Friday, November 9, 2012

Post-Sandy Help for Artists

We hope you are safely recovering from Hurricane Sandy and taking advantage of the many resources that are popping up and/or volunteering when you can. The Field is also aware that the storm and its aftermath have had an impact on your art-making and managing your art, so we’ve gathered our resources and we’re making them available to anyone who needs them—for FREE!
Check out what is coming up and take advantage!

AFTER SANDY: How to Apply for Disaster Unemployment Assistance
Monday, November 12, 6-7pm OR Friday, November 16, 11am-12pm
At The Field
With Shawn Rene Graham
FREE

Have you lost work or income due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy? If so, you may be eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA). Join Artist Services Manager, Shawn René Graham, and get help with the fine print and process of applying. The deadline for applying for DUA is December 3, so sign up now!
At Governor Cuomo’s request, President Obama declared several counties in New York as major disaster areas. DUA is a Federal program that provides payments to people in a federally declared disaster area who have lost work or income due to the disaster. Read more about the Disaster Unemployment Assistance here.

Fundraising After Sandy
Monday, November 19, 6:30 - 7:30pm
At The Field
With Cara Liguori
FREE!

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, is it safe, tacky or completely taboo to ask folks to support your art projects? What can/should you do if you were depending on end of year giving to meet your income goals? Join a group of your peers and Field Development Manager, Cara Liguori, to ask your most pressing questions and to share your opinions. The right way forward is going to be different for everyone, so let’s put it all out there and discuss.


Looking for more? Check out the following listings and information:

LMCC's Emergency Grants List:
http://www.lmcc.net/uploads/grants/forms/2012-Fundraising-Emergency_Grants.pdf

NYFA's Emergency Grants List:
http://www.nyfa.org/source/content/content/disasterresources/disasterresources.aspx?DRID=54&CID=5&UDRID

Volunteer in the Rockaways: Sign up to reserve your seat on a bus to the Rockaways to help with Hurricane relief and clean up. https://rockabus.com/

Occupy Sandy: An off-shoot of Occupy Wall Street, this organizing effort is looking for volunteers and donated goods. Find out more at: http://interoccupy.net/

Dance: Dance/NYC Help them tell your story and help you by writing Lacey Althouse at
lalthouse@dancenyc.org. Join the conversation on Twitter @DanceNYC #sandydance.

Theatre: ART/NY www.art-newyork.org   They are collecting information re: immediate losses and
expect to provide further assistance so stay in touch with them.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Did you know? Information about MAP Fund and Helpful Hints for Applying

The Field’s Shawn René Graham sat down with MAP Fund Program Director, Moira Brennan, for an info session on applying to MAP. This is what we learned!

A little background:

Did you know that the MAP Fund is 24 years old? It is the oldest direct grant for performing art activities in the US and is only second to the NEA in funding resources. They give away $1.2 million annually to up to 40 projects in all performing disciplines—theater, music, dance—and they receive about 1,000 applications every year.

Application review process:

The MAP Fund has three goals in mind when reviewing applications:
1. They are looking for contemporary works that challenge conventions
2. They are interested in the issue of “the other” or diversity in your work
3. They fund proposals that demonstrate excellence of execution.

They want to make it the simplest application form, by keeping it streamlined and only asking for essential info, which includes project description and artist statements, a budget, and work samples.

Funding is usually granted to artists who have been producing work publicly for at least two years. The average award is 10-25% of the applicant’s total budget.

MAP Fund is excited about international projects, but unless the project includes a US-based performance it is unlikely to get funded.

Helpful hints & suggestions:

Project Descriptions and Artist Statements: Resist throwing all of your collaborators’ thoughts into your proposals. Be focused on your vision so that the panelists can see that you are in command of your own project. Make your artistic statements grounded and related to your artistic process; it should be 80% practical and 20% philosophical. Be sure to include a clear execution plan in your project description. There are links in the application that tell you what to write, follow them closely.

Work samples: Make sure your work samples grab the viewer’s attention within the first 5 seconds. Find sections of your work that are explosive. Work samples should be thought out carefully and should include clear descriptions. Your text should direct the panelist’s eye and hold their hand.

Budgets: MAP Fund panelists are keen on artist’s fees. Always include as much detail as possible and break down artist payment fees more than anything else.


