 Hello, hello. Welcome back. We are here for how we move forward in this long strange room. What a long strange room it's been. And it's also been a long three-plus days together. So I'm Karina, I use her hers pronouns, and I am going to be your tour guide through a meditation of those past three-plus days. So what I would ask you to do now is if this works best with you, for you with your eyes closed, you may want to close your eyes, but otherwise just settle into those seats, ground those feet, take a breath out if you need one, and let's move through our time together. So for some of you, you were actually here on Tuesday. If you weren't here on Tuesday, you may want to consider your travel here. Travel can always be an adventure. But if you were here on Tuesday for any of the programming, like the higher education pre-conference, or the education staff pre-conference, or the EDI Institute meetings, just give those a minute in your mind. Remember things that fed you and gave you joy. Remember things that you may want to come back to, things that you may want to let go of. And if you were here Tuesday night, I encourage you to think about that amazing block party with all of the art and music and dance, and to hold that in your mind for a moment. Maybe a connection you made there. Maybe that time you danced so much the next day you fell when you got off the stage. Hypothetically speaking. And then let's come to Wednesday. Most of you should be here by now, although I know some may have arrived even later than that. If you went on a field trip, call up that experience into your mind. Or if you were a part of one of our labs, those wonderful three-hour sessions. And again, just lift up what gave you joy, what nourished you, if there was something that happened that you want to let go of or that you want to come back to. Some of you may have moved into lunches with your peers, or you may have come into the how we show up meeting together. You may have had some identity-based affinity spaces or gone to trend workshops. And now bring your mind to, if you participated in the intergenerational leaders of color meeting, or if you were doing work in any of the white folks anti-racism spaces, just hold those in your mind. Think about the joy, where the nourishment came from. And then we can move into our amazing opening plenary with Edwidge. If you attended that, if there was anything that was said that was like, oh yeah, I'm gonna carry that with me, just move it through the hands of your mind for a moment. And now let's move our minds to that opening night party, if you went to that. If there were any new people you met, if there were any old friends you saw. I also know that for some of you, this entire time you're thinking, yeah, I kind of went to the pool for all of that. And I just want to say we affirm that too, right? Okay, we're coming into Thursday, our longest day. Some of you may have participated in the theaters of color, breakfast, or a trustee breakfast. Think about that morning that then turned into hearing the brilliance of Wesley Morris and Todd London on stage together. I bet there were one or two or a whole bunch more things that happened there that felt worth taking home. Then we moved into our skills building workshops and breakout sessions. There was a lunch between them. Many of you came back after lunch and hold those moments, the ones that gave you joy, the ones that nourished you, and the ones that caused you pain that you might want to come back to or that go of. And then let's remember our amazing performances from our Miami colleagues, how joyful those were, how moving you may have at some point lifted up the amazing work of Xavier Cortada in multiple sessions. I know a lot of you went to dine-arounds, or even if it wasn't a formal dine-around, you went out to something with your friends, maybe some folks you hadn't seen in a while, right? And then those of you with far more stamina than me may have headed out to the late night party. And I have so much respect for you. And let's hold that joyfulness, which contained no regret the next morning in our minds. Also want to lift up those of you who are able to go to a well-space activation. Any of that was meaningful to you. Any folks who got to engage with the land in a meaningful way, possibly through our climate change action committee. Y'all, now it's today. And today began with some trend workshops. It began with some affinity spaces around gender. There may be some moments there of joy and nourishment. Let's hold those. Let's also acknowledge that there may have been some moments of pain, of learning. Things that we may want to let go of, things that we may want to come back to. We then had some breakout sessions. We had more peer conversations. We had lunch. And we had more identity affinity-based spaces. Think about that flurry that just happened. Figure out what you want to take home with you, what you want to leave here, and breathe. Y'all, we are all bringing a lot into this time together right now. Thank you for remembering it with me together. I'm looking to figure out which of my colleagues I should hand this off next to you. And I'm seeing them. Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much, Karina. That was really phenomenal and really important to remember just how much work has gone into these three days. Wow, you all go so far back in this room. So I'm actually just going to lead us through a really brief moment of reflection to sort of extend that gift that Karina just gave us, to sort of mirror what we did and how we show up on our first day together. Some of you were there. We took some time to set some goals and share them with a group and then share them with the larger group. And we're just going to do that just for a few moments. And then we're going to take some really wonderful and powerful report outs from some groups and sessions at the conference. We're going to hear a little bit from our colleagues about things they'd like us to know based on some of their conversations this week. And then we're going to move on to the amazing Chiara Hudes and Gabi Sanchez at the Arsh Center. So that's what we're going to do just for about the next 40 minutes. So what I'm going to invite you to do now, and it may involve some shifting from the left and the right. I apologize, we're not in good circles here. But we're going to do our best to get into small groups. So we're going to invite you to do a series of reflections. And the initial reflection is going to be just on your own, encouraging you to close your eyes if you need to take out a piece of paper, take out your phone if you want to jot down some notes. And then we're going to take the next phase to just share out any part of that reflection that you'd like to share to a small group, let's say maybe three to five, right around you, three minutes to do that. And then we're just going to take five reflections from the room, just five reflections from the room knowing that I mean, let me speak for myself, I could be here all day probably listening to what you all have to reflect on, but we're just going to take five and encourage you to continue to share those with one another in your small groups, and as you move forward out of this room today. So that's what we're going to do for about the next 10 minutes. And the first phase is again, just that individual reflection. So for three minutes, we're going to reflect. And I'm going to offer you some prompts. And if you don't want to use those prompts, you do not have to use those prompts, but I'm going to offer them if they're useful. And those prompts are I used to think, so I used to think this, maybe that's before the conference, maybe that was an hour ago, maybe that was yesterday, I used to think, now I think this. So I used to think blank. Now I think blank. So we're going to take three minutes, just in silent reflection, writing it down if you'd like. And we'll time you and I'll give you a little warning at about a minute. Okay. And if you're just coming in, we're doing just a silent reflection for three minutes, about two more now. I used to think, maybe five minutes ago, an hour ago, yesterday, I used to think blank. Now I think blank, about another 30 seconds of reflection. And finishing up with this prompt, whether it's in your head silently, on your phone, on your paper, finishing those thoughts. Beautiful. So now with the folks around you, we're just going to take three minutes, a little longer if we need it, we'll read the room to reflect any part of that that feels like you want to publicly share it to a group of about three to five, just three to five. And if you see someone not in a group, please invite them into your group, three to five minutes, reflecting to a small group, right around you. Take one more minute. Take one more minute to share with your group. And coming to a close another 15 seconds, finishing your thought. All right, starting to wind down. Starting to wind down if you can see my hand in the air, put your hand in the air if you're able, or otherwise gesture. All right, coming to a close. Kiara and Gabby are waiting for us down the street. We want to give them their full time. Yeah. Who wants to go to the beach? Who wants to go to the beach? Raise your hand. Okay, let's try something else. If you can hear my voice one time, hey, if you can hear my voice twice, hey, hey. If you can hear my voice, hey, hey, hey. And who wants to go to the beach? Yeah, I think I'm staying until tomorrow or someday. I'll see you there. All right. Awesome. Thank you, Elena. So great. Lots of full rich reflections I can see. We're just going to take five brief report outs. Brief being key. But we do want to hear a little bit about what went on in those discussions. And like we talked about a couple days ago, please just share what came out of your brain and not anyone else's brain. Karina is back there with a mic. Anyone want to share? I used to think now I think hi. So I think what's that? Do we want name? Oh, that would be wonderful. Hi, I'm Milo Bailey. And I'm a member of the Berkeley reps team core council. Thank you. So I think that like this is my first year being at a conference like this and really being like such a large national gathering of theater professionals. And so like when I was coming into this, I thought that there was going to be like an immense amount of codification and like, this is this resource, this is that resource, this is that resource. And now that I'm here, I see that there's like a lot of work. But I also see how much like there is to go and how many places there are that I'm really excited to see the theater growing. And I think seeing this, like beyond like a point of codific codified resources as like a place where resources can grow out of and conversations can start. It's like my understanding of what this conference is and can be has changed. Thanks Milo. That was great. Thank you Milo. Hi, I'm Campbell Martinez. I'm president of the Milwaukee reps team council. Thanks. So I used to think that like the institutions and theater communities here weren't really open to intergenerational leadership and collaboration. But once coming to this conference and going to these sessions and talking with people, it's kind of opened me up to how much more we realize we want to talk to each other and how much more we want to collaborate once we actually listen. And so that was like one of the big takeaways for me this conference was just like how open everybody is and how much we are actually creating this connection with people from different generations in different regions. So that was great. Thank you. And we've had a request from colleagues on this side of the room that if you do