Services
As collaborative partners, Catalyst Muse acts as a bridge between what is and what is possible. We offer group facilitation, individual facilitation, plus research and evaluation services to empower our clients to find and solve problems, generate ideas and solutions, and gain fresh knowledge.
Group Facilitation
Case Study
It Takes a Village to Find a Problem
In Topanga, California volunteerism is deeply embedded into civic life. Essential services, such as emergency preparedness and senior care, are partially funded by Los Angeles County and fully conceived of, initiated, staffed, and operated by volunteer groups. Individuals coordinate effective efforts to provide recruitment, training, and operations that directly serve the mountain community. Yet, burn out has set in after many years of continuous work. Volunteer leaders are ready to pass the torch. But to whom?
With a lack of ready successors to take on enormous responsibilities, Bonnie Morgan, business manager at MESSENGER MOUNTAIN MEDIA GROUP (MMMG) created a volunteer portal on the media group’s website to connect potential volunteers to the more than 40 public benefit entities in the canyon that rely on unpaid people power. She invested countless hours collecting information and posting organizational profiles, but very few people took advantage of this ready source of information. To help Bonnie understand why, Catalyst Muse lead a Creative Problem Solving session.
At the beginning of the session, Bonnie felt that the problem was hers alone and stated, “It would be great if MMMG could inspire an ethic of volunteerism in the community.”
The discussion evolved from the belief that the problem started with lack of marketing into a deeper understanding of the issue. After the session, Bonnie had many new, invigorating ideas to consider, a working solution, and a new perception of her involvement, stating: “What I see myself doing is…spearheading an education/information campaign to inspire more community awareness and involvement in our volunteer organizations. This has multiple legs – comprehensive.”
In follow up, Bonnie is reaching out to potential community partners to develop the campaign.
Individual Facilitation
Catalyst Muse guides clients to bring creative products to fruition. We offer a range of customized services. For example, we partner with writers in manuscript development, pre-publication book plans, and publisher and agent research. We provide sounding boards for performing artists, inventors, program and curriculum specialists, entrepreneurs, business and community leaders. We listen and ask questions that help our clients explore and articulate their own ideas, so that they dissolve the barriers that stand between their ideas and the marketplace.
Case Study
Moving a Manuscript from Computer File to Marketplace
ROBIN LITHGOW retired from an influential, satisfying career as an arts education leader and sat down to write a book about a subject that had long fascinated her. She wrote about educator, humanist, and philosopher Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. Most of us don’t recognize his name. But, we do recognize the name of his most famous student – William Shakespeare. In energetic prose that delights the senses, Lithgow illuminates the power of Erasmus’s teaching method, which has sustained the influence of a singular playwright for more than four hundred years.
To help Lithgow liberate her manuscript from the depths of her laptop, Catalyst Muse partnered with Precocity Press to offer a full complement of services. After 12 weeks, she had a marketing and social media plan, in-depth research into potential publishers, and a query letter to introduce Good Behavior and Audacity: Humanist Education, Performing Arts, and a Generation of Genius. The extremely positive response to the manuscript and its marketing plan is very promising, which for a book that wasn’t going to see the light of day, is a great place to begin.
Research and Evaluation
The Catalyst Muse approach to inquiry is based in the science of ecosystems, in which all things interact, influence, and inform each other directly or indirectly. So while a research question might focus on one aspect of a system, we collect data from the center outward so that our clients gain multidimensional insight, knowledge, and answers to their questions from a broader field of related and relevant information.
Our senior research team has worked together for almost a decade, beginning at the Centers for Research on Creativity (CRoC) with the late Dr. James Catterall, whose groundbreaking research in arts education and policy influenced generations of scholars, practitioners, and youth. Catalyst Muse maintains an active network of researchers across fields and disciplines throughout the country and around the world.
Case Study
Growing Leaders for Change
Los Angeles County’s Generation Earth environmental service learning program (GESL) is managed and presented by Tree People Center for Community Forestry. Located in the serene forest of Coldwater Canyon, the organization has grown from one teenager’s passion for saving trees into a leading force in environmental preservation, restoration, and integration. For over 40 years, the organization has taught multiple generations about how to care for, protect, propagate, and enjoy nature.
Many public, private, and charter schools throughout the County have adopted GESL curriculum. From planting trees and gardens to reclaiming water and reducing pollution, today’s students are developing valuable skills, the ability to collaborate and care, and a deep appreciation for individual and collective action.
External evaluation is integral to the continued effectiveness of the program. Catalyst Muse partners with Imagination Group to conduct student and teacher focus groups, observe teacher PD workshops, and report on the findings. The goal is to inform teachers and administrators about what’s working, what’s not, what has the most impact, the least, and what their peers and students value most.
Evaluation provides a solid foundation for making improvements and adjustments to maintain the vitality of the programs, which ultimately touch the lives of millions of people. This is some of the most hopeful work that Catalyst Muse engages in!