About Us
Dunch Arts is a New York-based leader in management consulting for arts and cultural organizations. Future-focused and strategy-minded, we work hands-on inside organizations to achieve change.
We partner with clients to refine institutional strategy and design new revenue programs. When key executives depart, we provide expert interim management and help Boards recruit the gifted leaders of tomorrow.
Our smart business models and high impact fundraising programs have delivered transformational results across cultural disciplines and drawn strong funder support.
Emma E. Dunch, President
Emma E. Dunch has worked across the United States with organizations including the Apollo Theater, A.R.T./New York, Aspen Music Festival, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dance/USA for Dance/NYC, Glimmerglass Opera, Institute for Urban Design, Jacob’s Pillow Dance, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Joyce Theater, League of American Orchestras, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pennsylvania Ballet, San Francisco Symphony, and WNYC: New York Public Radio, among others.
Her expertise includes hands-on interim management, fundraising, marketing, strategic planning, executive search, and Board development. Her efficacy in this work has been featured in The New York Times’ Sunday Arts & Leisure section and recognized by funders.
Ms. Dunch holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Bachelor of Music Performance in Opera, and is a graduate of the League of American Orchestra’s Orchestral Management Fellowship Program. She was trained as an interim executive director by New York’s Support Center for Non-Profit Management, and has undertaken advanced studies at New York University’s Heymann Center for Philanthropy and at the American Management Association. In 2010, she was selected for the City of New York’s Marion Ewing Kauffman Foundation-funded FastTrac Growth Venture program, which fosters entrepreneurial leadership.
Ms. Dunch is a dual Australian/American citizen. She has lived and worked in New York since 1999, and currently resides on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She founded Dunch Arts, LLC in 2008.
Marie-Louise Silva Stegall, Senior Consultant
Marie-Louise Silva Stegall joined Dunch Arts in 2012 from New York’s Ballet Hispanico, where she was Interim Executive Director following four years as Director of Development and External Affairs. During her tenure, she stewarded a 63% increase in contributed revenues, secured significant capital funding, worked closely with the Board on its governance structure, and oversaw the rebranding of the 40-year old institution.
From 2002 through 2006, Ms. Stegall served as Director of Development for The Joyce Theater Foundation, where she spearheaded a 100% increase annual Spring Gala revenues, completed a $10 million endowment campaign, and helped to position the organization to become an anchor tenant of the rebuilt World Trade Center site. Ms. Stegall has also held development positions with Symphony Space, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Rebecca Cardwell, Associate
Rebecca Cardwell is a 2011 graduate of Brooklyn College’s M.F.A. in Performing Arts Management, where she was awarded the 2010 Managers for the Arts Scholarship. Her internships included The School of American Ballet, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and Dance Theater Workshop. Most recently, she worked with David Bury & Associates and Alexandra Beller/Dances.
