NET Is Advocacy & Collective Action
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NET Is Advocacy & Collective Action *
NET is more than a service organization—it’s a member-led, action-oriented movement.
We actively advocate for ensemble practice, mutual aid, and solidarity economies at local, regional, and national levels. Through strategic partnerships, policy engagement, and field-wide organizing, we are working toward a future where ensemble artists and cultural workers are recognized, resourced, and sustained.
NET is shifting what membership looks like. We’re piloting a more connected, more engaged model—one where members aren’t just participants but active co-creators in shaping the movement.
When you join NET, you join a network of builders, dreamers, and disruptors working toward a more just, collaborative, and artist-led future.
Membership Opportunities for Engagement
NET members gain access to a robust slate of programs, resources, and advocacy efforts designed to support and sustain ensemble practitioners at every level. Membership is the container for co-creating an artistic, civic-practice-focused community with like-minded peers.
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Membership includes free access to online and in-person events and the opportunity to apply for travel stipends for national convenings.
Current Programming:
Local & Regional Membership Convenings – Gatherings for artistic exchange, advocacy, and relationship-building.
Create + Activate (C+A) – An annual program for BIPOC ensemble leaders, artists, and changemakers focused on mutual support and creative activation.
Collaboration Pitch Sessions (Virtual) – Quarterly sessions where members can find collaborators, co-producers, and funding partners.
Advocacy & Community Building Learning Sessions (Virtual) – Panels and dialogues with cultural workers, movement leaders, funders, and experts in solidarity economies, mutual aid, and policy advocacy.
Artistic Process Workshops (Virtual) – Member-led sessions sharing ensemble methodologies, pedagogy, and artistic inquiry.
Annual Membership Meeting – A member-led space to co-shape NET’s future and discuss field-wide priorities.
Regional Gathering Planning Committees – Help design localized convenings that strengthen ensemble networks.
National Convenings (Every Other Year) – Large-scale gatherings to strategize, create, and move the field forward.
The Story Circle Project – A community-driven archive of ensemble practice, documenting our shared history and future.
Office Hour Sessions – Monthly virtual co-working, brainstorming, and peer resource-sharing.
IG LIVE Peer-to-Peer Sessions – Member-led discussions on ensemble practice challenges and successes.
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NET is more than a gathering space—it’s a force for structural change and collective action.
Current Advocacy Offerings
Annual Reports – Stay informed on policy changes impacting the arts.
Advocacy Round-ups- Resources from partner service organizations, member ensembles, and cross-sector advocacy coalitions and organizers
NET Annual Impact Report – A deep dive into how NET is moving the field forward.
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NET is committed to peer-led knowledge sharing and ensuring that ensemble artists have access to the resources they need.
Current Exchange Offerings
Ensemble Organizations Directory – An interactive, ever-growing map of the field, providing access to contact information and shared assets across the network.
Ensemble Artist Directory – A searchable directory where individual artists can connect, collaborate, and share resources.
Fiscal Sponsorship – NET members can gain access to fiscal sponsorship desibed by ensemble makers for ensembles and individual artists, making it easier to receive funding, launch projects, and financially manage resources collaboratively.
🔜 Coming Soon
Grant Opportunities & Job Board – Up-to-date listings for funding, residencies, and career opportunities.
Member Resource Library – A growing archive of templates, case studies, and field-wide research.
Harm Reduction & Accountability Guidelines
Community Agreement Resources From Across the Field
Producing Convenings: Templates & Lessons
Best Practices For Collaboration & Partnership Agreements
Open Source Resources On Alternative Governance Models
Discounts for Subscriptions to Other Service Organizations
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NET members and the wider ensemble arts community stay informed through curated updates, essential resources, and opportunities straight from the field.
Current Offerings
Quarterly Member-Only Newsletter – Exclusive updates, behind-the-scenes insights, and special opportunities for members.
Monthly Field-Wide Newsletter – Big-picture trends, advocacy efforts, and key developments shaping ensemble practice.
Weekly Field-Wide Eblast – A rapid-fire roundup of member news, funding, and job opportunities, thought pieces, and critical field updates.
Member Impact Report – Published research, data, and testimony from NET members about how our collective work is shaping the future. Use in your grant applications, resource generation efforts, and communications.
A Network Built by and for the Field
Ensemble and collaborative practice thrive on shared leadership, consensus building, and power with—instead of power over. Our membership model reflects that.
At NET, membership is not just about joining—it’s about stewarding and shaping the network's future. Our members—companies, ensembles, co-operatives, individual practitioners, community workers, and institutional and community partners—are essential to advancing ensemble practice and ensuring it remains recognized, resourced, and sustained.
In this new era of NET, members are co-stewards of a decentralized, artist-led model. To ensure accessibility and equity, all NET events are free for members, and this membership structure is designed to be adaptive, responsive, and shaped by those who participate.