For more information about MAP Fund, visit mapfund.org

If you are a Sponsored Artist with The Field and you want to apply to MAP Fund, you must register through us. Contact Shawn René Graham (shawnrene@thefield.org) immediately to apply.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Quick Notes and Quirky Wisdom

A short-hand recap of our Seasoned Process panel-discussion

In case you missed out on The Field’s panel, A Seasoned Process: Sustaining Creativity & Weathering Change, we were frantically scribbling notes! Here’s a smattering of sage advice and topical tips (and our rough interpretations) for being an artist, making work, and enjoying the longevity of your career.

A huge thank you to our panelists for their honesty and openess—Eve Beglarian, Donna Uchizono, Keith Reddin, and Judy Tate—and our insightful facilitator, Todd London!

Here we go…

“A career in the arts is not linear…It’s by definition unpredictable…you’ll be following a path that hasn’t been built yet…you can’t look for external validation because there aren’t any marks on the path.” –Eve Beglarian

“…it’s a constant set of corrections to get back on course, rather than staying on a designated path.”
–Judy Tate, on being an artist and the practice of making work

 “The next thing I’m going to do is just for me.” –Keith Reddin, on taking a break from making for presenters or funders, and to reconnect with his creative practice

 “Don’t take things personally…” –Donna Uchizono, on how it is impossible for all the good projects that are submitted to funders to get awards they deserve

“Have the confidence that it’s all going to work out and be ok—even if that confidence is artificial, because you can’t really know” –Eve Beglarian, advice on the financial instability of being an artist

“It’s been a financial disaster [laughs], but it’s been great. I felt a kind of freedom from promotion.”
–Donna Uchizono, on producing a show that was invite only with no advertising.

“Tension wants to resolve itself.” –Judy Tate, on having trust in your process and that the work has the power to resolve itself

“…I try not to be that introspective. I lose faith all the time…I took that vow of poverty and I haven’t left the monastery yet.” –Keith Reddin

“I have to re-commit to this every day.” –Donna Uchizono on keeping “faith” in her work and staying true to it

“We’re talking about bodies of work, sustaining the art. It isn’t about this piece, it’s about a life’s work.” –Todd London

Friday, September 7, 2012

Why Fiscal Sponsorship and How to Get the Most Out of it.

Shawn René Graham, The Field’s Artist Services Manager and a Dramaturg who’s worked extensively in dance and theater (read: she’s been on both sides of the art-making/arts administration divide), breaks down why, when, and how fiscal sponsorship can be most useful to artists.

First off, we’ve got a new mantra for you: “Think business.” According to Shawn René, the key to being a successful and financially astute artist is to deftly straddle art-making and arts administration. She says, “artists need to think of themselves in two ways: as art-makers and as business people.”

A huge part of being a savvy business person is planning ahead. If you want to grow your budget through strategic and sustainable long-term fundraising, and/or if you’re seeking large gifts or applying to family foundations for institutional funding, you need non-profit affiliation.

What’s the difference between a fiscal sponsor and becoming your own 501©3? Primarily, the difference here is in time commitment and scale of operations. Becoming a 501©3 and maintaining that status with the IRS is a huge load of work and can be very complicated; you want to be really sure that it’s right for you before you dive in. A fiscal sponsor, on the other hand, provides many of the same non-profit benefits with a fraction of the work.

So once you’ve swallowed that pill, what are some practical ways to get the most out of your fiscal sponsor and fiscal sponsorship in general? Shawn René breaks it down:

1. Take inventory of the resources that you have—and the ones you still need. What skills or support structures do you bring to the table? In what areas do you require further expertise? This will help you identify what it is you need from a fiscal sponsor. It’s also super useful if you’re looking to barter with other artists.

2. Choose a fiscal sponsor that’s right for you. Think about what kind of relationship you want to have with your fiscal sponsor and what you expect them to provide for you. Do you need help with professional development (budgets, writing, touring, publicity)? Then choose a fiscal sponsor that offers resources on these topics (and be willing to receive critical feedback!).

3. Be ready to talk about your art-making history. Draft a personal timeline of your artistic work so you can visualize this and keep track. Know yourself, your process, and your work.

4. Be ready to learn, understand, and know your value in the marketplace. You are a contributor to the economy. Being fiscally smart is about fortifying partnerships, marketing yourself, and being connected in a network of artists, funders, and stakeholders.

