ShapeShifter Plus · Organization Brief · About Us
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Slide 1 · About the organization
ShapeShifter Plus Inc. · 501(c)(3)
837 Union Street, Brooklyn · Est. 2014

Brooklyn’s artist-centered music presenter

We give artists room to realize their visions with creativity and freedom—through performance, education, and community—without passing core costs onto them.

Curated concerts Open Call Weekly jam Fat Cats × Belongó Family music Food Coop series Coltrane Centennial 2026

Who we serve

  • Artists — professional & emerging musicians across jazz, improvised, world, contemporary, and interdisciplinary work
  • Audiences — Brooklyn & NYC metro concertgoers; >50% from historically underrepresented communities
  • Youth & families — Fat Cats Youth Orchestra (Belongó), Debbie’s Music Classes / FamJam, school-year education
  • Neighbors — free weekly jam, Park Slope Food Coop concerts, community & visual-art collaborations

What we have built & presented

  • 10,000+ performances at ShapeShifter Lab since opening in 2012
  • 6,321 in-person attendees in 2025 (6,049 in 2024) across a full presenting season
  • Dozens of Open Call & curated concerts yearly; hundreds of musicians compensated as contractors
  • Year-round ecosystem: curated season · Open Call (no application fee) · weekly jam · youth orchestra · family programs · community series · membership
  • Flagship ahead: John Coltrane Centennial 2026: Celebrating Jimmy Garrison (Sept 15–17)—curated by Matt Garrison & Ravi Coltrane with Coltrane Home & Belongó
People
Lean founder team
Matt Garrison · Fortuna Sung · Ravi Coltrane · contracted FOH/production · honorary advisors incl. Herbie Hancock, Terri Lyne Carrington, Arturo O’Farrill
FY2025
~$248K revenue
~$222K expenses · $25.7K surplus · tickets ~$98K · contributions ~$104K
Volunteers
Not volunteer-run
Professional presenting org; minor volunteer help only—artists & crew are paid
Home base
ShapeShifter Lab
Park Slope cultural infrastructure · shapeshifterplus.org
MONS Nonprofit Essentials · Coaching conversation · July 23, 2026
Slide 2 · Priorities · next 6–12 months
Across presenting · education · festival · fundraising

Three priorities that unlock durable growth

01

Grow contributed income & reserves

Build a diversified fundraising engine—individual donors, membership, and institutional partners (city, state, foundations)—so ticket sales are not asked to carry true artist fees, production, and occupancy alone. Repair reserves so we can pre-fund work with confidence.

02

Deliver Coltrane 2026—and keep the season strong

Execute the Centennial festival week (Dix Hills + Brooklyn) and six lead-up concerts while sustaining Open Call, curated shows, Fat Cats/Belongó, family programs, the weekly jam, and community partnerships that define who we already are.

03

Expand board & organizational capacity

Recruit board members who bring fundraising networks, nonprofit expertise, and community accountability—so artistic leadership is not also carrying development, compliance, and growth alone.

Why this sequence matters for NYC

ShapeShifter Plus is rare mid-size creative-music infrastructure in Brooklyn: 14 years of Lab presenting, a living jazz lineage, free and low-barrier artist access, and education embedded in the same room as professional concerts. Our next stage is not inventing a new mission—it is resourcing the one we already deliver, at a scale the city can count on.

Active pipeline includes NYSCA, Copland, Vilcek, Fan Fox/Samuels, and DCLA CDF materials—outcomes pending
Slide 3 · Where we’d like advice
Coaching asks for capacity-building partners

Help us grow without losing who we are

Biggest challenge

We are a proven presenter with national artistic reputation and thin organizational reserves. FY2025 was operationally positive—but accumulated prior deficits still constrain cash for large projects. Founders simultaneously lead artistry, operations, grants, and production. Fundraising is competitive; Brooklyn presenting costs rise faster than ticket prices alone can absorb.

Advice we’re hoping to receive

How a lean Brooklyn arts presenter can scale contributed income, board capacity, and city/institutional partnerships—while protecting artist-centered economics (no application fees, fair pay, education & community access) and delivering a once-in-a-generation festival without burning out the people who make the work possible.

One question for the panel

For an organization with strong artistic proof and weak balance-sheet reserves, what is the highest-leverage 12-month move to become fundable at the next level—board recruitment, individual-donor cultivation, or a focused city/institutional campaign—and how would you sequence those three so they reinforce each other?

Thank you — we welcome introductions, practical playbooks, and honest pushback

5-minute speaker notes · totality talking points

Slide 1 — About (~100 seconds)

Open: “ShapeShifter Plus is Brooklyn’s 501(c)(3) music presenter at ShapeShifter Lab.” Mission in one breath: artists realize visions without core costs passed onto them.

Portfolio (say the chips): We don’t only run one grant project—we run a full ecosystem: curated concerts, Open Call, weekly jam, Fat Cats with Belongó, family music, Food Coop series, and the Coltrane Centennial ahead.

Proof: 10,000+ performances since Lab opened 2012; 6,300+ attendees in 2025; hundreds of musicians paid yearly. Founded 2014 by Matt, Fortuna, and Ravi. Lean paid/contracted model—not volunteer theater.

Budget: ~$248K / ~$222K FY2025—honest mid-size scale with surplus that year.

Slide 2 — Priorities (~90 seconds)

Three interlocking priorities: (1) contributed income & reserves, (2) Coltrane delivery and year-round season, (3) board capacity. Emphasize: “We’re not pivoting—we’re resourcing what already works for NYC.” Mention active applications only if asked; do not claim awards.

Slide 3 — Advice (~80 seconds)

Challenge = capacity + thin reserves under founder load. Ask for sequencing advice on board / donors / institutional campaign. End by inviting connections.

If panel asks “what have you already presented?”
Facts to keep accurate