 Yes. All right, I think we're gonna get started. Wow, this is a full house. Thanks so much for being here. Y'all let my cousin in, don't much come. Here's chairs over here. Yeah, if anyone's in the back that wants to come up, that would be great. Maybe, hey Laura. Is that seat for my cousin? This is for us. What is this? Probably an edge. Let me show you. Okay. Go ahead. Are you happy? Are you really ready? Yes. We need that one first. It's a little time popular here. So would they probably not touch her hand? All right. Hello. Greetings. Welcome. Thank you guys for being here so much. Everyone in the room is here for the engaging diverse communities conversation, right? All right. Good. Perfect. My name is Kayisha Johnson. I am a co-founder of women of color in the arts. We're a non-profit organization that is working to raise visibility of women of color working in the arts, helping to diversify the pipeline, and ultimately helping to create equity in the performing arts field. This is our fourth year that we have presented a session at APAP. So thanks so much to arts presenters. It's our first year being live streamed. So please tweet out and email and Facebook and whatever else you do and let people know that this is happening right now. We're so appreciative of you guys being here. And this is going to be a really, really great dialogue. We're going to take out some pen and paper. These women that are going to be speaking have amazing experiences to share, but more than that it's really going to be a dialogue between all of us, because this is an opportunity to learn and share. So community, we're going to be talking about community today. So I thought we'd do a little exercise because we want to talk about community and what community means. So for those people in the back, if you want to come, here's a seat here. Cousin, here's a seat. This is Robin's cousin seat right here. Okay. But here's a seat. There's a seat right there. I like standing room only. It creates a buzz. Okay, so I thought it'd be appropriate for us to start by identifying communities. So if you aren't already standing up, I want you to stand up if you work in a city. That is more than half the room. Okay, so Pepsi. Stand up if you work in a suburb. Suburb? No suburb use? Okay. What if you work in a rural town? Excellent. Stand up, stand up, stand up. All right, great. All right, stand up if you are from the Midwest. All right. Stand up if you are from the south. Nice. I fell a seven in the house. Oodah! What about the West Coast? Excellent. We've got a really nice person next year. And my East Coasters. In the house. All right. Stand up if you consider yourself being part of a religious or spiritual community. Personally? Yes. If you consider yourself being actively involved in a social or political or sociopolitical movement. If you are part of the Twitter universe. Here goes my plug. Please, tweet. Woke up online. Woke up where? And W-O-C-A, if you're on Twitter right now. Stand up if you're part of the Facebook community. That's almost everybody in this room. You can all find us on Facebook. So as you can see, community are something that might not be visible just from looking at a person. Because you don't know the types of communities that people are from. And really the discussion we're about to have about community. When I'm trying to really understand something, have a more profound understanding of something, I like to look at the definition and the etymology of the word. So let's talk about community first. So community can be defined in a couple of ways. One, a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural or historical heritage. Two, a locality inhabited by such group. Three, a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests, and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society in which it exists. For example, the business community, the community of scholars. Number four, a group of associated nations sharing common interests or a common heritage. For example, the community of Western Europe. Five, religious or spiritual connotation, a group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule. This is community. And lastly, people self-identified, and the self-identification is a really important point, as of similar character, agreement, or identity. So now we have a clear understanding of what community encompasses, right? So this session, this session is all about community. Historically, cultural institutions have unwittingly approached communities outside of their sphere of comfort and influence as ones which they can benefit from, right? So this session is really going to focus on why this approach is so disingenuous. And if you think it's not disingenuous, just wait until we get deeper into this. But it's disingenuous and ineffective. So forging a relationship based on a transaction, hey, come to my show. I'll give you free tickets. You bring your community, right? Not only leaves people, your constituents, your community feeling even more marginalized than before that invitation was extended, but less appreciated because, you know, then before you made that call for partnership. And we're going to talk about what partnership is because that's a really important element of forging a relationship with your community. So then most attempts at community engagement really come off, they're seemingly well-intentioned, but they fall flat, right? Because they're based on these specious modes of interaction. Engaging communities requires a couple of things. Listening, listening is a required, but also the most essential part of the relationship, right? Transparency, you know what that means, and follow through. And for me, these are key components to any good relationship. So we're not even talking about on the professional level. You know, the relationship between your spouse, the relationship between your children, these are elements for a good relationship. This is how you build your community. So for you, standing in your light. Oh, am I not alone? She sent a message in both letters. Step into the light. No, no, great, thank you. So for