NETWorks: The ABCs of Today’s Creative Touring Partnerships
Upcoming Sessions:
Austin: May 24
About the Workshop:
The environment for touring has changed considerably in the last few years. Producing theaters are increasingly presenting and the rise of national and international performance festivals is creating greater opportunities to share the work. At the same time the sluggish economy is making many presenters risk-averse, looking for the “sure bets.”
In this shifting arena, what do ensembles and companies need to know as they prepare to tour—or re-think how they tour? Led by touring artists and “activist presenters,” this artist-centered workshop will map the touring landscape, build skills and share resources to prepare artists and companies to go out on the road. Whether you’re touring to a theater across town or to a performing arts center across the country—(or just thinking about touring)—you won’t want to miss this opportunity.
Session Leaders:
MK Wegmann, President & CEO, National Performance Network, has 30 years experience in organizational development and artists’ services. NPN supports the creation and touring of contemporary performing and visual arts, and in its home in New Orleans, serves as an intermediary and fiscal sponsor for artists and organizations working in recovery efforts. From 1978-1991 she was Associate Director for the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, and from 1993-1999 as Managing Director of the theatre company Junebug Productions. Wegmann serves on Boards of Directors for National Performance Network, Junebug Productions, Performing Arts Alliance (PAA) and the Cultural Alliance of New Orleans. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Spring Hill College and a Master of Arts degree from Louisiana State University of New Orleans (now UNO).
Steven Sapp is a founding member of UNIVERSES, a National/International ensemble of multi-disciplined writers and performers who fuse Poetry, Theater, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Politics, Down Home Blues and Spanish Boleros to create moving, challenging and entertaining theatrical works. The group breaks the bounds of traditional theater to create their own brand, inviting old and new generations of theater crafters as well as the theater goers and new comers to reshape the face of American Theater.