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Livestreamed on this page Friday 11 June 2021 at 9:30-11:00 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 12:30-2:00 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

United States
Friday 11 June 2021

Festivals for a New Age: Models of Responsiveness, Flexibility and Resistance

Friday 11 June 2021

The International Presenting Commons (IPC) in partnership with Global Pillow and HowlRound Theatre Commons presented Festivals for a New Age: Models of Responsiveness, Flexibility and Resistance livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 11 June 2021 at 9:30-11:00 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 12:30-2:00 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
 

Festivals for a New Age: Models of Responsiveness, Flexibility and Resistance

Festivals for a New Age: Models of Responsiveness, Flexibility and Resistance will bring together U.S. based presenters and producers of international work and three global festival directors who will share how they are evolving festival models to respond to some of the most pressing existential, political, and social crises of our time. What can we learn from our colleagues’ experiences? How are we innovating our own international festival and presenting models in response to current conditions? How do we advance international cultural exchange in the US despite myriad challenges including present immigration policies, COVID-19 travel restrictions, and the climate crisis?

 

Featured topics and speakers include:

Deana Haggag, program officer in Arts and Culture at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will interview Kristy Edmunds, Executive and Artistic Director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. Deana and Kristy will kick off the event and speak about the necessity to evolve the platforms, structures, networks, policies, and practices of cultural exchange to address the lack of environmental, economic, aesthetic, and social sustainability of the present system.

Producing a Global Festival during Revolutionary Change
Carmen Romero, General Director of Santiago a Mil International Festival (Santiago, Chile) interviewed by Olga Garay-English, Independent Arts Consultant (Los Angeles, California). Through radical political upheaval of 2019 and beyond, Teatro a Mil has continued to mount a remarkable international festival, often incorporating works and programs addressing urgent political change. It has co-produced many works and some have been distributed globally.

Taking the Path of Most Resistance
Choreographer and director Faustin Linyekula (Kinsangi, Democratic Republic of the Congo), interviewed by Philip Bither, Director and Senior Curator of Performing Arts, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota) on resiliency and resistance drawn from a range of experiences: founding and directing against fierce odds his Studios Kabako in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2006, touring his work to leading international festivals, and co-directing the Connexion Kin Festival (Kinshasa, 2009-2015), Biennial Artista na Cidade in Lisbon (2016) and Holland Festival (2019). A visionary and respected leader for contemporary performance forms, he has forged networks and collaborative systems across the African continent.

Localizing an International Festival in the Face of COVID and Climate Crises
Marnie Karmelita, Creative Director of TĀWHIRI festivals and experiences (Te Whanganui-a-Tara /Wellington, New Zealand) interviewed by Chris Lorway, Executive Director of Stanford Live and Bing Concert Hall (Stanford, California). In 2020, Marnie Karmelita expanded the curatorial structure of the festival to include three guest artist curators. This more inclusive curatorial structure featured both local and international artists examining the role of a global event embedded in community. One of these artist curators, Lemi Pontifasio - a Samoan director, dancer, designer, choreographer and activist - created a festival within a festival called Te Ata. This platform created an opportunity for young people to share the culture of the place where they live.

In closing, the event will feature a response from U.S. choreographer Kyle Abraham, who will share his perspectives on global cultural exchange as an acclaimed artist who tours internationally.

About the International Presenting Commons (IPC):
The International Presenting Commons (IPC) is an emergent, evolving, volunteer group of U.S.–based performing arts presenters and creative independent producers who have joined forces to keep international cultural exchange and engagement alive and vibrant now and into the future. IPC does this through advocacy, active learning, resource sharing, and collaboration among performing arts presenters, artists, producers, and funders, who work together to build more sustainable policies and funding models for the exchange of work around the world. The group’s mission is in service of its increasingly diverse communities throughout the country. IPC celebrates its role as part of a global cultural ecosystem and by partnering with artists and presenters from all over the world. Find out more here.
 

Speaker Biographies

Kyle Abraham
Recently featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Kinfolk and Vogue Italia, 2018 Princess Grace Statue Award recipient and Lincoln Center Education Artist in Residence, Kyle Abraham is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and 2016 Doris Duke recipient who began his dance training at the Civic Light Opera Academy and the Creative and Performing Arts High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He continued his dance studies in New York, receiving a BFA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Washington Jefferson College, and is currently serving as a visiting professor in residence at UCLA. Mr Abraham is the founding Artistic Director of A.I.M, an American contemporary dance company, created in honor his history, experiences and artistic interests. In November 2012, Abraham was named the newly appointed New York Live Arts Resident Commissioned Artist for 2012–2014. Just one month later, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premiered Abraham’s newest work, Another Night, at New York’s City Center to rave reviews. Rebecca Bengal of Vogue writes, “What Abraham brings to Ailey is an avant-garde aesthetic, an original and politically minded downtown sensibility that doesn’t distinguish between genres but freely draws on a vocabulary that is as much Merce and Martha as it is Eadweard Muybridge and Michael Jackson.” That same year, Abraham was named the 2012 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient and 2012 United States Artist Ford Fellow, before serving as a choreographic contributor for Beyoncé’s 2013 British Vogue cover shoot. Abraham received a prestigious Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance for his work in The Radio Show, and a Princess Grace Award for Choreography in 2010. The previous year, he was selected as one of Dance Magazine’s 25 To Watch for 2009, and received a Jerome Travel and Study Grant in 2008. In addition to performing and developing new works for A.I.M in 2019, he also choreographed and premiered The Bystander for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Only The Lonely for Paul Taylor American Modern Dance Company and Ash, a new solo work for American Ballet Theater principle, Misty Copeland to rave reviews. Other commissioned works include; Untitled America, a 3-part commissioned work for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2016, The Runaway for New York City Ballet in 2018, The Serpent and The Smoke, a pas de deux for himself and former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Wendy Whelan as part of Restless Creature and choreographed for the feature-length film, The Book of Henry with acclaimed director, Colin Trevorrow. In 2011, OUT Magazine labeled Abraham as the “best and brightest creative talent to emerge in New York City in the age of Obama”. Instagram: @kyle_abraham_original_recipe

