THE NEXT STAGE

Essential Issues in Performing Arts Creation, Presentation, and Engagement: a webinar series.

OVERVIEW

THE NEXT STAGE: Essential Issues in Performing Arts Creation, Presentation, and Engagement spotlights diverse voices, new ideas, and groundbreaking innovations to help the performing arts navigate today’s challenges and thrive.

The program launched in 2021 as a five-part series in partnership with the Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, gathering innovative artists and arts leaders from the United States and beyond to explore the most significant challenges and opportunities of the global crisis.

For 2022, THE NEXT STAGE continues with an extended exploration into the big issues impacting the performing arts today, creating space for ongoing dialogue, expert perspectives, and shared community learning.

WATCH THE SERIES

Episode 1: Creation in Isolation - Adversity Meets Innovation

Episode 2: Extending Our Reach: Performance in a Digital Age

Episode 3: Rethinking Residencies

Episode 4: International Collaboration in a Global Pandemic

Episode 5: Performance Beyond the Proscenium

Episode 6: Are We Post-Pandemic Yet?

WATCH THE NEXT STAGE EPISODES

EPISODE 6

Are We Post-Pandemic Yet?

Aired March 17, 2022

On March 12, the governors of California, Oregon, and Washington will lift indoor mask mandates.

How are venues responding? How do we protect audiences, artists, and staff when states no longer require masks? What will be the short-term and mid-term effects on programming and operations? How are your policies and operations changing?

Our interactive panel of presenters share their perspectives on these questions and more as we all navigate the changing COVID landscape together.

EPISODE 6 — THE PANEL

Jill Barnes (she/her)
Executive Director | The Washington Center for the Arts

Molly Clark (she/her)
Director | Cal Poly Arts

**Robyn L. Williams** (she/her) Executive Director | Portland’5

Antonio M. Gómez (he/him)
Associate Director of Education | Tacoma Arts Live; WAA Board Vice President

Speaker bios

EPISODE 5

Performance Beyond the Proscenium

Aired November 22, 2021

Our need will be the real creator — Plato | The Republic

For most of the last 20 months, the pandemic emptied our theatres and concert halls. In a crush of necessity, we moved beyond our soft-seat venues to virtual, and later, outdoor settings. How will we stage our work as the performing arts emerge from the pandemic and into this new era of COVID? Which of our many experiments in gathering audiences and sharing performance will last? Will non-traditional venues play a more prominent role in touring and presenting? What can we learn from artists who’ve always made site-specific work? Join our expert panel for a timely conversation about the future of live performance.

EPISODE 5 — THE PANEL

Azul Amaral

Creative Director | Grand Performances

**Christopher Rountree**
Artistic Director | Wild Up

**Erin Boberg Doughton**
Artistic Director & Curator of Performance | Portland Contemporary Institute of Art

brooke smiley

Earth works and site-specific dance artist | 2020 Native Launchpad Artist (Osage)

EPISODE 4

International Collaboration in a Global Pandemic

Aired September 2, 2021

How do we build equitable international projects when travel is restricted and borders are closed?

Amidst the pandemic, we are seeing emergent collaborative networks at the local, national, and regional level.

Can we transcend borders and colonization by cultivating nodes between these networks through which we connect, create, and share?

EPISODE 4 — THE PANEL

Alicia Adams

Vice President of International Programming | The Kennedy Center

**Kuen-Yean Hwang**
Senior Member | Ju Percussion

**Fabiloa Pazmiño**
Chief Academic Officer | Galapagos Music Conference

**Cindy Hwang**
Founder & President | InPulse Creatives

**Austin Wang**
CEO | Taipei Performing Arts Centre

EPISODE 3

Rethinking Residencies

Aired June 23, 2021

The last 12 months have forced us to "stop, collaborate and listen" (word to Vanilla Ice) as we work toward a new normal. As the field embraces "green" touring, deeper community engagement, and artists as partners, how do we evolve the residency to maximize the impact and minimize the environmental toll? We'll explore the residency as a sustainable model for artist and community-centered presenting. What do artists and communities need from each other? What remains in a community when the artist has gone? Is performance still our bottom line? Whether you're an artist, agent, or presenter, Zoom in to learn new strategies and approaches to reimagine and reenergize your residencies.

EPISODE 3 — THE PANEL

**Tung-Yen CHOU**
Artistic Director | Very Theatre

**Reneltta Arluk**
Director of Indigenous Arts | BANFF Centre; Founder | Akpik Theatre

**Rosie Herrera**
Choreographer & Artistic Director | Rosie Herrera Dance Theater

**Erin Boberg Doughton**
Artistic Director & Curator of Performance | Portland Institute of Contemporary Art

**Jaciel Neri**
Choreographer, Festival Advisor, Director | Moving Borders; Founder | CAMP_iN

EPISODE 2

Extending Our Reach: Performance in a Digital Age

Aired May 21, 2021

When the pandemic hit, the performing arts scrambled to move events online. One year later, what have we learned? How can artists, companies, and venues leverage technology to reach new audiences, offer new experiences, and nurture collaboration? How do we create work that that is engaging and transformative in the digital realm (and not just a facsimile of live performance)?

Extending Our Reach convenes an expert panel ready to dig into these heady questions. Zoom in to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what comes next.

EPISODE 2 — THE PANEL

**Janet Cowperthwaite**
Executive Director | Kronos Performing Arts Association; Manager | Kronos Quartet

**Seth Parker Woods**
Cellist | Artist website

**Ty Defoe** (Giizhig)
Writer, Actor, Interdisciplinary Artist | Artist website

**Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti**
Musician & Composer | Artist Website

**Ting-Chun Lin**
Director, Programming & International Development Department | National Theatre & Concert Hall (Taipei)

EPISODE 1

Creation in Isolation - Adversity Meets Innovation

Aired April 26, 2021

The pandemic has forever changed our world, the arts included. While we may not yet fully understand the impacts, artists have taken on the challenges and benefits of isolation over the last year to evolve their practice of creation, collaboration, performance, and engagement.

The pandemic will one day be behind us, but the changes it forced and the innovations it spawned will inform the creative process, touring and presenting for years to come. Creation in Isolation features a diverse panel of artists and producers candidly sharing their journeys. Zoom in to learn what worked, what didn’t, and what astonished.