you, the presenter, the artist, the manager, all of you, the primary steps for engaging audiences are by identifying clear objectives and clarifying your language. And what do we mean by clear objectives and language? We're just going to talk about that some. But first you talk about wanting to diversify your audiences. I mean, people come up to me all the time, oh, trying to diversify. What does that mean? Do you know what your community exists of? And what does diversity mean to you? So let's define that. So what does that mean for you personally? What does it mean for your cultural institution? And what does it mean for the community in which you're working? Diversity has a lot of connotations, right? Cultural, racial, generational. It's of the utmost importance that you be able to articulate what diversity means to you, right? So we're talking about diversity. Community engagement is like as ubiquitous as the talks of diversity and equity. Everybody's talking about it. It's on everybody's lips. And stop talking about it really. But what are people saying? These discussions can be profoundly meaningful or they can be deeply superficial. I hope that we're going to air on this side of the profoundly meaningful today. But a few people really can look beyond the dollars and cents and understand and articulate why community engagement is paramount to the success of individual organizations. Be it a cultural organization or an artist-driven organization. Community engagement is really the most powerful when it's executed with and by those being engaged, right? The communities themselves. So the presenting and touring field really needs to understand that there are tools and rules of engagement. And we're going to talk about what those rules of engagement are. So today you're going to hear a lot about how organizations have cultivated meaningful and authentic relationships with communities and how the communities themselves bring more to the table than you actually might have ever imagined. Alright, so that being said, let me introduce you to these lovely ladies that are sitting here to my right. I'll start with Mira. Mira is the program fellow at the David Wimstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, former administrator for GlobalFest, is an independent curator. She does a lot of things. That works with a lot of different venues around NYC. Mira, are you still working with Amir? Okay, well, she has previously worked with Iraqi-American musician Amir El-Safar, who was actually a partner of mine. We did a big festival last night called GlobalFest. I hope you guys made it. But anyway, so Mira has a lot to share in the area of engaging communities. She was also with the National Jazz Museum. So she's worked in a lot of different communities. Then we have Robin. Hi, Robin. Hello. Robin Higman is the CEO and executive producer of Soul Touch and Productions, a production-use mentorship and media consulting company with a mission to make meaningful media and produce powerful social impact experiences. The business of Soul Touch and Robin's personal commitment, and she has a very strong personal commitment, is to plant seeds of hope in young people and present visions of possibilities. She is also the founder and curriculum developer of Loving the Skin I'm In, a partnership initiative for youth. And the movement explores societal standards of beauty and media influence on self-esteem and identity. Her most important role is that she has partnered with the Orgway Center, and she's going to tell you more about her work with the Orgway and how she has brought diverse communities into that community in St. Paul. Ana Maria Carrera. Hi. Hola. Hola. Hola. Is the person responsible for the School of Dance and community engagement programs at Ballet Hispanic Code. Ana Maria has worked in arts and education and disciplines of theater, music, dance, visual art, creative writing, architecture. Is there anything you haven't done? Social media integration. That's the other thing. Yeah, okay. And actually she was just with Robin at the Orgway Center doing some amazing programming. They're with Ballet Hispanic Code, and she's going to tell you more about her work. I'm going to let each of these women begin with a very specific professional example that's going to help shed some light on how we engage our communities. And just for the record, this is how it's going to be set up. So we're going to have them talk for a few minutes, and then we're going to have some talk back, and we're going to open up the floor for dialogue, okay? Yeah, let's start with you. Thank you. I first want to say thank you to Kaisha and Woka for having me on this panel. Thank you. And I want to talk a little bit about my time as the Programming Fellow at the Atrium at Lincoln Center. I'm now a program coordinator. And in this fellowship, it was created to bring a diverse new voice to the programming table, which is a great first start in this diversity conversation. And the Atrium in particular is a really special venue. It's part of Lincoln Center, but it maintains a good relationship, having autonomy within a large institution, and all of our programs are free and open to the public. So we have a large institutional support. We have autonomy in programming, and everything we do is free. So it's a really special, special formula for a venue that has the honor and responsibility for being the gateway for a lot of new communities into Lincoln Center. So this fellowship was created, and it started as I get four nights to book whoever I like. And I wasn't sure how I was going to use that at first, and some of the first work that I started doing was community engagement. And the example that I want to talk to you about is with the Moroccan community. I'm not Moroccative, but that kind of got blurry throughout this entire process because it's coming to my life at 360 degrees, being involved with this community. And it all started with a show we had brought to us by Center Stage. They brought through the State Department, they bring artists Tory from around the world, and they brought us a Moroccan group, Hobahoba