have the mic and you're able to stand so they can see you that would be great. I used to think that an equitable, diverse and inclusive American theater landscape was a good idea. And now I'm frightened and deeply concerned that the predominantly white institutions are not able, may not be able to do that respectfully and responsibly. Thank you, Katie. Hi, I'm Barbara Mestanza. I come from Barcelona, Spain. I'm from the Catalan delegation. I used to think that I was super good at telling myself talking about my art and that I was super open. And now I see that here in this country, you are super good at it. Okay, I mean, in my country, my country, they, they, they train you to be super humble all the time. And as a woman and as an artistic woman or person, that means not to sell yourself, just to wait in a corner, be super mysterious and make that someone randomly finally come to you to talk to you. And now, I mean, back in America, and I see that, wow, you're aliens and that you know, to open yourself, to sell your art, to talk about your art with a lot of confidence and, and I'm learning. So thank you. And we're going to take one more. We're going to take one more from the room. Hello, I just walked in here so I don't even know what the question is, but, but I feel like this is a culminating part of the conference. And I was just in my, in my identity affinity Asian American group. And I'm going to say the same thing I said there. And it's to when I first came to this conference at the beginning of the week, because we had, because I'm a Fox fellow, and we had all of these things, these workshops scheduled that we had to attend, which I'm very grateful for. But, but, and I, and I because I'm a Fox fellow, and because I'm an actor, I said, Oh, I'm going to be an actor. And that's all I'm going to identify as at this conference. But no, it's the TCG National Conference, where where you learn to be, yes, Madam Spain, you learn to be empowered, you learn to be identity affinity identified, you learn what your core values are. And now that I'm here, I want to emphasize, yes, every, I think every single person in this room wears many hats. And it's that we should own that. So I am an actor, I'm a curator, I am a writer, I am a musician, I am all of those things. Yes. And that's how, and I realized that that's how certain people have think they have the power to put us down. Until we say, No, this is what our ancestors gave to us. The fact that we are multi versed and multi talented. And, and we do everything. So thank you. That's just own, own who you are. And when you tell your stories, invite the ancestors into the room. Thank you. All right, we have a little bit of time left together. And I just wanted to shift a little bit to key reflections from the conference sessions. As many of you know, there have been a lot of situations where professional development and nutsy, Baltsea kind of theater pieces are scheduled on the right. And then there's something called ED&I. And something that somebody just shared really resonated with me about this concern around predominantly large institutions thoughtfully, intentionally moving the needle and, you know, just not having the same conversations over and over again. And this, I think relates to hopefully one day a world in which a TCG conference and any other arts conference cannot have this divide of professional development does not necessarily lead with ED&I, right? So given that, I'd love to just take some time to create space to talk about movement building and systems shifting, right? Because we could talk about patrons and board success and single ticket buyers and audience engagement, community engagement, all of these like really jazzy things. And at the same time, you know, I must say that some of the feedback that I've already been receiving just in the bathroom or in the hallway by the Starbucks, around affinity sessions and also things really challenging, nuanced conversations about what it means to highlight LGBTQ theater initiatives over just having, okay, we'll have some queer folks in a room talking about their identities. And for some of the queer theater folks in the room, I see some heads nodding, that's great. Won't, won't reout you. It can get exhausting, right? So I'm calling upon allies for the sessions that were ally inclusive affinity sessions. I'm going to name a couple of the sessions that I've heard very positive things about, but I'm welcoming individuals to really reflect from the beginning of the conference till the end. And just a few sessions, the arc around climate justice. Can I have Annalisa and Xavier here to the front? Because I'm being told we don't have enough time. But let's do this. Can I actually ask all the climate committee people to just stand up here with us? Absolutely. Absolutely. Since they're here anyway. So just if we could take up the first row here, and I'm just going to, and we're not going to talk about Hamlet 360, no offense. Okay, what do we have here? The really intense and moving conversation around gun violence in relation to theater. Do we have any folks that participated in that session? Can we get a share of hands? Thank you. All right. Intergenerational leaders of color. Nicole and also another RLC fellow here to speak about the block party. Great. You know what? Anti-racist resources for white people. Let's get some folks here that would like to chime in in terms of experiences. That's great. So let's line this up maybe one to two minutes each. And then you could find further reflections on the TCG circle and the blog in the coming weeks. Thank you. Annalisa. Yeah, cool. Hi, everyone. My name is Annalisa Diaz. I use she, her and her pronouns. I have had the lovely privilege of working with these fine people as well as Ronnie Pinoy from Octopus Theatricals who couldn't be here and Tara Moses