5. Make the time commitment. Running a company (or even just the administrative tasks of an individual artist) takes time and attention. You need to be prepared to deal with the day-to-day upkeep, so build it into your calendar.


So now you’re thinking business. You’re ready to take the plunge. Who are some fiscal sponsors you can turn to? Well, there’s us: The Field. There’s also NYFA, Fractured Atlas, New York Live Arts, and Pentacle to name a few. Shop around, do your research, compare prices and benefits offered. And as always, contact us if you have any questions!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

From ERPA recipient Connie Hall:

I'm a Joiner! For Selfish Reasons!

I was one of the first lucky recipients of the Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists program. Our project, Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant, was essentially an experiment in marrying the artistic model of an actor-driven, collaborative ensemble theater company with a business model borrowed from the food service industry. We were on a quest for the illusive “sustainability”. Theater-as-restaurant. Self-contained. Replicable economic model. As time went on, over and over again in conversations with fellow recipients, the word “community” kept coming up for each of us, separately, as a key to economic and artistic survival. At the beginning I thought that “sustainability” was synonymous with “self-sufficiency”. By the end, “sustainability” had become synonymous with “community”. This moved quickly from an idea to a commitment in a surprising way for me, just as the grant period came to a close.

In June of 2011, Paul Bargetto, artistic director of the undergroundzero festival, approached me to see if Conni’s Avant Garde Restauarant wanted to join a new cooperative of independent theaters. Do I want a slot in the annual festival? Do I want to help come up with a new system of working that involves cooperating rather than competing or working in isolation? Yup, yup, and yup. This is for me the next stage of Economic Revitalization. It involves letting go a bit of the importance I place on my own carefully carved out individual aesthetic niche and hooking my future with others. Really committing to other theater-makers to improve our lot.

The Official Scoop:
In February 2012, eleven independent theater artists and companies formed the undergroundzero cooperative: Paul Bargetto / East River Commedia, Anna Brenner, Jeff Clarke / Performance Lab 115, Alec Duffy / Hoi Polloi, Connie Hall / Conni's Avant Garde Restaurant, Daniel Irizarry & Laura Butler Rivera, Doris Mirescu / Dangerous Ground, Shige Moriya & Ximena Garnica / Leimay, Judith Malina & Brad Burgess / The Living Theatre, Jill A. Samuels, and Shannon Sindelar.

Since 2007, undergroundzero has been operating as a summer festival (Collective Unconscious, PS 122) featuring the cutting edge work of New York City and international theater-makers. This year, participants from past festivals and other veteran experimental theater artists formed the permanent resident cooperative in order to share resources and improve the conditions for making new work. The cooperative’s aim is to secure for its member companies the core means of production including rehearsal space, performance venues, touring opportunities, promotion, management, advocacy, and funding.

This year the undergroundzero festival will be presented at the Living Theatre, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center and outdoor sites June 26 - July 28, 2012.

Check out our website to see what is in the works and how you can get involved: www.undergroundzeronyc.org.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

How to Get the Ones that Aren't Got

Cara Liguori, Development and Special Events Manager here at The Field, met with Community Liaison Safiya Raheem, from the office of Council Member Inez E. Dickens of Harlem’s District 9, to discuss Council funding for The Field and our programs. She walked away with a whole new bag of knowledge and some sparkly opportunity-ideas!

Council Member Dickens is particularly concerned with reaching District 9 constituents who are truly economically vulnerable and who may not have already established networking inroads or have associations with community organizations.

What does The Field have to do with this? A few things…

We too are curious and concerned about how to reach artists who have not already established a network of support or relationships with service organizations. We are interested in your thoughts and experiences. How did you find out about The Field or similar organizations? What pushed you to reach out for help? Where/when/with whom do you network? We want to hear your suggestions about how to reach vulnerable artists who don’t have the support they need. Email your thoughts, experiences and ideas to Cara Liguori at
cara@thefield.org. We’ll compile your notes and use this information in our efforts to secure further funding to better serve YOU and get to the ones that aren’t got!

And there’s more…

In our opinion, this may be a prime time to introduce your art to a larger audience and to get involved in a local community. Dickens is primarily concerned about the increasing street violence in her district. She’s interested in supporting her community organizations that run programs that enrich the lives of young Harlem residents and keep them engaged and off the streets. Dickens currently allocates funding to the
Harlem YMCA and Children’s Art Carnival to help these organizations fulfill her goal of decreased street violence. It’s just a hunch, but for any of you that have ever wanted to run a theater workshop/dance or music class/poetry lab for at-risk youth, we recommend reaching out to these District 9 organizations to see if they are interested in partnering with you!