Spirit, who are wildly popular in Morocco. And so when they were coming here to New York, I wanted to find the Moroccan communities in New York that love this band and invite them to the atrium, many of whom came for the first time. So through Facebook actually, I made the most connections. A lot of communities are crazy organized on Facebook. So through hunting all these Moroccans in New York or Moroccan community of New York, I found a couple of few key players that are really unofficial leaders and community mayors of Moroccans. And through these folks, shout out to Simo for getting me in touch with this community. Simo, through Facebook we connected, he brought over 50 Moroccans who were obsessed with this band. They came to the atrium for the first time. They knew all the words to the songs. They were waving Berber flags, Moroccan flags, and it was just overwhelming to see this population that never comes to the atrium to Lincoln Center, having the time of their life, connecting with a band that's so important to them where they're from. And so it was really exciting to be a part of that. And I was going around the crowd talking to people, was this your first time here? What do you love about Moroccan music? Who should we be listening to? And so many folks that I met were so happy that this band was here and that there was a space that was bringing their personal rock stars to the stage. And they were so generous saying, we love American music, we consume it all around the world and we want to share what we have too. If you like this, there's so much great art that you should know. So some of the folks I met that night, we continued to talk and we met in other social settings more Moroccan events. I met some ganal artists in the crowd and I started going to their shows. They came to my house for a birthday party. And through all of these really organic connections, we found this band in Oganawa. And not only did they professionally, just like an incredible music musical group, they become great friends. And it was all very much on the dance floor in conversations that this trust was starting to be built. And through one of their shows, cards were passed. And then the singer from Oganawa Diffusion, one of the largest bands in Algeria and France, got my number and we put together a show that featured this Moroccan ganal group that I was starting to become friends with. Plasty Honey Better Algerian Ganala Stars. And so that was both done earlier in the year. And we started talking before we even knew what the show was going to be about. Simeo and Simeo are another great Moroccan ganal artists. We're my community guides and they were telling me, here are people that we're interested in. Here are some things you should know about Moroccan-Algerian relations when you're embarking on this double bill, be wearing of this, push this. Also, your show happens during Ramadan. And we were nervous about that at first, but we made accommodations for that group. We started later when the sun was down. We gave dates and milk at the venue to those who were going to be breaking the fast that night. We had Moroccan henna happening to give more business to the henna person in the community. So they were so important in having us approach the show in a thoughtful 360 way. And since then, it was, line out the door, completely sold out. We had a Brooklyn show as well so they could reach that community and get their foot into a different presenter's realm. It was just, it was really successful on personal levels, emotional levels. There are people who love this band so dearly where they're from and haven't gotten the chance to see them here. So it taught me a lot about the kinds of things that you can program. When you're trying to reach various communities, there's, you know, the rock stars and the epically ones that are big there that you can help introduce to America. This was Genoa Diffusions, American New York debut. And at the same time, it was a debut, a lot for this Genoa band, this Moroccan Genoa band, to anybody. So it was given emerging artists from this region plus the folks that we were, they were deeply connected to where they're from. So that's a lot of, like it showed me a living approach. Plus we had a DJ who was remixing Moroccan folk music with hipster electronic beats. So we approached this community's music from the newest electronic stuff, an emerging band playing traditional music plus the OG, like Algerian folks. And so because of that attendance from this community, we saw how engaged they were, ready to be engaged more at Lincoln Center. So the key players in that have been, in my personal curating table as we think about what are we doing next? We have a slack that's going to be definitely for this community. Simo and Samir are telling me who to think about. They've hit me to this powerful Berber band that's also, has not made their American debut and taught me a lot about Berber politics and research. And through this process, I have an insight guide into the nuances of this music and this culture because key one is you have to do your research when you're presenting international artists or any artists you really have to know what you're getting yourself into so you can know if it's a great fit to fall in love with the complexity of the system. Genome music is seven colors that correspond to the creation of the universe as told by pre-Islamic and post-Islamic like prophets and spirits. It's like ethnomusicologically, it is the most fascinating system ever. So there's research happening on that level plus this community. I went to a Berber film festival as part of research for all of this. So it infiltrated my personal life as much as possible plus there's a community now that comes to the atrium just because they know Thursdays it's free and they're at our programming table for what we're going to be doing next to make sure that they're involved. So that's one example. Yes, I'm not Moroccan but this opportunity let me see my different diversities that I identify with as a fan of this, as someone that can use my appearance as getting access to certain