of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma who couldn't be here at the conference but was a very important part of the first ever conference committee on climate. And I want to thank everyone who came to the, oh my God, amazing array of sessions that we were able to put together over the course of the week and to Xavier for his art that was in all of our spaces over the course of the week. So I'm just tasked with sort of reflecting on all the work that happened. So there were actually six different opportunities. One was actually in the ED&I Institute. We did a little bit of a session on climate justice that it was a like practice run at the lab that we did on Wednesday, Wednesday. And that was the first time that we had really introduced the fact that any work for climate change is actually it must be deeply informed by a racial justice analysis. And that and that is because the people who are experiencing the effects already and ongoing of climate change are predominantly and disproportionately black people, indigenous people, people of color. And so we must follow their leadership as we envision a world that that we are moving toward together. And the lab that we did on Wednesday was forming a green new theater. And I want to invite this room and anyone who's watching on Howl Around, I work with an organization called Groundwater Arts and we are putting together a document that is aimed at forming a green new theater in line with the principles of the Green New Deal. So this is not just about what are the stories that we're telling, it's how can we as an arts sector shift the narrative about climate change? And how can we shift our institutions to be decolonized and to be to be part of this shift in from extractive economies to regenerative economies? And that is holistic and you are welcome to join the cause. Oh my god, there's so many things. Yes, Abe. So then we had then we had a lunch session that was a nuts and bolts of like how do you do the sustainable practice with this holistic lens? We have a whole bunch of resources that we're going to be sending out to people if you were not able to be at that session. Please come and talk to any of us and we will send out those resources to you as well. And I believe TCG is going to put them on the climate action web page. They're nodding at me so that will happen as well. And then there was a dine around that Elizabeth put together and Xavier did some lovely storytelling about the Miami Circle. I'm not going to tell you those stories. You should go look them up or talk to Xavier. I bet he would tell you them again. And then two well spaces. There was a walk about that Elizabeth led and told some stories about the Banyan trees, Baobab trees, both of the trees. And then I led a contemplative movement and climate justice session that was really about connecting to our bodies in this movement because our bodies have stories to tell about our connection to the land. And then the breakout session, thank you, that was in this room. And we had an amazing panel of folks speaking from everything from artistic practice to the ways in which our buildings and institutions are already experiencing the effects of climate disasters. So folks from Gulf Shore Playhouse talked about the flooding and the ways that they're thinking about their new building. Folks from OSF talked about the fires and the ways that that's impacted their budget. Mika Cole shared that OSF lost two million dollars last year because of the fires. So they're really happening to think about what that means. So it is already affecting our institutions. This is not something that is like in the future that we can kind of maybe think about preparing for. It's happening now. People are dying. Lauren Turner said that very powerfully. I want to lift up that she's back there and you should, yeah. And then Keeta Sullivan from NIFA talked about the ways in which her identity as an indigenous woman and an environmental just her former life as an environmental justice lawyer affects everything that she does at NIFA from the funding perspective. And how she thinks of her work as like community organizing basically. And she said the organizing principle of her work is nothing about us without us. And I think that that's like we're trying as much as we can to think holistically about all of the systems. Right. So it's our artistry, our funding, our buildings, our communities that we live inside of. Yeah. And how to hold hope, Jeremy said. Thank you. Thank you. I want to end just briefly with, if I can, our friends of the People's Climate Movement. I want to lift them up and the Climate Justice Alliance. If you are interested in getting involved in the work that is definitely already going on in your communities, check out the Climate Justice Alliance and the People's Climate Movement. The People's Climate Movement, one of their slogans that I've said a million times this week, but I will say one last time to change everything we need everyone. It was with extreme humility and an incredible sense of responsibility that I approached you as your inaugural artist in residence. And I was transformed by that experience. So thank you. I am a better artist and my longitudinal installation is a better art piece because I met you. And that idea of cross-pollinating across disciplines is essential, I think, to theater. So thank you for that. As chair of the Miami-Dade County Cultural Affairs Council, I oversee distribution of grants to every single cultural group in this community, all 500 and so grants that we distribute every year have served over a dozen years in that organization. And we know first hand the role of art in transforming community. And from my vantage point here in Miami, I again want to express to you today in this country at this time with this government and with the crisis that we are facing vis-à-vis the