GROWING UP GAYSIAN NIGHT
Thursday June 11, 5:30 – 9:30
What a wonderful night! We kicked things off with delicious food provided by Chef Lucia Austria: chicken adobo, vegetable pancit and coconut bibingka to wrap up the meal. So yummy!
Dinner was followed by an excellent workshop on identity with Hung Nguyen from BAGLY, exploring intersectional complexities of being queer and Southeast Asian American.
We capped the night off with a wonderful performance of EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM!
Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!
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Photograph by Bobby Doherty
This NY Magazine story about Fieldston Lower School in New York City and their experiment to combat racial bias by separating students by race is getting a lot of attention:
The program, which was also put in place this school year at Ethical Culture, Fieldston’s other elementary school, would boost self-esteem and a sense of belonging among minority kids while combating the racism, subtle or otherwise, that can permeate historically white environments. It would foster interracial empathy by encouraging children to recognize differences without disrespect while teaching kids strategies, and the language, for navigating racial conflict.
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Backstage.com, a major resource for casting directors, has changed it’s actor profile feature to be friendlier to trans actors after the casting process for Taylor Mac’s play Hir revealed some shortcomings in their their system:
As a matter of fact, the casting process of Hir has led to some big changes on Backstage.com. When we originally posted the casting notice, we were able to be specific in the text of the role description that actors auditioning for the role of Max be trans, but there was no way to categorize the role as transgender for the purpose of search; the role and profile search options on Backstage were limited to male and female options. Contacted by Playwrights Horizons, Backstage took the necessary steps to keep pace with the times.
Our 2nd Cahllege Mixah was a fabulous post-show Karaoke showdown ripe with amazing 90’s hits to fit the time period of EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM. OneRush Member Jose Goddoy hosted the nights festivities.
All had a great time singing along to Whitney, Britney, Fiona Apple, and a bevy of 90’s classics. Big Ups to Joan, who won our audience-favorite prize package, including a stuffed frog (like FERGIE from the show), a copy of George Michael’s album FAITH, and a copy of the script of EDITH signed by the cast and playwright A. Rey Pamatmat!
Special thanks to the staff of the Calderwood Pavilion for hosting us, and to the apprentices from Commonwealth Shakespeare Company for coming out to party!
EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM
Friday, June 5th, 2015, 6:00pm to 10:00pm
Our fourth BosTEEN Artist Night featured a terrific workshop on Forum Theatre from the teens at Hyde Square Task Force. Workshop participants got a great intro to the format, and took part in conversations to motivate social change and unpack opportunities where we can all serve as catalysts in our communities.
Attendees had a break for pizza and mingling before going downstairs to an excellent performance of EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM!
Thanks so much to Hyde Square Task Force’s ACCION Community Theatre for coming out to lead the workshop, and to everyone who attended!
We’ll see you all back here in July for COLOSSAL!
Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!
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A group of black students from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, frustrated with a lack of coursework that deals with race and social justice issues in design, have compiled their own syllabus for CityLab:
“Practitioners need to improve their proficiency with regard to working on social equity issues,” says Carlton Eley, an urban planner who works for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He notes that there are professionals of color in organizations like the National Organization of Minority Architects* (NOMA) who are thinking critically about these issues, but are often overlooked by the mainstream design community…“The issue is an ideology that finds its roots in architectural modernism, which eliminates ethnocultural and even sociocultural conditions from the variables that define quality architecture,” says Lee. “When we eliminate these essential considerations, we lose the ability for architecture to respond to the colloquial design languages of the people it serves.”
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At HowlRound, Julia Rada explores the terminology “safe space” and what it means for educational spaces:
I have been thinking about how we, as practitioners, almost compulsively talk about “safety” in our work, particularly in the studio or classroom, as though it is embedded in what we do. Safety is ubiquitous in our vernacular; we ensure it almost by reflex. What is safety, though? What are we really trying to get at when we talk about “safety?” Can we actually ensure it? Isn’t education and art-making intended to be risky? If we are taking risks and growing, can we ever be truly safe?
Students and teachers! The Education Department at Company One Theatre is pleased to share our Curricular Connections Packet for the NNPN Rolling World Premiere of COLOSSAL, by Andrew Hinderaker!
Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!
