Hey, I’m Kate Valk, and this is an update on our “A-ha!” project at The Wooster Group. We are experimenting with several new formats for our proposed artist-interview dialogs. Below are some prototypes:

1. Investigative Profile: “Prince Wooster” follows one of the original artists still residing in our transformed SoHo neighborhood.



2. Casual Situation Interview: Upstairs at The Performing Garage in my dressing room, co-host Zigniew Bzymek (“Z”) and I conduct a “couch chat” with Wooster Group producer Cynthia Hedstrom. “sugar high episode 2” is a model we’d like to use with outside artists.



3. Phone Tap Interviews: Here Wooster Group director Elizabeth LeCompte talks to filmmaker Ken Kobland over a phone tap about his new film, THE TOY SUN.



4. Visiting Artist Profile: For koosil-ja/danceKUMIKO’s production of INVISIBLE/VISIBLE we sent Z to profile the artists. He investigated the title of their piece.



5. Guest Spots: We want to feature the work of other video artists on our new blog. This video is an experiment with public interface where we sent out an “open call” for guest artist videos...



6. Collaborations: We’re teaming up with Young Jean Lee on a new web series for the blog. This video presents “you are there” documentation of the artistic process at its inception.

Next Steps: The New Kid on CTG’s White Paper

“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” – Peter Drucker

In December 2011, I received a copy of Center Theatre Group’s white paper on professional training programs for emerging theatre artists.

Here are possible reasons why they mailed me the report:

• I serve on the National Emerging Leaders Council and have been a core member of Emerging Arts Leaders/LA since 2005; 
• I am an alumnus of the Los Angeles County Arts Internship Program, have been a supervisor through the program six times and a Learning Community Hub leader twice; 
• I still act as volunteer staff for the organization where I interned in 2004, Circle X Theatre Co., a small theatre company similar to many profiled in the white paper as potential intern placement organizations; 
• I am an alumnus of Claremont Graduate University’s Arts Management program, whose students and faculty participated in the research process. 

It was like someone sent me a research paper about my life. Paging through the report, I saw familiar faces and quotations from friends. More importantly, I saw my career path reflected in the data and recommendations.

Four months later, I joined Center Theatre Group as the Educational Programs Manager, focused on the training, support and development of emerging, young artists and arts professionals. It is a distinct honor to build on the work done by Patricia and Leslie to provide professional training programs for Los Angeles’ next generation of theatre leaders.

Substantive, hands-on experience within a theatre company—large or small— provides theatre management students with a chance to take their knowledge from “page to stage.”

Working for a theatre company while pursuing my Masters allowed me to take what I learned on Monday and apply it to the real world on Tuesday… and then ask why it didn’t work on Wednesday.

Peter Drucker would be proud: CTG has already begun the “hard work” of implementing aspects of the white paper. This spring, two students from local arts management programs became the organization’s pilot class of Graduate Scholars.

In the program evaluation they created for CTG, Jessie Randall from CSU Long Beach’s Theatre Management program and Julia Baumgartener from CGU’s Arts Management program corroborated many of the ideas presented in the white paper:  

Nearly all the hypotheses presented are extremely accurate representations of the professional and curricular needs of graduate students in arts/theatre management […] The ideal internship would establish mutual benefit for the organization and the interns, so it is valuable to examine the two groups’ diverse needs – where they align and where they diverge.

Jessie and Julia’s recommendations included implementing a competitive application process, focusing on project-based learning opportunities, and integrating graduate scholars within their departments (literally and metaphorically, as a shortage of desk space often leaves our interns in odd locations). We’re taking their suggestions and looking ahead to future classes of Graduate Scholars.

Center Theatre Group will continue to use the data gathered through the MetLife/TCG Ah-Ha! Program to shape our professional training programs.

Thank you for the chance to think, to learn, and to grow. Now we’re rolling up our sleeves. Let the hard work begin!

Camille Schenkkan is the Educational Programs Manager at Center Theatre Group.  Email her at cschenkkan@CenterTheatreGroup.org. 

For more information about Center Theatre Group's Ah-Ha! research into what theatres can do to bridge school and work, please click here.

Why Not?

Why Not?

I had the pleasure of traveling to Baltimore this May (courtesy of the Center for International Theater Development). While I was there I went to a lot of arts venues and centers and talked to several area arts advocates. The big thing that I walked away with after this trip was that Baltimore has an arts scene that is very socially focused and justice conscious. These artists all seemed very passionately connected to community, and to improving their communities. I was particularly impressed with the space initiatives happening in Baltimore and wondered how we could transplant these ideas to Austin.