How can we not only define, but also enact, a new set of ethics and values that could transform the way we share, organize, and create?

Most people already have curiosity, enthusiasm, and strong desires to speak truth, hone a craft, produce beauty, and connect with others. How can we practice sharing, organizing, and creating in ways that transform ourselves, our communities, and the world? Here are some ways I do this:

Create online tools for collaboration and exchange!
We are only twenty years into the internet-era. We are in a beautifully experimental stage of the information revolution. Since the internet reached a critical mass in 1990, many people have been asking online platforms to foster deep connections in real time and space. At OurGoods.org, we support the production of new work through barter, because resource sharing is the paradigm of the 21st century. OurGoods is specifically dedicated to the barter of creative skills, spaces, and objects, because we want to build tools for the communities we are part of.

Learn from elders in sharing communities
We are in a contemporary fumbling for sharing rituals at intimate-distance. I've been looking to 30-year-old intentional communities and collectively-run spaces and institutions for advice. I've been visiting the intentional community Ganas, in NYC, to learn about the relationships they've built to share money, cars, houses, and work for over 30 years. At Ganas, for three decades, a voluntary daily meeting is set aside for members to talk through their personal struggles with cooperation. Members of Ganas recognize that no change will happen unless we struggle to "become the change we want to see in the world." We are conditioned to compete, talk over, and gossip. We need more spaces to practice cooperating, listening, and working through conflict. Jen Abrams, a co-founder of OurGoods, has worked in the oldest collectively-run women and trans theater space for 13 years. She reminds me that, "you have to take time to check in with one another...emotions are not efficient... either you address your feelings together before the meeting, or you end up working through them while trying to have a meeting."

Vocalize your Values
At Trade School, we asked a facilitator to help us come up with our principles. We talked about why we were each involved in Trade School New York (there are now Trade Schools in over 6 countries) and brainstormed about the things that are at the core of our work (the things that probably won't ever be changed). After 2 hours, we made this rough set of working principles:

WHAT?
1. Trade School is a learning experiment where teachers barter with students.
2. Trade School is not free-- we believe in the power of non-monetary value.
3. We place equal value on big ideas, practical skills, and experiential knowledge.
WHY?
1. Everyone has something to offer.
2. We are actively working to create safe spaces for people and ideas.
3. We want more spaces made by and for the people who use them.
HOW?
1. Trade School runs on mutual respect.
2. We avoid hoarding leadership by sharing responsibilities and information.
3. We are motivated by integrity, not coercion.
4. Our organization is always learning and evolving.

Practice forever
We recognize that bartering is a way to experiment with value. Because value is subjective, some people may not value the work that you make as much as you do. After bartering for years on OurGoods.org, we've come up with these basic guidelines:

1. Be clear: Define the exchange. Articulate what constitutes a job well-done.
2. Do your homework: Read your partner’s profile and feedback. Meet before you agree.
3. Be accountable: Do what you said you were going to do, when you said you’d do it.
4. Communicate: Stay in touch. Talk about what’s going right (or wrong) as it happens.
5. Leave feedback: This is what makes our community work.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

No, but really: What is Fieldwork?

Fieldwork is for any artist who is interested in learning about how his/her work comes across to audiences.

Fieldwork is like no other place or format for showing work. You hear honest, direct feedback about what you’re making, not from friends or family, but from a group of people who will closely mirror your audience – people who aren’t connected to your work necessarily.

In Fieldwork, it doesn’t matter who is in the group with you – even people whose work you may not admire are able to give you feedback that will help your work develop.

In Fieldwork the direction of the work lays in your hands – since you don’t explain what your intent is, instead letting the work speak for itself, you remain the guardian of its development.

Often in Fieldwork, people find after they show their work, they are again energized about it, find new angles or ideas that are inspired by the feedback. Sometimes just showing the work in front of others gives the maker fresh eyes.

Most artists who do Fieldwork find that giving feedback is as important as showing their work. By participating in the process, you will learn to become much better at seeing work, putting into words how it is coming across to you, and verbalizing this information in a way that the maker can hear.

People often develop lasting bonds with their peer Fieldworkers – people find collaborators, performers, and audience for their work by participating in the workshop.

