DEC 29, 2019 5:56 PM

April 1

I was invited to speak on a panel at Theater Bay Areas 2019 Annual Conference.  The topic was being an Agent of Change for our Communities: Making Space Available.  With great theatre comes great responsibility: we have the responsibility to be a resource and a hub for our community.  Representatives from local performance spaces share their experience in making space available to their local communities. How do you understand what your community needs (or even what your community IS) How do you offer resources for their needs?  What resources can you employ to make your efforts a s effective a response to community needs as possible?

Moderator: dale Albright, TBA panelsist: Claudia Alick, Calling up; Joshua McDermott, University of San Fransisco; Alika Sencer-Koknar, Dragon Productions; Anna Schneiderman, Ragged Wing Ensemble.

I immediately pivoted the conversation from feel good examples of how we had created small amounts of access for marginalized peoples.  It’s always a good conversation but I was hungry to get to the more fundamental conflicts of capitalism and cultural production.  Who owns the space?  Anna Shneiderman and I had a fascinating exploration of the creation of artists as tenant class in a feudal relationship with those who own the space.  The necessity of “renting” makes space managers into landlords.  I brought up the concept of “mission” as a colonialist concept. I then discussed the liberatory nature of non-monetized spaces for the exchange of cultural production and how digital space can be that but is steadily becoming corporatized and controlled by moneyed interests.  It was an awesome conversation! I wish we had recorded it.  What’s the point in having these dynamic exchanges of information and ideas if only 20 of us get to experience it?  

My favorite part of the conference was hanging out in  the lobby and meeting Bay Area theater makers. 

#Conference #tba #resources