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Maren Brown
Principal at Maren Brown Associates, LLC
Professional Background
Maren Brown is a distinguished leader in arts management with over 25 years of dedicated experience. Her career has primarily centered around the realms of museums—spanning art, history, and science—as well as higher education. Currently, she holds the position of Principal at Maren Brown Associates, LLC, where she provides expert management consulting services. Her work focuses on areas such as planning, evaluation, assessment, and creative community development, catering to state, local, and regional arts agencies and cultural organizations.
In addition to consulting, Maren leads training programs tailored to arts practitioners, covering a variety of essential topics including strategic planning, program evaluation, and arts partnership development. Her commitment to empowering others in the arts field underscores her dedication to the growth and sustainability of the cultural landscape across the nation.
Education and Achievements
Maren's contributions to the field of arts management go beyond consulting and training; she is an esteemed author and editor in the arts management literature. Notably, she has co-edited the 5th and 6th editions of "Fundamentals of Arts Management," a foundational text that is utilized by approximately 45% of arts management degree programs across the United States. This pivotal work has made a lasting impact on the education of future arts leaders and practitioners, ensuring they are well-equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge.
Furthermore, Maren has made significant contributions to the arts management educational community as the co-founder of both the Arts Management degree program and the National Arts Policy Archives Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. These initiatives not only enrich the curriculum but also create valuable resources for both students and educators in the field.
Notable Projects and Contributions
Throughout her career, Maren has been involved in a multitude of projects that showcase her versatility and commitment to enhancing the arts sector. She has successfully directed an arts council and founded the education department of a renowned performing and visual arts center. These roles have allowed her to cultivate vibrant educational programs that engage a diverse audience.
Maren’s experience extends to leading a multi-disciplinary museum school, where she provided unique learning opportunities that fostered an appreciation for the arts among students of all ages. She initiated a family program series designed to make the arts accessible and enjoyable for families, demonstrating her belief in the importance of arts education in early development.
In her career, she has also developed school tours that enhance educational outreach and curated exhibition series that highlight the contributions of local artists and cultural history. Her skill in founding a local arts agency that served three counties in Massachusetts is a testament to her vision and ability to unite communities through the arts.
Maren Brown's impressive portfolio of work clearly illustrates her unwavering commitment to the arts and education. Her leadership in arts management continues to inspire and shape the future of cultural organizations across the United States.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
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Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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