We will continue to monitor the state of the outbreak as well as federal and local guidelines, and will make decisions with our host partners about the status of upcoming, in-person EMFUSA2020 events that are scheduled for June 2020 and beyond, as the situation continues to evolve.

Since we imagine that the "state of the art" for the ensemble community in 2020 will be defined, in large part, by the impact of COVID-19, we’re also envisioning new ways to connect (such as our virtual Town Hall) for these related conversations about how we’re creating our art, sustaining our companies, sharing our resources, and building our resilience in response. We’ll share info about these first of these new online sessions in the coming weeks, and will continue to keep you informed of schedule changes for the lineup of in-person EMFUSA2020 events as they emerge. We look forward to being with you (in person or online) soon.

ANNOUNCING NET'S ENSEMBLE MACROFEST USA 2020!

By the end of 2020, over 100 NET ensemble members will be celebrating either a milestone anniversary (in a multiple of five), or an anniversary of over 20 or 40 years in operation. The legacy of ensemble practice is strong, and we're taking the year to grow our network, take stock of our work thus far, and envision our community's path forward.

Join NET for Ensemble MacroFest USA 2020, a year-long, rolling, nationwide celebration of ensemble theater, featuring events in Albuquerque, Denver, New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco, Vermont, Western Massachusetts, and beyond. EMFUSA 2020 will explore the “state of the art” of ensemble practice and performance-making in the U.S. Each event will feature opportunities for work, model, and resource-sharing; group learning focused on building equitable ensemble practices; and region-specific sessions based on the event's location.

Upcoming events include:

Apr 23-26 | Denver, CO POSTPONED
with Su Teatro’s 6th Ever WordFest/Artists of Color Summit

May 21-24 | New Orleans, LA  POSTPONED
with Alternate ROOTS & Mondo Bizarro

Jul 16-19 | San Francisco, CA
with foolsFURY’s FURY Factory Festival of Ensemble and Devised Theater

Jul 30-Aug 2 | Amherst, MA
with Ko Festival of Performance’s ENSEMBLE: Seeding the Future Convening

Sep 9-13 | Putney/Brattleboro, VT
with Sandglass Theater’s Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival: Roots and Wings

Oct 22-25 | Utica, MS
with Sipp Culture's Harvest Gathering

Nov 6-8  Hartford, CT
with NEFA NTP-National Theater Project’s Regional Convening

...and more locations and dates to be announced soon!

Past Events:

Read more about our first event, which took place New York City, January 10-11, 2020 here.

Mar 12-15 | Albuquerque, NM - CANCELLED
with Tricklock Company’s Revolutions International Theatre Festival

In response to NET members’ requests for more art-focused, hands-on opportunities to connect, learn, and share together, NET hosted our first Ensemble Exchange Lab this summer (July 1-7, 2019) in Ely, Minnesota to support collaborative knowledge-sharing and field cross-pollination.

Offered in partnership with NET member Tofte Lake Center (TLC), the Lab gathered an intimate group of NET-member-affiliated, ensemble-minded artists from around the country for practice-centered exchange and creative exploration in a retreat setting.

NET TLC Ensemble Exchange Lab week:
July 1-7, 2019 (arrive Monday 7/1, depart Sunday 7/7)

Tailored to the particular needs and interests of the accepted participants (and to be co-designed in collaboration with them), the week-long NET TLC Ensemble Exchange Lab balanced group activity, peer skill-sharing, technique and methodology exchanges, facilitated conversation, dramaturgical feedback, professional development coaching, and self-directed personal work and retreat time.

Specifically, the experience included:

• Space and time to connect, co-create, and reflect in community and in nature with a small group of like-minded ensemble artists and practitioners.

• Opportunities to work and play with ensemble-based peers: share information, techniques, tools, inspiration, ideas, and approaches to ensemble practice and collaborative creation; discuss the unique rewards and challenges of artmaking and working in ensemble; and explore, question, and imagine together.

• Meeting design, facilitation, and dramaturgical feedback (tailored to participants’ needs) from TLC founder and dramaturg Liz Engelman and NET Board member Todd London.

• Professional development guidance in organizational development, financial management, fundraising, or other requested areas with NET Executive Director Alisha Tonsic (tailored to participants’ needs).

• Access to venues for creative explorations with the group and on your own: library, dance/yoga studio, art studios, workspaces, and numerous outdoor locations.

• Shared lodging in one of three artist-in-residence cabins.

  • Cabins have full kitchens, private bathrooms/showers, 1-2 bedrooms/sleeping areas (each with 1-2 beds), and lake views.

  • Applicants are asked to indicate their preferences for shared or private sleeping arrangements (see “Costs” below).

  • Bedding, towels, and all cooking/serving items (pots, pans, utensils, plates, glasses, etc.) are provided.

• Kayaks, paddle boards, canoes, and a sauna for exploring and enjoying the lake.

• A group welcome dinner and send-off dinner on the first and last nights of the residency, as well as other shared meals throughout the week. Shared potluck dinners, picnics, and happy hour meet-ups at the dock were also coordinated with participants throughout the week as desired; participants were responsible for other meals on their own (each cabin has a full working kitchen).