ways. So I got, it was a really fascinating experience and now I'm managing the Genomic Group so it's just like a conflict of interest is what always happens in this world because you're just crazy passionate and you've got to funnel it everywhere you can. So that's just one example that taught me a lot about this work. It's really great that you mentioned about how your physical appearance allows you access. Yeah, I didn't think about that. So what do we do when our physical appearance doesn't allow us access? How do we create access? How do we create a point of entry when that particular community member may not know us, may not be present? Well, first of all, we need to invite them to the table. May we talk a good deal? So we had this session also at Arts Midwest in Kansas City this year and I learned so much from a lot of the Midwest colleagues but Mira talked a great deal about research, doing your research, and research is simply asking questions. That's all it is. And so a key component to engage in communities is the research is asking the questions. Take the time to learn not just about the art form that's going to be presented on stage but learning about the artist, the cultural, the historical context in which the artist is presenting the work. Learn about the social dynamics. Learn about the cultural needs. She talked about having a program on Ramadan. How are they going to compensate and make sure that the community was still present when they are obviously engaged in a religious practice? So those are really important things that we have to be very thoughtful about. And then you mentioned a point about asking the community about what they want. So why do we fail to do that? I mean, it's so simple. Asking the community what they want, what they want to see on stage and how they want to be engaged in that process. And a lot of people say to me, oh my gosh, that's so hard. I don't have time to do that. Do you have time to present the arts? Because that's what we're here for. We're about trying to expand people's minds so that we have a closer community globally, right? So a couple of questions that we're going to be thinking about and we'll go next to Robin. But we're going to be thinking about how does one assess the needs of a particular community when that community member is absent? Robin is going to talk some about rules of engagement. What are rules of engagement? What does that mean? And building a holistic approach to engaging communities. Holistic approach. So that means empowering the community to be, to come along for this wide experience of community. Thank you. So you think about those questions because I might not cover it yet, but I need to. As a child, two precious gifts of wisdom from my mother were take your rightful place in the world and we are an African people. Be proud. It is a divine honor to shepherd taking our place center stage in the celebration of the glory and greatness. When the African diaspora is in harmony, all of our lives are richer. It is today, January 16th, 2016, that I honor Patricia Fraser Hickman, my mother, who is on high, but she is with us. And I thank her for that wisdom that has inspired a movement that I'm very proud of to be with colleagues that I'm proud of and I wear yellow today in honor of her because she always told us we're yellow because when it's gloomy or it feels gloomy, or you're feeling gloomy, it will illuminate like the sun. And in this industry, when we start talking about diversity, it can feel real dreary for some of us. Okay? It gets difficult. So I want to thank you, my sister, for letting me walk with you here in San Patti Yellow. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you so much. My sister was with us yesterday, but I got to hang with you at the Oral Way the other night, and you are awesome. Because you're doing that heavy lifting in San Patti Yellow. And we heard what you do. Take your rightful place. It is our right. It is our responsibility to make sure people can take their rightful place. She also said my children will experience and take their rightful place in the centers of the arts and history and culture because I pay taxes too. Give me a second. Her baby is taking her rightful place today in New York. Lifting up her voice in an effort to inspire us to do the right thing. Because the artists are on it. It's said that artists are the modern day prophets and presenters, you have the platform for those artists to prophesize through their arts and touch souls. But I can't do it if I am not with an organization where the team member and the families it's in our DNA. It's becoming a part of our DNA at the Oral Way. I came to the Oral Way. You didn't hear a little piece about the Oral Way until the end of my bio and that was too long ago. But a foundation, the St. Paul Foundation funded a partnership between Soul Touch and the Oral Way to create authentic engagement experience for the people. The funder, right? So our funding community must get it and then help it to bring it together. And so in 2010, we burst this. But what would we have if I didn't have colleagues and I have to say this for a reason, this is a shout out for a purpose. Because it was our topsy godmother, Patricia Mitchell, who, our leader who is leaving, who believed in it and said, this will not be a net-off, but it will be a commitment to community. If Denna Martinez wasn't bringing in those profits, also come in to lift up their art but art is profit to come in, we want to get with community. We want to be with the people. Camille, I want to do a workshop with black girls who are struggling. And I'll get more into that. She's left us but Laura Sweet surprised me. She was our VP of marketing and she got it. Because she said, Robin, who do you know? I have some positions. And I said, I know some little young sisters. She's not enough. Let me interview her. She may not, I can't promise, but, and she got it. So a young black woman, she took a chat song. She said, I'm going to come in and do honor job training. We have to be intentional. And now Jessica's doing her thing all throughout the Twin Cities. Because