Friday Phone Call # 53

One of the dimensions of practice at ArtsEmerson that shapes this environment is the direct connection to the students at Emerson College. We are in our second year of an effort aimed at evolving a role for students as Creative Producers on the ArtsEmerson staff. The CP's are paid, hourly positions with a focus on learning the skills of producing the development path, the production path, the audience, the impact, and the learning. Their training ground is the ArtsEmerson season and they each have real responsibilities for at least one show on the season, as well as workshops, events, and screenings. The goal is that they leave Emerson with the tools to produce their own futures, in their own voice, values, and vision. We have a weekly meeting of the students and their staff mentors from each department. This week's call is actually one of those meetings. It is Spring Break week and most are gone. So it is an intimate conversation group. You will hear from Andrea Gordillo (a second year "CPiT", as they are affectionately nicknamed), Thea Rodgers, Katie Williams, Emma Baar-Bittman (who also produces these Friday Phone Calls) and their mentors Meg Taintor, Kevin Becerra, and Brittany Burke. I hope this gives you a sense of this work and of the people involved.