• Free time to explore the TLC property and the nearby small town of Ely...or to simply relax on the dock taking in the landscape and the loons.

Above two photos:
 Smith & Shapiro Dance Company in residence at Tofte Lake Center; photos by V. Paul Virtucio

Tofte Lake Center is set amidst 12 acres of forested land on the shore of Tofte Lake, a dedicated trout lake surrounded by the Superior National Forest in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. It is located near Ely, MN, approximately 4.5 hours north of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Having just celebrated its 10th anniversary, Tofte Lake Center is a non-profit organization (and NET member!) that provides residencies for artists who crave dedicated time to work on their projects, for creative individuals who seek individual growth through guided workshops or retreats, for organizations that want to make time to re/focus on their goals or mission, and for leaders to gather to exchange ideas with colleagues in their field. Through its artist-in-residence weeks, curated group projects, and guided retreats and workshops, TLC strives to create an environment where self and group expression can be extensively and intensively explored.

For more information about Tofte Lake and traveling to/from the area, visit the TLC website.

Through significant support provided by NET and TLC (subsidizing roughly ⅔ of the week’s actual cost), we offered this pilot Ensemble Exchange Lab exclusively to NET members at a highly reduced rate.

Registration fees are per person, and include 6 nights lodging, 2 meals, creative/studio space, facilitated group activity, and peer skill-sharing, with dramaturgical feedback and professional development guidance tailored to attendees’ needs.

• $450 per person, shared bedroom (shared w/ 1 roommate)

• $600 per person, private single bedroom

Travel costs are the responsibility of the participant. NET can work with accepted participants to help arrange one shared transportation shuttle between TLC and the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport for Monday July 1 arrival and Sunday, July 7 departure, if needed.

Applications for Summer 2019 are closed.  Please see the NET website for future offerings.

NET members in all membership categories (ensemble, affiliate, individual, student) are encouraged to apply. Ensemble and affiliate organizations may apply to send 1-4 representatives.

A note on accessibility:  Tofte Lake Center is located in a wilderness setting that includes some natural barriers. Unpaved roads and pathways on the grounds sometimes follow uneven terrain, and ease of access varies by building/facility (ranging from fully-accessible ramp entrances, to rocky stairs). If you have accessibility questions, mobility concerns, or other accommodation requests that you would like to discuss prior to submitting an application, please reach out to us at exchangelab@ensembletheaters.net. You’ll also be able to indicate any particular needs on the application form, so we can connect with you about ways to support your participation.

QUESTIONS?
Email us at exchangelab@ensembletheaters.net

NET's national community gathered in the Sonoran Desert for reflection, conversations, sunsets, workshops, local community highlights, leg-dangling poolside hangouts, panels, performances, networking, and Tucson’s renowned All Souls Procession Weekend (a city-wide series of grassroots, art-infused ceremonies, celebrations, and events culminating in a community ritual Procession & Finale performance, produced by NET member Flam Chen/Many Mouths One Stomach)!

This two-city event in Tempe & Tucson, re:ROUTES explored expansive and emerging definitions, notions, and manifestations of ensemble practice and collaborative creation through the themes/priorities of:

• Artistic Disciplines, Forms & Aesthetics

• Decolonizing Ensemble Theater: Power, Systems, Culture & Traditions

• Civic Applications; Community, Ritual & Collective Resistance

• Place: Local, Regional & Indigenous Work, Artists & Ideas

• Cultural Pluralism, Equity, Justice & Anti-Oppression.

NET's National Gathering & Symposium events brought together performing artists, co-creators, practitioners, producers, scholars, educators, teaching artists, students, cultural workers, organizers, activists, policy makers, funders, and community partners.

CLICK HERE to download our digital program!

Community/Host Partners:

Borderlands Theater; Childsplay; Flam Chen/Many Mouths One Stomach; Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University, School of Film, Danceand Theatre; Performance in the Borderlands ASU; Tempe Tourism; Visit Tucson

Watch the complete video archive of Gathering events on HowlRound TV!

Check out the tweets from the conference at: #NETreroutes

Event Sponsors:

WHAT:  NET Executive Director Alisha Tonsic will travel to 12 cities to meet with ensemble practitioners and collaborative creators. Each stop on the Listening Tour will provide an opportunity for attendees to co-create the future of ensemble performance through learning about NET’s current programs and services, sharing their own needs and practices, and participating in collaborative vision conversations about how to propel ensemble practice to the forefront of our culture. Participants will also have the opportunity to meet old friends and new colleagues committed to ensemble practice and collaborative creation. 

WHO: Anyone who is interested in ensemble performance and collaborative creation: current NET members (and not), ensemble theatres, dance collectives, music ensembles, circus or puppet or burlesque troupes, comedy improv groups, cultural or community organizers, educators, students, individual artists and practitioners, faith communities, local legislators, community non-profits and associations, co-ops, the ensemble curious, and more! If you think you should be in the room, please come!

WHY: Because NET has a vision of a world where ensemble practice and collaborative creation are at the forefront of our culture, and we need YOU to make that vision a reality!

