 So we didn't want to limit that fear to you that they could be theater. Just saying. Should we practice this? Okay, okay, this is perfect. This is exactly what it is. No, go ahead, come here first. There's something that was really primitive for me. I'm from West Virginia, and after the 19-line disaster, it was six years ago, until West Virginia was gone. All right, there was a place you're picking apart. And so she was flashed in the memorial for the many minors who were killed. Hi, my name? So it was just like, it wasn't about us at all, but in some ways it was our journey together. So it was like art validated in this very, you know, description of it. Something that defined your sense of character. Because it's for yourself. Oh yeah, do that. So come here. All right, why don't both of you go with that? Yes, I love it. I mean, one of my most recent memories was being back in Hawaii and being amongst the holocausts, which are like the beautiful dresses. He's still honored today. And now as an adult, you need friends with him. But he's my hero. Whatever, it just flowers. Oh, how does it feel like the work of the design and the inclusion of nature through this music. Everybody is singing along, screaming along. I'm going to rock it like the way people rock it. It's amazing. It's so cool. And just when you understand what it means, it's like the craftsmanship. Exactly. You know, just being a kid and being like, you know, like, whatever. I want to wear dark finds. Just like not coming back. I think what it was was he had artistry that he brought to a specific moment. He said, I see how this applies. He just got back. Actually, we were there. Yeah, he met my dad. He met my dad. And he met all the aunties. There are a few people that have definitely worked with my dad, whatever. He doesn't have that kind of experience. Especially around challenging situations. So cool. And then we met that way too soon. So I speak about it occasionally in terms of life. And so they really, like, my father really couldn't stop it if they could. So he met all of them. And it was the first time I saw my father. Yeah, very smart. All of that. I was at a bowl of tea. So David, do you have an aesthetic moment that you would like to share with the people sitting next to you? Very attractive Asian man. I never knew that I could be attracted to. So it was just one of those things that Besides those pictures of your little granddaughter, which I might hear done, David. I'm like, that's a wrap. That's a wrap. In Newton. And then we saw the new project. Was it a critical mass that you felt like there were Asian guys working? Actually, no, I did have a crush on him once. I did go to Chinese school. But it was not normal. I thought he was the exception. I had a crush on him. But it was an actual actor. Speaking English, not Bruce Lee. He was sitting by himself. Because I was part of another work. And they were living in New York. But also living very much a bicultural experience which I felt like I lived in New York. But we were trying to tell the time. And so I just, it was just sort of like, it started, it was like little fire in me. Which I can only look back on it now that I'm older. Realizing it was that moment that I had always searched for moments like that. As I got into like my 20s. At the end of the show, I kind of made my way over to him. It was very hard to find him. And I said, I'm sorry that I didn't see it. That I didn't say Toronto. Yeah, I shared one. I actually said, when I saw you last week it was Lynette and me watching. A show I worked on. A transgender musical I worked on in New York. And I've been working on it for six weeks as an artist. And that's art, sorry. That's art. And then we saw the opening together. And I was so speechless that I left the theater. And just sat and wept through the whole thing. And I didn't watch it. I didn't want anybody to get into my brain. I couldn't have a transgender person. And I looked at his face. And just being able to just sit in the word. And let the art tell the emotional journey in a way that we can't do just the two of you talking it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like you're too in it, you know. So you can't, I don't need art as that. OK. Oh. So it was like that. Oh. So. Yay. Absolutely. Wait here. I'll text it to say it gets me out at night. So it goes up there. So it's literally the field feeding back on itself. Because it's all practitioners and audience talking about the work. Can everybody hear me? That's good. Is that better? OK. My name is Lucien. So moment for me that really changed was not long ago actually two or three weeks ago I went to Hawaii. And I've really changed my, like what I want my final destination to be. You know I, one of the, one of the small memory that I have about that, that vacation was I was sitting on the beach next to a beautiful mermaid and then the two guys will walk on the beach and it seems like there was a tiny piece of paper on the sand. And those guys actually took the time, those guys actually took the time to pick up that little piece of paper that was on that beach and put it in his pocket. And it's like there's such a respect of mother nature. It's so beautiful. The culture of people just like good food, inviting. We went to see a guy that was like as big as a house but he