environment, you have the power to transform society. Please do not underestimate the role. You do. That is indisputable. And what happened here today, the work that was modeled, is how we go forward. That is what we are here to do. That is why you came to Miami. Because no other city in this country is as vulnerable as Miami. And I charged our county with creating a green task force so that our 500 cultural organizations would begin to walk the walk because this community is going to need those organizations to create the kind of cultural programming to help us navigate this crisis. Please do that in your communities. Be the leader of that change. That is how we go and I reiterate what was said when I was introduced. And that is these pieces I created are really for you to use. But in any way you need, you can make up your own quotes, you can do whatever you want. But think of me as a resource in helping you continue the work that I gifted and we perfected here in your own communities. And I think if you continue to work across disciplines within your communities and network, you will be able to help your audiences, your communities navigate through the chaos, the chaos to come. It's been my true honor to be here with you as your artists and residents. Thank you so much. Hello. My name is Christina Marie Pla Guzman. I'm here as a rising leader of color, a cohort four. Thank you very much. This is my very first conference. And I came here through theater journalism. But like what you said is we're many things all the time. I've been an actor, a director, a writer, and I feel like we'll always be a theater educator. And so at the intergenerational leaders of color gathering, what stuck out to me the most was the times that we were asked how many years we had been in the theater, how we were able to celebrate not only the people that had been there one year, but people that were upwards of 30, 40 plus years. And inside of me thinking like I want, that's what I want. And lifting them up and thinking like there's a chance for me because there's a chance for that person as we celebrated their years. But definitely one of the things that has stuck to me are two. One is how many people met me and immediately hugged me and thanked me for being a woman of color that is a journalist. And I did not expect that at all. Actually, I expected only to find it at that meeting. And that was not the case. Also, you know, standing by the bathroom and at Starbucks and all of that. But I think going back to what we all have in common is our children. So as a mother, I have a five year old and a seven year old, I think about my kids all the time. As a teacher, I've been teaching for 15 years. I've taught every age, but primarily high school age students. And when we had the kids at the meeting stand up and be acknowledged. And they were sitting there and they were crying, like crying like it was their soul crying and looking back at us. It was almost like putting a mirror smack in front of my face and saying you're responsible for them. You're responsible what you're doing right now. And now I put a mirror on all of you and tell you you're responsible for them. You're responsible for our youth so that they do not have to go through the same things that we have gone through. That we can lift them up if you are in a space where you have the opportunity to turn around and reach out to somebody and bring them up with you, do it, challenge yourself, challenge your organization to look and bring people up. We cannot be working for a space of scarcity because when we live in abundance we can provide for them and in turn provide for ourselves. And at the end of the day we love this. We wouldn't be stuck in a conference not by the beach. We wouldn't. We would not be stuck in a conference not by the beach if this isn't what we truly loved passionately. Take back home. Take back home that mirror. Set it in front of you. Don't put it down. Two weeks from now, a month from now, say what am I doing to positively affect that next generation? No matter who is in your audience. Think about that and realize that you do have the power. It is not somebody else's responsibility. It is every single person's responsibility. And I will forever think of my first conference here and every single person that I met and how I can take them on the journey with me and not forget them. So thank you. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Jasmine Jones Oliver and I too am a rising leader of Color Round Four. And I am grateful to be here because this is my city. Welcome. On top of that I'm specifically supposed to talk about the block party and how many of you attended that hot sweaty event. Right. So my title I guess is the Theater and Facility Manager at the African Heritage Culture Arts Center, which works closely with Mr. Xavier over here. And I'm also the artistic director of the African Heritage Youth Theater. And as an artistic director, I had the opportunity to bring my students to perform and to have them in that space with me to see me get acknowledged and then in turn be acknowledged for their performances by far has been the highlight of this whole experience for me before I cry. And then afterwards to have Christina interview them their very, very first interview interview as artists and how they felt in that moment. And now I'm getting text messages from their mothers like what is this GCT theme that kids keeps talking about and the light bulb went up in their heads and now there's like well is next year the conference coming back next year. And I was like, no, it's going to be in some other place. Well, Ms. Jackson, we have to go. And I said, you're right. We do have to go and we will. And so how we move forward is continuing continuing to make space for the younger generation. I often think that if I had the opportunity when I was younger, I may