This Listening Tour is made possible in part by the EmcArts Innovation Lab for Arts Development Agencies.  

In partnership with our local host, University of Washington School of Drama, Past Forward: 2017 NET National Gathering & Symposium will bring together NET members, artists, practitioners, educators, scholars, students, activists, organizers, community partners, funders, policy makers, and others with an interest in collaborative creation across disciplines and sectors.

Founded in the mid-1990s by a small group of ensemble theaters, NET has grown and matured over the last two decades into a vibrant national community of 350+ member ensembles, affiliate organizations, individuals, and students from multiple performance disciplines. To celebrate NET’s past 20+ years of expanding ensemble practice, Past Forward will honor the diversity of the ensemble movement’s powerful legacy and collectively imagine our way to what’s next. We’ll explore the ever-evolving, multi-strand threads of our shared ensemble lineage from our beginnings into the beyond, tracing our footprints as we co-create a more expansive, equitable, inclusive path forward together.

Links:

Event Host:

Event Sponsors:

Community Partners:

2015 National Gathering at Camp Winnebago* in Fayette, Maine.

August 28-August 31, 2015

Gather with us to say farewell to Mark Valdez, share plans about NET’s leadership transition, envision the next phase of NET, make art, see performances, take workshops, sit by the lake, and look at the stars.

*Camp Winnebago is the host site for summer retreats by the Irondale Ensemble Project since 1985

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how NEA grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

More Info:

Event Sponsors:

What is Intersection?

Intersection was a symposium and multi-year investigation of the connectivity between professional ensembles and colleges/universities. Between 2014 and 2018 NET partnered with colleges and universities in New York City, NY (Eugene Lang College The New School of Liberal Arts + The New School of Drama); Chicago, IL (Columbia College Chicago); Seattle, WA (University of Washington School of Drama); and Tempe, AZ (Arizona State University) to present these national symposiums at their institutions.

 Across the country, NET is seeing an increase in ensemble artists working within academia, with a concomitant increase in the inclusion of ensemble practices within curriculum. In addition, universities and colleges produce many of the next generation of ensemble artists. Recognizing these already significant interrelationships, NET hopes to identify ways to serve more intentionally as a resource and connector within and between sectors.

Among the issues to be addressed in the inaugural symposium will be ensemble pedagogy and training, the practices of ensemble creation within the university structure and time frames, and how NET might serve as a pre-professional bridge between graduates and ensembles, to build connections and strengthen and track post-graduate career progress for ensemble theater-makers.

Selected questions explored:

• How do we create, perform, teach, and practice ensemble within the university setting?
• What do students gain from learning ensemble practice in academia?
• What are examples and hallmarks of successful ensemble/university collaborations?
• How can universities/scholars and ensembles/artists work together to better serve one another and fulfill the goals of each?
• How does or can ensemble artmaking function as academic research? What tools, language, and structures are required?

Intersection explored these questions and others through hands-on learning, peer-to-peer conversations, interdisciplinary workshops and performances, and community brainstorming.

What is an ensemble?
As defined by NET: An ensemble is a group of individuals dedicated to collaborative creation, committed to working together consistently over years to develop a distinctive body of work and practices.

Event Sponsors:

What is the impact of art in your community?

The challenges facing America are immense... and the solutions will involve art.

MicroFest USA: Revitalize, Reconnect, Renew was a look at America and the role that art and artists play in creating healthy, vibrant communities. Part festival, part think-tank, the MicroFests galvanized local and national artists/activists/thinkers around placemaking efforts, while creating opportunities for learning exchange and inspiring new models across the United States.

The goals of MicroFest USA were to:

• have fun, create art, and strengthen communities;

• offer a field-wide learning exchange to strengthen cross-sector, civic-engaged work;

• expand how we view and discuss creative placemaking;

• foster collaborations among local and national artists and community leaders;

• document learning and best practices for art-based community revitalization; and

• advance ensemble practices as tools for community development

NET partnered with Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts that works to make the arts an integral part of solutions to the challenges of communities.

National Summit & Learning Exchange

Honolulu, HI
Jun 13-18, 2013
View Documentation

Microfest USA: Renew

New Orleans, LA
Jan 17-20, 2013
View Documentation

Microfest USA: Reconnect

Harlan, KY/Knoxville, TN
Oct 25-28, 2012
View Documentation

Microfest USA: Revitalize

Detroit, MI
Aug 17-19, 2012
View Documentation

2010-2011 Microfest

What is the Theater we want to create?

One Festival - 3 Cities. From October 2010 through February 2011, NET hosted a Micro-Festival in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.  Designed to build a national conversation in the ensemble theatre field around aesthetics, culture, and the ways ensembles create new work that defies traditional theatre practices and forms, these 2 and half-day “Micro-Fests” were a combination of performances and performance responses, catalyst conversations, master classes, and intentional conversations to provoke a deeper dialogue around the theme of each festival. We’re witnessing an evolution within the theater field: a shift towards Ensemble.

Atlanta, GA; Los Angeles, CA; Philadelphia, PA

Files: