 Okay. Where's the camera? Is that straight ahead? It's on the TV. Okay. Oh no. Cool. We are started. Great. Well, welcome to the Many Voices Info session. Thank you guys for coming. We're going to kind of walk through the application process to start. But I just wanted to get a sense of if you guys, if you knew, if you were thinking about applying, you know, in terms of the fellowship or thinking more of the mentorship, just so I could guide my conversation a bit more. Well, last year I applied for the fellowship. Okay. Oh good. Great. So you'll probably continue with that. Great. And what about you? I think about the mentorship every now and then. I'm not going to commit to anything right now, Hayley. Okay. Alright. So we'll go over both equally in any event. It's just good to know what you're thinking. And then I will be talking to... I'm the associate artistic director here and I manage the fellowships. And Christina runs the Many Voices program. So she can offer more insights in terms of what your relationship would be working with her specifically because she really is the principal guide through the process. And of course if you have any questions at any time, after this you can either contact Christina or I or Amanda specifically about logistics and kinds of applications. So to start with, let's just look at the fellowship the first thing on the page. So you'll see that it's a $10,000 stipend which is significantly larger than we've had in other years. We're really excited that we were able to get the stipend for this program with the support of the Jerome Foundation. And there's $2,500 towards living expenses and $1,500 in terms of play development. So the living expenses component of that can be used in a myriad of ways. It could be used for healthcare, for example, or it could be used towards childcare or it could be used for rent. So there's a lot of flexibility in that pool of money and we try to keep it flexible because as you know that there's one fellow that will be a local fellow and there's one fellow that can either be local or be a national fellow. And so we like to keep that flexibility in those funds in case there's someone moving from out of town, that person could use the money to move here and if somebody local, that person could use that money for healthcare or childcare or groceries or whatever living expenses. And then $1,500 in play development funds which means that you work really closely with Christina and with Play Self to think about how as you're developing your play over time and Christina be the point person on the play development side you want to use those funds in terms of creating a workshop here and it may be one workshop moment or it may be two smaller workshop opportunities and that's something that through the process will be discussed and figured out but that those funds are yours to use. And then participation in facilitated monthly meetings and that is really with Christina a welcome. We were just going through the application process at this time and if you could sign in that would be great. Thanks Chris. So we're just, I'm literally like walking you through the application process at the end of the time for questions as well. But basically we're discussing now, I don't know how much you know about the program but there's two ways to apply to the many voices program one in the fellowship side of things which is this $2,000 stipend, $2,500 towards living expenses and $1,500 in play development funds or you can apply the mentorship and that is which Christina will talk about more when we get there. So you have to sort of figure out which you're the best candidate for but I would say the fellowship is really for somebody who has been doing some writing, is really, really serious about writing, has a full length play has no more than one full professional production but is you know on a serious career track towards play writing. Whereas the mentorship is great for someone who's just sort of starting out or maybe you know an actor who's transitioning into writing like this year we have Anza Che who's a very brilliant actor who wanted to try play writing or if you're somebody who is just sort of younger in your career and maybe not as far along in terms of the amount of scripts that you have and really you're looking for more guidance to get to a level where you have a full script. So those are kind of the two options and if any point you have a question about which you feel like you'd be the better candidate for what makes more sense to you, Christina and I are here to talk with you at any time about that. We can figure out what makes the most sense. So just we're continuing on discussing the fellowships at this time and in addition to the monthly meetings with Christina, they'll be mentoring from local theater artists so one of the things as we were redesigning the Many Voices Fellowship a couple of years ago we're looking at it and we really want to focus on mentorship as a key part of that program so we're really committed as with all of our fellowships but specifically with this fellowship on how we can bring in artists from the community, artists from other communities to really spend time with the fellows and really connect them to professional institutions. One of the things that we do with the fellowship program is we take a trip and we'll be going to Chicago this year and that sort of an industry trip where you get to meet people in the industry, get to see plays in Chicago and connect with a different community. Obviously anybody here we'd be connecting very deeply with the Minneapolis community. We also have this visiting artistic leaders program as part of the playwright center where we bring in leaders from all across the country so that would be artistic directors, associated artistic directors we bring in about eight or ten that we fly in every year to meet with our writers and we have salons and you'd be part of that as well and invited to participate in those moments. In addition to that you would have complimentary membership to the playwright center for two years so even beyond your time as a fellow so just in terms of eligibility recipients must maintain residence in Minnesota 75 miles of the Twin Cities during the grant period so that's July 2014 to June 30th 2015. Recipients of previous Many Voices Fellowships are eligible to apply. I know that doesn't really affect any of you in the room but just so that you know that we feel like the program has changed significantly from its other iteration that we've opened up the pool to include people who have received it in the past. Applicants for the fellowship may not have had more than one play produced by professional theaters at the time of the application. So this is just an important component. We really want to make sure that we're serving the people who will most benefit from this program and we identify them as emerging writers and feel that those writers shouldn't have more than one play produced unlike our Jerome Fellowship which could also apply for where you can have two professional productions. So that distinguishes the Jerome Fellowship from the Many Voices Fellowship program. And if you receive Many Voices Fellowship even two years in a row you would then still be eligible for the Jerome Fellowship. And then while a current or previous Many Voices Fellow may reapply for second fellowship year the fellowships may only be repeated once. So essentially saying that the maximum that you can have are two fellowships. Conditions and requirements these are pretty self-explanatory Many Voices Fellowships are available to artists of color 21 years of age or older who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States Fellowship recipients may not have received any other Playwright Center fellowships or grants during the grant year. So that's our general policy you can't get more than one fellowship a year. Students K through 12 in educational programs or enrolled in undergraduate and graduate degree programs are not eligible so it's not for students. Recipients are required to participate actively in the Playwright Center programming community. And that really means that we want you to be part of our community that this is a resource that we feel like is going to benefit you and that you should take advantage of it as much as possible. And it just talks about the fellowship year. Selection process is applicants are screened for eligibility by the Playwright Center and evaluated by an initial selection committee. So we basically send your scripts off to a bunch of readers who then evaluate it. The finalists then are sent to our panel. So that is a national panel of professionals and they will evaluate the scripts and make the final selection. So it's important for you guys to know that the Playwright Center staff is not at all involved in the selection process. We are here to facilitate and help in the application process and on the other end of the equation once you receive the fellowship but we are not the people who decide who receives the fellowships. And I also just want to state if for some reason you don't receive a fellowship in any given year that you should not be discouraged from reapplying for a fellowship because A you probably have grown as a writer over the course of that year and B we always have a different selection panel. So it's never the same panel. So it's a different group of people with different perspectives. So I really always encourage people to reapply if they haven't received a fellowship. Entirely different. And also the thing to note too when you guys are submitting your work samples is because we have such a prestigious swath of people who work in the regional theater community reading your scripts at the very beginning of the process you want to make sure you're putting your best work forward because even if you're not selected they're still becoming familiar with your work, your name, and your voice. And so that continues to go with you beyond just applying to her simple program like your name is suddenly out there with whoever the reader was in New York who read your play at the New Jersey Theater. Which can always be a good thing because then you're getting exposure that you wouldn't normally get if you're just keeping your play to yourself. So that's something to note. Excellent point. It's not an anonymous application because we're not judging plays, we're judging playwrights and it's really about kind of who you are in addition to your play and obviously the play counts for a large percentage of that but your application in terms of what you state also is really important which is why it's not an anonymous application and you know as Chrissy was saying so that people get to know you even if you're not selected sometimes we've had readers request scripts which we never give them during the process but you know afterwards if you guys are interested then and they're your script we can you know send it forward. So now onto the nuts and bolts of application so a completed reference form is available to download and it has all the information of where to do that and then create a single document in pdf format containing the following elements. So completed application form your resume, an artistic statement and that's no more than one page and it should address the following questions define why you consider yourself an emerging playwright why do you want to participate in the Manny Voices Fellowship and how will this fellowship aid in your artistic development and what are your goals during the fellowship and again this is really a chance for us to get to know you so here just is honest and genuine just avoid any kind of what you think is grant speak or anything of that like it's really about genuinely answering in your voice the question so it doesn't have to feel super formal it can really feel like your voice and who you are why that's going to be beneficial to you and I would say that you know people really do read these artist statements and that comes up in the panel discussions again not just about your play but about how you're presenting yourself your need for the fellowship at this time and what you feel like the benefits are going to be. You can notice sitting on the panels that a lot of times what people have stated in their artistic statement a lot of times can be the swing vote towards you know one application over another based on what the stated goals are so we would encourage you to really spend a lot of time thinking about how you want to answer the questions and like Hailey said how you present yourself and almost thinking of it as like speaking to the panel like if you were in the room what would you say to the panel. Yeah and as Christina mentioned so we are just going to reiterate we are not on the panel at all but we are present in the room and we take notes through that process so also if for some reason you do not receive a fellowship at any time and you want feedback on your application you can contact us for that as well and then the writing sample so one full length play that is at least 50 pages in length and so that's very important that you know for this track of fellowship we feel like that you have to have completed a play where's the mentorship you don't necessarily have to have completed a full length play. Now many people who apply for this have completed many plays and are you know far enough along in that career but this is sort of the minimum requirement is that you will have completed that play and here's just sort of a logistics about how you should present that and then here this is very very important applications must be received by February 13th at 11.50 by 11.59 p.m. so just make sure that your application is in obviously you can hand it in before that and we recommend and not waiting to the last minute but that is the last minute of when we will be receiving the application. Before Valentine's Day. True. This just gives you some information about our sessions which you attended so you can check that off your list and questions about who to contact here and then we have the mentorship. Oh I didn't get one. Just jump in here anytime you want. I know Christina lost her voice so I'm going to do a lot of talking. Why is Christina here and she's not doing much talking because she lost her voice. So she will jump in when necessary. So the many voices mentorship is two Minnesota based artists so that's just important to note that you have to be based here to receive the mentorship. And this opportunity is comprised of a year long artistic mentorship for artists with little or no previous playwright experience so as I stated it's for somebody who's early in their career or somebody who may be far along in their theater career but is newer to playwriting. So again this year we had an actor we also have Jimiel Jude who's on a mentorship and he is a director producer primarily who is now also transitioning into playwriting. So that's that and the opportunity is comprised of a year long artistic mentorship that will focus on the nuts and bolts of playwriting through a curated package of services intended to aid the participant toward the completion of a play script. So again a real goal for this part for the mentorship is to complete a play and Christina is your guiding post in that respect and Christina herself is a wonderful wonderful playwright who's received Jerome and McKnight fellowships has been running the many voices program for a while now and she's an excellent mentor and teacher so she would be the person that you'd be working closest with. And I think this besides all that but the main thing is because I've done all the programs here of running this program and also having gotten to Jerome and then having gotten to McKnight and being a core writer I'm familiar with all the programs because I've actually done them and so I can also you know be a good guide in terms of helping you guys navigate future programs and transitioning out of this one into those as well. Great thank you. And so and then you have a series of curated packages so basically you get your member of the playwright center as well but you get all of these benefits of membership for free in addition to a thousand dollar stipend. So you get some direct financial support and most of what you get are these services which include two six week classes taught by leading playwright professionals, several one night seminars, a one on one session with a professional dramaturg, a staged reading and the playwright center membership for two years and then you'll also be meeting at least quarterly perhaps more with Christina to really go over and see where you are in your process and checking in so that you're really getting to that goal of completing a play so that then you can have your reading at the end of the fellowship time. And in addition you are part of this community so you know our hope is that you would be coming to salons when you can and also you know participating and seeing readings and getting to know the center and taking advantage of the services that we have here that go beyond the actual direct services of the mentorship program. And a lot of the things that we've tried to curate in particular for the mentorship program because it's geared for artists who aren't necessarily playwrights is making these classes available usually in the fall we'll have a beginning playwriting class of some sort taught by one of our playwrights and then in the spring it's more of an advanced class of some sort or a rewriting class and there's six week classes to really help work in conjunction with someone who's just starting to write a play to be able to take these classes and help enhance the work that we do as we meet one on one because our meetings are not monthly. These types of things help to supplement that and also to have other artists voices who might be more of a match as well to help you enhance your play development as you're going through the course of the year. So we really kind of try we experiment it with a lot of things to really figure out what seemed to be the best fit to work with people who are coming at this from different areas like performance art and poetry and acting and directing and this seemed to be like the best fit in terms of how to help continue monthly while we're not meeting to be able to work with you to help you do that. Yeah and one of the great things about the mentorship which is what you're saying Christina is that there's flexibility in the program so it's really being responsive to wherever you might be. So if you're feeling like you want to focus more on one aspect of writing or another aspect of writing or you need strength in certain areas and not others then we can pair you with the the geometry that's appropriate for that. We can guide you to meet people who are appropriate. So it's really we try to make all of our fellowships but particularly in this mentorship very nimble to what you guys need. And then one of the other things we do when you're accepted into the program at the beginning of the year is you write out a list of goals of what it is that you want to accomplish so that we have that as kind of a checklist so to speak to help you know keep you accountable like oh you said you wanted to do this