was gentle as a puppy. And it's just like, it changed my vision of when I came back, when I left I had a plan. When I came back that's it. That was, that was, I'm going there. So that was my moment. I love words, I love plays, I love stories but I'm taken a reinterpreted by Soledad Barrios in Flamenco Dance. And seeing a play that I am familiar with re-infused with a new energy with a woman no longer in the peak of a young beauty usually think of as beautiful and this woman that was a little bit older her passion, her zest and her drama written on her body was so transporting. I felt I am in the hands of a master and I am watching, I am honored to watch this transformative moment. And it was in this not fancy, you know, hall it was in a theater and it felt all over better in the sense that it felt like a discovery. My name is Harvey Leong and I'd like to say that my life in China which is a movie that Kenneth Ang made a documentary about his dad and his journey from China to Boston and how he raised his sons and how he dedicated his whole life to his children and it was quite a movie. And his trip back to China and then the irony that well maybe I should have stayed because Cousin Joe was doing so well Cousin Lu and so it was quite memorable, very good. My name is Melissa Nussbaum Freeman and what was very striking in our conversation was the importance of silence and listening. There were several examples for me the strongest, most important example during intensive at Shakespeare and Company is anybody going to go, I don't want to ruin it for you. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. It's called Elizabethan World View Day. All the students are gifted with a day where all the teachers and the TAs create an incredibly precious space where hundreds of books, the world and theater and art are laid out and you walk into the space and the teachers are all reading and it's just this beautiful music and before you enter the space someone touches your heart and welcomes you home and then we all share our silence. Hello. My name is Igor Goliak and I came in late and we were just exchanging our inspirations with David here and we actually, one of the things that we exchanged was the Art Samaritan presentation of Lev Doden's Three Sisters and it moved. It was also just so strange it was kind of surreal for me because seeing Lev Doden here and seeing him in St. Petersburg it's quite a, you know, when you replant a plant an exotic plant from its word origin and replanted in Boston and it starts blooming here too so that's the bloom that we agreed on and thank you. Beautiful. That's a great note to end on. I heard a theme, I heard a little bit a theme of home and that a sense of people want to feel like they are connected to something I mean home is like the deepest connection whatever that means for people and so that people picked experiences that whatever home meant they gravitated towards aesthetic experiences but also interesting this notion of mastery I heard that the difference between mass others I was trying to, you know I was trying to really get how that sounds great. That's so beautiful I think this was kind of sad already I don't know if anybody used the word where but everyone in one part or another what they talked about, talked about where and it seems like it sometimes matters more than we give it credit for we're honored to have been asked to mark so that we'll keep up with which is hearing from you as much as we've addressed some of this beginning exercise but I think that what you probably saw is that each of these people up here this is what they do for a living is they think about what am I in a city with them so it's a privilege to be up here I'm going to read bios if that's okay I also want to continue as you all think use yourselves too I'm trying to moderate I would do a short film so not what's written because it's so long at least a couple of lines I can inside joke I'll just answer all the magnificent awards I am obviously the first sentence and that'll be good so Susan Shinton while serving on the board of the Asian American Resource Workshop yes, love that established the annual Boston Asian American Film Festival yes, in 2008 so it was a platform to elevate community stories and issues and has since hosted Susan has hosted special guests including George Takei I was there, that was amazing and on Lee definitely, all right, go for it okay, anyway that's the end of the first sentence so I'll stop there Malia is next on the paper that's what matters, right so upon completing a two-year fellowship at MIT Malia wants to return to Boston what, across the river across the river to build non-profit models for the 21st century and I'm going to read another sentence with over two decades of experience establishing grassroots involvement in political advocacy and civic engagement Malia felt the non-commit industry was too dependent on money, goddammit and was in need of disruption thank you, Malia oh, that's what you wanted to ask okay, disruption okay, David Dower is the... oh, I didn't say, by the way Malia is the executive director of the epicenter community which is a new name David Dower is the co-artistic director of ArtsEmerson David, before joining ArtsEmerson in the spring of 2012 David spent six seasons as associate artistic director