if we don't nurture people to go into this field, right? Very important. So thank you. So Denna and Laura, I got a flower for you. I'm going to say, Shelly, who brings in through education and engagement, she brings in thousands and thousands of children because when children learn at an early age, they'll buy tickets later, folks. That's right. I'll give money later. Okay. And give money later. So I don't want to hear, oh, and I said, Jamie Rocker, who brings in, he's dramatic about diversity. Yes. Thank you, Rocker. And our new later leader, Jamie, Grant, who we all witness today, right? Jamie, keep the commitment going. But I'm very proud that this is it. We have to see in such a time as this, lives need saving. And arts can save lives. We know that. So I got off script because I'm so filled up. But the work that we do, and I'll talk more in detail, but again, in such a time as this, we need people to be able to take a break from the struggle and come in and look up at stages and see the glory and the possibilities of the people. When we do that, we're demonstrating that black lives matter. And we do it at the old way, that we are more than disparities and opportunity gaps. So we're really committed as presenters, especially CEO role, as presenting that platform for the artistic prophecy. So you talked about commitment. What's the word? Commitment. What is it? What is that commitment entail? And it's more than just, oh yeah, I got an artist on stage that hasn't been to my particular community before. What is the commitment entail? What is the commitment? First of all, as we did and for many years, I got to build on a foundation of commitment at the war. But it is inviting the community in to be partners. That's more than an advisory council. That's talking about we're committed to you having a sense of ownership in this. We finally have our top seed brochures and if anyone would be interested. But if you look on the back of the brochure for those of you who have one, hundreds of people who are partners, right? So when you say we want you to be partners, that means they're going to act on that ownership. And they will keep coming. They'll keep coming and then go also community side. We have a responsibility on the community side. So I'm that middle person. Community, we better bring it or it better be authentic. But it's inviting folks to the table, creating a sense of ownership. And then people will invest in many ways. But when you go to a community and you're saying we're not just doing this for audience development. We're also how can we support the economic development in your community? Therefore, top seed, every caterer is a caterer of color. Because now I'm so proud that taking our place center stage is sharing center stage. It started out for people of the African diaspora. But now we have sharing center stage with our Latino community, our Asian community next season. It's strongly indigenous people. So we're sharing center stage. But that said, looking beyond, you said holistic. So that's about more build audience and who we have on the stage which is mighty, but who we have on the stage, those profits coming into the community, a supporting community event. It's ongoing deep. But it's really about, like you said, what is the community telling you that they want? And it cannot be a one off. I think that's important. We checked the box. We did it. A long-term commitment. Long-term commitment. A long-term commitment. And Maria. How you done followed that? I don't know. The other night, I was scared. I was scared. I had to stand because I talk with my hands and I use my body. And I have to stand because I don't know the thoughts, you know, of flowing. So my name is Ana Maria. I'm the senior director of community engagement for Waleespanico. I am Latina. I am a native New Yorker. I am a child of immigrants. And I say this to say that my parents don't care what I do. But the fact that I work for Waleespanico is like pride for them and for me. So I'm very close to this mission as a child that grew up here as a bilingual child. This positionality is very important and informs the lenses or the community that I do and the work that I do. I stand in the light. I stand in the light. So for me, when I was invited to speak on this panel, I was asked to kind of tell a story of something that had happened in the work that I do. But I have lots of stories. You have lots of stories. I felt like the thing that I could speak to the most is that I could speak to the most powerfully or strength, you know, the thing that I want to walk away with is about practice. I, as the person that does the community engagement is that working in those camps at Waleespanico, we're a 45-year-old organization pushing forward a mission of the Latino diaspora, everything in between that. It's a history of what New York City and Waleespanico was in 1970, whatever, and what it is in 2014. The organization, it's not just an artistic vision, but at the core and the heart of everything they do is education. It started as a troop of dancers on the Upper West Side, way back in the day of the 70s when I was two. When the Upper West Side had not been gentrified, when most of the buildings in the Upper West Side, if you look at the architecture of the time, it was very closed up. So the intention was about empowerment, rescuing, giving our people who are marginalized a chance to do something different. And the Upper West Side of New York City was the hood. It was a neighborhood that you really didn't, you know, I mean, you were there because you had to be, not because, you know, so this idea of access for Waleespanico and this idea of practice. So in my practice in an organization that has a company and aesthetic vision of dance, past, present, and future, a school of dance that services 600 students right now, pre-K through high school and all their parents. And the work that we do in the schools and the community and that's integrated arts into the curriculum working with K through 12 teachers, professional development, parent engagement and the work that we do on tour. I find myself at the