-

Curating the connections and conditions where the arts, health, and community can thrive.

Matt works with foundations, arts & culture organizations, artists, healthcare providers, and communities—both individually and collectively—as a strategic advisor to design funding strategies, programs and initiatives, infrastructure, and systems that strengthen the arts and health ecosystem.

He serves as connective tissue—breaking down silos and bringing together cross-sector partners to align around a shared vision, foster meaningful collaboration, and mobilize the resources, relationships, and opportunities needed for arts, health, and well-being to thrive in communities.

Services Offered

Matt works with individuals, organizations, and communities working at the intersection of Arts & Health.

Coaching

  • Supporting leaders navigating complexity, growth, & change.
  • Thought partnership & strategic independent advice
  • Managing change and transitions
  • Whole person approach

Foundations

  • Strategic planning
  • Organizational development
  • Interim leadership support & talent acquisition
  • Arts & Health grants strategy and design
  • Trust-based approaches to giving
  • Program and initiative design
  • Ecosystem approach design

Communities

  • Development and implementation of community wide Arts & Health strategy
  • Build and support cross sector collaboration
  • Connecting and convening key stakeholders
  • Infrastructure design or identification
  • Ecosystem design and development
  • Arts & Health advocacy & policy development

Healthcare Providers

  • Arts program design in healthcare settings
  • Partnership design connecting with artists and community arts organizations
  • Designing integrated approaches that connect arts, healthcare, and community
  • Art prescriptions program development in partnership with Social Rx

Nonprofits & Arts Organizations

  • Health related strategic planning
  • Organizational development
  • Partnership design with healthcare providers
  • Arts & Health program design
  • Evaluation tools & resources
  • Funding strategies, sourcing, connecting
  • Arts & Health program design

The evidence is no longer the question.
The opportunity is. We know the arts can improve mental, physical, and emotional health, strengthen social connection, reduce isolation, and help communities thrive. The opportunity now is to intentionally build the capacity of artists, healthcare providers, nonprofits, foundations, and public agencies—and create the relationships, infrastructure, and ecosystems that enable them to work together toward healthier communities.

About Matt

Matt’s life reflects the powerful connection between arts and mental health. An artist from a young age, he has consistently turned to creative expression during some of the most difficult moments in his life—including when his mother and sister were both diagnosed with cancer when he was 19, and following the loss of his mother.

That experience shaped his path and inspired a lifelong commitment to ensuring others have access to the same sources of healing, connection, and resilience through the arts.

Matt has spent the past 25+ years working at the intersection of arts, health, youth development, and community—founding and leading organizations & programs, working at & partnering with foundations, and building infrastructure and initiatives that advance wellbeing through creative engagement.

Matt is the founder of A Reason To Survive (ARTS) and the Creative Youth Development Initiative at the Clare Rose Foundation. He is also co-founder of the Clare Rose Center for Creative Youth Development, a field intermediary service organization.

In addition, he co-founded the Arts & Intersections Working Group at Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties, which launched the Social Rx/Art prescriptions pilot in San Diego, and co-founded the National Creative Youth Development Funders Forum to increase and coordinate awareness & resources for the field.

Over time, his work has expanded from building individual organizations to strengthening the systems around them—supporting field-building efforts, intermediary models, and cross-sector collaborations.

Along the way, he’s experienced both meaningful success and real failure. Those experiences reshaped how he sees this work.

This is Matt’s work today. He has the ability to support in any capacity needed: as a partner, leader, guide, advisor, connector – engagement can be crafted in a suitable way to meet the needs of your organization or community.

Matt’s work has been featured in the 2013 Academy Award–winning documentary short Inocente, showcased on the Today Show, profiled in the New York Times bestselling book Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath, and included in Darius Graham’s Being the Difference: True Stories of Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things to Change the World. His philanthropic leadership at Clare Rose has also been featured in The New York Times.

Collaborators

Testimonials

“I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Matt D’Arrigo across many corners of San Diego’s arts ecosystem, and I can say without hesitation that few people are as well equipped to lead cross-sector work at the intersection of arts and health. As the founder of A Reason To Survive, Matt built a nationally recognized model for creative youth development—demonstrating, in practice, how the arts can transform young lives. He has since become one of the field’s most effective advocates for creative youth development as a health strategy for young people, reframing the arts not as an amenity but as a vital tool for mental and behavioral wellbeing.

Matt carried that vision into his work as a funder with the Clare Rose Foundation, where his leadership has helped establish the foundation as a national leader in creative youth development philanthropy. In that role, he drove the effort to bring Art Pharmacy/Social Prescription to San Diego and has been a driving force behind the broader arts and health work of the Arts & Intersections Funder Collaborative—connecting healthcare, philanthropy, and the creative sector in ways our region hadn’t seen before.

Matt understands every side of the table: the artist’s craft and the funder’s strategy, the local community and the national field. Any organization looking to build meaningful arts and health partnerships would be fortunate to have him at the helm.”

— Kamaal Martin, Co-Founder & Managing Director, ART POWER EQUITY

When we partnered with Matt to launch our Creative Youth Development Initiative, we hoped to make a meaningful contribution to the field. What we accomplished together far exceeded our expectations. Matt brought the vision, strategy, and leadership to transform our small family foundation into a recognized leader in Creative Youth Development while building the partnerships, infrastructure, and systems that will continue to strengthen the field for years to come. He also helped shape and lead our trust-based philanthropic approach, creating a model of relationship-centered philanthropy that has inspired foundations and partners locally and nationally. His ability to connect people around a shared vision and turn bold ideas into lasting impact is truly exceptional.

— Anne Vincent, The Clare Rose Foundation

Working with Matt has been instrumental in guiding the next chapter of our family foundation. He helped me define my role as Executive Director, create a clear strategy & structure for the foundation's future, establish our trust-based philanthropic approach, and set strategic priorities for our areas of impact. His guidance, ability to ask the right questions, and deep understanding of nonprofit and philanthropic leadership gave me the clarity and confidence to move from ideas to action. I highly recommend Matt to any organization looking to strengthen its vision, governance, and long-term strategy.

— Lorenza Fabre Vegas, Latattore Foundation

When I wanted to launch an arts project in the Radiation Oncology Department at UC San Diego Health, I had the vision but didn’t know where to begin. Matt helped me find a path forward—connecting me with the right people, organizations, and resources in the community and serving as a trusted thought partner throughout the process. His relationships across the arts and health community were instrumental in bringing the project to life. The project was a tremendous success and helped demonstrate what’s possible, with the hope of building on it in the future. I’m grateful for Matt’s guidance, connections, and ability to bring the right people together to make things happen.

— Nahoko Mieson, LCSW, UCSD Radiation Oncology Dept.

Let’s Start a Conversation