Deana Haggag
Deana is a program officer in Arts and Culture at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation in May 2021, Ms. Haggag was the president and CEO of United States Artists (USA), a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. During her tenure, USA saw unprecedented growth, expanding its fellowship award program, launching the Berresford Prize, and developing coalition efforts to advance support for individual artists most notably including Artist Relief, a $25 million emergency initiative to support artists facing dire financial circumstances due to COVID-19, and Disability Futures, an initiative aimed at increasing the visibility of disabled creative practitioners across disciplines and geography and elevating their voices individually and collectively. Before joining USA in February 2017, she was the executive director of The Contemporary, a nomadic and non-collecting art museum in Baltimore for four years. In addition to her leadership roles, Ms. Haggag lectures extensively, consults on various art initiatives, contributes to cultural publications, and has taught at institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and Towson University. She is on the board of The Underground Museum, as well as the artistic director's council of Prospect.5 and advisory council of Recess. She received her MFA in curatorial practice from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a BA from Rutgers University in art history and philosophy. Additionally, she completed the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program in 2020, Stanford Impact Program for Arts Leaders in 2018, and was a Salzburg Global Fellow for Young Cultural Innovators in 2015. Among other honors, she was most recently named a 2020 YBCA 100 Honoree.

Marnie Karmelita
Marnie is a performing arts curator and international arts producer with 20 years’ experience working in venues and festivals in Australia, the United States and NZ. Recently appointed in the new role of Creative Director of the New Zealand Festival Trust, Marnie worked as Head of Programming of the New Zealand Festival 2016 where she led a team that delivered the main biennial festival, the annual Wellington Jazz Festival and the biennial Lexus Song Quest. With a passion for working with artists to nurture new works and stretch the boundaries of performance, Marnie believes the arts makes an inordinate contribution to our society. She particularly strives to bring audiences closer to the artistic process, so we can all tap into our creativity.

Faustin Linyekula
Dancer, choreographer and director, Faustin Linyekula lives and works in Kisangani (Democratic Republic of Congo). After a literary and theatrical training in Kisangani, he moved to Nairobi in 1993 and in 1997 co-founded the first contemporary dance company in Kenya, the Gàara company. Back in Kinshasa in June 2001, he set up a structure for dance and visual theater, a place of exchange, research and creation: Studios Kabako. In 2007, he moved Studios Kubako to Kisangani where it supports the training, production and dissemination of young Congolese artists in the field of live performance, video and music. With his company, Faustin is the author of more than fifteen pieces which have been presented on major stages and festivals in Europe, North and South America, Australia and Africa. Large-scale collaboration include Bérénice for the Comédie Française (2009) and La Creation du Monde 1923-2012 for the Ballet de Lorraine (2014), Faustin has also created performances for museums and art centers: Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (2011), MOMA in New York (2012), the MUCEM in Marseille (2016), the Metropolitan Museum (2017) or the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren (2018). He teaches regularly in Africa, the United States and in Europe. In 2007, he was awarded the Prince Claus Foundation Grand Prize for Culture and Development. In 2016, Faustin served as Associate Artist of the City of Lisbon and received the City's Medal for Cultural Merit. In 2014, Faustin and Studios Kabako received the first prize from the American CurryStone foundation for the work developed in Kisangani and with the various communities in the municipality of Lubunga . From September 2018- 2020, he was associated artist with the Manège - Scène nationale de Reims in France. In 2019, he served as co-associate artist of the Holland Festival in Amsterdam.

Carmen Romero
Carmen Romero Quero is the Director of Fundación Teatro a Mil (Teatro a Mil Foundation) and Festival Internacional Santiago a Mil (Santiago a Mil International Festival). Her work has focused on complex projects that aim to transform Chile's cities and narrow the access gap to cultural assets. She has been a promoter of international cultural networks, manager of outstanding public-private collaborations, and advocate of theater education in Chile's educational system. In 2004 she was named Chevalier de l ’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, and in 2014 she was named Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’ Italia. The most emblematic initiative that she has directed is the Santiago a Mil International Festival. For almost 30 years, for three weeks in January, the Festival presents the best contemporary theater, dance, and music from Chile, Latin America, and the world. To consolidate this work and extend its scope throughout the year, in 2004, she created Fundación Teatro a Mil, an institution whose mission is to make contemporary performing arts in Chile and the world fundamental to people's lives.

About HowlRound TV
HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world's performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected], or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.

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