Discipline Days: Debrief

Written By Makaveli Gresham

Here’s what we heard and how we’re responding!

This fall, we tried something new! A salon series to reflect about the state of the field to connect us and understand the current ground we’re standing on. Our conversations revealed a field at an inflection point, grappling with fundamental questions about risk, sustainability, and what it means to build an authentic performing arts ecosystem, not only beyond WAA, but nationally.

The Common Ground

Playing It Safe Is the Riskiest Move

In every session, we heard the same paradox: organizations are playing it safe, whether by leaning into media adaptations, tribute shows, and programming familiar to each community. Despite this, and what we know from past inflections points, the organizations that survived did so through bold calculated decisions.

The fear was reflected through each conversation; our economic uncertainty makes risk-taking feel more dangerous than before. The question isn't whether to take risks or not: it's how to support risk-taking in sustainable ways that serve our artists and communities.

Audiences Have Changed. Have We?

The 20th-century model of "make it and tour it" is becoming less relevant and more difficult to sustain. Audiences have unconsciously reconsidered their relationship with traditional theater spaces as digital entertainment and media consumption have taken up more of our community’s time. Legacy audiences are aging out, and non-commercial performing arts are more and more often seen as a “lifestyle” choice.

Successful engagement now requires treating audiences as stakeholders rather than ticket buyers, building authentic community relationships over time, and meeting people where they are – literally and figuratively. “Alternative” presentation models aren't experimental as they once were. Across disciplines, we heard about outdoor programming drawing unexpected audiences, brewery concerts building new subscribers, and free performances removing barriers to discovery, and community centered residencies demonstrating relevance beyond ticket sales to evolve the performing arts footprint and ecosystem.

Money Isn't the Only Resource We Have to Share

Public funding restrictions have almost eliminated the traditional model of subsidizing challenging or socially engaged work. We’re seeing programming changes take shape even for University Presenters, who are typically more risk tolerant than other organizations. However, conversations across all disciplines revealed creative alternatives to sustain we in this challenging moment: barter systems (eg: rehearsal space for outreach), in-kind contributions, distributed investment models like the TYA Tour Development Collective, and cross-departmental university partnerships that can bring unexpected funding sources into the mix.

Sometimes the most valuable support comes in forms other than cash. Transparent multi-stakeholder dialogues are necessary to make bridges and connections that challenge our current financial barriers to entry. Co-production, co-creation, and expanded networks and support for a variety of opportunities that don’t fit our current conventions are imperative. Legitimizing these alternative models and creating frameworks for their implementation is one step to success.

We've Lost Some Lessons from Quarantine

The post-quarantine landscape has revealed that the personal relationships that sustained our industry have eroded. During the quarantine, arts administrators left for higher-paying corporate roles, or retired earlier (or right on time) as a result of leadership changes – regardless, these late-career professionals took decades of institutional memory with them.

The collaborative spirit of the quarantine has also dissipated as proposed new models for engagement, project development, and resource sharing either didn’t take root or need to be rethought of in a more challenging funding and audience environment. Rebuilding these connections to one another and understanding the roles each organization has in the greater is essential infrastructural that needs major attention.

What Makes Each Discipline Unique

“Dance is Expensive”

…this was the refrain throughout the dance conversation, but the deeper insight was about sustainability – financial and human. The touring model that’s more extractive from artists without offering inspiration or community connection is burning people out, as well as becoming more costly to support. In our session, practitioners brainstormed dance’s place as a community development tool beyond the proscenium. Master classes for student-athletes, residencies at PACs and beyond. "Creative resource exchange" models that value impact over ticket sales. One powerful suggestion: integrating arts administration training within dance organizations to address the staffing crisis and ensure leadership succession.

Music’s Identity Crisis

Classical music faces a particular challenge: "new music" has negative associations while the definition of "new" has expanded dramatically. How do you rebuild audience trust when the vocabulary itself has become problematic? Meanwhile, contemporary and tribute music navigate different but parallel tensions between artistic integrity and commercial viability.