--

We reached out to Susan Oetgen who will be facilitating the upcoming Guest Artist Fieldwork with Brian Brooks, to ask her what she gets from Fieldwork:

Sharing work in Fieldwork always gives me useful information about whether my intentions are coming across successfully or not. Also, I like to practice performing as often as I can, and Fieldwork groups are great opportunities to actually get up and do something in front of an audience, with slightly lower stakes than in a public performance.

Try it for yourself!
Click here to learn more about this season’s Guest Artist Fieldwork (March 20 – May 8).

Monday, March 5, 2012

Saying Goodbye to '25'

As we say goodbye to our 25th year, a parting note from former Executive Director, Steve Gross…

I worked at The Field from 1987 until 2006, when I left to begin my practice as a psychologist. I now work at a maximum security prison for women, and the point I’d like to make is that working with independent artists and working with convicted felons isn’t all that different.

Let me explain. Fieldwork, The Field’s oldest and core program, is a place where artists show their work as it’s developing. There are no costumes, no polish, no fourth wall – just the work itself, and after it’s shown, the artist sits down with his or her peers and gets feedback about how the work has come across. What I learned through participating in Fieldwork all those years is how to look at work, how to make sense of what is coming across, and find a way to talk about it so that the artist can learn about the work, find out how it impacts and audience.
At the prison, my job is much the same. The inmates’ “work” in this case is their behaviors, and my job is to take in what they are doing – how they behave – and make sense of it, and give them feedback, all in an effort to help them change, help them grow, so that when they’re released, and most of them will be released, they’re in better shape than they were before.

So you can see that the skill of being able to watch, synthesize, and give feedback is one that has served me incredibly well. I’ve had a lot of training…four years of graduate school, three externships, an internship and a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale (yes, I will even name drop in service of The Field!), and yet the best training I’ve ever gotten is at The Field. It’s a kind of training that all The Field’s artists and staff receive, and my experience is that it prepares us not only to make better art, but to be better people.


Here’s to 25 more years of making better art and becoming better people!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Board Members or Bored Members?

Whether you have (or are building) an Advisory Board or official Board of Directors this group of individuals can seriously build resources (cash and human) and visibility for you—or be a lethargic, disengaged gaggle of needy folks.

Jennifer Wright Cook, our Executive Director, and James McLaren, Field Board Member, were panelists at today’s Devos Institute of Arts Management Seminar “maximizing Board productivity” for 200+ NYC arts organizations. Fellow panelists included Carol Ostrow, Producing Director and Jamie Harris, Board Member, from The Flea; and Gail Nathan, Executive Director, and Natalie Jeremijenko, Acting Board Chair and artist extraordinaire from Bronx River Art Center.

Top tips and takeaways:

1. It’s a relationship. Build it over time with trust.


2. Your Board is often your biggest donors – treat them as such!

3. Personalize it! Find something for each individual Board member to engage with you on. Something they enjoy too (not necessarily have your CPA Board member only do finances with you! She/he is with you for art joy too!)

4. Keep the Board excited! Communicate well and share the good news often!

5. Leverage good news for all it is worth (use your 5 year anniversary as an opportunity to celebrate in many ways; use it to up your give/get numbers and then maintain the $ level!)

6. Have an alignment element every year to ensure that Board and staff are aligned on mission and service delivery. Do we all agree to what we are doing? What is expected of you? Can you provide it? What can you provide? Etc.

7. Have an Advisory or Transitional Board (if you are in a transition!) to build your circle of influence, stakeholders and possibly money.

8. Have clear and forthright conversations with Board (and staff) about expectations, goals and desires. Spend time talking!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Field Dance Fund 2012 Announced!

The Field awards $42,000 to three New York City choreographers to build their capacity for creating bold new artworks with adaptive practices!

The ladder to success is broken for most mid-career dance artists; and younger artists question why to even get on the ladder in the first place! The Field Dance Fund (FDF) aims to transform artists’ practices so that they can move from a “triage” paradigm (in which many artists work), to a more honed, outcome-driven paradigm. Overall, the FDF artists will learn to combat creative burn-out by implementing more dexterous practices to move their careers and art-making forward.

Unlike any other program in New York, and with generous support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Mertz Gilmore Foundation, FDF offers six months of individualized consulting services (valued at $4,000 per artist), critical peer support and a cash award ($10,000 each).

