What We Do

Services

1:1 Advising & Consulting

Personalized sessions for artists and organizations (60, 90, or 120 minutes) to help you bring visions to life. We support you with:

Funding Support Systems: Craft compelling residency, award, and grant applications, and create processes that reduce stress.
Project Management: Turn ideas into action, from timelines to budgeting, we help you navigate the moving pieces of your projects.
Studio Visits & Portfolio Review: Prepare for exhibitions or share your work with potential partners; we review portfolios, artist statements, and key messaging.
Entrepreneurial Support: Build a strong foundation for your creative enterprise through strategic planning and focus on essential priorities.
Organizational Development: Develop mission, vision, values, and strategic plans for your collective or arts organization.

Workshops

We gather artists and organizations to build skills, explore creative processes, and learn together. Offerings include:

Grant Writing & Development for Small Arts Organizations: Practical tools and strategies for sustainable grant writing and reporting, even without a dedicated development team.
Cosmic Roadmap: A three-part workshop using ecological and tarot principles to help creatives and organizations see projects in their full context, from resources to audiences, expenses to goals.
Embodied Research as Artistic & Social Practice: Explore research as lived practice, through observation, experimentation, writing, and play, and design systems that make research embodied, structured, and intentional.

Curatorial & Interpretive Partnerships

We develop frameworks for museums, art centers, and galleries, from temporary exhibitions to permanent collections, that center care, critical inquiry, and audience engagement. Offerings include:

Interpretive Plans for Exhibitions & Permanent Collections: Create strategic interpretive documents that guide storytelling, establish themes, and ensure meaningful visitor experiences through thoughtful communication and media.
Permanent Collection Audits: Review how your collection is shared—labels, catalogs, digital content—and ensure its presentation aligns with your mission and audience goals.

Servicios

Asesoría y Consultoría 1:1

Sesiones personalizadas para artistas y organizaciones (60, 90 o 120 minutos) para ayudarte a materializar tus visiones. Te apoyamos en:

Sistemas de Apoyo Financiero: Redacción de aplicaciones para residencias, premios y subvenciones, y creación de procesos que reduzcan el estrés.
Gestión de Proyectos: Convierte ideas en acción; desde cronogramas hasta presupuestos, te ayudamos a navegar las diferentes partes de tus proyectos.
Visitas de Estudio y Revisión de Portafolio: Te ayudamos a prepararte para exposiciones o compartir tu trabajo con potenciales colaboradores; revisamos portafolios, biografías de artista y mensajes clave.
Apoyo para Emprender: Construye una base sólida para tu emprendimiento creativo mediante planificación estratégica y enfoque en prioridades esenciales.
Desarrollo Organizacional: Te ayudamos a aterrizar la misión, visión, valores y planes estratégicos para tu colectivo u organización artística.

Talleres

Reunimos a artistas y organizaciones para desarrollar habilidades, explorar procesos creativos y aprender en comunidad. Entre nuestros talleres tenemos:

Sistemas de Aplicación a Fondos y Subvenciones: Herramientas y estrategias prácticas para mantener sistemas sostenibles de redacción y seguimiento de subvenciones, incluso sin un equipo de fundraising dedicado.
Mapa Cósmico: Taller de tres sesiones que utiliza principios ecológicos y de tarot para ayudar a artistas y organizaciones a visualizar proyectos en su contexto completo, desde recursos hasta públicos, gastos y objetivos.
Investigación como Práctica Artística y Social: Te acercamos a la investigación como una práctica que puedes encarnar a través de observación, experimentación, escritura y juego, aportando a tu práctica creativa y artística desde un lugar crítico e íntimo.

Colaboraciones Curatoriales e Interpretativas

Desarrollamos marcos de trabajo para museos, centros de arte y galerías, desde exposiciones temporales hasta colecciones permanentes, centrados en el cuidado, la investigación crítica y la conexión con el público. Entre nuestros servicios:

Planes Interpretativos para Exposiciones y Colecciones Permanentes: Creación de hilos narrativos para tus exposiciones y colecciones permanentes, tomando en cuenta el desarrollo de experiencias significativas para los visitantes. Esos hilos narrativos son la base para las fichas, cédulas y textos en salas así como catálogos y medios de comunicación.
Auditorías de Colecciones Permanentes: Revisamos cómo estás compartiendo tu colección — etiquetas, catálogos, contenido digital — y aseguramos que su presentación esté alineada con tu misión y los objetivos para el público.

Testimonials

"The experience with Terra Cotta has been crucial for our organization, Water People Theater. The vision of its leader, Constanza Mendoza, is relevant and timely for an organization like ours, which, after 22 years of history, needs a moment of reflection to continue growing.

Terra Cotta and Constanza have been instrumental in this turning point and evaluation to define how we live our present, leading us to a new story.

Constanza is a high-level professional due to her immense humanity, ability to listen and empathize, and commitment. We have learned a lot while working with her. Thank you, terra cotta and Constanza!"

Iraida Tapias Artistic Director of Water People Theater

"In June 2020, the Sala Mendoza Foundation conducted the Online Organizational Culture Laboratory for artistic and cultural institutions. Directed by Constanza Mendoza, it was an unprecedented initiative in Venezuela, as organizational thinking in the cultural field tends to need more offers not linked to academia.

Focusing on creating strong and competent organizational structures, the program conveyed the vital needs and routes to defining mission, vision, and values. Constanza developed a memorable and useful experience that generates fundamental reflections beyond cultural management and organizational culture."

Patricia Velasco Cultural Producer & Former ED at Sala Mendoza

“Constanza's advice was accurate and stimulating. We were able to share valuable creative exchanges and respond to challenges with the necessary speed and precision.”

Miguel Braceli Artist, Architect, and Founder of LA ESCUELA___

"Working with Terra Cotta has been one of the best decisions as an organization and team. Constanza is very professional, compassionate, motivating, and precise. In working with her, communication has been the vehicle to progress, identify obstacles, evaluate, and grow strategically.

Terra Cotta is a space for connection, humanity, and certainty. terra cotta is the future. Thank you, Constanza!"

Rebeca Aleman Founder & ED of Water People Theater