The discussion provided insights on ways to help rebuild and re-engage audiences including immersive, venue-specific programming; pairing established artists with emerging ones, thematic mini-festivals, and, critically, the "3-year rule”: allowing new initiatives time to breathe, giving them at least 2-3 years to properly gauge success rather than judging them by a single season.

One member noted: "We need to rebuild audience trust to garner interest in what's actually a large amount of diversity in 'new' work."

America's Outdoor Gap in Multidisciplinary & Other Works

Here's a surprising fact: The U.S. lags significantly behind other countries in outdoor performance work, despite these events regularly drawing large audiences internationally. Street arts and contemporary circus thrive globally in outdoor settings yet remain underdeveloped here. Why?

Common objections include a lack of outdoor space, insufficient funding, and a focus on selling seats and filling the “primary’ venue a presenter calls home. However, this misses many opportunities to think creatively and intentionally. This gap doesn’t just present “challenges” but instead opens up opportunities: presenters (artists, producers, and more) can utilize under- or (more often unprogrammed spaces like terraces and the surrounding grounds of a venue, use outdoor works as a catalyst to forge new partnerships with community organizations or donors, and break the self-reinforcing cycle of being narrowly focused on venue.

As one participant noted: "Outdoor work isn't a distraction from the main stage. It's a gateway to it."

Theatre’s Production Shifts

The theatre conversation revealed a fundamental change in the ecosystem: producing theaters and institutions that historically developed new work are increasingly booking finished touring productions to mitigate financial risk. This blurring of traditional roles is changing marketplace dynamics in profound ways.

This has created heightened competition for smaller presenters, independent artists, and emerging work. As one participant noted, this trend may create efficiencies, but it also introduces new pressures, particularly for those seeking visibility and support outside established networks.

The concern isn't just about who gets booked. It's about what gets developed. When risk-averse booking practices prioritize proven work and established artists, opportunities for experimentation and new voices contract. Short-term financial caution may come at the expense of long-term artistic vitality and equity.

Moving Forward Together

Our Discipline Days conversations revealed something important: we're not facing a crisis of ideas. Solutions are emerging from the field itself, whether in the form of brewery concerts and plaza performances, barter systems and distributed investment models, or cross-departmental partnerships and teaching artist platforms that evolve into paid opportunities. What we need is the courage to legitimize these experiments, the infrastructure to support them, and the relationships to sustain them. Although, these conversations were framed around discrete disciplines, we found universality in the challenges we face together, and that the path forward is together:

“This conversation truly emphasized mutual learning: agents can teach artists, artists can teach presenters, and vice versa. Creating more avenues for this kind of communication strengthens the entire ecosystem."

…and that's exactly what we're building toward as we head into our 2026 WAA OAK conference, and beyond. Not a return to pre-quarantine norms, but something more resilient, more equitable, and more responsive to both artistic innovation and community needs. Here are just a few ways we’re doing that:

  • More Pre-Conference Connection: This year we will help create cohorts of professionals across big ideas, as opposed to discipline via our Circles. We’ll create opportunities for connection so you can find your people early and provide background knowledge that all can benefit from to jumpstart our problem solving and learning onsite.

  • Expanding Showcase Formats: Instead of truncating the opportunities for discovery, this year we will host themed (around Circles) Juried Showcases onsite at Conference HQ, re-engage in-hotel Independent Showcasing, as well as support OFF WAA, our initiative to connect our members with the local community.

  • Additional Discovery Pathways: The Juried Showcase component isn’t the only opportunity to share your work this year at the conference; we will host a small sample of discrete Discovery programs onsite as well as iterate on our pre-conference Discovery Guide. In addition to this, we’ll be integrating pitches into the Juried Showcase.

We're grateful to everyone who participated in Discipline Days and shared their insights, challenges, and visions for the future. These conversations are just the beginning.

A special final thank you to our hosts and co-hosts:

Have thoughts about what you heard in these conversations? Ideas about what WAA should prioritize as we move forward? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at staff@westarts.org

Makaveli Gresham
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Take the Stage at WAA 2026