Candace Jackson

Treasurer, Heidelberg Project Board of Directors

Principal, CJAM Consulting, LLC

Candace Jackson has worked for over 25 years as an arts manager with a focus on entrepreneurship, sustainability and innovation. She began her career in theater management with emphasis on business operations, organizational development and strategic planning for performing arts institutions. Through ingenuity and inexorable passion, she has guided numerous theater, dance, film, visual arts and cultural organizations to design new business models, develop sustainable operating systems, and expand institutional capacity.

Candace founded CJAM Consulting in 2006 to create advanced business strategies for arts and cultural institutions, particularly in communities of color. A New York City and State Certified Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprise, CJAM has successfully planned and directed institutional startups and expansions, business model design, managerial and financial capacity building, and capital construction development for projects ranging from $500,000 to $17 million. Under Candace’s leadership, CJAM has developed and/or  implemented strategies for emerging and high-profile companies and governments including the City of Mount Vernon – NY; the City of Wichita - KS; Empire State Development - NY; Apollo Theater - NY; 651 ARTS - NY; August Wilson House - PA; MAPP International Productions - NY; the Heidelberg Project - MI; DiverseWorks - TX; and many more.

Prior to and since founding CJAM, Candace held key senior and executive positions within landmark cultural institutions. From 2011 to 2014 Candace served as Managing Director of Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), a ten-year $27 million initiative designed to increase support systems and programs for artists across the country. Through grantmaking, research and leadership network programs, she directed support for more than 100 national grantees and partners. In 2013, she expanded her work internationally to support arts, cultural and microenterprise development initiatives in Central America. As Director of Operations for the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc from 2002 to 2006, Candace managed facilities operations and general administration, and served as co-coordinator for Phase I of the Apollo Theater’s then $65 million historic capital restoration project. Prior to the Apollo, she held various management positions including Program Officer for the $5 million Cultural Industry Investment Fund of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone which provided development and expansion capacity to more than 30 Upper Manhattan institutions. Early in her career, she held the position of Associate Managing Director for the internationally renowned Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, CT.

Candace earned a Master of Fine Arts in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater Arts and Business Administration from Howard University and is a former adjunct instructor at New York University’s School of Professional Studies Arts Administration Program.