at a Rina stage where he directed the artistic development team and founded the American Voices Youth Plan this is a long sentence tell me there's a period coming who's saying it's like on the next page or something go forward just to set me up just wrote that by all okay, Holly Holly Carle is the co-artistic director of ArtsEmerson where the program A. Breibach is a trashy Jewish Communist safe sex formula fabulous I'll just go with that you asked okay no, that's all you need to know I suppose like that or different from that and I just said it with an attitude because I want to make fun of it a little but it's also okay to like that sometimes so how are you like that or not you're really intentional about the in-person experiences that we provide we want them to be safe spaces we want them to be a place where people's culture and cultural experience is presented with love and respect and we want it to be a place where when people walk out they have a certain amount of awareness you feel like you're a part of this but you also understand who created this place to make and so our intentionality goes a lot around us saying to your point of hey we know some really great things that like we want you guys to know and then also saying and what do we need to do so that you feel safe walking so one of the curations that I want to talk about that I think we're the most part of that we've been doing over the last few years is we've been doing a Juneteenth celebration at the Museum of Fine Arts so here you have the blackest holiday being celebrated at the whitest institution in Boston but what you see with that is that the black people are like oh shit I didn't know they knew about Juneteenth you know what I mean so like all of a sudden they know like this is for us right they're not saying like oh this is the Martin Luther King Day thing right like it's Juneteenth it's something that we do that y'all don't know about and then it's at the MSA so then the white people are like oh well it's Juneteenth but it's at the MSA so we won't get shocked thank you so much for asking sir it doesn't happen in February it does not happen in February Juneteenth is actually a fabulous lie that we celebrate so Juneteenth is supposedly the day that a northern soldier found a group of slaves in Galveston, Texas who didn't know they were free and so he went to this plantation and he said ignorant slaves you're free but as we talked about at our first Juneteenth celebration the slaves were a part of their own freedom so they knew when the war was over they knew they were free but it's one of the stories that America likes to tell so that we make sure our history sounds right so thank you so much for asking and what Juneteenth has really become and folks who know about it to get together barbecue in Boston it was a kite festival so what we do now is we bring this year it's going to be all around fashion design but we bring together 6th applicant highlighted at the Museum of Fine Arts white people feel comfortable because they don't feel like oh I'm going to walk in and say something like they feel comfortable this is our space right we're comfortable here but also the black community also feels comfortable because they know well we know about Juneteenth so we can bring a true value add there and we bring about 2,500 people a year there so I think that's an example of how we go on here ever vintage has been or to any of the other things that epicenter community or future Boston have done let's raise our hands for those of us who have been lucky enough to do but does anyone want to say anything about how what Melisa said resonates for you I happen to have so you can follow us at www.epicenter.com epicenter.com.org you can find us on the web and I definitely have cards that I can give you most of our work that we do is done through social media we don't do any general advertising it's all through creative networks the word intentionality is going to be shared with other people there is some expertise involved and you're trying to be transparent about that there's what we've learned this idea of expertise that sharing is that that resonates and does not resonate and you have blinders on what's your hit on that because you were saying you just went into this position there at all what's their agenda for the culture that they think is most important and so when you start from a duration of listening you're actually suing these hearings what's ours to do with Melia make the space available Melia what are you feeding code words like about rigor for instance but I think it leads to a little more literal you know what happens to rigor looks like somebody works really hard so what are your thoughts and all of your thoughts on this question of the curatorial eye towards excellence there's this moment where the cast sitting along if you know this song and I'm sitting there on my hand and the song starts and the signers are going look at the audience of people I had no idea were the people I thought I was the person I curated but I heard the whole room full of people who sang along and so afterwards I talked to people because I get it we get challenged so on which they were working sat there going well clearly you're not only curating the work you're also curating the audiences that you're trying to reach because