 Hello, everybody. Welcome back. We had an amazing opening and now we are back. Welcome to this session. There's going to be a lot of fireworks here. If you know who are the people in the panel. Welcome to equity in ensemble and collaboration panel. It's a powerful articulation. We have been searching for this, practicing it, implementing it since the very beginning in 2012. It started earlier. How do we practice equity amongst us as we create ensemble, as we create collaboration. The program has always centered artists of color women and LGBTQ artists. We found that as we came together across our communities we still needed to develop a shared analysis, a language and understanding in order to collaborate equitably support each other to have an expansive sense of collective power. And in this search has not stopped. The church has continued. And the politics of the present. When we talk about theater of relevance. The present day politics. It provokes us to search, or we are searching for what does it mean now to discuss equity and ensemble and collaboration. In India there's a playwright called battles are car one of my teachers who really created a new nomenclature as he provoked us to shed theater that has come down to us by colonial powers and provoked us to think and search for our own vocabulary which was always inside our soul. And he writes in one of his place ever mind rigid. That language at times can become senile words can become battered meanings of these words can become maimed. And we have experienced this equity the word equity means different in different rooms depends on who's curating the conference who's curating the room. Who's holding who's the stupid of the room. We have all walked into rooms where words are used like equity. We have walked into rooms where we talk about ensemble but there is a patriarchal hierarchical Euro American way of process. We call it we call it ensemble, we call it collaboration, when we collaborate with people who have more power and people who do not have visibly less. We call it collaboration, but the process does it really keep up to those words. And now in 2020. What does what do those words mean equity collaboration ensemble. It means something more, more than just the etymology. Everybody who walks on the street and knows and speaks English knows what the words etymologically mean, but what does it mean in our soul in a lived experience in our processes of working. It has different meaning words that are burst sometimes in through that in the politics of people of color are co opted. The same words are used. They mean different things. So what does it mean now. And with that search in place, we have invited a very very strong a group of strong thinkers for whom these words are not new. They have lived these experiences. They have architect architected the words the meaning of these words in their practice. And if there have been fractures, they faced it. They met with it. They try to stitch it together, and they move forward, inspiring the next generation. I will leave the discussion, you're on to something really powerful, something really sacred equity in ensemble and collaboration. That's the panel. This is my privilege and a genuine honor to introduce the facilitator and my dear, dear, dear friend, my elder, my guide, a person who has taught me so many things to strategically think to be in the center of fire to get burnt, but always glow to come into the room with grace to hold tensions and fishes with compassion and love Linda Paris Bailey, the who has been the artistic director of of carpet back theater for over 45 years. A founding member of alternate roots, a sacred sacred pilgrimage place. And three a proud graduate of Kamala Harris's alma mater, historically black college, the Harvard University, Linda to me walks, talks, sings revolution. There has been revolution and music, Linda is revolution and music, and Linda, as long as Linda is in our consciousness, Linda Paris Bailey is revolution and consciousness. It is my proud moment in my life to be in this moment and introduce to you Linda paddles Bailey. Thank you so much the bunker. I, you know, that's a lot to live up to. And I want you to know that you always set the groundwork for discussions that I participate in, in such a clear and honest and passionate way and I want to thank you for that. I want to thank you and Mina and Andrea for inviting me. You could have chosen many, many, many people. And I'm very proud to be the moderator of this panel of wise women. And I do claim the, the elder status. I have been taught to to claim that. And I am proud to have other elders on the panel. I want to talk and again the bunker, you set this up beautifully about the point of view of this panel. And I think the point of view comes not only from our participation in the Institute over the years but from our individual practices that we brought to the work. And how they congealed into something that I think informs each other's practice and many, many more people that have participated in the Institute. And one of the things that came up repeatedly was that at the Institute, people were able to bring their whole selves. We, in my years with carpet bag and I am emeritus I'm no longer the director of carpet bag, but we used to call it being healed and whole. I think that some of the practices that again were assembled on the wall in that room in 2012 informed, as you said, the subsequent, the subsequent institutes. I think we have built an extraordinary bottle body of knowledge that will be evident with the panelists that you will hear this evening. I also want to say that, you know, I looked at other, you know, material about panels on equity and whatnot and, and for the most part they're coming from major institutions and talking about equity from the standpoint of, you know, it's going to help your marketing it's going to, you know, diversify your board but we are talking from organizations that's that have historically been the voice of people of color and speak from that voice unapologetically. So, I want to introduce this idea of, and I do believe it was you. Maybe it was no because the horizontal floor. So our panel is going to be horizontal. And I'm going to shut up in a few minutes and let the panel begin. But I also wanted to mention that. Each person brought to this Institute of wealth of knowledge. And what we're going to do is we're going to hear from that knowledge this evening. You're probably wondering if I'm going to introduce the panel. Well, no, I'm not going to introduce the panel because I've asked the panel to introduce themselves. And I asked them to introduce themselves with what what I will call the four P's I asked them about their people I asked them about their place. And that means wherever they come from their home place. I asked them about their point of view and I asked them about their practice. And I've asked them to introduce themselves with those four. Those four keywords in mind. So I'm going to go and and I will call on you simply because we don't have a circle. And ask you to unmute your mics. I invite you to do that. And can we start with your notebook in your self introduction. Thank you Linda. Andrea, for all of you who've invited me to be part of this incredible circle of artists, community artists, creators. I'm really honored and I feel so joyful to be here in your presence because you are. And I find myself now being sort of the oldest person in the room, which I'm not used to, but I'm going to claim it. So I am, but I'm a third generation Japanese American. I was born in Los Angeles. I'm a mother of Afro Asian child who is has given me four grandchildren so I have a four Afro Asian Muslim grandchildren. The oldest of whom are 23. And I was a child of Japanese American relocation. And me and my family were one of the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were moved from the West Coast and moved into camps during World War Two. And this forced removal was an experience that binds me with so many other people of color who've experienced forced removal in this country. And this experience of being sort of dislocated, unbelonging sort of a refugee in my own country made me feel that my family to try to be someone who could be accepted. So we really shed a lot of who we were in order to try to be that way. So instead of being called no go, I was called Joanne. My middle name was Joanne and most of my life in the early until I was 27. I live with Joanne is my first name. And, and the same with when we wanted to be an artist, the training that we received was Western arts. I, as a child, when I heard my uncle sing Japanese songs, I thought it was strange. And I couldn't understand my grandparents because I didn't speak Japanese. So, I trained as a dancer and that became my voice and worked in a business that the stories that I performed were were nothing like who I was. I was on a stage with other mostly Asians because those stories called and musicals called for Asians or Oriental's. And so I experienced being sort of the pawn of this culture that told their own stories about us. And, and I felt frustrated by this and in the 60s I, I sort of dropped out, and I started searching for a way to find my own voice and find a way of expressing myself that was that was really who I, who I am. And I got and how I began that journey was really through the black movement and through the black movement. I was introduced to the Asian American movement. And so in the early 70s, I just stumbled into singing, creating songs about who we were. And that feeling of singing for my own people, songs that were about us, awakened me to a whole other way of looking at art and what it could do. We were sort of troubadours who moved around the country to different Asian American places, talking about who we were, what was going on in the movement, we were sort of griots or for the movement. And when I decided to sort of settle down into my community because for the long run I knew that I had to be seated in a community. I went back to Los Angeles and I was lucky enough to be taken to this Buddhist temple in South Central. And so in this Buddhist temple I was allowed to teach dance, a modern dance, and be in a place that had that the Reverend, Reverend Kodani who believed that art was a way to learn about Buddhism. But in this temple I learned what it was to be Japanese, what it would learn, I learned what it was to be Japanese American. I learned to reclaim Nobuko and create work, music, dance, theater, bring people in those spaces to work in a temple that had been a refuge for Japanese Americans after World War II. So there were stories in this church, in the social hall where we rehearsed, where we sweat and we danced. So I feel like that was the put me, it put a root for me, and I was able to bring people into this space, other artists, people, and people who are non-artists. Most of the dancers I used, I trained, and artists that we came together were, we learned together and we learned to tell our own stories. So out of that, in 1975, we started Great Leap, and it became formally a non-profit arts organization in 1978, so it's been about 40 years. But I've been doing this work for almost 50 years, learning and by doing, learning by doing. So, and when I came here to this institute, I found others who were like myself who, and I didn't have a name for this device theater, I didn't have a name for a lot of what I did. And so it's been a place like a homecoming for me to come here and to be fed by others who have many more experiences than I have. And so I'm grateful to be here with you, and I'm here to learn and remember, and be in your embrace, and you be in mine. So thank you. And in the spirit of equity, I'm going to, if you see my phone as you're talking, and everything that you say is wonderful, but I want to make sure that everyone has a chance to have as much time as they need, but in a relationship to others. So, I'm going to start timing us so that we can stay on track. And I'm going to invite Sharon to unmute. And if you would share your three P four P's actually with the panel. Thank you. No, but my roomie, my roomie. Well, good evening. My name is Sharon day and I come from the people of the strong woods, which is a boy sport reservations just south of international falls born raised in Minnesota. And our people have always been storytellers. And, you know, I grew up listening to people tell stories grew up listening to my dad, my father composed hundreds of songs and and music was always a part of our life through both traditional music and contemporary music. And, and, and that was just sort of what we did. And it wasn't until I was about 40 years old. I became the director, maybe I was 36 the director of the indigenous people's task force, although at that time it was the Minnesota American Indian AIDS Task Force. And, and in those days, 1987 1988 1989 people were dying from from AIDS. And I wanted to do something to keep our young people alive. And so I started a theater company within our organization it was youth theater ensemble to teach other youth about HIV. So that storytelling, it was, it was so necessary to keep us alive. And, and so I who I learned. You know, I never took our class in my life never took a theater class in my life. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, except that I knew that was an important thing to do. And so I called Muriel Miguel from spider woman theater, and she came and worked with us and her and her sisters and they helped create help helped us. And then they came back six months later and, and Muriel said, I, I, I, I, and I said, Muriel they're just kids. And she said, Do you want me to lie to them, do you want me to tell them they're good when they're not. And so then she stayed for another six weeks and instructed us some more. And, and we took the stories from the youth, people living with HIV, my elders, and, and out of that, she created a play called my grandmother's love. And, and when, when Muriel went back to New York City, we worked with Phyllis Jane Rose from at the foot of the Mountain Theater which was the first feminist theater in the country. And we worked with her, and we continued and so that was 30 years ago. We're still working we're still learning being part of the Institute we've learned so many. We've learned from everybody else's practices, and we've taken what's useful to us and incorporated into what we do and most you know my grandson, Kirby is the director of the youth, the kid when you theater ensemble. And he's been mentored by DePonker for about five years and so I'm really proud of him and the work that we continue to do we produce probably about 13 plays over the years and have incorporated, you know, music and dance and a lot of poetry into our work and so that's thank you. Thank you. Carol. How about you go next. And then I'm going to save you for last. Well, this is amazing. And I've been, I had to spend some time gotten to spend some time over the past couple of years that I've been at the Institute with both Sharon and Nobuko and to hear these stories just reminds me so much how much I really that places the spirit of being at the Institute is so healing. And welcoming and open and a place of deep deep learning. I was born and raised in New York City, and went to the high school performing arts career coming out of PA I thought oh I knew theater. And it wasn't until the 1970s and I was studying directing at Hunter College and Lloyd Richards was my directing teacher. And he gave me the great gift of honesty and said to me, you're an okay actor, but you're a much better director. I want you to get out and start directing. And so here I am in New York City. And my husband and I were members of the New York chapter of Jimmy and Grace Lee boxes organization, a national organization for an American Revolution and part of the New York chapter. I found myself running from New Federal Theater where I was directing a play with at New Federal Theater back to Queens to evening meetings and study groups and on the weekends going out and organizing. And I did that for almost four years, and that experience of being with nor with Jimmy and Grace's absolutely incredible ability to have to really force you to think critically and develop those critical thinking skills through looking at systems and structures. I didn't know it at the time really formed the foundation of everything that I did in the year. I was forged into black arts movement. My work in the Bay Area with Oakland Ensemble Theater and Lorraine Hansberry Theater were absolutely essential to the work to my, to my career. I've never imagined the career that I ended up having if you had told me back then that I would have ended up with the National Endowment for the Arts I would have said yeah right. But this the twin, the twin parts of my need of creativity and directing and theater what it could do for communities. And what I knew about organizing and systems and structure meant that when I was at the NEA. I understood what needed to be done to try to begin to dismantle the systems that were held in place at the theater program that prevented equity from being what I consider equity from being a part of how the funding was spent. This afternoon I was talking with a former colleague from those days and he said Carol I just want to acknowledge that she began to dismantle racism theater program. And I thought it was unnoticed. And I was really, really moved that he that he understood and paid attention because I paid a price for it. Yet that didn't stop me. I think that I think the two capstones to how I see equity playing out in two very different ways. One was that the time that I spent at with August Wilson at the National Black Theater someone on golden pond and helping to organize that and then working with this organization for five years the African Negro Institute for the Arts. And when August asked me if I would be interested in working on that event and I said to him August, I, you know, you need to do you demand. However, I'm only interested in doing this summit if we're going to try to build something from it that will support black theater. That was paramount for me. I got to begin to do that and then August past. And what in that meantime what happened is that the funding community. Their commitment was to August wasn't to the African Grove Institute for the arts. We hadn't had enough time to really make that connection. But as we would going through that experience and this is the thing that I want to say. It's been a piece that stuck with me all my life. I quite beg the same man. And this was the piece that that we talked about many times at odd here how do we make this organization be able to financially have the support and the resources that it needs to support black theater makers and black and black theater. And it seemed to be in community with other organizations because we, it wasn't just audio working along we were working with BTN etc. But I came away from that experience knowing that there was still a missing piece in this work. And I found it both at alternate roots, and I found it definitely clearly at the National Institute for directing an ensemble and it was this place coming into a place where you have all these people from all these different backgrounds and aesthetics and languages and styles and and walking into a room where you see that in action was like mind blowing for me. It was almost in tears the first time because I have not seen that level that that breath depth and scope of artists working in community who embraced each other in the ways that I saw it both roots, and then it at night. It though that's the cat but yeah, so I just I have to put that out there. And did I exceed my three minutes Linda Paris Bailey. I don't know if you did. But you know what, this is just a framework, but I do want to make sure that that we hear from Atlanta. Thank you. And you will get to continue to speak about that. Carol, as we talk about grounding. So, man, I'm like, wait, don't, don't, don't let all the jewels out at the beginning. Okay. So and Linda. Hi Linda. I just, I want to start off by saying such a deep gratitude and thanks to the pancarina and Ray and all the folks as well for the invitation to be here. I think it's clear from the panel that I'm here because I'm 358 years old in old soul time. So no book. I think I, I'm just going to take elderhood at this point, but I'm also going to very much own being the young one here, pseudo young and being in such awe of who I get to sit with. For me, this is emblematic of what happens at night at that. It was the first space where I not only had peers, but I had teachers, and I'll speak to that. After acknowledging that I am broadcasting from Tonga lands that I was born and raised in the original by a lands of indigenous peoples and that means San Antonio, Texas. And that I have been carrying Goyote trickster medicine because of my mother for many years so a lot of people know me as a Goyote on stage. But that was a process as well, and a development my, my. So those are my places, and I hold on to Goyote only because I am a traveler, and I try to be as coyote sneaky quiet respectful, as I'm entering different places and acknowledge that as a, as a two spirit lesbian feminist, among other markers, my peoples have been in diaspora, my peoples have been separated and sold over and over again in Texas. And that being said, you know, I, I was shaped by a Mexican American childhood, and I was shaped by Spanglish, neither English or Spanish was my first language, it was Spanglish. So I went to places like the Washington area. And I went and I learned to drive and it was part of my car. And this was was the language of both poetry and politics for me so my peoples tend to be chicken X cutie park other progressive communities of color. I put that word progressive there because I have learned over and over again that a person of color isn't necessarily my ally. And I think that at night that that practice that we're going to speak to about equity has been important. And I have been shaped by incredible artists and people so my, my practice as a theater first and foremost started in my childhood living room with my mother. I'm the eldest of eight. I'm post welfare, but sometimes as an artist I get really close to economically to that feeling so I, I, I have learned how to walk and recreate ideas of success in American theater by recognizing that I am not in a conversation with white Euro Western theater, although I have had opportunity and access. And part of that access that I have spoken to when I talk about coming up through undergraduate or grad school, especially undergrad. I think incredible training as an actor and Anna as a director, but I recognize coming up in the 90s during the whole conversation especially in Dallas Texas at that time of multiculturalism that I had that light skin privilege that allowed me to play roles that I play roles. And I point to that because there are plenty of people of color with darker skin, who at that time weren't being cast in those roles they were the background actors or maybe a supporting role. This influenced my point of view in my teaching like many of the panelists here I have always been involved in training and providing tools to other artists I feel that teaching in the community has been my practice, since I was 21. So, almost 30 years of working with communities that don't have institutional access. And recognizing the beauty and the tools that we do have that the institutes usually beat out of us one way or another. And I have been, you know, I've been out before it was fashionable, and I think it's important to speak to that because I do know that for a lot of cutie pock and two spirit LGBTQ folks, there, it's a given that you can be out and accepted and even in the theater world. That was not the case. When I was out, I was very fortunate to have the example of the sherry El Moraga the only Chicana lesbian play right that was out at the time and so for me that lineage to Chicano theater and I do use the oh purposely. I had that intervention of her life and her example right before. So I attach myself to that feminist to gun indigenous lineage and then I had Cora Cardona in Dallas, who taught me Mexican and Vanguard Theater and. And then I had a chance to work with sherry and sell your so I named my teachers because I think that's important. I'm going to stop there because I want to be under three minutes. I want to make Linda happy and smile. And so I'm going to give it back to Linda. Thank you so much Atlanta. And, you know, time, again, is only an issue in terms of equity. And, you know, we all went over by the way. So, don't, don't concern. I think it also is evidence of our practice. You have to know someone's story. You have to, if we are going to create this, this, this circle, this horizontal floor this. We have to know each other's stories. So this is an example of practice in in our equitable circles. And just, you know, the other practice that we have is that everybody participate. So, in order to be brief, I prepared mine. And I'm just going to share this with you now and then we'll get to the first question which is, like, what is this equity we're talking about what, how does it show up. And we're going to have Sharon and Carol speak to that right after this. People, I am a descendant of enslaved Africans. I'm a black woman. I'm an afterlatch and raised in the north with Beijing roots. My father took me to West Indian dances and my grandmother took me to the Shinnecock powwows. My pronouns are she and her and my people are all those who have been disempowered by power impacted by genocide slavery and colonialism. In Knoxville, Tennessee at the foothills of the southern mountains, land of the Cherokee and other indigenous peoples, my home place is anywhere where there is common ground and purpose. My point of view, my point of view is the long haul that life is a spiral ever widening towards justice, but doomed to pass through the same points into the spiral can encompass all of us. My practice is rooted in ensemble with principles of shared cultural work and a responsibility to reveal multiple truths. I share the diverse stories of my African diaspora. I directed the cockpit for 45 years and I'm now a solo playwright. So that's me. Drop the mic. That's how you do it under three minutes, people. So let's get down to it. Yeah. What are we talking about and I'm going to ask that we have Sharon and Carol. Maybe we can put them both on screen. I don't know if that's possible, but this is going to be a conversation and I will say that this was out of last night's pre conference talk. And there was a description and there was a description and then there was pushback and then there was a lively conversation so Carol and Sharon. Would you I invite you to open your mics. I don't even remember what we said now. But basically what we're looking for is is, you know, being grounded in a definition with this all of this information as background. You said some pretty powerful things and Sharon said some pretty powerful things and I can, I can, you know, I can pull up the little notes and, and basically we talked about what kind of a space we wanted to have and based on the experience of the Institute and Sharon made some comments about pie. And I think that that is the core of our conversation. Sharon, would you like to start or Karen start. Sure. I think, you know, and I think about equity, you know what what we talked about a little bit was that you know equity is such a little word, you know, for something that has to hold so much. And so, for me, you know when I think about equity as a as an indigenous person, and I think about sovereignty, and sovereignty to me is that I as an individual have the agency to make relationships. And, and, and those relationships are not only with individuals. But, but also, you know, with with the land with the water with the animals. And, and so that sovereignty and that to me that is part of what we all need to have. And so equity is just such a small word. And, you know, it's like these words that kind of get like buzzwords like diversity. And like, like, I'm not going to be your diversity, you know, like if I go into a room and I'm the only person of color, then whoever's in that room they need to figure that out, so that I'm not the only one. So I'm not going to be the only one. And, and, you know, lots of times equity, it's about talking about funding. But I think before we get to me before we get to that whole funding thing, like we have to. And that was what was so so helpful about the Institute is learning these practices, you know, sharing our practices with each other. And, and that each practice has value, each practice have value, our stories need to be told. And it's time that we tell our own stories. So I think that's, I'll stop there and let Carol take it. I think this is really, this is a thank you for for prodding me and remember, hold me remember that through two kinds of equity that I think that I was talking about there are many ways of having equity of talking about equity, I think a part of the challenge that I have about this discussion in our field about equity is that we haven't talked about the inequity. We have, you know, we haven't forget to haven't even defined or admit it the decades of inequity. I'm not just talking about funding, I'm talking about focus and talking about value, I'm talking about support I'm talking about I'm not just saying we're talking about authority that that that communities of color in or in the in the theater field have been devalued, historically devalued. So that that there is there's that piece you know if we if we wanted to get to a place of really equity of equity, and what I think of equity it's as some people have a house that they've had for 30 years it's paid off and they've got a lot of equity in the home, where somebody else had a hotel room in a in a SRO single room occupancy, and there's now saying that they're equal it the an equity that has happened in our field on it's the lack of funding just reflects the lack of people who think that what we do is worthy. When I think about cultural equity. It's the, I think Liz Lerman talks about hiking the horizontal, because right now in our field in our country we have a racialized higher hierarchy that shows up in every single sector. And it's white theater at the top and it's black and people of color at the bottom, and some other folks in between. And it's, but I'm not trying to talk about going from this to this, but from this to this it's that horizontal floor. When we think about equity and cultural equity in the theater field it's interesting to me that people will say that Sharon's work, or Nova Co's work is culturally specific. But we don't say that Tennessee Williams, or mammoth is also culturally specific culturally specific it cannot be otherwise. And that's why I'm saying so I agree with Sharon that when we talk about this word equity being too small. I think it's small because it's it is you can't address all of the things that have been impediments to people in communities of color to be able to realize your dreams their ambitions, their hopes, their needs for their community. By just talking about the small little word equity and think that we're talking about a quality something doesn't work. And I'm going to invite. I'm going to change up our pattern here and I'm also going to invite. Hi, are you going to weigh in on this equity. I would love to because yes to everything that has been said and I want to, I want to come back to the importance of the Institute, and the practicality around the, the pragmatic effort that has been made in Spanish the word is in between us, right between us, because to Sharon and Carol's point there is the issue of equity with our theaters of color, and white mainstream and I, and I think that what has been so marvelous about is that initiative was taken to bring us together and that there's also for me what's very exciting about nighting is how we practice equity amongst ourselves, because I don't think it's one or the other, it is also this journey that I've experienced with nighting I wasn't there at 2012. At that time. I was actually co founding other research productions company with my wife and our were spiritual elder, but for me that the synchronicity and congruity is that we were founding a company where we were centering the synics, queer people of color, women of color, and that we were clear that there'd be zero homophobia. So we were making our own kind of agreements, and then when I was invited in 2015 so I've been at night at 2015 27 2019 popping in. The first time ever in my professional career that I saw other masterful artists of color, and that it began with agreements like what is a group agreement so the creating of the space together, I want to offer that to people who are not Institute fellows and who are who are listening to us and saying yeah but how do you go about this and I think I'll leave it there for Nobuko and others to jump in but I think the fact that entering the space with other people and recognizing for myself that I didn't know the history of most of the artists in the room and by that I also mean cultural history, precisely because in the US we are not taught each other's histories. So we are not versed in each other stories and histories, then we are strangers to each other, and strangers tend to be fearful strangers tend to keep distance. The difference here is that we made a commitment to get to know each other and to practice that incredible indigenous tenant of reciprocity, which also means working through conflict so I'll stop there but Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you for that grounding. And in terms of the Institute and I think, Nobuko. I'm going to switch it up a little and ask you to respond to a different question. If you're, if you're ready. We talked about the practices and before I ask this question, can we see the slide of the wall? See, there's Nobuko so perfect timing. Behind Nobuko is the collective knowledge of the sessions from one Institute. And that collective knowledge informed the next Institute and the next. And that was one of the beauties of being able to produce this Institute. Thank you, Panjia. Thank you all to action over time. The collective knowledge that is gathered over time is what we are benefiting from in this conversation. And, Nobuko, what I want to ask you is what and you talked about this what has been the ripple effect of the practices that we generated in the Institute that we share that we gifted to one another. What's been the ripple effect of that from your point of view. For me, the ripple effect or the effect was understanding that we are a field. We're not as, we're not on the sides, we're not on the edges. We are a field of work that is very specific and powerful. I mean, we, and the depth of it, the depth of it. Because we get to hear from people from Palestine and Venezuela, etc, as well as in this country, we can hear native people and native Hawaiians and native Canadians and native, you know, Americans. We see a perspective that we don't often get to see. When you bring all of that in, it expands your internal world, first of all, if you just live in Los Angeles and you just walk around and, and you live in that little world, that little big world that you think it's big. When you come here and you realize how vast this work is and how powerful it is, how it's working in so many different spaces, and different kinds of communities. It really expands your whole concept of what you're doing in your own space. You take that home with you and you know that behind you, and around you is, is this whole bigger idea that is powerfully at work and constantly at work. It's not just you alone that the ripple effect for me is that I have this whole, this whole body of people and this body of work underneath me and behind me and around me. So that's what it's been to be in the circle with you all in these years as they've gone on and the different people that have come in and out, the people that we've lost, the people that we've been able to move with. We've been able to hear their stories. We've been able to move with them, doing their work with them so that we can actually feel the teaching. We can actually be in the teaching, not just hear it, not just understanding intellectually, but could practice it together. It's a much different situation than, so the circle, I want to go back to this idea of what kind of space do we, do we make, this is a circle, this is horizontal. This is a place that we bring our ancestors. We bring our whole selves. It's a safe space to be all of who we are. And, and, and that safe space is not a comfortable space. Not necessarily. Yes. Yeah, that we have to prepare, be prepared to be vulnerable, to be humble, to be assertive, but to listen, really listen, and to really be willing to do the work with each other that we wouldn't, that we don't feel comfortable with. You know, act silly, act, you know, make mistakes, and know that you're, you're, you're, you're supported and will be caught, and you won't be falling on the floor that you, that your idea can be transformed into when you, when you're falling somebody transforms that into something where you are supported. That's what it's been, what I've observed and what I've experienced here in this space. And, and I would say that that's been my experience as well. But you've also brought up some of the difficulties. Yes, and we don't want to leave this discussion without talking about some of the difficulties. And this, this question that I'm going to ask, I'm going to throw out to the entire panel, so that anyone can start the discussion and start the speaking about it. So, equity discussions and communities of color are complex. You must examine diverse cultural traditions, internal biases like colorism, privilege, political leanings, and even our own oppression Olympics. What have we learned in the Institute about managing these challenges. And what can we share with others about managing the internal challenges of working across culture. I'll start. Okay, just to make you smile Linda. Okay. I'm going to start off by saying that the Institute has taught me first and foremost that I lose nothing. When we all share in the practice of First Nations first, when we all then share in the practice of a shared analysis of what has happened to black peoples of what has happened to Asian peoples. I lose nothing and gain the entire world. And the only way for me to not participate in oppression Olympics is to understand that my peoples have a specific context and historicity to different kinds of colonization imperialism. And to be able to hold that history and open myself up to everyone who is in that nighting space creates that collective strength of understanding that we may have similarities. But that the differences don't make me my story less than and it is that practice that I continue to carry also. This is a ripple effect as a director. I lose nothing by shining light on every collaborator in the room. I think if we can move away from the great white man, you know, ideas of there's a great director and there's this and that and understand that it is always collective. We allow for such a deepening widening experience. And that it happens because of the reciprocity and the other principle at the Institute which asks permission, as permission. If you're going to use someone's technique or practice or story name where you get your practice name your teachers name the stories so that not only do we become witnesses to each other, we become each other's best advocates and in this day and age to go to the bunker's point. I am just moving forward and I feel I've been doing this but it's so clear to me that if I am not in collaboration supporting indigenous artists black artists trans artists. Then I have no business being in that room. I think the urgency is upon us to continue the work, but to be very clear of where our energy is spent and night it for me affirms it over and over and over again. We are each other's mirrors, and sometimes that mirror has been cracked, and to be able to look at the beauty between the cracks and to offer each other light through the cracks. That's how we're going to save our humanity together. You made me smile. And I will interject and then I'll ask another question. I mean, we are in a period where half the people in the country. Believe a liar. Believe in supporting things that do us harm. And one of our roles as artists, I think, and I'm going to say this and people are going to go cringe. Be present and in front of those people who do not know us, do not appreciate the other 50% of the country. And I think we have an important role and I think also that we have seen evidence of our power. And whatever one feels politically about voting and all of that, I think there is evidence of our power in that. There's evidence in Georgia. So these these things are so important and important for us as artists of color. And I just wanted to interject that because I feel that deeply. I just want to say one thing. Yes. Sometimes I just want to refer back to this idea of the kind of the space, because some of us have worked in the spaces where we're having to be the multicultural person or the person diversity person. And there's a certain kind of a heads you have to have to work in that space. But this space is so different from that space and sometimes we can get those things confused. In other words, we might be used to being out there fighting for our voice fighting for our place fighting for, but in this space. It is a space that's that listens that wants to hear that wants to support. And it's a very different attitude that you come into this space with, then you do in that other world. It's interesting. The thing that comes up for me over the years of working in theater and number of times that artists coming actors would come in, they bring their candles and bring some incense into their space to get themselves grounded before they went on stage. I think was the first time that I saw ritual and ceremony as an everyday part and practice of every single thing from morning, noon until night. I'd never experienced that before. Where the collective group came together each morning and in deep and taking breath deep breaths together with the punker and me know with the two minutes of silence. I mean, it's just the things that, you know, working in circles. I had never experienced that before