have been at TCG long time ago. This is my very first event. And most of us in this room have entered this industry when we were kids. And so to somehow be in a space where sometimes the kids are shut out, I find that problematic when a lot of us has entered it as children. So I thank you guys for opening those doors for my kids. I call them my kids because literally they're like my kids. I have 16 kids count all of them. I know I don't look like it. I have 16 kids and I had 15 of them there that night. And they're still talking about the experience at that block party and everybody that pulled them to the side to say you did a good job. You have no idea what that meant to them and how much that meant to me. And now I can go back to work on Monday and they can come back to camp on when we start camp on Monday. I had this experience and you didn't. They're going to do that. But the block party I believe should be something that should continue and should open more doors for more young people to be a part of it. Again how we move forward is by opening those doors for our young people have opportunities to express their art and not be judged and be uplifted and be welcomed. Oftentimes we were not we don't feel welcomed. And that night we truly, truly felt welcomed. And I thank you guys so much for that. Thank you so much. Good afternoon, everyone. One more time because I felt like that was just the that was the print 10 version. I grew up saying play played. I was the play play version. So good afternoon, everyone. That's what I like. There you go. My name is Christina Alexander and I three and also a member of the Rising Leaders of Color Cohort for it has been an absolute absolute pleasure to be able to be a part of this year's conference and that you all got to explore my fabulous hometown. I'm here today to talk about the session that we had about theater and the culture of gun violence. And you'll have to excuse me. I am reading notes. What one of the ways that we began was by talking about our own personal experiences with guns or gun violence or in proximity to guns. And there were some really very, very touching story shared. But when we moved into the conversation about violence on stage and on screen, it really took an interesting turn because we began to identify that sometimes I think as theater presenters, maybe we're not quite thinking about the trauma we're presenting to our actors. And I think along those lines also one of the things that we discussed was were there ways for theater presenters to think about that in in our casting or making sure that we take just a bit more care because when you have two to four weeks to put up a show, sometimes it's more about the blocking and making sure people know their lines and not so much about what am I asking you to go through. And so we just wanted to just think about the value of shock value more is that more important than the story. And we thought about maybe offering up that at times writers perhaps could be more thoughtful about the shock value. And thinking and this has just been my experience as an actor and as a singer and performing as much as I have that sometimes we don't take into account the expendability of our performers and that very often it's more about the work than the people provide and the people performing so that sometimes I say as a singer all the time when you lose your voice they're just going to hire another singer. So if you experience such a trauma and you aren't able to continue performing generally the show is not going to get canceled. Generally we're just going to put another actor in that place. So if we can really just be more mindful about how we're choosing our shows, how we're treating our actors in those places and maybe ways that we can be more intentional about not necessarily glorifying the use of guns and or violence on our stages because I watch as I see kids who are so desensitized to violence on television and although I grew up in a house where either I was on a spaceship in Star Trek or somehow I was on somebody's police force because I was watching Hill Street Blues or some strange police show and now that my parents are retiring it's every Western with every gun that you can imagine there was still a sense when I grew up that guns were not OK and when I look at kids today that is not necessarily what they're given. So when we are so responsible for our young people it's important that we think about how we present guns and violence on stage. I was told one to two minutes and I've probably been like two forty five so I'm going to say thank you so much. Hello everyone my name is John here they pronouns and just going to report out briefly around the anti-racist resources for white people sessions. I want to be very clear so we can be transparent about what's happening in that space because rooms full of white people have caused a lot of damage and so we want to make sure that we're very intentional and transparent about if those rooms are existing. We had three different sessions happen the first well not the first but one of them was about unpacking our language unpacking words understanding what that means. Another session was about feminism and anti-racism within feminism and how that cannot exist without a feminism cannot exist without the anti-racist component. And then we had an emergent strategy or emergent conversation based off of what people were bringing to the room that broke out into four different conversations. One what is the work that we need to do on ourselves. One that was about the work that we need to do in our institutions. Another was on the work that we need to do and recognizing having an anti-racist lens through our work with our colleagues of color and then also a conversation about working with youth through an anti-racist lens. Great conversation. I am happy to unpack that with