you're just listening to some of the examples that are being given from the stage you're talking about reaching an Asian American audience you're talking about reaching an African American audience you're talking about in some cases reaching lesbian, gay, transgender that audience and the question I have is to what extent when you curate are you curating a portfolio of audiences how do you think about the mix of audiences that you try and put together when you curate that's the social justice state is how we're going to get through this and how we're going to find it the organizers space the audience has always been also thinking about in certain ways some of the most nuance of our audience because the worst thing that we can do is common denominator if we were to say we need to get black people and it's great that we need basketball and fried chicken no that's going to get some white girls who want to affect a black man but not much more we're just fine too that's my mom and that's fine there's an authenticity in there it's not just going to be this is Juneteer.DMFA so there's going to be or there's going to be lengths and fumes we have the Roxbury, New Yorkers and we have a diverse group of black, brown, Asian youth playing spirituals it's in finding those unique nuances that gives nods to whatever community we're working with to be like this isn't just some lowest common denominator you're going to feel safe I do think for us the curation of the audience is much more important than that's going to lead anything that we exactly what's repressive I mean if we're talking about getting culture out there having another group with the same agenda that has provided it's like how important is that this fresh agenda approach to it does anyone want to speak to that or does this hear those whispers as yells and hear these yells as whispers it's right because they always yell and one of my experiences with our this did in this world thank god you put on some earrings that I was like this man's mom I was like I love him I'm wearing earrings I heard that but what was so amazing was here theater has always been this thing privilege do you have money or you and your friends wear your mom's clothes and putting on a little play the idea of the accessibility of theater and here were two of you making theater very expensive so we decided to delve in the first time we were promoting with our community and we couldn't give away the theater tickets that we had and we literally had giveaways and not enough people applied for the contest so make it a contest and one of them was the editor of Boston magazine so I was like do they even get the free tickets they have see people emailing we had to put a cap on it and be like okay wait we don't have this theater arts emerson bean has been really willing to have this dialogue we're bringing it to the streets like guess what you are theater and if you're not it's been beautiful to see as I said we couldn't give away the tickets and now when we put it out we actually end up emailing some of our best volunteers or whatever because we know if we put it out to like the public that we're going to get a whole bunch of responses and so I think for us that's just shown impact of people talk on and this piece of my talk on is David said our industry is about elitism the more you give you eventually have one name you want to get your name on the brick and eventually you have your name on the theater and it's a counter to everything that we're talking about now and I think that theaters like arts emerson we still make fun of it and we'll still like to see it new plans Derek so hi I'm Derek from Boston so Susan and Malia have actually started to touch upon some of what I was going to say because I raised my hand 10 minutes ago so it's kind of moved on but what I was thinking was that I really am glad that Susan mentioned the word not curate what was the other word you said convene because my impression of what Susan and Malia do is not so much curating because the conversation for a little bit was talking about curators and them as the audience but my experience with your events isn't so much in us and them it's more of an us it's more of a we are them there's that sense of this fluidity of curators and audience and we kind of all move back and forth between that space and when I think about Juneteenth I think about it not so much as you have this black audience coming to a white institution just for this particular event but you're also opening space for the black community to express itself in different ways or just to express itself in places that it doesn't normally do that and what I love about the Asian American Film Festival is that it totally removes the whole black-white paradigm that most of this country operates on and despite that I still feel very much at home at the theaters, at the shows I get something from all the films that I go to and I really enjoy that sense of still being in community even though people might not visually look at me and say oh visually I mean I still feel very much a part of it so that sense of us not so much in us and them but we are them and we're all in this together I wonder if this shows I'm curious whether it's different for each of you where do you go to listen I do it on planes, I do it in restaurants I do it on my