is this still a goal that you want to focus on or has it changed so that it's not so amorphous when you're starting and you know we can kind of help make sure that you stay on track because having done this program now for eight years the time goes really quickly and what feels like a year suddenly is six months only is three and then it's over and you know some artists don't set out to finish their plays like they wanted to and we I never want to see that happen like that means failure for me as a mentor so I want to make sure that you know whatever I can do to keep you guys on track we're all here to help you guys do that. Thank you so much for your visibility for this program and so we talked about being a resident of Minnesota current or past player at center core writers or recipients of other player at center fellowships are not available so again you can't get more than one fellowship at any time and it's pretty much the same in terms of you can't be in school yeah I think it's pretty much the same and again the screening is the same so it's actually the same panel of people who will be selecting the fellowship will also be selecting the mentorship track as well so player at center staff again it's not at all part of it but it's that same panel who review both the fellowship and the mentorship applications and in this application it's a reference form again which is important and then completed application form a biography or resume so if you do a resume so if you don't feel like you have a full resume and you want to do a bio instead you can we encourage a resume if you have one and an artistic statement with the questions why do you want to participate in the many voices mentorship program knowing it's obviously different from the fellowship program how will this mentorship aid you in your artistic development what are your goals during the mentorship program just so that we want to make sure that the goals are goals that we can help you achieve and the writing sample of no more than 30 pages in any genre so this is a real difference here so if you have written a play I would suggest play if you haven't written a play poetry fiction nonfiction whatever that is completely acceptable I just say that if you have written a play it shows that you have a little bit more experience and knowledge of theater but if you feel like your best work is fiction or poetry then do that and then similar just in terms of the deadline is also February 13th for this program as well and then just applicants will be notified in April we don't have a definitive date because we're still figuring out when the panel is going to meet but as soon as we get the results from the panel you guys will be notified I think that's pretty much covered do you feel like there's anything I didn't cover in that maybe some of the questions time commitment time commitment yeah so I think you know with the fellowship we don't have stipulated a time commitment so it's not like you have to flock in 20 hours at the playwright center or anything like that but we do have an expectation that you are a playwright and that you intend to be writing plays during this period or at least a play and that's really important that it's not just taking the money and going to Hawaii or something like that although I know it's very tempting when it's minus four degrees right now obviously that we have an expectation that you're going to be part of the playwright center that you're going to be working as a writer that you're committed to being a writer it's not that if in five years from now you decide you don't want to be a writer we're not going to come hunt you down and take your fellowship money away but that is sort of the path that you're on and that you want to be pursuing and that you're part of this community and that is really important that you come to readings when you can come to the readings that you come to the salons and meet with the artistic leaders when you can do that and that you're really part of this community. If you're on the fellowship track you'll be taking that trip probably to Chicago you'll also be invited to participate in the fellows retreat which happens annually up at Tofti Lake Center where all of the fellows meet and talk about their goals for the year and sort of meet as a community etc. So you're very much part of that playwriting community and the fellowship track. In the mentorship track we imagine that your life is going to be filled with other ways of trying to earn a living because obviously you're only getting a thousand dollars on that track and so we don't think that you could just sit around and write plays the whole time we understand that you probably have to have other jobs or another job and that this is something that you would be doing on a part time basis as a part of your life. So it doesn't mean that we think you're never you obviously we want you to spend time and be working on writing but we are realistic in our expectation that you can't just drop everything in your life to do the mentorship program. And each year because the makeup of fellows is so different both in the fellowship track and the mentorship track once we figure out who the group is then I can sit down and talk to you guys specifically and we can work out a timetable for when it's best to meet because each group is different what worked one year for one group to meet you know a few years we met at night because that worked but this year I mean in the daytime because that's what works with this group so I can be my schedules flexible enough where I can do that so we can look at that too. Yeah so that's sort of the difference of those two one is really I'm a professional playwright I'm on that I'm emerging but I'm on that track to be a playwright specifically and one is that I'm really interested in playwriting and I want to try it out and see if this is something that I want to pursue more and hear the resources that I have so that's that's kind of the two ways to time commitment and then choosing which track because I can't do both. Oh yeah oh yes just so it's clear I don't know if it was clear because you can't actually apply for both options you can't put your name in both pools you have to sort of make a decision and that's really conscious not just in terms of like oh I'll put my you know I don't want to put two applications in but we really feel like it's two different kinds of people would be applying