anybody and tell you how those conversations went at least the ones I was privy to. The thing that I want to report out today is that there were some resources that were used in those various rooms or resources that were gathered and all of those resources are going to be opposed to the TCG Circle. I think one of the things that I keep hearing from my people is we need resources and guess what there are millions out there most of which created by people of color. We need to just take advantage. We need to read those resources, use that resource and learn. There's no excuse other than ourselves to not be getting that information. So we will be sharing some of that that's been collected throughout this weekend. Continue that conversation. Do not let it just be a every year at TCG. I have this conversation. Let it happen every day. And don't ask if racism is in the conversation. Ask how it's showing up. So that's that's that happy to talk more one on one. Thank you all and thank you so much for everybody that shared out and those challenges to white folks to predominately wide organizations. We need to do this work. So thank you. Hello everybody. I'm Victor Milana Maug. I'm a director, but I'm also the board president of the consortium of Asian American theaters and artists. And this is my colleague Leslie Ishii. Thank you for the two minutes. Which I hopefully will expand into all of time. So we've been working both inward and outward this week with Cata about expanding the definition of what it means to be Asian. Even for ourselves that could be East Asian, West Asian, Central Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander, indigenous, immigrant, refugee. Those are some of the ways that we've been trying to have that complicated picture about ourselves. And so we've been testing out our own hearts and minds and spines around that idea. So the things we're going to ask about moving forward is about speaking to you as friends and colleagues in your hearts and your minds and your spines. So here are you mind just holding for a second. Sorry. Thank you. Leslie is amazing. Yeah. So are you. So friends. Thought number one, thinking outward, can producers. You need to bother to read our plays and stories, create a list of action items for upper administration to support the art and the liberation for the Asian and Pacific Islander and indigenous and MENA communities. Do you have a system in place? Can you begin to talk about that? Let me echo something that we heard earlier, but it's worth repeating in these two minutes. Nothing about us without us ever. Consult us please early in season planning. Let us direct our own stories and our own work. That would be radical, wouldn't it? Please keep casting us. But stop yellow face, brown face, black face, red face, trans face, disability drag, all the faces. To that point, our liberations are all deeply connected. So with that, Kata representing and taking in all the voices of our Asian Pacific Islander indigenous, native and MENA communities and voices, we stand in solidarity with the black community. We stand in solidarity with the Latinx community. We stand in solidarity with the indigenous and native communities. We stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ plus communities and we stand in solidarity with the disability communities. And we're also asking again specifically for us, but that extends out to those we stand in solidarity with, please support in your PWIs, the spaces where we need to meet for affinity to strategize that will bring our movements forward and that will connect us and keep us connected to our communities so we don't get disconnected. It will only support the growth of your communities and your organizations and all of the organizations of color and the organizations of marginalized communities. Do we have your support in solidarity? Do you have agency to enact that solidarity and coalition building your activism? I don't hear you. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, folks. Completely humbled to stand up after all those amazing brilliant people. But I actually have the honor of giving you a couple of logistical notes and then inviting Teo Castellanos to close us out and send us on over to hear from Kiar, Hudes and Gabi Sanchez. So just a couple of things before we before we head out. I just want folks to know that the things you're wearing around your necks, the lanyards and even the holders, these are biodegradable and recyclable. Recyclable. So if you on your way out, there's a box for them. If you could take them off and drop them in there, that would be great. If you're not attending the plenary, if you are, we'll have one on site at the plenary that you can also drop them off in. So please do that service for us. That would be really, really, really wonderful. I also just want to say that the closing plenary is at the Arst Center, which is just up the street. It's really accessible. You can get there on one of the buses that TCG is providing. It starts at 445. We'll have buses as soon as we exit this space. Or you can get there for free on the MetroMover, which is public transportation out here, and you can take it right to the Adrienne Arst Center. Or, of course, you can call a car. So that'll start at 445. So I just wanted to offer those reminders. And now I have the absolute pleasure of welcoming our colleague, Teo Castellanos, to close us out. And I'm just going to give Teo a brief introduction. Teo Castellanos is an award-winning actor, writer, and director who works in theater, film, and television. Teo is the artistic director of the devised theater company Combat Hippies, who you may remember from yesterday, and founded the dance theater company Teo Castellanos D Projects in 2003. Teo has toured solo and company works throughout the U.S., Europe, South America, China, and the Caribbean. And we at