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A 60-foot community mural was created outside of the Prudential Center on Memorial Day last year. Photo: Globe file
The Boston Globe recently highlighted some national trends in city development and looked at how arts and culture can be integrated into the development happening in Boston:
More cities have undertaken cultural planning to shape a coherent approach to advancing the arts. Cultural planning looks different in each place, as it should. Yet, when we consider the cities where cultural planning has been most effective, we consistently find an ambitious, inclusive, communitywide effort to develop a shared vision and blueprint for arts and culture — one that prioritizes, coordinates, and aligns public and private resources to strengthen cultural vitality long term.
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Create Equity looked at the barriers that prevent people from participating in cultural and artistic activities if they are from lower socioeconomic and educational backgrounds:
Data from the survey shows that fewer low-income individuals attend pop and rock concerts than their wealthier counterparts, and significantly fewer of them attend visual arts festivals and craft fairs. In fact, people with lower incomes and less education are less likely to read books, go to the movies, take an arts class, play a musical instrument, sing, dance socially, take or edit photographs, paint, make scrapbooks, engage in creative writing, or make crafts. All told, the data paints a consistent portrait of lower participation by low-SES adults in a breathtaking range of visual, performing, literary, and film activities…When large numbers of people face barriers to participating in the arts in the way they might want to, we know that we’re missing opportunities to improve people’s lives in concrete and meaningful ways.
Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!
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100 Resilient Cities showcased five creative placemaking engagements in several cities, based on projects supported by either the NEA’s Our Town program or ArtPlace America: There are some cool examples:
The Los Angeles County Arts Commission conducted a deep investigation into the cultural life of the Willowbrook neighborhood to develop an arts-related asset map and visioning document. They used this information to ensure the community’s spirit was reflected in the county’s ongoing capital and infrastructure improvements.
Credit: Los Angeles County Arts Commission
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Gwydion Suilebhan’s keynote address at the Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations about technology and how it’s transforming relationships between artists, audiences, and arts institutions is worth a read:
But the most important key to a sound technology practice is empathy. When you build things, you absolutely have to begin by thinking about real people and their real desires and needs…So, to the extent that you and your organizations are ready to practice technology with the organizations you serve—to build stuff, either for them or with them (and with them is almost always better)—you absolutely can’t gear your practice around their organizational needs. You have to have actual human beings in mind. The things they care about. The tasks they want to accomplish on any given day. And, yes, their relationships.
Earlier this morning, Ta-Nehisi Coates, a writer and correspondent for The Atlantic, spoke at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland for the inaugural event in a series of forums on Race in America. Coates was joined by Dr. Nathan Connolly, JHU Assistant Professor of History, and Dr. Debra Furr-Holden, JHU Associate Professor of Mental Health for a conversation that was livestreamed here.
Initial remarks spoke to the recent events in Baltimore surrounding the death of Freddie Gray and the #BaltimoreUprising, as well as the ingrained culture of day-to-day violence that exists in communities of color. Later, conversation topics touched on historical roots of inequality and how language and policy shapes marginalized communities, before a Q&A with the audience. It’s a fantastic and timely conversation that is well worth checking out.
Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!
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The ARTery has details on a report released last week by the city’s office of Diversity, calling for new strategies to diversify the city’s workforce after uncovering some sobering statistics about how gender and race are represented in Boston:
Overall, the report finds the city’s workforce is predominantly white (58 percent) and does not reflect Boston’s diverse population. Hispanics make up 18 percent of the city’s population, but only 11 percent of the city’s workforce while Asians make up 9 percent of the city’s population, but only 4 percent of the city’s workforce, according to the report. However, blacks make up 23 percent of the city’s population and 26 percent of the city’s workforce, according to the report.
But, when it comes to leadership positions (department heads) all minority groups are very much underrepresented, the report found — 74 percent are white, 18 percent are black, 5 percent are Hispanic and 3 percent are Asian.
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In his post on the Butts in Seats blog, Joe Patti looks at the Quartz post breaking down the recent Pew Research study stating that kids from different economic backgrounds use social media differently. There are some interesting takeaways for organizations looking to reach young and economically diverse audiences online:
Income and race also often determine whether someone has access to a desktop or tablet computer. In any case, it seems increasingly important to make sure your website design is mobile friendly (h/t Drew McManus) if you want teens to have positive interactions with it as that is increasingly the platform of choice.