intersection often of having to teach, having to, so that they, so whoever's presenting me and bringing me in can respect the work that we are doing. And I'm having to run up against a lot of preconceived ideas of what it means to do a program in a school. What it means to bring a program to the Salinas farm area in California and perform for the community there. What it means to do a program for students in an auditorium. And then I ask my presenter 20 questions about the abilities, diversities seen and unseen in that audience. And I'm not on the other side with the presenter on the phone, but I'm sure they're thinking, you know, who do they think they are? They're asking me 50 questions. Why do they have to know all of that? Well, because I have a keen respect for the work that we are doing. And it's important to me that if one person in that audience doesn't speak the language that I'm speaking on that stage when I'm facilitating, that bothers me. It bothers me the normative experience of English only. You know? It bothers me that, let's say, somebody who's bringing me in, whether it's a school or presenter or what have you, is like, let's just do it outside in a garage. We don't need the lights. They're just community. No señor. No señor. And so the fine line between this face having to negotiate hey, I know you think that and not getting offended and angry and furious, but being, let's talk about this. Let's really talk about and having to teach, teach. So the practice of this engagement has, you know, big things and very minute things. You know, when I think about, raise your hand if you're a presenter of work. That's what I'm saying. Raise your hand if you're like me, a cultural institution that's bringing something to a community. Okay. Okay. So also, you know, we all carry our politics with us, our ideas, our identity or who we are, what we think. And so small things like, not just, you know, performing a garage, it's good enough. They've never seen that before. They're not really gonna, you know, da, da, da. But that along with the assumptions that when you are bringing work in that you might have as a person depending on where you are, your intersectionality, wealth, class, race, gender, perceived notions of who you think the people are. So things like assuming that the presenting organization does not have a study guide or not having that conversation or asking the organization for the study guide and then replacing it with your study guide. Or having it on the website and saying, we're a troop of salsa, mambo, cha-cha, whatever. That's not what we're presenting. You know, and so you're grateful as an organization to say, you know, thank you for bringing me, but then at the same time you have to be like, listen, I gotta talk to you. What are you doing? That's not what. So there's a lot of talking and back and forth. Same thing with the community. When we're working in schools, practice. So the excellence with which I approach the work with a presenting organization is the same meaning in respect and excellence and professionalism as I would with my principal up in Boynton Avenue in the South Bronx. Mr. Dr. Namnoon, we need a clean stage. Dr. Namnoon, we need a classroom that, we need a studio. Dr. Namnoon, we need a set schedule for Namaria. Why? Why do you, because we're doing the art form out of respect for the children, out of respect for the students? I need professional development with your teachers. So this asking questions, asking questions, you don't rest. You don't rest. So the engagement is a huge responsibility. It's a verb, it's a noun, it's a politic, it's a way of life. This idea of one off, so I have a saying that I like to be like the elephant. There's a saying in Spanish, me gusta ser como el elefante, despacio pero aplastante, meaning slow but leaving an imprint. So we were invited to the Ordway and our approach is a 360 degree approach to working in and with community. The Ordway might have said to me, Ana Maria, we're going to have shows for the students, we're going to have engagement with our donors, we're going to have and I'm like, I did research about your community. What about that one over there that gets nothing? Can somebody go and talk to them? Can we call them? Ana Maria, what are you talking about? Like, let's just keep it simple. No. No. Who doesn't come to the Ordway? You know, the motor, molestando jodiendo as they say, excuse me. So for me and I think the message again that I want to take to you is what questions are you asking and what questions are you not asking? What assumptions do you bring to the work that you're doing? What does it mean when a school tells you Ana Maria, we're in Arizona, we're in English only and you're the one emceeing the event and you go off, you're like, no, I have to, I respect this audience. They have to hear it in both languages. And what does it mean, the question of, you said that you look the part to gain access. So, you know, I'm going to say this that depending on what I have on and how I look, I've been invited to go through the helps entrance and I've been invited to the boardroom. I am aware of who I am in the communities that I'm in and I use that, I am aware with humility and respect when I'm in the Bronx, when I'm in Bed-Stuy, when I'm in Salinas, when I'm in Corona, knowing who you are, where you're at and the approach of how you work. I think respect, I think professionalism, I think kindness, I think cluelessness. Hi, I've never worked in your community. Help me. I want to engage your community. I think also practicing when we ask questions of community, like, don't send the community, don't send my parents who are 89 and my cousins who work 13-hour days of serving monkey in English, don't go to the community, go to the beauty salon, go to the church, go to the bodega, where we connect, where can I, you know, get out there. So that really is my approach to the engagement. It's a verb. It's practice. It's day to day. It teaches me everything. I don't know anything. Like, I approach, like, there are things I know and there are things I'm going to learn. And I come to it with this