The non-profit service organization Jubilee was very inspiring. ( http://www.jubileebaltimore.org/) Their main focus was to create artist housing in artist neighborhoods as a means of stopping the rising wealth and interest in those communities from driving out the poor artists who created that very vibe that is attracting people. Every city in America deals with this gentrification and the results, the patterns, are always the same. Artists move to poor areas and start creating life and vibrancy. The market values go up, the rich move in, the artists are shuffled off to the next poor neighborhood. It was exciting to hear about and witness organizations actively trying to stop that tedious pattern.

The other space that really impressed me was the Creative Alliance. (http://www.creativealliance.org/) The space had a bar and restaurant, two galleries, a performance space, 6 artists studio apartments, and classroom space. This sort of multi-use arts facility is really exciting. It is such a beautiful example of how collaborative creative spaces can work and thrive in their communities.

After my week in Baltimore I feel much more compelled to push for deeper conversations and creative problem solving in terms of our own shared resource space. It feels like the right path to follow in terms of the Co-op and some of our ideas about a giant shared resource center, with shop space, storage space, classroom space etc etc. Last month I talked about dreaming big, this month I was inspired by the city of Baltimore to say “why not?” and really get organized about making these dig dreams happen.

Jenny Larson, Salvage Vanguard Theater/ Austin Scenic Co-op

A co-op can dream, can't they?

This month has been full of exciting conversations with lots of creative dreamers.

I met with one of the leaders of the Austin Creative Re-use. ACR is basically the same sort of program as the Austin Scenic Co-p but its for visual artists. I also had a conversation with a few film industry folks discussing ways and interest in creating a film centric re-use center. The conversations all sort of melded into lots of big dreams about creating a giant creative re-use facility with storage space as well as shop space, studio space, and classroom space. In the next few months I am planning on coordinating a large meeting with the visual arts, theater, and film communities about how we can start to work together to make Austin a greener city with an emphasis on the arts and arts education. Lots of day dreaming and scheming...

The other energizing conversation that we had this month was with the theater companies that currently use the Co-op. We had a meeting to talk about implementing a membership and what that would mean, what it would cost, what the benefits would be, and if people would be willing to pay a membership. The consensus was that people would be willing to pay a membership if our services expanded. People really need shop space and storage space. They want a place for their extra set pieces and they want a place where they can paint and build. The plan as it stands now is to continue with a piece by piece rental structure, and then hopefully implement a membership in the fall, recognizing that most folks will not want to be members until we have additional space to meet their other needs.

With all of this dreaming and scheming the main thing that we have learned is that we need more space. We need a larger shop, we need more storage, we need studio space. There is not enough room at SVTs facilities alone to create the Co-op we want and the community needs... so the next steps are taking a long hard look at what steps we need to take as a community to creating this kind of giant re-use complex that we are all dreaming about...

Jenny Larson
Austin Scenic Co-op
Salvage Vanguard Theater

A note from Fairview's Principal on collaborating with a theatre

Our relationship with Northlight has come at a good time because I have very open teachers who see the value of having studentsparticipate in theatre workshops and attend professional theatricalperformances. Without buy-in from theteachers who will be asked to coordinate events and miss students for normalclasses, the success of our program would not have been as great. I think that it was critical to be involvedas the Principal to select lead teachers who I knew would be receptive to thistype of experience and would view it as a great opportunity for the studentsrather than an encumbrance on their curriculum.

The students at Fairview have greatly enjoyed the chance to be creative in a purposeful way when the artists have come on-site to discuss the plays and play several acting games. Each time, the kids are very active and I am surprised by the students who step up in this setting. Some times this has been the student who behaves timidly in the classroom, but can open up in a more creative environment. Each time our students have gone to see a production at Northlight, they are not only experiencing professional theatre, but building etiquette skills on how to purport themselves in this type of environment. Hopefully, events such as these, early on in their education life will spur a life-long appreciation for the theatre.

Finally, Fairview has a tremendous auditorium facility with updated sound and lighting systems. For the previous 15 years, the space had been dormant when it came to developing a middle school theatre production. This was viewed as a gaping hole in our otherwise robust extracurricular offerings. With the help of Northlight,we are in the second year of Northlight on Campus. This group has opened up a vehicle of school participation for an entire new sub-group of students and we are anxiously awaiting their second production in April of this year. The artists who have led this group have been wonderful to work with and have developed high quality experiences for the students. We have been extremely pleased with the relationships formed with students and the type of training received by participants.

