aBOUT US
CONE was founded by Jen Mitas in 2018 to provide bespoke communications and grant writing services to serve socially engaged arts organizations. Julie Hammond joined the CONE team in 2020. In addition to a diverse range of experiences working in and with organizations large and small, Jen and Julie share a common background as theatre makers, producers and nonprofit administrators. We first met through our work with ensemble theatre company Hand2Mouth, where Julie was an ensemble member and Jen served as Executive Director. Our creative collaborations on-stage and in the world include numerous events, productions (including Pep Talk and Object Karaoke), and show tours from Lake County, Oregon to New York City.
OUR TEAM
Jen Mitas, PhD
Founding Partner | Fundraising Strategy, Grant Writing, Communications, Creative Producing
(she/they)
Jen Mitas got her start in queer solo performance in New York in the late 1990s. She has spent the last twenty-five years helping artists and organizations hone and realize their visions. As a facilitator for The Field in New York she led workshops using the feedback technique (Fieldwork), including week-long artist residencies. As a lecturer and researcher in the UK, she led courses in performance devising, theory and history with BA and MA students at Queen Mary University of London and University of Falmouth. Upon her return to the US she was Hand2Mouth Theatre’s Executive Director for 7 years, producing projects, tours, stewarding conversation events, and developing/ managing a community arts space (Shout House). In 2017 she initiated the green theatre project Object Karaoke as a model for innovating new performance from the detritus of a large repertory theatre.
Her work is grounded in a commitment to the possibilities for art and arts education to disrupt, undermine and undo social, economic, and environmental inequities. Through CONE she has helped seed a range of community-engaged projects– from a youth music center to a 9 day festival of mourning rituals. She is grateful to CONE’s clients for their partnership and honored to support their work. Jen is also the mother of many plants, a dog named Hildegard and a human named Bea.
Julie Hammond, MFA
Partner | Grant Writing, Fundraising Strategy, Creative Producing, Research
(she/they)
Julie Hammond has worked as a grant writer, cultural producer, and arts administrator since 2003. She began her career working on a multi-city tour and museum installation of William Pope.L’s The Black Factory, and has since conceived, articulated, and fundraised for projects large and small, from new pieces of devised theatre to statewide programs for training teaching artists. As a project manager and producer, she has worked on community engaged arts programs for the Vancouver Park Board, Simon Fraser University's Vancity Office of Community Engagement, and Richmond Public Art, among others. She is invested in connecting people to places and each other, translating complex stories and deeply held values into clear language, and designing realistic budgets and actionable evaluation plans.
Julie's artistic practice includes directing original and scripted plays, dramaturgy for interdisciplinary performance, collaborations with kids and seniors, community walks and installations, and 10 years as a performer/creator with Portland's Hand2Mouth. She has a not-so-secret interest in transportation planning, riding bikes, and the potential of public space to enact radical social change. Julie lives in North Portland with her husband, son, and cat.