Tate Strategy is a Brooklyn, NY–based consulting firm that specializes in strategic marketing, public programming, community engagement, partnership development, and critical analysis. The agency excels at creating powerful solutions to extraordinary problems. Economic growth and narrative change around issues of equality are at the core of its practice. 

Tate Strategy advises innovators in the arts, media, philanthropy, economic development, and urban revitalization on ways to deepen social impact while advancing complex institutional goals. The firm’s projects – from marketing campaigns and public programs to strategic alliances and deep-focus research – stand apart in content and form. 

Tate Strategy’s marketing work taps the mythic narrative of a given place, issue, or brand. Its public programs imagine the future while lifting up the revolutionary history of people of color and people of conscience. The firm’s projects engage communities across intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, and age.

The firm is led by Brian Tate, a marketing strategist and cultural curator whose work examines the issues of our time. He has built forward-looking projects at the nexus of culture and ideas for more than 20 years, and he is expert at convening fearless conversations on complex matters of social change. 

Tate is the former executive director of the DC Committee to Promote Washington, a nonprofit organization that marketed the Nation's Capital around the world and generated $93M per year in visitor revenues. A skilled negotiator, he has struck major pacts with AT&T, Bloomberg, NBC, Visa, and others. He has also created singular marketing strategies for numerous nonprofits.

Tate is guided by the example of his parents, Charles and Florence Tate, brilliant civil rights activists who espoused selfless action to transform society. A writer and musician, he lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and daughter.

Event Photo (above): Gregg Richards
Photo of Brian Tate (below): Kevin Irby
Event Photos (below): Ed Marshall

STRATEGIC MARKETING

Singular campaigns and communications that tap the mythic narrative of a given issue, place, or brand.

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING

Major cultural projects that examine revolutionary history, imagine the future and elevate democracy.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

New, mutually beneficial relationships with leaders across communities and innovators across sectors.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

Analysis of institutional systems and culture, frank discussions among leaders and staff, and action steps for essential change.

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

A hard look at organizational practices, policies, and plans, with a focus on making intentions into outcomes.

PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Brokering win-win deals among nonprofits, sponsors, communities, and public-private stakeholders.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Directing complex projects within budget and on schedule, in collaboration with staff and freelancers.   

CONFERENCE DESIGN

Private industry gatherings that empower participants to listen, share, and consider new possibilities and perspectives.

SELECT CLIENTS

48-Hour Film Project
651 Arts
165th Street Mall Improvement Association
Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
Brooklyn Book Festival
The Brooklyn Historical Society
The Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn Tourism
Consortium of Universities of Metropolitan Washington
Corlears School 
Creative Capital
Dance/NYC
Ford Foundation
Fourth Arts Block
Fractured Atlas
Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation
The Guggenheim Museum
Harlem Stage
Jamaica Center Business Improvement District

Lower East Side Film Festival
Nathan Cummings Foundation
National Black Programming Consortium
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
New York City Economic Development Corporation
New York Live Arts
Pop Culture Collaborative
Queens Council on the Arts
Romare Bearden Foundation
Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation
Symphony Space
Theatre Development Fund
Urban Word NYC
WNET
WNYC

ADVISORY AFFILIATIONS

Brooklyn Book Festival’s Nonfiction Committee
Guggenheim Museum Global Innovation Group
The Human Impacts Institute
Times Square Arts Residency at the Crossroads

“I continue to be astonished by all the powerhouse people and voices you brought together. The breadth of your vision is sweeping and the event truly felt historic. - Cora Fisher, Brooklyn Public Library 


“The many inspiring activists, artists, and scholars lit us up with their fierceness. Brian, you knocked this one out of the park.” – Mike Ishii, Tsuru for Solidarity

“Truly one of the most provocative panels I’ve heard in eons. Honest, hard and real.” - Jennifer Wright Cook, The Field

“Brian Tate is curating this EXCELLENT festival of ideas, conversations and art. Last night was a great great great conversation.” - Kevin Powell, activist/writer

 "This series is just fantastic. I am so grateful for the work you're doing!" - Carolyn Bardos, Stone Hole Press

“Last night was @$#%& awesome, a powerful mojo of minds in one room. These dialogues are so important and urgent. The work you are doing is revolutionary and what I call Putting Skin in the Game. Thank you for ALL that you do creating safe spaces for conversation, exploration, debate, art and fun!” - Liza Jessie Peterson, playwright/performer

"Your series is changing hearts!" – Stephanie K. Blackwood, Ms. Foundation

“Still reflecting on this powerful conversation... Thanks for curating such a remarkable festival!” - Michelle Y. Thompson, Judson Memorial Church

“Brian Tate will definitely fill the seats with people intent on learning and acting in the name of social justice. If you're interested in where the arts are headed, this is where you should be.” – Danny Simmons, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation