Creative facilitation, feedback culture, and artist-centered learning!
Client: The Boston Foundation — Live Arts Boston
Format: Multi-session cohort training (virtual & facilitated group work)
Role: Lead Facilitator & Technical Assistance Provider
Facilitator: Catherine Stewart / Make Create More
Project Overview
Make Create More was engaged by The Boston Foundation to deliver Critical Response Process (CRP) training for artists participating in the Live Arts Boston (LAB) initiative. This work supported a cohort of artists through a structured learning process focused on feedback, communication, and creative development — centering equity, agency, and care.
The result was not only skill development, but a shared feedback culture that could extend beyond the training itself.
Why This Work Matters
Artists are often asked to navigate critique, collaboration, and evaluation within systems that were not designed with their agency or wellbeing in mind. Traditional feedback models can reinforce hierarchy, discourage risk-taking, and overlook the emotional and relational dimensions of creative work.
This project responded to that challenge by introducing Critical Response Process as a tool for:
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supporting artistic risk
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strengthening communication across difference
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building equitable and consent-based feedback practices
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fostering peer accountability and mutual support
In the context of Live Arts Boston, CRP became a shared language — helping artists engage feedback as a generative, empowering part of their creative lives.
Our Approach
Critical Response Process as Creative Infrastructure
CRP is a four-step, artist-centered feedback methodology developed by Liz Lerman that places the maker in an active role. Catherine Stewart, a certified CRP facilitator, designed the training to reflect both the rigor of the process and its adaptability across disciplines, career stages, and creative forms.
Rather than teaching CRP as a rigid technique, the program emphasized CRP as a way of thinking, listening, and relating — applicable to artistic practice, collaboration, leadership, and community dialogue.
Cohort-Based Learning & Peer Accountability
The training was structured to support a diverse cohort of artists working across live art forms. Sessions balanced collective learning with small-group practice, allowing participants to:
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workshop works-in-progress
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practice giving and receiving feedback
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build trust and shared norms
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develop peer accountability relationships
This cohort model reinforced the idea that feedback is not a one-time event, but an ongoing relational practice.
Equity, Care, and Professional Sustainability
Throughout the engagement, facilitation centered equity, accessibility, and artist wellbeing. Attention was paid to power dynamics in feedback, creative vulnerability, and the emotional labor of artistic work.
CRP was framed not only as an artistic tool, but as a professional skill — supporting artists in navigating collaboration, communicating their vision, and engaging audiences, funders, and partners with greater clarity and confidence.
Outcomes & Impact
Through repeated practice and facilitated reflection, participants developed:
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a working fluency in Critical Response Process
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stronger peer support networks
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increased confidence in articulating their work
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tools for integrating feedback into creative decision-making
For Live Arts Boston, the training contributed to a more cohesive cohort experience and supported a feedback culture aligned with the program’s values of equity, care, and artistic growth.
Who This Work Is For
This type of engagement is well-suited for:
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foundations and funders offering artist support programs
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cultural institutions providing technical assistance
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cohort-based initiatives and residencies
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organizations seeking to strengthen feedback culture
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teams navigating creative risk, evaluation, or collaboration
CRP training can be tailored for artists, staff, boards, and cross-sector partners.
Interested in This Approach?
If you’re exploring ways to support artists, strengthen feedback culture, or bring more equitable and generative processes into your organization, we’d love to talk.