it was mind blowing. And I remember, I think it was last year. A young white woman, I was coming into a workshop and she was leaving the room, and she was in tears, and she said she had never been asked about her ancestors before. And she didn't know how to act. She was Sharon Bridge was workshop. And she was just overwhelmed because that that she had never. It was so far into her and she was so moved by it and help open up something in her helper under. I think examine what happened in our country when people assimilated to this thing we call whiteness. I just want to offer that I think that the word equity is small. I also think our understanding of theater is smaller. And what is theater. And if we're, if we're not stuck at just thinking about theater, then, and we're thinking about cultural culture and practices and community. It opens up so why so deeply the way that people need to hear these stories and how and who's telling your stories and sharing your stories with them. I think theater is even a smaller burden equity, as it's practiced in this country. I think that's true. I think that's true for like, to some extent, but I think, you know, just theater. You know, just going back to the opening tonight, when Joy Harger was saying theaters, everything we do theater, everything. It's in our ceremonies it's in our, you know, when that when that, you know, when we go out there and we put that altar down on the floor. And we put all of those things we're going to use that that indeed is theater. Right. And it's how like, even ceremonially, is how you remember things. You know, what gets placed where how does it go, what is the water for what is, you know, though that those are the things that keep us alive and I think that's what I was trying to say before, and it's, you know, and as we look to the future. It really is every single one of us looking at what has kept us alive. What has brought us to this place, and how do we move forward with that in the in the values that our people have had that have moved us forward that has kept us here. How do we share that with with younger people. How do we keep moving alive and I think about like, you know, I don't often identify myself as as being a queer lesbian, but I am. And I guess it's just so much a part of my life that I just figures, in that I've been so notorious that everybody just knows that anyway. But when I think about, you know, like being a Native American lesbian, I think that, you know, we are the answer to heteropatriarchy, right. Like we are the antidote to that, much as, you know, many of our practices are the antidote to capitalism, where only a few take so much, because, you know, in our communities, you know, we're taught, you take care of the children you take care of the elders you take care of those most vulnerable. And, and those are the things that we need to bring forward. If we're going to truly change, you know, there's going to be vaccinations there's sort of a light at the end of the tunnel, in terms of COVID. Right. What kind of a society do we shape. And, you know, actors, poets, artists, you know, we've been at the forefront of every major change everywhere. And so we need to do that again now and so I just urge everybody to, you know, like we need to bring our best, best, our best forward. And that's what I do with our youth theater ensemble, equip them with a voice, equip them with, you know, that sense of justice. And no matter where they go. And when we talk to our kids, you know, we say, you know, when black lives matter. Native lives will matter. And this is such an important and amazing conversation. I'm looking at the clock, and I'm, I know we're drawing to a close, and I'm getting little notes and messages and the chat. I want, I want the panel to respond as briefly as possible to the important question, which I think is, what are we called to do at this moment. As artists as ensemble practitioners as members of these diverse communities. What are we called to do now. Anybody can take it up, but you have to be quick. Well, I think we have a special responsibility right now and the space is open for us to really step out and just push our, let our ideas out now. I mean, let's make this a rich space for people to see who we are. Let's make this, you know, a welcome space for people to see who we are. And for those around us are brothers and sisters. I mean, we are the example. We know how to collaborate. We know how to cross boundaries. We know how to do that work. Do it now. And this is the moment we need to show how we do this work feel for it. It doesn't matter if you have the money or not do it. I'm working with Lula Washington's daughter and her and Johanna another African group on a piece called eight minutes 46 seconds. I mean, just do the work. We don't have any money. We're just doing it. We're getting together. We're doing the music we're, you know, we're using our culture we're using ring shout we're using obon, you know, so use, use what you are. You know, use all of it cross that boundary show how how diversity really works show that and that it works better when we do it this way. Scientifically we know diversity makes us richer makes us smarter makes us makes us more creative so do it. Okay, okay. Thank you so much. What are what are we charged with at this moment. I'll just add very quickly. Oops, am I on oh I am that I really believe that we're going to all have the correct answers, because we're going to need multiple strategies. In the same way that night it has taught us there is no one way or one path. Our personal professional strategy is to continue to focus on the youth. And because we did see in the voting numbers that this generation for all the fun that's made around millennials, all races and ethnicity, overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly 70% were voting blue. So, you know, the that that other folks who are on. That's not where I'm putting my energy. My energy is the next generation, who I'm in the room with. But also, I really feel that it is so important for us as artists to help everyone else who is a closeted artists. So, when I go into a kindergarten room, that entire classroom is filled with five year old six year old artists. And so I'm adamant about always recognizing that I'm always working with artists emerge they might be emerging they might be professional. We can bring our society to bring the art back into our everyday practice where art is both beautiful expressive utilitarian and powerful. Maybe we create a society where people are builders and not destroyers because it is so easy to destroy and making money in a capitalist society is becoming a top is about becoming a top destroyer is about the climate crisis that we're facing. So, for me, personally, I just have my focus on the folks I want to collaborate with the young people and everyone that I meet in the room as an artist and I just got to help them out of the closet, because that will make them happier and that'll make the world a better place. Absolutely, and thank you. Yeah. We have. Well, it's a 20. And I'm reading the chat. Just as a way