ArtRise Projects began providing strategic counsel to Emile Norman Arts (ENA) just after its founding in 2021, through the 2025 completion of a three-year Strategic Plan focused on the realization of vibrant, relevant program offerings based on a financially sustainable management model. Working with the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, ArtRise articulated ENA’s vision, goals, mission, and artistic program, in addition to delineating roles, resources, necessary operational enhancements, and timing for implementation. To develop the plan, ArtRise convened several Board retreats over a six-month period in 2025 to define the Foundation’s strategic assets, target audiences, stakeholders, and engagement goals and map key programming strands. In collaboration with Elixir Design, ArtRise also articulated the messaging and approach to a refined overarching brand position.

Sustaining the legacy of art and creative practice along California’s Big Sur Coast,Emile Norman Arts shines a light on the cultural influence of Big Sur through the lens of American artist Emile Norman’s work and philosophy. In 2005, Norman developed the Emile Norman Charitable Trust to enact a clear set of programs and activities under the auspices of his estate. However, a decade following Norman’s death in 2009, his property was put up for sale. In 2020, in an urgent effort to conserve his remarkable, hand-built home, a group of community members raised the funds to purchase his house and ensure that it be preserved and used for artist residencies and musical performances, as Emile wished, to benefit Big Sur and the larger cultural community. That extraordinary group of civic leaders founded Emile Norman Arts.

Today, ENA preserves Emile Norman’s Big Sur handcrafted mid-century home, historical archive, and the largest collection of his artworks, sharing his legacy in collaboration with public partners. ENA works to conserve, document, and learn from Emile’s inventive way of life on the rugged yet fragile Big Sur coast, inviting artists, musicians, and writers to reside at his home and create through transformative connections with the place and its elements.