Culture is not peripheral.
It is foundational.
I'm Ayofemi Kirby. Based between Dakar, Senegal and New York City. Sharing what it takes to build a creative life and body of work on your own terms.
Strategist, advisor, and founder.
I've spent the last twenty years working across culture, communications, and institutional life. I've advised cultural organizations, elected officials, artists, and many others on how to say what they mean and mean what they build — and how to narrow the gap between the two.
Today I run three things: ElevenThirtySix, a strategic advisory practice for institutions presenting and preserving our shared culture and heritage. Galerie36, a contemporary art house in Dakar championing new African and Afro-Diasporic voices. And Academy36, a global digital academy for cultural leadership (Opening Soon).
I write about the things I'm studying, questioning, and working through — cultural intelligence, aesthetic intelligence, artificial intelligence, and what it means to operate with intention in a world that rewards noise. The personal intelligence it takes to build a creative life on your own terms.
Read my writing →
ElevenThirtySix
Strategic advisory for museums, cultural institutions and organizations, and the places that hold our cultural heritage and humanity. Institutional clarity, narrative stewardship, and the long game.
Learn More →Academy36
A global digital academy for cultural leadership. Grounded in cultural intelligence, aesthetic intelligence, personal and artificial intelligence. Opening soon.
Begin Here →Galerie36
A contemporary art house in Dakar championing new African and Afro-Diasporic voices through exhibitions, salons, and cultural exchange. An intimate, discerning cultural meeting ground.
Explore the Gallery →Works in Progress
Essays, insights, and perspectives for a creative life built on your own terms.
Subscribe →Every engagement begins with a conversation.
I work with a small number of institutions each year through ElevenThirtySix — museums, cultural organizations and institutions, and philanthropies committed to preserving shared heritage. Every engagement is built around the specific strategic question the institution is facing.
Academy36 courses and the Works in Progress newsletter are open to everyone. Start wherever feels right.
Perspective, insight, and reflection.
Essays, insights, and perspectives for a creative life built on your own terms.
Works in Progress
Long-form essays, perspectives, and insights on culture, leadership, and the global landscape.
Subscribe on Substack →The Cultural Lens
A free five-part email series on the four intelligences. The clearest entry point into E36 thinking.
Start the Series →Stay connected.
Updates on Academy36, Galerie36, new writing, and everything across the ecosystem.
Conversations on cultural intelligence, creative strategy, and the art of leading and living with clarity in a shifting world.
The E36 Podcast.