Inspiring Conversations with Stacy Handler of Bloom Arts Strategy

Interview by Voyage Baltimore. Read the full article here!

Excerpt:

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacy Handler.

Hi Stacy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am originally from Miami, Florida, and I grew up singing and dancing, so I had a deep love for the arts instilled in me from a very young age. I went to college at Emory University in Atlanta, and I did a work study program in the school’s performing arts center, which is where I first learned about Arts Administration as a potential career path. That led me to pursue a Master’s Degree in Performing Arts Administration at NYU, and from there, I began working with music and dance organizations in New York, including The New York Pops and Gibney Dance, primarily doing fundraising. I then moved to Boston and served as Managing Director for a local dance organization, Urbanity Dance. I moved to Baltimore in 2020 and continued working remotely with Urbanity until 2022 where I joined the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts as the Director of Development. A year later, I decided to take the leap to start my own company, and launched Bloom Arts Strategy in May 2023. Since then, we’ve worked with arts organizations, community development organizations, and artists in Baltimore, New York, and Boston supporting them with their fundraising, strategy, and project management goals.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I had been toying with the idea of starting my own company for a long time, but was scared to take that leap. I eventually decided to work with an executive coach who helped me examine those fears and realize that they were largely unfounded and self-imposed – and once that big mental roadblock was removed and I firmly made the decision to go out on my own, I felt an incredible sense of freedom. However, being a small business owner can be a lonely (and exhausting!) road, so I have found it’s really important to find community and find those people who are going through a similar journey to help provide support, whether that be through validating my experiences or helping to provide additional insight into challenges I might be experiencing. I think it’s also important to recognize that there are always going to be professional challenges and it’s the way that you manage those difficult moments that allow for growth. The ability to be resilient and resourceful is very important.