kind of fresh learner's mind. But then I also stand up and I go, hold on. And so that's that's where I'm coming from with Vale Spanish and all the work that we do throughout the 360 that it means to engage community. Thank you. Well, some of the things that I've heard from this conversation is building trust, creating a foundation with the community, knowing who the community is, facilitating points of access. Partnership. What does partnership mean to you? Partnership is simply building, right? How do we build? And one of the things that I also wanted to talk about was creating a sense of ownership in community. So, and Maria, when Vale Hispanico goes into a community and you say, well, we need a clean stage to perform on. And perhaps the community can help us in creating a space for the art to happen. It gives the community a sense of ownership. This is not just a production that they are being ushered into and sitting down. And I also, I just want to add to that. And when, if I'm in a community and I say I need a clean stage, I ask really, it's where's the broom? Where's the broom to clean the stage? It's not that I come into my host's house and want them to clean the stage because I'm whatever. Where's the broom? Because I want to make this performance the best for you. Oh. That's, that's really different, you know? So, we're going to open it up. Some of the things that I want you guys to be thinking about in this room and taking it away is how do you define partnership? So thinking about that. What are points of access to engaged community? How do you build, one thing we didn't talk about that I wanted to reach on a little bit more was, how do you build a personal relationship to one that's institutional with communities that you want to engage? And Mira, you talked, you talked really great about that at our prior session about, you know, okay, so now I'm forging a personal relationship with the artist and the community that is coming out to see the artist. But what happens when I step away, you know, as a member, as a staff member of this institution? Does that relationship sustain itself? And how do we help it sustain itself, right? What type of commitment is required from the organization in order to build that community? And that goes on both sides. From the presenting organization, the cultural institution, from the artist-driven organization, the people that are actually creating the work, what type of commitment is involved. And then how do we forge deeper connections? So I'm going to open up the floor. Can I say just one thing very quickly, because it's important. I said in the DNA, I was a part of the search committee for our new leader. I was the only non-board member. Okay? When I could not be, when I was not present, my colleagues on that committee, the board member, Robin, we asked the questions we knew were important to you. They get it. So when you have your board that gets it. When it is a part of not only, you know, the great stories, but it is incorporated that commitment. It's the fabric, it's that thread. Incorporated in, these are the three things that are almost the constitution out of this organization. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and authentic engagement is now, that's boom. And your board members get it. So whether I'm in the room or not, or if I go and do something else and get back and making my films and stuff, that style, the top, the leadership gets it. I just needed to, I just needed to say that. It's been some heavy lifting. And we still, another one of my mother's quotes, we still have so much work to do. But, I'm sorry, I just needed to take it. No, no. It's very important. I wanted to follow, can I follow up with you? You said that though they framed it, those questions important to you. Would you not think they would be important to them, for the organization? No, it was important to them. And I guess that's where I wanted to go. Right. Important to them too, but I think when we talk about doing, we have to, they did it as a gesture of affirmation. We are affirming, we believe, we get it, and thank you for teaching us. So that's still there or two. Because I, it's not like I don't have my days and there ain't some folks that still don't get it. And it's hard and you want to throw your hands up in the air because when you talk about doing this deep, and if I don't say anything else on this panel and I'm not going to say it right now, but there is one story that illustrates deep. Okay, we got to go deep with this. I need it too. You know, I need to know, okay, y'all get it? So that was a gesture of we see you. We hear you. Yes? I had a question from you and you started touching upon it. And it had to do with sustainability. I think I, one thing that was almost like a red flag to me was when you said my days is what opened the door because I understood that you were in that position as a fellow and so that's a temporary position. Right. And so how does, what does the institution do beyond you create, opening that door and starting the ball rolling? And that was my first question. My second question was how diverse was the audience for those programs? Yeah. Was it simply a new community coming into a facility that they hadn't had the opportunity because of maybe not there being a program that they could relate to? You know was there a part, was there a merging of you know, Lincoln Center patrons with that new community and us? Yeah. Thank you for those questions. Sure. So in terms of of using my my my diversity to my advantage I didn't really thought about the access that I was I was getting because people feeling comfortable with me physically because of that and through my other fellowship programs I also engaged with the Mongolian community for example who I I definitely was really new for me and and so I think that like learning how to to figure out what your tactics are going to be for certain communities was a large part of the four different shows I did one of them was expressively young Indian people that I was working with a lot of young Indian composers and so it was tapping into that side of