Denise Montgomery is founder and principal of CultureThrive, a consulting practice with a primary focus on arts and culture and youth development. Denise’s research has been covered by National Public Radio, The Washington Post, and Youth Today, among other media outlets.
She contributed a chapter, The Arts and Creative Youth Development, to Youth Development Principles and Practices in Out-of-School Time Settings (2018). Working on behalf of the Creative Youth Development National Partnership, Denise is lead author of the National Action Blueprint, Youth. Creativity. Now. Building Opportunities and Support for Creative Youth Development (2018). Denise serves on the Create JusticeResearch Action Group.
Denise wrote “The Rise of Creative Youth Development,” published in Arts Education Policy Review Journal (2016) and Something to Say: Success Principles for Afterschool Arts Programs From Urban Youth and Other Experts (2014), commissioned by the Wallace Foundation.
Denise has held leadership positions as Director of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, as Executive Director of the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, and at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.