For US-Based Freelance Artists and Cultural Workers in all Disciplines
Artists in a Time of Global Pandemic. I
Image by deYoung Museum and Quinn Fenlon.
Join HowlRound plus a group of artists, arts administrators, and others from around the US on Monday 16 March 2020 at 2 p.m. HST (Honolulu, UTC-10) / 4 p.m. AKDT (Anchorage, UTC-8) / 5 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC-7) / 6 p.m. MDT (Denver, UTC-6) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC-4) to discuss how COVID-19 is impacting freelance artists (those who identify as independent contractors) from all disciplines and where artists can look for support in this complicated moment. The conversation will focus on shared resources (legal, advocacy, how to take your work virtual, finding emergency funding, and financial best practices in crisis) and building and grounding our national community.
Speakers and facilitators include Nicole Brewer (Anti-Racist Theatre Facilitator), Viviana Vargas (Advancing Arts Forward), Vijay Mathew (HowlRound), Ann Marie Lonsdale (Network of Ensemble Theaters and GhostBoat Consulting), Claudia Alick (CALLING UP Justice), Hannah Fenlon (Network of Ensemble Theaters, formerly Theatre Communications Group), Carl Atiya Swanson (Associate Director, Springboard for the Arts), Carrie Cleveland (Education & Outreach Manager, CERF+), Amy Smith (Dance and theater artist, educator, facilitator), Laurie Baskin (Director of Research, Policy & Collective Action, Theatre Communications Group), Avita Delerme, Esq (Senior Counsel, Legal Affairs at The Public Theater), Ouida Maedel, (Musical Theater/Theater Specialist, National Endowment for the Arts), Mark Rossier (Director of NYFA Grants, New York Foundation for the Arts), Brian Eugenio Herrera (Associate Professor of Theater in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University), and more (to be announced as confirmed). This virtual convening is inspired by and connected to a multi-disciplinary resource list shared widely among individual artist communities over the past several days.
Panelists Bios
Carrie Cleveland is the Education + Outreach Manager at CERF+ where she has held various positions since 2008. During this time, she has participated in all aspects of the organization’s work to help artists have resilient careers, from counseling artists seeking emergency assistance to spearheading fundraising appeals to teaching emergency preparedness workshops across the United States and territories. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history, with extensive work in the visual arts, from Marlboro College and prior to her time at CERF+ she was an entomologist’s assistant by day and a tenor saxophone player by night. In addition to her work at CERF+, Carrie is a student of Facilitated Communication, and she is also a beginning metalsmith.
Avita Delerme is the Senior Counsel of Legal Affairs at The Public Theater. Avita is responsible for advising and assisting on contracts, policy, and legal affairs concerning the non-profit performing arts organization. Prior to the Public, Avita worked at SAG-AFTRA in the Theatrical Department where she advocated on behalf of actors and performers. Prior to that, she held roles at EMI Music (now Universal Music) and Sony Music where she worked in their contracts department. Avita serves on the Diversity Committee of the Entertainment and Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, and is a member of the Theater and Performing Arts Committee. Avita obtained her Juris Doctorate from the Western State University Law School and her Bachelors in Philosophy at Rutgers University.
Ann Marie Lonsdale (she/her) is an arts worker with experience as a producer and administrator working with innovative and experimental live performance, artist services, grantmaking, and capacity-building for artists and small companies. She has worked as a performer, stage manager, and producer in theater and dance in Chicago and New York, with such companies as The Hypocrites, the Vittum Theater (now Adventure Stage Chicago), the side project, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Sitelines dance and performance festival. As an administrator, she worked as Program Manager for the Creative Capital Professional Development Program, as General Manager at CPR - Center for Performance Research, a space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that supports artist working in dance and experimental performance, and as Director of Programs and Deputy Director at A.R.T./New York, a service organization for New York's nonprofit theatre community, overseeing a suite of services including grants, loans, professional development, and convenings. She has also worked in the performing arts community as an educator, facilitator, grant panelist, speaker, and consultant. She has done training with artEquity, and is actively engaged in a national community of practice around anti-racism in the theatre and arts. Ann Marie is a proud graduate of the University of Chicago and holds a master’s degree in Arts Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Amy Smith is a dance and theater artist, educator, and facilitator. She works to dismantle oppressive structures in non-profit organizations and other groups so that artists and low income folks can achieve collective liberation. She does this through financial well-being workshops, consulting with artists and arts organizations, co-facilitating anti-racism sessions, and as a dance and theater educator. Amy co-founded, co-directed, and performed with Headlong, a dance company that transformed into a community arts organization over 25 years. She left Headlong in 2019 to pursue freelance work.