-David Russo
Middle School Principal
Fairview South School, Skokie, IL

Sustainability...

This month is all about sustainability.

We are having a meeting with the companies that use the co-op the most frequently to discuss membership fees. Currently we have two tiers of Co-op users. The big money pants institutions and then the smaller non-profit or individual artists and arts organizations.

The big money guys have always paid for the use of the Co-op stock and the Co-op crew. The smaller organizations have been getting access to the stock mostly for free. They sometimes pay a small piece by piece rental fee and if they want Co-op crews assistance in construction they sometimes pay a small fee... but mostly, these groups have been using our services for free for the past four years. It may be a hard thing for them to swallow the idea of paying a membership fee. The bottom line is however that without creating some sort of revenue stream for the Co-op we will not be able to sustain. So next week, we meet with these smaller organizations to talk to them about what they think is reasonable...

We are currently applying to several foundations for support, in hopes of keeping the fees low as well. We are also trying to cultivate more relationships with larger institutions. Currently we have four of those relationships- two universities, one private high school, and one regional theater.

The TCG Ah Ha Do It grant has been invaluable in helping us take steps to grow the Co-op effectively but that funding is going to run out. We would hate to take a step backwards with this program. The goal right now is to do anything we can to prevent that step backwards... I am also meeting with other area re-use services to ask them about their funding, their membership fees, and their overall structures. We have been playing with the idea of expanding our tool share service to the city to get a larger membership pool as well and we are investigating that as a possibility.

Time will tell what solutions we find... Wish us luck!

Jenny Larson, Salvage Vanguard Theater and The Austin Scenic Co-op

Student challenges

I’m teaching mainly fifth graders this year for YO NOLA, which has been an incredibly fun age; the kids are still young enough to be playful, but also have a level of humor and sophistication that fourth graders don’t have. However, as we get further into the second half of the year I’m noticing some changes in two or three students (as are teachers in their other classes). Mostly it has to do with attitude, a willingness to participate, and a real joy for the material. This joy, clear and present in the first semester is now hidden behind a veil of aloofness. Ah yes, a veil of aloofness popularly called “adolescence”.

However I hesitate to distill such a complex set of behaviors into one word. The truth is these students are going through a lot in their lives beyond hormonal changes. A few of the students have very difficult and erratic home lives, some of them have anger issues, and some of them just have trouble resolving social differences with their peers. I don’t mean to exaggerate; I have a great group of students who love to perform. But the factors I just mentioned make it difficult to figure out how to both support a positive class atmosphere while ensuring that the students who are having trouble stay in the class.

I’ll give an example.

I have a student who I’ll call Stephanie. Stephanie is a brilliant writer, a poet, a great performer, and an intelligent thinker…when she wants to be. Depending on the week, Stephanie will either be my star pupil or my biggest pouter. On bad days Stephanie refuses to participate in activities and sulks in the corner. If I correct her, she sulks more; if we talk about strategies to get her more involved, she shuts down. So, we (I mean my co-teacher and I) took action. We sat down with Stephanie and reminded her of the contract that she and her mother had signed to be in the class. We asked her to stay out of the class for one week in order to think about whether she really wanted to be a part of the program. So she did. Stephanie took it seriously and came back to the class and seemed to really jump in with two feet. And yet… I’ve noticed that some of those bad days are creeping back into our routine.

The problem with all of this is that I have no intention of actually letting Stephanie ever get ‘kicked out’ of the class. Not only is she incredibly talented and funny, I strongly believe that this performance outlet for her is a rare opportunity and an important part of her day (even though she might never admit it). Some of her writing was performed as part of our first semester celebration, and I know how much it meant to her. Stephanie comes from a tough home and she needs every positive outlet for her creative energies possible. It does make it difficult to give “shape up or else” threats when, in reality, I have no intention of getting to the “or else.”

So we continue. I try to put her in as many positive situations in class as possible, while making sure that her attitude on the bad days doesn’t effect the entire class. We’re going to perform some more of her writing as part of our final performance, so I’m hoping that this will be a motivating factor in the last part of the year. The joy in all of this, of course, is that performance and creativity can be truly healing and nurturing for a student like Stephanie.

Chris Kaminstein

YO NOLA Instructor

Southern Rep