myself versus a Mongolian person and versus this Ganao guys where I'm in situations with you know six older Muslim men which is also a really strange strange situation and and so learning how to navigate that and figuring out what about myself do I is connecting and how to to tap into different parts of me that they're going to to work in this situation so I think that if you don't look a certain way and you are reaching a different community it's not about this giving you access it's about knowing yourself and what they're going to connect to and in terms of sustainability luckily I am staying on the atrium so I I get to work on this question longer but Georgiana the director of the atrium her vision of programming equally in community engagement is also the key of the institution having having the directors and like the key the top top tier figures who are in programming and also in the space that is about being a gateway to larger Lincoln Center having people like that recognize that these people should be part of the table so had I not been staying on the the fact that the show was successful and the community that came was yes there was a lot of Moroccans a lot of Algerians there for the first time but half of our audience that comes every Thursday is regular audience that comes because they know it's Thursday it's free there are people that come by because it's a high traffic zone so there's folks who stumbled upon it as well who were introduced to Gnawa and Moroccan culture for the first time so it was a mix of Algerians of ethnomusicology nerds journalists everything so it was diverse in that way and had I not been staying on Jordana the atrium team would know that this is a significant voice that would leave space for them in the programming and make sure they were involved in what came in that space so just to pick up on something that you said and hopefully to expound you know people look at someone's face the exercise that we did at the beginning of the session was an exercise in fertility it was about trying to express that you don't know to which community someone belongs to right you can't you can't just look at someone and know that so a lot of times we make assumptions okay just because of the way that I look oh like soul food she eats at she is part of a religious community or a Christian community people make assumptions right before they even asking the deeper questions of how this person is going to connect and it's really you know I want to point it out because I see it happening over and over again with different organizations that I've worked with over the years and they're like oh well in order to connect with let's say the West African community we'll send out a black person okay and how is that helpful do they have do they even speak the same language you know so these are really things not so nuanced things that people need to be thinking about there was another question in the yes I think that we all know part of the religious community a religious community of the time my experience in the many years I've been doing this is that there are a lot of presenters who want to do this work in the communities they have every desire to do it the drama said something at the beginning when she was talking about how it was a funding there was a funder in place and this takes money to be able to do with every Thursday night or three bringing bands around the world and taking money and it seems to me that this conference is more of it you're doing here should we get it and I appreciate it as a presenter but funder should be in the room absolutely and I can speak to that because we in Minnesota we have target three years genuine I mean some big boys go and they are beginning to look at not beginning because many of them support us but it's the bottom line when we talk about corporate funders and they know they need diversity to buy their products so there are many different things that we can use for leverage but not only funders funding people coming through the doors and supporting subsidizing tickets but funders that will fund people who look like the people you're trying to bring in to come in and be a part of the team right because the days come right so it's so if we're really committed to it then that's then there we need to do but can I just I need to say this before we wrap up because we're about to wrap up when I talk about the platform for artistic prophecies that will touch souls I don't care if you're in the city suburban or rural we all have young people who have challenges so I'm sitting here on behalf of Tanisha who participated in Camille Brown's workshop Tanisha her name has been changed her uncle tricks her out at the age of 14 we know sex trafficking is huge and all of our communities this is this example when we talk about taking it deep she participated she was in my loving the skin I mean group so she came to the workshop she was petrified to say her name so we did she did Camille that a ritual circle she said her name she stood next to me I said you can do this baby she said her name and Camille saw her she said baby you stay with me come dance with me you come be with me the experience was amazing but I got to witness a girl who has no joy in her life be joyful the next morning in loving the skin I'm in class she told her sisters I did something I never thought I'd be able to do I'm so happy because that lady saw me she saw me right so that didn't take place in the Orbit Way Center but as an extension because all of us we are an extension of community and we have the courage to take this deep and we have to for such a time as this I just I had to lift up Tanisha for me thank you so much it takes commitment I'm so sorry that we have to end this you have so much more to share man thank you thank you so much please continue to follow the work of women of color need arts we're holding these sessions these dialogues we want to engage you follow us on Twitter look us up on Facebook go online let's do my one two thank you and thank you to our panelists mirror thank you so much thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you