We consider the dynamics of an array of mutually interacting cavities, each containing an ensemble of N two-level atoms. By exploring the possibilities offered by ensembles of various dimensions and a range of atom-light and photon-hopping values, we investigate the generation of multi-site entanglement, as well as the performance of excitation transfer across the array resulting from the competition between on-site non-linearities of the matter-light interaction and inter-site photon hopping. In particular, for a three cavities interacting system it is observed that the initial excitation in the first cavity completely transfers to the ensemble in the third cavity through the hopping of photons between the adjacent cavities. Probabilities of the transfer of excitation of the cavity modes and ensembles exhibit characteristics of fast and slow oscillations governed by coupling and hopping parameters respectively. In the large hopping case, by seeding an initial excitation in the cavity at the center of the array, a tripartite W state, as well as a bipartite maximally entangled state is obtained, depending on the interaction time. Population of the ensemble in a cavity has a positive impact on the rate of excitation-transfer between the ensembles and their local cavity modes. In particular, for ensembles of 5 to 7 atoms, tripartite W states can be produced even when the hopping rate is comparable to the cavity-atom one. A similar behavior of the transfer of excitation is observed for a four coupled-cavity system with two initial excitations.