Who are the lucky recipients? In January 2012 (the auspicious year of the Water Dragon), The Field selected the following three FDF grantees (from more than 70 applicants) via a rigorous peer adjudication process:

luciana achugar makes work that “celebrates being in the experience of the body in its entire sensual splendor.” A Uruguayan choreographer based in Brooklyn, she received a Bessie award for her work, PURO DESEO, in 2010, and was on Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” list in January of 2011.

Rachel Cohen’s work “encompasses excavation, research, movement and sculpture.” She often works with inanimate materials such as clay, flour, taffy, gum, wood and paper. Her company Racoco/Rx received a NYFA BUILD Stability grant in 2010 and is currently a company-in-residence at CAVE in Brooklyn.

Michelle Dorrance seeks to “address the class wars in dance by helping audiences to view tap dance in a new and dynamically compelling context.” After performing with the Off-Broadway production STOMP for four years, she is now focusing on her own choreographic process. Michelle is a 2011 Bessie recipient for Outstanding Production.

The launch of the 2012 Field Dance Fund is only a single manifestation of The Field’s core values in action. We are thrilled about this new adventure and we can’t wait to work with the FDF artists to help them actualize their ambitions!

Monday, February 6, 2012

“Self-affirming Ignorance” & Other Tools of the Trade

To kick off our Winter-Spring season we held an ERPA open dialogue at Joyce SoHo with artists and presenters to talk about the challenges and best-practices of presenter-artist relationships. What are the do’s and don’ts and what are the needs to be filled? Here are some reflections:

Do your homework!
• Research the venue or presenter you are interested in. Know why you are interested. Know their space. See the work they produce.
• Know what your work/process needs. Know what you need as an artist. Know why that particular venue is right for you.

Stand up for your art!
• Participate in a little “self-affirming ignorance”, says artist James Scruggs. Ask for what you really need (not what you think you can get)—even if it is huge and crazy and you think it is out of the question—pretend you don’t know any better. You might just get what you ask for. And if nothing else, you won’t have devalued your work from the get-go.
• Make your case to presenters in a real, honest, and specific way. Why are they the right fit for you? What is it about that space or that curator that is so right for your piece? As Brian Rogers, theater artist and Artistic Director of the Chocolate Factory, suggested, “make a compelling case for your needs.”
• “Know who you’re making your work for,” says Kristin Marting of HERE. And interact with those people from the seed start of the work’s development and throughout the whole process.

Some useful best-practices:
• “Don’t send blanket emails”, says Cathy Eilers, Program Manager at Joyce SoHo. Make it personal; tailor and personalize your emails and be specific.
• Keep moving to stay visible. Participate in showcases and residencies where you show excerpts of your work. Presenters often attend these as a way to see several artists’ work at once. The more active you are, the more you are seen.
• Ask about ways that presenters can help support your work throughout its development. This makes a space for you to build a stronger relationship with that presenter and gives them a chance to feel invested in their curation.
• Stay in touch with people and don’t get discouraged if they don’t respond. We are all busy and emails often slip through the cracks; keep on keepin’ on!

Thank you to those who attended, to Joyce Soho for generously hosting the event, and to Maura Donohue for her astute facilitation. To learn more about ERPA and other upcoming events click here.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Presenters & Artists: Starting the Conversation

Phew! APAP, American Realness, and Under the Radar are done. Maybe you’re still checking out COIL… but overall the who’s who mega-networking fest is complete.

What did you take away from it?

Share your thoughts with us as we gear up for
ERPA PUBLIC DIALOGUE: How Presenters & Artists Work Together
Monday, January 30, 6:30-8pm – at Joyce SoHo

The relationship between theaters and artists can easily become skewed by the imbalance of finances and ratio of artists to venues. But maybe the artists are the ones who are really best positioned to ease this strain – because it’s the artists’ priority. To quote Maura Donohue, our panel facilitator, “The artists are the ones providing the art, the reason the theaters exist.” And remembering that, valuing one’s own work, can help artists to enfranchise themselves to come to these relationships as an equal, and at ease.

Tell us your successful war stories!
When did you hit a bump in the road in your artist/presenter relationship and how did you move forward productively to a smooth finish?
Artists: How do you ask for the fees that you need? What’s that like for you?
Presenters: What kind of processes do you use in developing work with artists?

Come on! Don’t be shy!