– Cultural Audit has done an incredible job of connecting and collaborating with the community’s residents, none of whom will be involuntarily displaced by the upgrade.

– Perhaps the most innovative undertaking was a “cultural audit”.
SWITCHOARD, National Resources Defense Council

Cultural Audit is a woman owned business. For more information, contact Laura Curry

Interested in the social, political and cultural intersections in urban landscapes, Laura Curry, creator of Cultural Audit, works as a catalyst for positive change through authentic collaborations that are built with communities and the agencies that serve them.

When working at the intersection of art and social realms the very first question and communication should be: Who benefits from the project?  Question two: what are the expectations of the project initiator and all of the people the project is meant to serve?

Laura uses her expertise as an artist practitioner, consultant, and educator to create authentic, multi-layered participatory structures that place communities of a project at the center, as the defining member of the project process.

Laura has conducted Cultural Audits for the cities of Los Angeles, New Orleans, Jackson Mississippi, St. Paul and Minneapolis Minnesota, Denver Colorado, Seattle Washington, Port Angeles Washington, Oregon City Oregon and Portland Oregon. Laura has experience working in the areas of mission driven housing, master planning, parks and recreation, transportation, communications, and content generation, retail strategy, marketing communications, planning and design, and arts and culture assessments.

As a pedagogy, Cultural Audit is used in the areas of higher education, ethical civic engagement, communications and design.

Laura’s work has been presented in the United States at Open Engagement at Queens Museum/ Queens NY; ISEA/ Albuquerque NM; Time Mutations, Buffalo/ NY; On the Boards/Seattle WA; Hugo House/ Seattle WA; TBA Festival for Portland Institute on Contemporary Art/ Portland OR; The Southern Theater/ Minneapolis MN, and ODC/ San Francisco, through the SCUBA National Touring Network for Dance. Internationally, Laura’s work has been presented at DOCUMENTA 13/ Kassel Germany; Time Mutations, Bauhaus-Universität/Weimar; No Automático/ Monterrey MX; The Guapamacátaro Center for Art and Ecology/ Michoacan MX.

In 2023, new work centering community engagement, Poesía para el bien común, is presented through Artes del Tecnológico de Monterrey, FEMSA, CONARTE, LABNL / Monterrey Mexico.

Laura has received funding from Artes del Tecnológico de Monterrey, FEMSA, CONARTE, LABNL; the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; Technē Institute for Arts and Emerging Technologies; Department of Media Study University at Buffalo; the McAloon Conference Grant; Artist Trust (2 Fellowships for Choreography and a GAP Grant); the Seattle Mayors Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs; 4 Culture; Art Patch; Meet the Composer; West Sound Arts Council; the Arizona State Arts Commission.