GUIDING VALUES
We hold ourselves accountable to
Kindness and Compassion
Recognizing your humanity and bringing ours
Holding space for sorrow and joy
Acknowledging the ways we each contribute to and are impacted by this beautiful and brutal world and the ways in which that impact intersects with and informs the work
Thoughtful Service
Listening and reflecting deeply to understand your goals and current context, anticipating what will best meet your needs, and being highly responsive and adaptive as we hold the big picture and attend to the details
Collaborative Flow
Applied Equity and Inclusion
Finding and supporting “the collective groove” and organic momentum in the work
Bringing an equity lens, attention to needed perspectives, embrace of learning, and humility to all we do
Curiosity and Creativity
Including these essential sparks for shared understanding and desired transformation in all aspects of our collaborative process
CORE TEAM
Kristin Patton (she/they), Lead Facilitator, is a queer nonbinary arts and culture worker with over three decades’ experience helping organizational leaders and stakeholders identify and come to shared understanding around the essential elements of core purpose, then align all aspects of planning and operations from that powerful center, deepening understanding and engagement, transforming systems, structures, and practices, and increasing desired impact.
What I love most about my practice is all in the name “Ensemble” - the power and beauty of what we can create when we work together. As a child actor, I directly experienced the amazing alchemy that happens when everyone’s creative contributions come together in a work much greater than the sum of the individual parts. As a teenager I recognized the difference that a brilliant stage manager made in creating the brave space in which that alchemy could happen. I gravitated towards stage management to help create and hold that brave space as my first career. Essentially that’s what I still do. I just redefined and broadened my definition of the stage. My work still centers on creating and holding the conducive conditions for “greater than the sum of our parts” collective work to happen.
As founder and lead facilitator of Ensemble Consulting, Kristin works independently and in collaboration with other consultants. Specialties include organizational assessment and development; group process design and facilitation; strategic framework and action planning; board re-envisioning and development; and leadership development and transitions. She has extensive experience with arts and culture organizations, other nonprofits, funders, advocacy groups, and service providers across the US.
Kristin’s work has always centered inclusion. Recognizing the need to more intentionally center equity, Kristin has made ongoing anti-racism training part of her practice and is a DEI Facilitator for the Nova Collective. For over a decade Kristin served as Arts Program Consultant and Board Secretary at Woods Fund Chicago, a foundation long committed to the promotion of social, economic, and racial justice through the support of community organizing, coalition building, and public policy advocacy that engages people that are most impacted. Kristin has also served as a grant reviewer and consultant for the Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development. They have presented and consulted with the Arts & Business Council of Chicago, Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management at North Park University, the Illinois Arts Alliance, Chicago Center for Arts Policy, and the School of the Art Institute. As Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the private investment firm, SMCO, Inc, Kristin provided leadership in corporate governance, communications, client relations, strategic planning, and operations management.
Kristin holds an MBA with high honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in Foreign Languages from Lewis & Clark College. She is certified in Group Process Facilitation through DePaul University and Dynamic Work Design through ShiftGear Work Design. They are a member of the Association of Consultants to Non-Profits, the Association of Nonprofit Specialists, and the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.
Logan Jones (he/they), Lead Facilitator, is a Chicago-based artist, administrator, and consultant. In addition to being a Lead Facilitator of Ensemble Consulting, Logan is Director of Accounting at Northlight Theatre. He has served as a Facilitator, Project Manager, and Technology Manager on Ensemble projects since 2015. He has collaborated with multiple theatre companies in varying capacities, utilizing his artistic and technical skills, organizational capabilities, and highly-collaborative working style. As an administrator, Logan previously served as the Managing Director for About Face Theatre and the Production Manager and Marketing Manager for American Theater Company. As a stage manager and production manager, he has helmed multiple productions for About Face Theatre, American Theater Company, The House Theatre of Chicago, Windy City Playhouse, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 13Exp, and the American Music Theatre Project, among others. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. Logan holds a BA in Theatre and BA in Modern Languages from Kansas State University, a certificate in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Workplace from University of South Florida, and is a graduate of the Axelson Center Bootcamp for Nonprofit CEOs at North Park University.