for those things so again just really consciously like one is on this track I want to be a playwright and the other is more like I may want to be a playwright or I may want that to be part of my life amongst other things so yeah do you guys have questions about that differentiation or other questions about the application no? Does anyone remotely have a question? We have one question that I think you could address for everyone. Someone asks would it be recommended for playwrights who have not had a play produced to apply for the fellowship? Yes I think that absolutely so it's really hard to get a play produced professionally as a playwright I mean that's something we just all have to acknowledge it's really challenging and there's many people who've not had productions even people who are emerging writers so I wouldn't let that deter you if you're a writer and you view yourself as a writer and you feel like you have a strong play or strong plays I would encourage you to apply. I would definitely err on the side of applying rather than not applying hopefully I answer that question to that person and if they want to follow questions let me know. Any other questions? I have a question so you said there's a group of like national readers and there's a panel those are two different body to people right? Yes. With no crossover. Right that's correct How big is your panel? The panel each year there's three professionals on the panel and the body of readers is enormous you know we have a very large body of readers each application is read by two different readers and it's the composite of those scores that kind of determine whether you go on to the next round. What is the rubric for scoring? That's like it's a very specific sort of application form where we ask the evaluators to look at your originality, your artistic voice what you said in your artistic statement how you could benefit from the program those are all things that people are evaluating as they go through in addition to the script and evidence for potential. So again part of it again is not just the script but about how you're presenting yourself and how this is going to be useful to you and I just really emphasize that because I know people can get bogged down the script and it's not that the script isn't important it's very important but also just making sure that you're positioning yourself why it's going to benefit you because ultimately it's a fellowship or a mentorship and we want to be doing a service to the writer and we want to make sure that it's a good match that the program can really help this person and then from going from the reader's stage to the panel stage is it just like a top 20? Is it a percentage? Like what is recommended to the panel? Yeah that differentiates a little bit every year but I would say on average there's about well it could be about 15 people who move on in the fellowship you know I would say that's like an average sometimes if it's like there's two or three that are really on the same that we might bump it more or a little less but around there and then with the fellowship with the mentorship usually about 10 or so and then the panel still writes on those that I don't ring and if you didn't make it to the one would you get some sort of not this year would you know if you made it? That's my question. Would you know if you made it to the finalist? Yes you would know and as I said if you want feedback on your application we're happy to provide that. Do you still have it from last year? We should, yeah. Absolutely. I got an email last year asking if I was still interested in it because I made it to the final 13 and I was like oh yeah. Yeah I mean we definitely are encouraging people to reapply. To get some feedback. Yeah and we keep the notes and we have them so sweet. I would say contact Amanda actually should be the best person to contact about them. Kaley could you talk a bit about the references and recommendations? What kind of people do they get references from? Okay I would say get recommendations from people who really know you so you know it's always a thing like do you go with the I think it should be a professional so when I say really know you should be your aunt. You know like it should be. It's so many that you work within a professional setting. If you know somebody who is well respected as a professional that helps but it also is equally important that the person knows your work so it shouldn't just be oh I know this person who is a big deal at this theater but they don't, we've had coffee once or twice. That's not the person that you want to ask. You know you want it to be somebody who is in combination of somebody who is well respected or professional even if we don't know them just professional and somebody who really knows your work and can speak to you as a writer but also as an individual because you're going to be participating in this program so somebody who can speak to how you might be in a community as well as how you might be in terms of your own writing skills. But those are really important as well because we look at the whole package of how people present themselves and those references are very important. You know we've said and definitely heard people about oh wow this person is really well regarded for this and this and this reason. Any other questions? And it can be a professor just so if it's somebody especially if you're newer to the field and you don't maybe have those relationships professional people especially in the mentorship line it can certainly be a professor of yours. Christine anything you want to add? No I think we covered it we covered everything. Okay great. Well if you have any other questions this doesn't have to be the end. You're welcome to contact us also if you're out there remotely and you want to contact us please feel free to call in questions or email us. We're always available and yeah just let us know if there's anything else that you want to know about the program. Or if you want to just bounce ideas off of which is the best program for you to apply for. Again we're available for that as well because I know sometimes that can be a little bit tricky to navigate. Yeah that seems to be one of the biggest questions we get before trying to self identify. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming here. Thank you for coming out tonight. Thank you for coming out tonight. Although I told you I did my diligence.