Carl Atiya Swanson is a creative with an MBA, a third-culture kid, and a practical optimist. He works as Associate Director at Springboard for the Arts, a national leader in artists resources and artist-led community development, overseeing the Creative Exchange platform, operations, and communications. He is a 2019 Young Cultural Innovators Fellow with the Salzburg Global Seminar and has served on the boards of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network - Twin Cities, and Dissonance, advocating for mental health and wellness in creativity. He has a BA in Studio Art from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, and founded Cast Consulting to work with artists and creative organizations of all kinds.
Abigail Vega is a producer, organizer, director, was the first Producer of the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC), and is currently the Alumni Engagement Producer for artEquity. With the LTC she has produced live convenings in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Princeton, Austin, Miami, and New York. Previously, she was an Ensemble Member of Teatro Luna with whom she performed in over twenty-five cities. Her writing can be found in Micha Espinosa's "Monologues for Latino Actors," and her directing has been seen at Teatro Luna, the Aurora Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, and Stages Rep in Houston, Texas. Abigail is a graduate of the NALAC Leadership Institute, and is a member of artEquity 2016 cohort. Abigail Vega was a participant in the Leadership U: One-on-One program, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group.
Brian Eugenio Herrera is, by turns, a writer, teacher and scholar - presently based in New Jersey, but forever rooted in New Mexico. Brian's work, whether academic or artistic, examines the history of gender, sexuality and race within and through U.S. popular performance. He is author of Latin Numbers: Playing Latino in Twentieth-Century U.S. Popular Performance (Michigan, 2015) which was awarded the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. Brian is the Inaugural Resident Scholar for The Sol Project, an initiative dedicated to producing the work of Latinx playwrights in New York City and beyond; a longstanding contributor to the Fornés Institute, a project committed to preserving and amplifying the legacy of María Irene Fornés; and a part of the Core Facilitation Team with ArtEquity, an organization dedicated to creating and sustaining a culture of equity and inclusion through the arts. Brian is presently at work on two scholarly book projects: Next! A Brief History of Casting, a historical study of the material practices of casting in US popular performance, and Starring Miss Virginia Calhoun, a narrative portrait of a deservedly obscure early 20th century actress/writer/producer. He is Associate Professor of Theater in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University.
Nicole Brewer is an actor, director and educator who was compelled to speak out against the harmful and unnecessary practice of cultural erasure in traditional theatre programs. In her 2018 American Theatre article, Training With A Difference Nicole called on theatre institutions to disrupt homogeneity by embracing conscientious training practices and implementing cross cultural collaborative curriculums. Currently Nicole travels both domestically and internationally partnering with individuals and organizations to help them adopt an anti-racist theatre ethos. She has shared her work on various panels and has presented at TCG conferences, National Black Theater Festival and Goldsmiths University in the UK. She has given anti-racist theatre workshops at Yale, NYU, University of Cambridge, National Theater Institute, and more. Nicole is a proud member of the 2018 artEquity cohort. She resides in Washington DC with her husband and three heartbeats (children).
Hannah Fenlon (she/her/hers) is a cultural strategist and arts administrator with a background in the performing arts and higher education. She is deeply interested in the power of bringing together creative people to increase our sense of shared purpose and to improve our social infrastructure. She is currently working as a Producer with the All My Relations collective and as Producing & Engagement Consultant for the Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET). Hannah was previously the Associate Director of Conferences and Fieldwide Learning for Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and Alumni and Communications Manager for artEquity. She holds a Masters in Arts Administration from Columbia University, and a BA in Drama from Kenyon College, and has also worked with the Juilliard School and the University of Chicago, among arts and culture organizations. She is serving on the inaugural board of the Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL). www.hannahfenlon.com
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 tv@howlround.com, or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.