S2 E17: Moving to Abundance with Darren Isom

<p>During this episode of <em>Why Change?</em> co-hosts Ashraf and Jeff catch up among seasons of change. Ashraf shares his interview with Darren Isom who is a partner at the Bridgespan Group and host of the <em>Dreaming in Color</em> podcast. The discussion covers topics of leadership, knowledge, and finding from leaders of color.</p> <p>In this episode you’ll learn:</p> <ol> <li>About work which catalyzes and amplifies efforts to share knowledge from leaders of color in culture, education, and philanthropy;</li> <li>How creative learning reimagines arts leaders as educators, arts students as future dreamers and leaders, and funders as equity workers; and</li> <li>The role of ecosystems to cultivate the conditions for the integration of the arts into funding. Equity, and leadership development.</li> </ol> <p>ABOUT DARREN ISOM:</p> <p>Darren Isom is a partner in The Bridgespan Group’s San Francisco office. He first joined the firm as a consultant in 2007, left as a manager in 2014 and returned as a partner in 2019. During his earlier tenure with Bridgespan, Darren was engaged with a diverse array of cases and was consistently lauded for building deep, enduring client relationships, helping clients develop bold yet pragmatic strategies, and his commitment to amplifying community voice and engagement in developing and leading innovative, high-impact youth and community programs, practices, and philanthropy.</p> <p>After leaving Bridgespan in 2014, Darren was the founder and executive director of the Memphis Music Initiative (MMI), an ambitious five-year, $20M grantmaking and community arts development initiative. He led efforts to use targeted investments and programmatic offerings to strengthen youth and community music engagement activities for low-income, Black, and Latino youth and communities. It has also sponsored research to create a national conversation on the importance of community engagement and inclusion, disruptive philanthropy, and the powerful role of arts investments in driving equitable, high-