2022 TCG National Conference attendees will join us on distinct but converging paths of content: the virtual experience from June 15-17, and the in-person experience from June 16-18 in Pittsburgh. Through fluid, action-oriented programming arcs on Redefining our Art, Transforming our Practices, and Tending to our People, we will take inspiration from our host city as we reflect on our shared yet imbalanced challenges, galvanize for our collective future, and develop new ground together. TCG’s commitment to anti-racism and social justice will be, as always, a consistent thread through all Conference programming.
Redefining our Art
For the past two years, an ongoing global health crisis forced our entire industry to swiftly and drastically rethink how our art form could not only remain relevant in the era of social distancing and isolation, but how it could harness the energy of the moment and offer artistic responses to a society turned upside down. Sparked by the imaginations of the field’s artists, this arc will explore the creative discoveries that a pandemic uncovered, the possibilities for our aesthetic path forward in a changed world, and what “relevant” even means today as we carve out new channels between our organizations and our communities.
Transforming our Practices
We’ve all heard it said in recent times: there is no going back to business as usual. Yet, the colonial structures of capitalism, the culture of white supremacy, and our reliance on fossil fuels are still present, and the demands of time are difficult to withstand. As we've endured the ebbs and flows of variants and mandates and federal aid, we've remained in a transitory state, unable to return to any sense of “normalcy” yet unsure of what lies ahead. Through skills-building and model-sharing in this arc, we will absorb and, in some cases, workshop the practices theatre people across the field have been examining, reforming, and disrupting – looking toward new ways of fundraising and budgeting, new visions of support for our staffs and artists, new modes of leadership and accountability, and new definitions for sustainability and resilience.
Tending to our People
As the tides of COVID-19 recede and the pandemic slowly turns endemic, who have we ensured will remain on dry land through our next crisis? What patterns of harm have been laid bare? What mechanisms are we building or strengthening to stabilize the whole of our theatre ecology? And how are we taking care of each other? This arc will amplify the voices and work of artists and practitioners from across the field who are calling for a reckoning around the field’s most exploitative and problematic conventions, and who are forging models of community care where there is an absence of systemic safety nets, creating dynamic new systems of reciprocity and mutual support.
For programming questions, please contact conference@tcg.org.