Answering the Call for Collective Brilliance: Welcome Nathalie Thomas
March 14th, 2025 | By Nathalie Thomas
I spent my early twenties moving at full speed with two goals: survive and stay close to the fire of making art and telling stories. Didn’t matter how. Some weeks, that meant teaching dance three times a week, indie producing on the side, and closing up shop in retail just to make rent. Other times, it was bussing tables, attending slam workshops, and slipping into every free event I could at BAM, BRIC, or Restoration Plaza, just to be near the work. Whatever it took, however I could stay in the orbit of artists, creation, and people building something that mattered—I was there. Because the work? The work was worth it.
The so-called “stable” life of a salaried arts admin—the one who called herself a disruptor—came to an abrupt end. A series of shake-ups, leadership shifts, long-overdue institutional reckonings, and then—boom—laid off. Bounced back, found my footing, then—boom—laid off again. And then a third time. Each hit chipping away at something deeper. Vulture-like questions were circling above my head—Was it all for nothing? Am I even good at anything?, Who even am I without my disruption work?—I also found myself wrestling with even deeper, destabilizing questions: What’s my bold sharp purpose here in this arts sector? What am I doing? Can you even call yourself a leader? What even is the work, Nathalie - do you know?
The things you deeply desire in life are also seeking you out.
I know this to be true. And while I can do many things, I cannot pretend that uncertainty does not shake me. I am a Virgo rising, I hide out in plans and certainty. I always approach the unknown of “what next” with trembling fingers and shaking knees.
There I was, spiraling—still moving by faith, but questioning everything—feeling like I was right back at ground zero. Then came the invitation to talk strategy for The Network of Ensemble Theatres. A rarely modeled work of deep ensemble practice, to meet with incredible practitioners and work with them. And I kept feeling tender, while I have the flare for dramatics and deep feeling with my Libra moon, this was not that. This was gnawing at my soul. This tenderness kept me up at night, following me around like a tail, and still yet, I was having difficulties articulating what I was experiencing to myself.
Then it hit me—I’m at my growth edge, staring down another wave of transformation, ready or not. And this time it was not just interpersonal, this time, it wasn’t just mine, it was also NET’s ardent transformation and growth edge making itself known to me. The parallels cut too close, and I felt like staring into a mirror I wasn’t ready for. Could I be this close to the unraveling and still do the work? Still show up as the strategist, the builder, the one tasked with charting a path forward for this upcoming campaign? The doubt was real. Was I too inside it to see clearly? Or was this exactly where I was meant to be—learning in real-time what it means to navigate uncertainty and still create something lasting? I remembered Glennon Dole’s story of Maya Angelou telling her how every successful woman that Sshemet showed up before she was ready and then rose to meet the occasion, I also remembered Maya’s still I Rise poem, too.
I was staring it in the face—watching and living the shared leadership of the Network of Ensemble Theaters as they showed up, week after week. Rooted in time-honored ensemble practices, they weren’t just holding steady through transition—they were shaping something built to last. Not just to survive this moment, or the last, but to transform with it. They were calling me in, showing me that I could rise with them, grow with them, be brilliant with them as The Individual Giving Campaign Strategist.
Ensemble work calls us into right relationship with each other, ensemble practice honors our multitudes and our many layers of relationship. Ensemble practice demands vulnerability, curiosity, and resilience. True ensemble practice strips away ego, it forces us to face our discomforts, to ask difficult questions of each other and ourselves: Who am I in collaboration? How do I hold myself accountable? What must I unlearn? What must I learn? Who am I becoming in this work? Can I rise to my highest brilliance—not alone, but in community? Am I brave enough to evolve? Am I brave enough to lean in, to be steeped in radical togetherness, even when it is slow, even when it is hard, even when the path is uncertain?
This work is an invitation to sharpen iron against iron, to build in collective vision, to embrace the unknown not as a threat, but as a threshold. It is a place where transformation is not a byproduct, but the point. For me, for Nathalie this moment is about clarity—about what I build, who I build with, and how I make this life sustainable without losing myself in the grind.
One’s purpose and role are discovered and defined within the community. That understanding has been my saving grace. NET is my saving grace. I am glad I landed here. I am excited to be in community for and with you all.
I look forward to our collective brilliance.