TCG have been lucky to have Teo as a creative contributor to this conference and as a member of our conference honorary committee. So without further ado, Teo Castellanos. Oh, thank you. Thank you. So I don't feel so so wack for having notes because some of y'all had notes that's good. And I feel I'm more relieved because I was totally impressed by people who could just go off at the top of the dome and speak for and get and drop so much knowledge. So first and foremost, I know that we did the indigenous land acknowledgement, but I just want you to know I just want to just shout out to Tequesta, who we are literally standing in their spot right now. They were here for 2,000 years and did not survive the onslaught of colonialism and European invasion. So the Tequesta and by the way, if you don't know about the circle, it's only a few blocks away. So a shout out to them. And now a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as being able to remake ourselves. So I believe it's important to recognize that all of us, everything is in constant flux forever growing, changing, transforming. Some of that growth happens, some of that growth definitely happens in spaces like this. Not only growth, but love, friendship, joy, happiness and celebration. And some of that growth is actually, you know, can be painful at times. You know, Tignahan wrote a book titled No Mud, No Lotus. And he basically says that we need, that a lotus cannot grow on marble. I'll just say a lotus cannot grow on a brick of gold. But it needs the mud. So we can take the mud of our difficult learnings and turn that into lotus. And we hope that when we move forward leaving here that we are able to do that. I want to focus, that being said, I want to focus on joy and celebration. Because it is a joyous occasion to be here in an honor. So there's no way that I can wrap up these last few days in four minutes, but I would like to briefly share some of that joy and celebration. That intergenerational leaders of color meeting. When Nataki Garrett announced she is stepping into the role or artistic director at OSF, that room erupted. That room erupted. Is Nataki here? Nataki? Oh, she's gone. That roof came off, actually. It was crazy. And I got really emotional over that. If you know the history of OSF and who the leadership or what the leadership looked like, I was kind of feeding a little bad for the white folks that weren't in that room because they didn't witness the power of that celebration. But you just got a little bit of that, a little bit. And the eruptions continued. They didn't stop there. With every person of color announcing leadership positions that they currently hold at some institution that didn't always reflect the people in that room. And the eruptions continued. And continued. And the celebration continued. This is flux. This is growth. And this is transformation. Oh, what about that band from Venezuela, La Parranda, y'all? Oh, my Lord. My DNA, AKA ancestors, would not let me sit still. My grandma was saying, get up. Let me dance. Let me dance. Amazing. This is celebration. TCG holding this conference in Miami is also a cause for celebration. Now, I had been a TCG member since, I think, 1991. And I'm not going to lie. Six, seven years ago, I don't know exactly because I lose track of time. It might have been eight years by now. I know the last TCG, the last and only TCG conference that I was at, I just, actually, Teresa just reminded me was in 2010. Oh, eight. So it's been 11 years, y'all. But I, after like six, seven, eight years ago, nine, I don't know how long it's been. I let my membership lapse for whatever reason. Whether right, wrong, good, or bad, y'all know the Anbo got croaked, right? There's no right, no wrong, no good, no bad, just possibilities and choices. Well, I made the choice to let my membership lapse. I wasn't sure if TCG was still speaking to me or to my people. But then you descended upon my city and you didn't just invite me in, you told me I better be there. Not only did you tell me I better be there, you told me, could you do this and could you do that? And I said yes, yes, yes to everything. I won't mention any names, Elena, Devon, or Devin, Hannah, Amelia. So I was more than happy. I was elated to be here, to find that intergenerational leaders of color meeting, the self-care, self-love workshop. Y'all know that's really important, right? Self-care, self-love. We cannot be at the forefront of this movement or any movement if we don't take care of ourselves. Extremely important. So I was popping in and out of discussions as I could. The caregivers workshop, which ironically enough, I could not attend because I was splitting my time between being here at the conference and running home to take care of my mother-in-law who's in late stage Alzheimer's. Group facilitation with an EDI lens, multi-lingualism in American theater. I can't name them all and I, you know, let's attend them all, but I can say one thing, that TCG is speaking to me, is once again speaking to me and to my people. So I am happy to announce that I have renewed my membership to TCG. Thank you, Theater Communications Group for your constant flux, growth, transformation, joy, and celebration. I would like to close with a very short poem by Mary Oliver. And yes, you can, may she rest in peace. When I read this, I couldn't help but think of my people of color. The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own. Thank you. We're so glad we won you back, Theo. That's it, thank you, Theo. Thank you, everyone who spoke. As Hannah mentioned, we are at the arch now and we are a little behind schedule, but it was absolutely worth it. But please do find your way to the back of the room down the escalators and on the shuttles or do one of the other options, Hannah mentioned. But we'll see you over at the arch and thank you so much for being here.