A Membership Model Built for the Future
This pilot membership model (March 2025 – July 2026) is a direct outcome of the NETneXt initiative, grounded in the belief that NET’s structures should evolve alongside the membership body and steering committee.
This is a living, collaborative experiment in horizontal leadership. One that needs you.
Financial Assistance and payment plan requests can be applied for via this form
100% and 50% Waivers can be applied for every other year via application
Payment plans and subscriptions are available
Membership Tiers
Joining before July 2025 guarantees the pilot-level membership fees for three years.
Ensemble Organization Membership
NET broadly defines Ensembles as groups of collaborators engaged in the theory and practice of collective creation or devising art-based work. Ensembles are theater companies, collectives, artist groups, and organizations. Some are organized as 501c3s, and some are not, but all are engaged in an overall ensemble or collective values-based practice.
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Pay annual dues during the enrollment period (current period open through June 2026)
Share your organizational activities for NET publications, website, and social media
Maintain an updated Organizational Member profile on the NET website, Ensemble Directory, and contribute to the Artist Directory: an interactive, ever-growing field map. The Map will include an inlaid directory that will give members access to contact information and assets available across the network.
Attend the virtual twice a year Membership Meetings
These meetings allow members to advocate for NET programming, funding allocation recommendations, and more.
Attend online gatherings, conversations, and in-person events as possible
Share resources from knowledge to methodology, partnerships, and more
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This membership tier offers your organization:
Eligibility to apply for the NET Fiscal Sponsorship Program
Eligibility to nominate Steering Committee Members to NET’s new governance and leadership bodies that are stewarded by the field
Eligibility to apply for awards, funding opportunities, regrants, and resource-driven member programs
Eligibility for two complimentary registrations for all in-person convenings and unlimited virtual registrations
Eligibility to apply for financial support for travel, caregiving, and housing for in-person convenings
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Annual Membership Fee: $500
Joining before July 2025 guarantees the pilot-level membership fees for three years
100% and 50% Waivers can be applied for every other year via application
Payment plans and subscriptions are available
Individual Membership
An individual practitioner engages in collective creation and collaborative art-making in every room they inhabit, whether it is a theater, a school, an organization, or a community gathering. Individuals are scholars, artists, co-creators, practitioners, producers, educators, students, cultural workers, organizers, activists, movement builders, and thought leaders.
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Pay annual dues during the enrollment period (current period open through June 2026)
Submit activities for NET publications, website, and social media
Maintain an updated Individual Member profile on the NET website and Ensemble Directory, and contribute to the Artist Directory: The directory will give artists access to contact information and assets available across the network
Attend the virtual membership meetings twice a year. These meetings allow members to advocate for NET programming, funding allocation recommendations, and more.
Attend online gatherings, conversations, and in-person events as possible
Share resources from knowledge to methodology, partnerships, and more
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This membership tier offers you:
Eligibility to apply for the NET Fiscal Sponsorship Program
Eligibility to nominate yourself as a Steering Committee Member to NET’s new governance and leadership bodies that are stewarded by the field
Eligibility to apply for awards, funding opportunities, regrants, and resource-driven member programs
Eligibility for one complimentary registration for all in-person convenings and unlimited virtual registrations
Eligibility to apply for financial support for travel, caregiving, and housing for in-person convenings
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Annual Membership Fee: $165
Joining before July 2025 guarantees the pilot-level membership fees for three years
100% and 50% Waivers can be applied for every other year via application
Payment plans and subscriptions are available
Affiliate Membership
Affiliates are community partners, institutions, policymakers, funders, and values-aligned organizations passionate about supporting the vitality of the ensemble sector, grounded in an ethos of new world-building, knowledge sharing, community-building, and are committed to engaging in transformative collaboration.
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Pay annual dues during the enrollment period (current period open through June 2026)
Submit organizational activities for NET publications, website, and social media
Maintain up-to-date Affiliate Member profile on the NET website, and Ensemble Directory
Eligibility for one complimentary registration for all in-person convenings and unlimited virtual registrations
Sponsor or attend online gatherings, conversations, and in-person events as possible
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This membership tier offers your organization:
Eligibility to apply for the NET Fiscal Sponsorship Program
Eligibility to nominate Steering Committee Members to NET’s new governance and leadership bodies that are stewarded by the field
Eligibility to apply for awards, funding opportunities, regrants, and resource-driven member programs
Eligibility for two complimentary registrations for all in-person convenings and unlimited virtual registrations
Eligibility to apply for financial support for travel, caregiving, and housing for in-person convenings
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Annual Membership Fee: $1050
Joining before July 2025 guarantees the pilot-level membership fees for three years
100% and 50% Waivers can be applied for every other year via application
Payment plans and subscriptions are available