wife we don't even talk to each other and then we get home and we go wow did you hear that and so really it's a life style you want to do what? that's a challenge that's a challenge in listening I said I listen it goes to the e-dropping the more ratchet the better and I know that's not my style but I will if I'm getting my nails done I will get into it there's something about a storytelling I would rather hear two sisters sitting at a nail salon talking about that no good whatever because it is good and then they drop certain things in and if you're willing to explore or ask or engage in conversation they'll take you there and I think for me everybody for it we're quite big ask about their pieces or their work or people just want to talk you know and people are just getting through and in that I'll hear certain things or I'll be like oh we're all trap queens now got it that's how we're moving forward because I'm of the age now where being a trap queen is none of my friends are going to tell me that it is rough to and go back to you because before we end we're supposed to wrap it up but I can't see if you can have it under 5 minutes or so thanks what I can tell here is that this intention is genuine what I also know from my own experience anyway it's like for me it's a constant struggle to stay genuine in this listening and to not want to pull power to not want to figure out what status quo sorry there's not a lot of memes that's why I rest the series no no it stops I can get started on the dirty part a little bit but then everyone jumps in to back me up so I'll say you were the brave one so I'll say that every time that we haven't listened no one's coming so I think for us even though I'm hella smart and sometimes I'll find myself quoting Henry Ford which is if I asked my consumer what they wanted they would have said a faster car or faster horse and I'll find myself quoting that and be like obviously our consumer does not know they would have asked for a faster horse you know you have to get them to wanting the car your job and I think the older I get the easier it gets and this goes to where I think there is an arrogance in being an organizer there is an arrogance in saying you're going to be a leader there isn't when I'm doing my meditation and when I'm walking my path like I'm going to get it rocked naturally just because I'm a human being and they're proud of me and I'm all of those things and I think that when I'm on the TV to y'all can see but the older I get the easier it gets because I get to this point I'm like oh they don't like it and I don't take it personal anymore where I think like 10 years ago I did make it more personal because it was a great idea because I had it and now I'm just getting to the point where I'm like listen no one's liking it and if they're not going to like it then they're not going to come so let me just go home yeah so others where's the messing part here I'm just looking for a story with a happy ending yeah like no one coming yeah we get it about the happy ending so part of this whole thing when you talk about it this way is that it leads to a sense of lack of aid it leads to a sense of well they said that so that's what I said that's actually also an application of responsibility but what happens is once and it comes in a lot of ways people will always they're always sending me like do this play or when we first said that we were making spaces available people were saying well do my son's play and that's really hard when you said we want these spaces to be accessible and all that's offered is you do my granddaughter and why becomes a conversation I would say that the that's the messy part it's the juicy part it's the hardest part it's not necessarily a happy ending but it's also not necessarily a bad ending we wind up in real conversations we wind up in real distinctions about making real distinctions about what is an institution versus what is a we wind up in conversations about what is the art's role in society and what is society got to do for itself and what can we how can we enter that and so we wind up in these conversations that I learned from always and so then you have to go pass people who have walked away so yeah you're like you're living in Tennessee and I think that that's also important that sometimes because there's now finally a place where I can talk whatever it might be right this black space not being black enough and so I and so even though black people might be complaining or trying you know it's that we're finally here now that's actually now how I would have done it and even though it's hurtful and whatever it's like wow like we're actually finally in a place where we're where we can have that critique of how if for many of us and for many of our community that's a revolutionary space and an important space as well Thank you Maria because my god I was suspecting you were hearing me all talking all the talking about intention all these things that's coming through and really important but I think definitely getting to the actually the part where regardless of arrogance or whatever you're called on say it's your art form and inspiration and that's another debate for another day but how much I admire the work that you do and thank you for sharing and then also all you folks here thank you for taking part in this