SOUNDING BOARD SCHOOL
STARTED AS A MEANS OF SURVIVAL—A WAY TO
NAVIGATE THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES
OF STAYING CREATIVE
AND MAKING A LIVING.
As a last-ditch attempt to recover from burnout and reclaim direction for her creative businesses, Jane Hervey began experimenting with new approaches to strategic planning, creative small business management and values-driven design in 2017.
Developing her own frameworks, alongside a trusted sounding board of advisors, she successfully revitalized the operations for Future Front, an award-winning arts and culture organization, and a number of businesses for clients in arts and entertainment, creative start-ups and nonprofits.
Since, she has turned her approaches for self-organization into classes, sessions and guides through partnerships with The University of Texas at Austin, Blake St. Arkansas, We All Grow! Los Angeles, Women Who Code, SXSW and more.
Now, SOUNDING BOARD SCHOOL is a weekly ritual, newsletter and summit for values-driven creative people, seeking self-organization and mental models during seasons of both stagnancy and growth.
GUIDING VALUES✹ Big Creativity
✹ Mutual Respect
✹ Collaborative Growth
✹ Learning in Public
✹ Somatic Inclusivity
Our guiding values for opening learning environments are driven by Emergent Strategy (Adrienne Maree Brown), Embodied Social Justice (The Embody Lab), Land- & Lineage-Oriented Anti-Racism Practices (Ola Wellness).
BEHIND THE SHELLSOUNDING BOARD SCHOOL’s seashell logo is inspired by the non-judgmental, iterative growth practices of mollusks. (A mollusk produces calcium carbonate from its mantle, laying down layers of it over its lifetime. Together, those layers form its magnificient seashell.)
learning frameworks
SOUNDING BOARD SCHOOL has been informed by our instructors’ lived experience in small business ownership and coaching, cultural strategy, creative leadership and design-thinking, as well as Hervey’s formal studies of Evidence-Based Decision-Making (Farnam Street), Small Business Management (Texas Venture Labs), Creative Business Planning, Effective Facilitation (Reclamation Ventures), Values-Driven Administration & Cultural Strategy (AS220 Practice//Practice), Community Design (Rosieland) and more.
ABOUT JANE HERVEY
Jane Hervey is a community and brand development director, award-winning curator, creative producer and accidental nonprofit founder.
Over the last decade, she has led teams for 25+ creative companies and start-ups, arts and entertainment organizations and mission-driven third spaces across the US. Designing thoughtfully curated identities, experiences and storytelling projects, her client list reflects independent creatives and nonprofits, as well as lifestyle and tech brands like The LINE Hotel, Bumble, Red Bull and Waymo.
Currently, she directs Future Front, a 501c3 cultural space she founded in 2015, alongside her own creative agency, group work.
This pioneering work in public and private creative programming, design and brand strategy has been recognized by ADWEEK, Texas Monthly, the City of Austin’s Women’s Hall of Fame and the National Endowment for the Arts. She's been an invited as a guest speaker and curator for organizations like SXSW, Austin FC, The Contemporary Austin Museum and Soho House. With a background in community education, journalism, design-thinking and facilitation, Jane volunteers her time toward grassroots initiatives that support stronger communities, like local creative advocacy, health justice and arts healing.
Jane has also composed records & music as an independent recording artist for global projects since 2012, pulling influences from the likes of Björk and Frank Ocean.
The daughter of a naturalist, her artistic work builds worlds around the high-brow, low-brow aesthetics of rodeo queen femmehood and the dreamy tropical, jewel tones of the Texas coast. Since putting out her first four-track lo-fi EP “Sour Grapefruit” in 2019, she has played South by Southwest (SXSW), opened for the likes of OSHUN, Nomi Ruiz, Bunny Michael and composed for an internationally recognized cross-border mix by Golden Hornet, Graham Reynolds and Bostich.