Team

Anne Gadwa Nicodemus, Metris muckety-muck (she/her)

A choreographer/arts administrator turned urban planner, Anne Gadwa Nicodemus founded Metris and leads its work. She oversees Metris’ strategic direction and daily operations and frequently serves as lead technical contributor for projects. Metris’ projects range from a Zimbabwean-focused case study of how creative spaces foster activism in repressive regimes to an arts and culture plan for the small city of Grand Rapids, MN.

A leading voice in the intersection of arts and community development, Anne brings 15 years of experience as a researcher, writer, speaker, and advocate. She recently led the development of WE-Making: How arts & culture unite people to work towards community well-being (2021) for a consortium of major funders. It offers an opportunity for practitioners to intentionally and strategically align their efforts to address today’s most imperative crises: struggles for racial justice and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. She co-authored Creative Placemaking, the report for the Mayors’ Institute of City Design (2010) that defined the field. Her book chapters and journal articles “Creative placemaking: Reflections on a 21st-century American arts policy initiative” (Creative Placemaking: Research, Theory and Practice, 2019), “Fuzzy Vibrancy” (Cultural Trends, 2013) and “Creative Placemaking: How to Do it Well” (Community Development Investment Review, 2014) look more deeply at creative placemaking as cultural policy and its ethics and practical challenges. Anne gives frequent talks at universities and professional conferences nationwide, and as far-flung as Macau, the Czech Republic, and Ontario. Anne holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a B.A. in dance and biology from Oberlin College.

Anne is fascinated by all kinds of places—their form, their people, their change. She grew up in suburban Connecticut; went to college surrounded by the cornfields of Ohio; and lived, danced, and worked in New York City and Minneapolis for years. Her family hails from central Long Island’s north shore, where she grew up spending summers on one of its last remaining farms. In 2012, she laid down roots in Easton, PA where she lives with her wife Julia and two sons. Email: gadwa@metrisarts.com. Download resume. LinkedIn profile.

Ashley Alvarez, affiliate (she/her)

Ashley Alvarez is a creative strategist and researcher that specializes in strategic and project management. She joined Metris in February 2023, as an affiliate consultant, and also works as a resource/project manager for the nonprofit research organization MDRC. She has led research, programming, and planning initiatives for nonprofit art organizations, higher education, and the public sector. With Metris, she provided project management, research, and community engagement support for an assessment of the music ecosystem for the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and an evaluation of a platform to distribute $50 million in ARPA recovery grants to Illinois’ creative sector. Ashley lives and works in New Jersey and holds a MS in Urban Placemaking Management and a MPS in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute. Email: alvarez@metrisarts.com. Download resume. LinkedIn profile.

Holly Bass, affiliate (she/her)

Based in Washington, DC, Holly Bass is a multidisciplinary performance and visual artist, writer, and director focused on community-engaged liberation. Her collaborations with Metris began in 2017, serving as an artist facilitator for the NeighborWorks Creative Community Development Planning Process. She joined Metris as an affiliate consultant in September 2024 and currently leads creative and community engagement for the Montgomery County, MD cultural plan. Holly was a 2023 MAP fund grantee, a 2020–2022 Resident Artist at New York Live Arts, a 2021–22 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, and recipient of the Dance/USA Fellowships for Artists. Her visual artwork includes photography, installation, video, and performance and has been presented at the National Portrait Gallery, the Seattle Art Museum, and the 2022 Venice Biennale (Loophole of Retreat). She directed a year-round creative writing and performance program for adjudicated youth in DC’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services for four years and is currently the National Director for Turnaround Arts at the Kennedy Center, a program which uses the arts strategically to transform public schools facing severe inequities. Email: bass@metrisarts.com. LinkedIn profile.

Susan Fitter Harris, affiliate (she/her)

Susan Fitter Harris is a Metris affiliate and independent consultant working with nonprofits on strategic planning, program assessment, fund development, and content creation. She brings twenty-two years of experience to her work with clients, which are principally focused on the community development, arts, and education sectors. With Metris, she recently completed a report for DCASE on the Chicago Monuments Project. She also created a searchable database of federal funding sources for arts-based community development for the National Association of State Arts Agencies. In 2017, she worked with Metris to investigate the use of creative community development throughout the NeighborWorks America network of organizations, serving as lead author on the final report of findings. In 2018, she collaborated with Metris on a Center for Community Progress paper highlighting the use of arts and culture to reactivate vacant properties. In her independent consulting practice, Susan has worked extensively for Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a nonprofit CDFI working nationwide. She has led strategic planning processes for LISC programs and helped secure millions in additional funding. Prior to starting her own consulting practice, Susan worked for LISC for fourteen years, helping to plan and execute field strategies, knowledge sharing, and capacity building projects. In her personal life, Susan is a fiber artist whose work can be found in galleries as well as in public spaces in the form of colorful “yarn bombs.” Susan holds a Masters of Urban and Environmental Planning and a BA in Anthropology, both from the University of Virginia. She resides in Alexandria, Virginia. Email: harris@metrisarts.com. Download resume. LinkedIn profile.

Mariama Holman, affiliate (she/her)

Mariama Holman is a strategy consultant and researcher who navigates the relationship between arts and culture ecosystems, capacity building, and community impact. Building upon her experience working with the Cultural Planning Group and CCS Fundraising, she joined Metris in February 2024 as an affiliate consultant. Mariama has supported nonprofits and local governments across the United States by building strategic plans for sustainable contributed revenue and operations. Mariama discovered her passion for applying her skills to benefit the arts and social causes via a successful first career in marketing. She worked with advertising agencies, as well as Fortune 500 companies, to research, strategize, execute, and evaluate campaigns for clients that included The Dallas Opera and Americans for the Arts. She also executed audience research projects with WolfBrown and the Theater Development Fund. Within these roles, she completed detailed analyses of consumer perception, competitive benchmarking, and operational assessments. In the government sector, Mariama competed in the City of Milan and University of Bocconi B4DPA Bocconi for Digital Public Innovation competition, winning recognition for her team’s innovation and presenting at the United Nations Women’s Conference. Stateside, she worked with the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, where she pursued national funding opportunities for combating heat island effect. Mariama is known for her analytical expertise, innovation, and data-driven approach. She is highly inquisitive and leans into each client engagement by putting her qualitative and quantitative skills to work. Mariama holds an MBA and MA in Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University and resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. Email holman@metrisarts.com. Download resume. LinkedIn profile.