HowlRound defines commons-based approaches as practices that promote relationality, cooperation, horizontal and decentralized decision-making and networks, bottom-up activity, and peer-to-peer sharing of infrastructure, material goods, knowledge, and ideas. Content in this section directly addresses practices of commoning from around the field. Dive in with essays on the promise of the commons, the birth of a climate commons, and how a commons becomes a selection committee.
Unrehearsed Futures: Theatre for their Communities livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 30 June 2021 at 8 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / Thursday 1 July 2021 at 4 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 5 a.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2).
Matthew Glassman shares his commonplace—a collection of quotes, poems, reflections, dreams, doodles, images, and more, and a portal to reach forward to our future selves and for our future selves to reach back to us.
When Arts Presenters and Creative Independent Producers Come Together
3 June 2021
The International Presenting Commons shares a statement on how and why arts presenters and creative independent producers have come together to sustain and evolve a commitment to international cultural exchange and engagement.
Southern Soil: Collective Learning in Harmony with the Land
Friday 14 May to Sunday 16 May 2021
United States
Alternate ROOTS presented its first-ever Virtual ROOTS Weekend livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 14 May 2021 to Sunday 16 May 2021.
SEGAL TALKS with Lucien Zayan and Raja Feather Kelly (NYC)
Join us for a conversation about curating, producing and presenting theatre and performance in the Time of Corona
Thursday 6 May 2021
United States
The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented SEGAL TALKS with Lucien Zayan and Raja Feather Kelly (NYC) livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 6 May 2021 at 9 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11 a.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 12 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
Reimagining Public Theatres as Collectively Organized Cultural Institutions
28 April 2021
Zenkő Bogdán believes public cultural institutions should be redefined from the perspective of the people around it: it’s artists, employees, and audiences. As an exercise, she has begun to reimagine a future public theatre’s rules of organizing and functioning—and wants each and every reader of the document to participate.
Class Consciousness and the Transformation of the World
20 April 2021
Chris Myers talks about the importance of class politics and makes a case for why artists ought to reckon with it, both as creative people and just plain workers.
The co–artistic directors of Red Eye Theater in Minneapolis talk about shifting to a collaborate leadership model with a horizontal structure and consensus-based process, backdooring their way into traditional funding structures and resources, and more.
Livestreaming a Performance: OUT Dance Project Virtual Tour
Connecting rural queers across regions in Oregon through story and dance
Thursday 25 March to Sunday 28 March 2021
United States
Beyond Boom and Bust presents OUT Dance Project Virtual Tour livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Thursday 25 March to Sunday 28 March 2021.
One part teach-in and one part pep rally to share the many organizing efforts happening in our community
Monday 1 March 2021
United States
The Ghostlight Project presented Community Roll Call livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 1 March 2021 at 4 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).
How Sustained Support for Playwrights Impacts Artistry
National Playwright Residency Program Evaluation 2020
1 March 2021
Alexis Frasz and Holly Sidford of Helicon Collaborative share their findings from the most recent assessment of the National Playwright Residency Program.
Devising Our Future Through a Commons-Based Approach
16 February 2021
Jamie Gahlon, HowlRound’s director, kicks off the Devising Our Future series by reflecting on the necessity of working together now to co-envision and co-create the future we need for the theatre field.
Blair Nodelman discusses why theatremakers are well suited to deeply understanding the political machine and work toward dismantling the status quo, creating a more equitable and community-based iteration of governing.
School of Resistance—Episode Twelve: Politics of Interdependence
What Would a Truly Caring World Look Like? With Edna Bonhomme and Anne Jung
Thursday 14 January 2021
Brussels, Belgium
What would a truly caring world look like? NTGent presents School of Resistance, Episode Twelve: Politics of Interdependence livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 14 January 2021 at 9 a.m. PST (Los Angeles, UTC -8) / 12 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 17:00 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 18:00 CET (Brussels, UTC+1) / 20:00 TRT (Istanbul, UTC +3).
In this article for the Performing the Internet series, Miller Puckette and Onyx Ashanti get together for a conversation about the changing landscape of multimedia technology in the arts, how technologically mediated performance practices have taken on new relevance in the post-COVID era, and more.
A Beginner’s Guide to Using the Commons-based OBS Studio Live Broadcast Software
14 October 2020
HowlRound’s cultural strategist, Vijay Mathew, offers a part two to his guide on how to produce a livestream, this time focusing on the commons-based OBS Studio.
Part of Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists’ ConFest Virtual Series
Monday 14 September 2020
United States
Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists presented a panel discussion Modeling Solidarity: Theater As Political Action livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 14 September 2020 at 1 p.m. HST (Honolulu, UTC-), 3 p.m. AKDT (Juneau, UTC-), 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC-7), 5 p.m. MDT (Denver, UTC-6), 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5), 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC-4).
How We Grew a Student-Centered Anti-Racist Movement at Our Institution of Learning
10 September 2020
Tatiana Gil, Micah Rosegrant, Viviana Vargas, and Ciera-Sadé Wade—members of the Boston University School of Theatre Anti-Racist Student Initiative (BU SARSI)—speak to how, after a public outpouring of testimonials from former and current students of BU’s School of Theatre—detailing racism, sexism, ableism, and more—they rallied together to innovate ways of addressing the white supremacy within the school.
Barbara Fuchs and Elena Araoz share information about their new projects that attempt to make sense of the transformations to the theatre field and put a call out for artists to help chart these transformations.
A meeting of art practitioners actively rethinking and reshaping organisational models for the arts sector in the EuroMed region
Monday 9 March - Wednesday 11 March 2020
Zagreb, Croatia
Event Canceled: RESHAPE presents the Intensive Zagreb meeting livestreaming from Zagreb, Croatia on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Monday 9 March to Wednesday 11 March 2020.
Robert Duffley, Una Chaudhuri, Georgina Escobar, Eli Nixon, Adilson Siqueira, and Brontë Velez reflect on the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics convening that took place in Mexico City in June 2019.
Center for Cultural Innovation's inaugural AmbitioUS convening
Encouraging alternative economies and a fresh social contract for artists and cultural anchors
Wednesday 23 October 2019
Oakland, California
Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) presented the inaugural AmbitioUS convening encouraging the development of burgeoning alternative economies and a fresh social contract in ways that artists and cultural anchors can achieve financial freedom. Livestreamed from Oakland, California on the commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 23 October 2019 at 8:30 a.m. PDT (Oakland, UTC -7) / 10:30 a.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 11:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 15:30 UTC +0 / 4:30 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 17:30 CEST (Berlin, UTC +2).
Rethinking the Commoditized Theatre and the Public Space
22 October 2019
Charles M Pepiton discusses professional theatre’s commercial roots, how mission statements of non-profits today focus on social engagement, community-based development, and more.