Biography

Theo Edmonds, JD, MHA, MFA 

Theo Edmonds is a Culture Futurist and artist who has spent 30 years working at the intersection of arts, science, and business. He helps organizations build creative capacity when the old playbooks stop working.

Theo currently serves as Creative Executive in Residence at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and on the Board of Directors at Americans for the Arts, where he recently co-chaired the national CEO search. He is the creator of the Creativity America framework, a national partnership movement for the future of creative work that combines arts leadership, AI, industry R&D, and creativity science to build a new model for economic growth and cultural resilience.

In 2022, concerned that American innovation was losing its sense of wonder, Theo launched a two-year national journey. Across dozens of states, he traveled from Appalachian classrooms to Capitol Hill power rooms, from Silicon Valley C-suites to South Florida art studios, asking hundreds of leaders a single question: "What's holding your organization's creativity back?" The answers became the foundation for Creativity America, and his forthcoming book, "Innovation Grief: neuro kudzu mixtape," which names the hidden cost of unprocessed creative loss: the cognitive, emotional, and cultural weight that drains organizational vitality. At the center sits a provocation: What if this era of extreme technological and cultural uncertainty is actually America’s big chance to make the hard creativity of innovation more human than ever?

Theo's executive, artistic, and research background spans Fortune 100 companies, city and state governments, family offices, universities, and national arts organizations. He previously served as Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the College of Arts & Media and Associate Research Professor at the University of Colorado Denver. He co-founded IDEAS xLab, an arts-innovation nonprofit, and led a National Science Foundation-funded team that developed the Cultural Wellbeing Index. He serves on the founding steering committees and advisory board for international initiatives at the intersection of brain science and creative industries.

A gay, neurodivergent, eighth-generation Appalachian from Breathitt County, Kentucky (also known through J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, though Theo offers a distinct perspective on its innovative spirit), Theo holds degrees in theatre, law, healthcare administration, and art studio. His perspective is forged by the need to find a place for wonder in systems that often seek to optimize it away.

Southern Living Magazine named him one of "50 People Changing the Face of the South" for his cross-sector leadership. The University of Louisville awarded him the Epic Trailblazer Award for Innovation in Research. He is a regular featured speaker for diverse audiences ranging from the U.S. Department of State’s Cities Summit of the Americas and Colorado Creative Industries Annual Summit to Silicon Slopes (Salt Lake City ’26) and invited presentations for the American Psychological Association’s National Convention.