Doug DeNatale has established his reputation
as a respected researcher and an innovative and creative thinker for his path-breaking work with the nonprofit sector – particularly in the arts and culture sector. He has applied his unique combination of technological knowledge and ethnographic training to develop creative approaches that address the information and analytical needs of the sector. A cutting-edge adopter of web technologies, he helped the New England Foundation for the Arts spur the first development of cultural websites through the regional training program he established with support from the Benton Foundation. His ground-breaking work in establishing the size and economic value of the cultural sector led to the pioneering Creative Economy Initiative in the region, and his subsequent work in developing a firm methodological framework has been influential in shaping creative economy research throughout the nation. An ethnographer by training, Doug developed a new approach for collaborative documentation that several major Foundations have employed to document and help guide initiatives in international performing arts collaboration, choreography, and new play development.
His academic training in ethnographic methods makes him particularly attuned to the different perspectives that people bring to partnerships. Doug is skilled at working with clients to help them identify key elements that drive or impede the forward movement of collaborations. He works with them to stimulate problem-solving dialog, identify effective solutions, and build new tools.