Innovative Strategies Designed for the Future of Arts and Culture
At KKA Strategies, we empower organizations across the arts and culture sector to master the complexities of today's media and rights landscape. We specialize in guiding you through the challenges of modern media and streaming rights, ensuring you seize every opportunity the digital age offers.
Working at the intersection of rights management and operations, we leverage our cross-functional expertise—spanning creative, business, contractual, and technological domains—to streamline your practices. Our tailored solutions position your organization for success in a rapidly evolving world.
Let us be your partner in turning complexity into opportunity, unlocking your organization’s full potential in the digital age.
Who We Are
KKA is a consulting advisory led by Kathleya Afanador and Marc Kirschner, digital media entrepreneurs and long-time champions of technology advancement in the arts and culture sector. With over a decade working together as colleagues and co-founders, Marc and Kathleya bring a 360 degree view to their projects, leveraging cross-functional and multifaceted experience across creative, business and contractual matters as well as technology and platform adoption.
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PartnerWidely recognized as one of the most important trailblazers in the digital performing arts space, Marc Kirschner is the Co-Founder and former Head of Product and Innovation for Marquee TV, the leading on-demand streaming platform dedicated to global arts and culture. With a focus on growing Marquee’s digital audience and revenue development, Kirschner took the lead on leveraging new technologies to benefit Marquee TV’s users and partners, including Royal Shakespeare Company, The New York City Ballet, The Royal Opera House, Signature Theater and many more. Now independent, he is working on projects that consider potential impact of new technologies (blockchain, virtual reality), changes in the regulatory environment (privacy, payment technology), and rights/stakeholder issues on the next decade for the performing arts.
Previous to Marquee, Marc founded TenduTV, which distributed performing arts programs in over 80 countries via major digital platforms including iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Instant Video. Kirschner’s projects have received innovation support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. He’s frequently been tapped to contribute to articles on emerging trends in the performing arts and streaming for well-known outlets such as the Washington Post, The New York Times, TV Week, the International Music + Media Centre (IMZ), and others.
Kirschner received his MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in Mass Media and Economics from Northwestern University. He lives in New York with his wife Susanna, a former professional dancer, his children Aria and Zev and dog Daisy.
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PartnerA digital media entrepreneur whose specialty lies at the intersection of arts, media and tech, Kathleya Afanador is the Co-Founder and former Head of Content for Marquee TV, the leading on-demand streaming platform dedicated to global arts and culture. Working closely with a core editorial and commercial team, Kathleya led many of Marquee TV’s content acquisition efforts and developed a roster of top-tier international content partners across Europe, North America, and Australia/New Zealand. She spearheaded Marquee TV’s move into content commissioning with the filming of Kidd Pivot’s Olivier Award-winning Revisor, co-commissioned with the BBC and CBC. Following 2020’s widespread live event shutdowns, Kathleya brought innovative solutions to Marquee TV’s partners, helping them develop projects ranging from one-off live streamed events to fully produced digital seasons. Her expertise on content and curation has routinely been called upon for article contributions, promotional packages, and festival jury panels.
Previously, Kathleya worked on programming and content acquisition for TenduTV, which distributed arts programs in over 80 countries via major digital platforms including iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Instant Video. She has worked as a video editor and producer of educational content and as a cognitive psychology researcher, focusing on human-computer interactive systems.
Kathleya completed graduate studies in Arts Management at Columbia University and Choreography at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, and undergraduate studies in Cognitive Science at Cornell University. She lives in New York and is an active sailboat racer.