Carl Atiya Swanson is Springboard for the Arts’ Associate Director. He manages projects across Springboard’s program areas, leads development and partnerships, and launched Creative Exchange (www.springboardexchange.org), a national hub for stories and toolkits for artists and organizations to solve local challenges and create new opportunities. Since the launch in 2014, over 6,000 toolkits have been downloaded from Creative Exchange, facilitating artist-led projects, business skills development, and creative placemkaing projects. He has presented on arts leadership, creative placemaking, and community engagement for Americans for the Arts, the Delta Regional Authority, IdeaLab, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and others.
Swanson previously worked at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and founded Crown & Sparrow, a boutique communications consulting firm specializing in work with artists. He is a theatermaker and has served on the boards of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network – Twin Cities, and Dissonance, advocating for mental health and wellness in creativity. Swanson holds a BA in Studio Art from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.