Dear Colleague,
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been several weeks since our fabulous time together at the 2018 Fall Forum on Governance: #CultureMakers. Maybe that’s because many of the moments resonated so deeply: from the joyful excerpts of Eddie the Marvelous at our opening reception to Lauren Freebairn-Smith’s micro-levers of change to Madeline Sayet’s closing call to consider what kind of ancestors we want to be, our weekend together was full of rich and urgent conversations on organizational change. I encourage you to read Madeline’s wrap-up of the Forum here and find archived videos here.
The role of women’s leadership in shifting organizational culture has also been on mind, and I’m happy to share my contribution, Encouraging Women to Think Big, to Americans for the Arts blog series on that theme. I’d also encourage you to read a powerful piece on intersectional feminist leadership co-authored by TCG’s Elena Chang and Hannah Fenlon, Asking the Other Question, inspired by a session they co-led at Statera’s National Conference in October. And I’m particularly grateful for Kate Lipuma’s leadership in her new role as TCG’s board chair. Keep an eye out for her beautiful end of year appeal, to help support TCG’s wide-ranging programs to strengthen and promote the theatre field.
A few things:
- The Wallace Foundation has released a new article and video, Think Opera’s Not for You? Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Says Think Again. Folks who joined us for the Conference in St. Louis may remember hearing some of the exciting audience-building work Opera Theatre’s been doing. These resources include how Opera Theatre is using “Opera Tastings”--supported by rigorous market research--to establish new entry points for audiences.
- Tomorrow (December 7) is the deadline to submit your ideas for discussion topics and professional development for our 2019 National Conference in Miami, FL. Please help shape our programming with your thoughts--early brainstorms are just as welcome as fully-formed proposals!
- We have been reaching out to and hearing from colleagues in Alaska about last week’s earthquake near Anchorage. Teresa Pond, Producing Artistic Director of Cyrano’s Theatre wrote, “We were supposed to open our holiday show Friday night. What a day that was We cancelled as did all events in town. We opened Saturday night instead and things went well, even with an aftershock during the performance.”
- Also due tomorrow, TCG’s Membership Department has circulated a membership survey to all theatres and theatre staffs. We undertake this process periodically to make sure we are aware of the best ways we can serve you. It’s fairly simple and shouldn’t take too much time to complete.
Until next week, all my best,
