program
Dominic Moore-Dunson
Creative Community Fellows
Nadine Nelson
Creative Community Fellows: New England
Hannah Rechtschaffen
Creative Community Fellows: New England
Lindsay Sheridan
Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy
Sarah Smith Warren
Creative Community Fellows
Kelli Strickland
Chief Executive Program; NAS Coach
Dan Wenger
Creative Community Fellows: New England
Goings-on in North Adams
Wondering what North Adams has to offer while you’re in town? Discover what’s on view at MASS MoCA plus downtown projects in the North Adams cultural district started by some NAS Creative Community Fellows!
NAS Creative Community Fellows Projects
On Exhibit at MASS MoCA
- Current Exhibitions
- Upcoming Exhibitions (Will be on view by Homecoming!)
Accessibility & Safety
MASS MoCA is a welcoming environment to all and offers services to make the venue as accessible as possible. Read more about MASS MoCa’s accessibility features here on their website.
NAS is committed to gathering as safely as possible. We will watch local guidance regarding COVID-19 and may require rapid testing, supplied by us, upon your arrival.