Beginning in January, HowlRound Theatre Commons will operate independently and with new leadership, as co-founder and director Jamie Gahlon steps into an advisory role and Ramona Rose King and Julia Schachnik assume the positions of co-directors.
On the debut episode of the Nonfiction Theatre Forum, Ash speaks with Pink Fang’s leadership about evolving documentary and community-based theatre, ethical collaboration, sustaining legacy, and adapting programs to meet today’s social, political, and artistic challenges.
In its second and final year, the Artistic Caucus aimed to integrate its collaborative model into the workflows and budgets of four theatres while providing freelance artists with access and compensation. Lauren Halvorsen details the program’s strategies, impact, and significance for a field in need of transformation.
Pub theatres bring theatre to communities in the United Kingdom through the combined business model of a performance venue and pub. Sophie Pell, who both makes and watches pub theatre, details the considerable benefits of this performance model.
R. Réal Vargas Alanis, founder of In The Margin (ITM), discusses how they dreamed up ITM and the mentorship programs and residencies they offer as a multidisciplinary nonprofit, how they transition between structures, and how they pivot with the seasons of life.
The founder of About…Productions, Theresa Chavez, highlights the role of the arts in enlightening and moving people and centers equity in her theatre work and youth education. She speaks about creating art with an emotional and historical component and having optimism at the core of artmaking.
The Commonweal Theatre Company acts as a model for thriving theatre in a rural setting. Robert Hubbard details the ways the company’s resident ensemble operates, highlighting their artist/administrator doubling, artistic excellence, and embeddedness in the surrounding community.
Junior Programs, Inc brought the values of democracy and racial and ethnic diversity to children across the United States through an innovative, decentralized model that featured comprehensive educational partnerships. Joan Lancourt offers their approach as a potential inspiration for the contemporary moment.
In the wake of shutdowns at the start of the COVID pandemic, some small theatres emerged that are experimenting with nontraditional business models of theatremaking. Roman Sanchez highlights these theatres and explains why they are so important to the future of our industry.
After nearly a year in their new shared leadership positions, the four co-directors of HERE Arts Center reflect on the ways they’ve learned to lead together.
What does shared leadership actually look like? What makes it successful? The Producing Artistic Leadership Team of The Movement Theatre Company takes on these questions and more as they “bust” a few myths about shared leadership structures.
Shared leadership is not revolutionary, and it is more than a trend. In this essay, Devon Berkshire and Miranda Gonzalez kick off their series The Evolution of Shared Leadership by exploring the generations of shared leadership practice—especially in theatres of color—and the contemporary push toward more collective leadership.
In January, hundreds of global arts leaders convened to strategize for a stronger performing arts field. Ashley Malafronte reports on this event, the 2025 Under the Radar Symposium, where participants spoke of funding challenges, politically-fueled decay, and—a bright spot—the centrality and partnership and legacy.
Using Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company as a case study, Michael DeWhatley discussed leadership transition as an opportunity for boards to become more involved and connected to theatre organizations. Through collaborative and relational governance strategies, these organizations can evolve and sustain themselves.
In their individual and collective artistic practices, Annalisa Dias and Applied Mechanics model more just and accessible futures for theatre. Their MicroCosmos encounter explores immersive theatremaking, collaborative leadership, and a desire to end the obsession with artistic “vision.”
Although theatres depend on front-of-house workers for a smooth audience experience, these employees are often isolated from the rest of the theatre’s staff and subject to mistreatment by patrons. Taylor Hunsberger advocates for organizational changes to promote respect, dignity, and professional development for front of house.
Theatre Advocay Project (TAP) offers a wealth of tools to create safer and more equitable working conditions for all theatre professionals. Amelia Parenteau discusses the organization with co-founders Caylin Waller and Colette Gregory, who are now TAP’s executive director and director of programs, respectively.
Universities and museums are some of the last strongholds of festival circuits providing rare exposure to international and avant-garde artists. This episode explores how ensembles find their way onto such a path, and what these organizations are doing to ensure enrichment for their audiences and sustainability for the acts.
A.R.T./New York convenes their 2024 Spring Summit, UNCHARTED: Leading Beyond The Path to encourage solution-sharing and strengthen relationships across New York’s nonprofit theatre community, as we build our shared, prosperous and sustainable future. This multi-day event will be an opportunity for collective learning, relationship building, solution sharing, and, perhaps most importantly, joyful social events!
A.R.T./New York convenes their 2024 Spring Summit, UNCHARTED: Leading Beyond The Path to encourage solution-sharing and strengthen relationships across New York’s nonprofit theatre community, as we build our shared, prosperous and sustainable future. This multi-day event will be an opportunity for collective learning, relationship building, solution sharing, and, perhaps most importantly, joyful social events!
In this dispatch from the third day of the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) Tenth Anniversary Convening, Olga Sanchez Saltveit reflects on conversations about the LTC’s future, as well as the art, community, and celebration threaded through the convening’s closing ceremonies.
Ashley Malafronte reflects on the 2024 Under the Radar Symposium, which convened global theatre artists, producers, and presenters in New York City for a day of keynotes and discussions that surfaced the issues plaguing the international performing arts sector, as well as the emergent paths that could strengthen it.
Scott Walters, author of Building a Sustainable Theater: How to Remove Gatekeepers and Take Control of Your Artistic Career, sits down with Munroe Shearer to discuss the ways artist-owned theatres can succeed and best serve their communities.
Theatremaker and political educator Chris Myers writes a companion piece to Ife Olujobi’s “$5000.” He explains the structural reasons behind Ife’s struggle to gain more money for playwrights, why this struggle belongs to us all, and the organizing it will take to change it.
Theater Mu managing director Anh Thu T. Pham and development director Wesley Mouri discuss the ideology behind the theater’s Pay As You Are program, how it works, and what impact it’s having on the theatre six years after its implementation.