of closing out or are we at time for closing out, or do we have time for one last question. So, we started this discussion with the lens through the lens of equity. What does equity look like in the world that we imagine in the world that we are trying to build. Carol, I was just saying it looks like nighting it looks like going into that room and nighting everywhere that not just at night it gets everywhere. Well, it's in every office, it's in, it's in communities, it's in parks. You know, I keep saying people you don't do diversity. First, it isn't something that you do diversity is anymore you can't do diversity more than you can do breathing. The world is enormously diverse it was built in at the beginning that's you know that that's the beauty of it. And if we could just get out of our own way as human beings and understand our place in nature and our relationship to nature and to each other and on and value all of those those voices and ways of being and people in this world and understand we all need the same thing there's some basics that we need. We need food clothing shelter when all that stuff is taken care of you still need to make songs you still need to dance, you still need to sing you still need to tell stories and be making that available to everybody everywhere, all of them as valued as anybody else's so that we're no longer fighting over room in the master's house. Amen and Hallelujah. I think I think it's also, you know, like being true to our authentic selves. Yeah, yeah. You know, I don't have to be like somebody else or I don't have to do it this way. I can do it the way, you know, like, I just gave an example, you know, like even talking sometimes is circular right. So like when I begin to tell a story. I might tell you up front like sort of what the moral of that story is, and then I might go all the way around here and then come back and, which is very different right then Western theater where you start up you have arc and then you, you know, but that that's not, that's not me. That's not how I tell the story. And that's not how I grew up hearing stories told. So I think it's equity is also being true to our authentic selves. Absolutely. You know, and in our communities, very, very few of us get to interact in other communities, very few of us get to interact in the world. Remembering to two experiences in the International Women's Playwrights Conference. One was we were in a gigantic circle in Australia. And all women, well, 95% of the circle was women. Indigenous women from Australia. Black women from US and Caribbean, mostly white women from Europe and US. And the conversation was about where the next festival was going to be. And the Caribbean women and African women were saying, and this was the language, we don't want to see this conference in another white country. Well, there was this silence that came over the room, particularly with the Indigenous women. And I kind of being aware of the vibe. I said, there's something that's happening in the room that's not being spoken to. And the Indigenous women from Australia said, this is not a white country. And the women of color from the Caribbean and whatnot said, well, that's not what we meant. But again, it is a it was a clash that would not have been even understood had it not been pointed out. And it was about Indigenous people and land. And way back then that was not a conversation that was going on in communities of color. So that in sensitivity really halted the whole meeting. And it wasn't vicious. It wasn't intention. It was simply lack of knowledge. And I think one of the things that that is tackled in the Institute is when there is lack of knowledge, we have been able to unpack it and to try and understand it. So, that's what I think one of our roles is to unpack and understand one another. So we are now at 826. And I think, I think we're, I think they're telling me. Yes. They're saying that we need to move to closing. So, I just will ask each of you, is there anything that you needed to say tonight. That you feel that you can say quickly. And, and, and just, you know, drop the mic. So I'm going to ask each of you just to kind of make a closing comment. But briefly, Sharon, you want to begin your, your, your already on the big screen. I, I, you know, it's a very rich conversation and I, I, I think, you know, we just need to go out and do our work and do it the best way we can. And, and, and we need to put some new words out, out into the universe, I think, too. Thank you. Thank you. I want to take a moment to ask everyone to remember what it's like to hold nighting in your hearts long after we've departed and to remember that we have come together virtually in a time where there is great loss in the world. And so that if we can lead this panel remembering the importance of rituals that we've learned because there are a lot of souls that have not had their proper coming home to, and I think that this is a powerful group and that we can collectively do that work until we can all gather safely. I just want everyone to be safe so that I can see you all in the flesh down the road. Please. Thank you so much. Carol, really, really quickly. I'm just going to say I was just so grateful to be on this panel with you all. I'm just so I wish I could be in the room with everybody wish you could all be in space together so we could hold each other. But absent that I'm just going to say that the love that I have for all of you wins will be and very in true. Thank you. Thank you. Um, no bill. Well, thank you. Thank you Rumi for being a great host for us. And I call you Rumi because not are you am I, but our oh my roommate, and my my so mate. So much everybody for what you've given me and for everybody who shared in this conversation is I'm very grateful to be in your presence, even if it is a circle of squares. Thank you so much. You are my woman tours, and I learned so so very much from you so thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I do believe that we have to close out now. Oh, yeah, because it's 830. Hi Linda. Sometimes places like this. Sometimes spaces like this rooms like this need to be just honored by reverence and just silence. Rich conversations happen. Thank you so much. Thank you Linda. Thank you. No book or thank you Sharon. Thank you Carol. Your work has really paved for the path for us we stand on your shoulders. This struggle has continued and you're still in the struggle. And I know Adelina, you are young in age, but way way way old in consciousness in your craft and the amount you give to us to every room that you're in. We are so grateful for your contribution all of you. Thank you so much and gratitudes to our tech team, Tanya, Suzanne, Kayla, Emily and many others I'm not naming maybe who are holding this and making this happen. I'm so grateful to for your work. Please join us tomorrow for a brilliant movement class by a workshop by a brilliant artist who might deeply love and respect Dora Arayola. And I want to thank the all the funders who have supported us over the years and especially this year melon and Doris Duke be safe and good night.