 I think, too, yeah, and the end of the conversation. And, boy, were you into your four conversations. There was a lot of heat over here and a little bit of a bigger group, a bigger group. But other than that, I would say it was sort of almost evenly spread among the four topics. I was sort of encouraged by that. I've asked Katia to just sort of pull in the four groups and help keep things moving and pull on people, so Katia Kerner from Lincoln Center Theater is going to take it on again from here. Whoo! Yeah, Katia. So, can we just go around? But, Penny, can you kind of designate a note, but can you just have to talk about what the things you think should have came up for you? There's lots of stuff. And if there are questions about, then feel free to ask or clarify. Sometimes, you know, when you're passing an intense discussion and it's hard to sort of synthesize, and then everybody feels like, oh, I think I understand, but I'm not quite sure. So, we have a little, like, 45 minutes and we should feel free to ask each other questions. So, should we start over here with the internals? We just have your team. You want to do it together? Yeah, do it together. We need that balance between getting the attention and adding attention. So, this balance between getting attention, the attention you deserve from your organization and also having trust in the entire community or whatever. One of the problems therein, one of them is finding even time with your leadership as being pulled into the 10,000 introduction and the suggestion of safe and standing meetings. And the time management is being available to answer questions. We did talk about, amazingly enough, a lot of us have just been through transition or are going through transition right now. And that is a good time to kind of slip in and advocate for change or a different structure. We worry that our importance doesn't necessarily match the structure and budget. The importance of the organization to own its education programs, not like what you guys are doing, but more weird. Get a leadership at our events or if we can't get to leadership, that perhaps having other stakeholders or board members or community members attend our events, bring them over into the fan club and have them advocate for us. Because those might be voices listened to. If we need to model inter-department efforts. We need that values education more. It isn't a good time to discuss the values. How to explain what we do. How to explain what we do to people who don't have their drugs. How to organize programs up in some ways to integrate, I guess, more centralized programs around the world. How to organize programs around the world. Hands on during events or board members. Shared relationships with the leadership. The leadership is out advocating the going to groups to do that. And an absolutely brilliant idea was to find what is leadership's problem or issue they're dealing with and then show them how education kind of solves that. It is not even live. Education does solve that. Just find out your self-care and a livable pace and managing our own time in such a way that we can do all the wonderful things we do but not die in the process. The group brought up that there were sometimes perception issues or association bias problems around workload and what education does and why they do it. And if we mentioned that there are new buzzwords out there and stuff for years. If we just kind of point out again your brand new idea, we've been doing that. We are really well behaved and perhaps too well behaved and we need to be a little bit more of a squeaky wheel and so forth. Education can advocate for the outcome to move from departments into an institutional plan and there are some ideas around that. Oh and we should take time to talk to those that give us support and ideas. You can go have a meal or at least remember to find and refill our compost. Sorry, what were some of those ideas for how the Education Department can advocate for equity diversity inclusion? Some of you said have a summit. Yes, it was your first supposed to summit. That's your book. Yes, it's Jenny. But bringing the national conversation I think to the organization and its board. There was a resource book for the organization to help build a college and viewing the creation of a plan as a process, an ongoing process that has to kind of stay a process. Structuring meaningful school programs, collaborating with the school district or a network of schools. I'll just go through a couple. One of the big ones was how does theater leverage what schools are already doing and are committed to. I think that was a common thing. Just kind of don't go into it. If we think of the research on cultural responsiveness, right, it's actually not about race or ethnicities about cultures. You have a culture and you're walking into an existing culture and you want to be part of that culture and contribute to it. What's already happening in school learning, but also find out what the school culture like that you're going into. She never kind of think of, we've got something great that's going to enlighten your kids. You can't wait. It's got to be a partnership. Communication administration. Several things here circle time for relationship building, time for planning, time for professional development. That's the PD of the host teachers, as well as ideally the leadership of that school. Spending time with them, really taking the time to just communicate what you want to try to come through the kids. Focusing also not just on kind of arts integration and how you can do STEAM, but theater for theater's sake and the value of theater for conflict resolution and empathy and all the things that I shared is now being on the inside of the school system. Principles at the end of the day are teachers, they're educators, they want the same thing we want, right? They just have so much stuff going on there. Remind them why they're in there. Not in the kind of setting, but in a welcoming way. Just the same way you might want to talk to your artistic directors or feel like that. All kids are at risk, understanding the backgrounds of different communities, urban, rural, shelter. How much time do you have to spend with the kids? This was one of the colleagues brought up. Why is 10 a week become the thing or 12 weeks or eight sessions or is four to little and 16 too much? We talk about working backwards if you're putting on a show and how much time do you have. Think like that. What's your residency going to be? What can you do, what can't you do? Are we actually enhancing the learning? Collaborate and reiterate what classrooms are working on, provide resources and opportunities for more meaningful engagement. Speaks for self. Maneuvering multiple districts and preconceived notions of the other. I don't know what that was about. Who said that one? The other? That often when you're working in different school districts, we were talking about the example of St. Louis that has over 94 school districts in the area. When you're working with lots of different communities, especially if you're trying to get them to work with each other and understand each other, figuring out what are your policies when you're working with different groups of people and how can you break down those preconceived notions that they might have about each other. Teacher and administration buy-in collaboration we're planning this came up several times. Should never be kind of telling the administrator we've got this great residency for you and then day one you show up. It's got to be planning time with the teacher and dedicated time. Sounds like a no brainer, but it shouldn't just be this is what we're going to do but it's kind of finding out even what they're teaching styles like. Are they very verbal? Are they on their feet? Do they like to do their things? How can you team teach with them? As one of our colleagues said, they shouldn't be in the back drinking a coffee smoking a cigarette anymore drinking a coffee or interrupting you for discipline issues they should be there as kind of a ideally a partner but at least kind of maybe a colleague. When we talk about the professional development built in ideally you should be kind of giving mebs and chops so that they can do it in the between time and you're not there. It's not about the money it's okay to walk away. If this is, the principle says I want to use puppetry to teach the digestive tract and that happened to me at a theater but we do Shakespeare so being able to walk away from a program and say it's not integral to what we do this is what we do we love to do with you but that's not who we are I thought accountability to support, not relieve or replace the classroom education we have organized ambiguity is okay meaning that the principle might come in and think it's chaos I call it organized ambiguity kind of letting you know what they're going to see if they walk in relationship building, language accessibility and then the last one that came up was thinking about contracts or agreements with the school whether it's a full contract there's a little statement of writing but a prenup to articulate expectations quantifiable value to the work including all parties in that conversation and then the last one was the idea that I know right about Peter does and that I used to do is if you are working in multiple schools in your city or rural county do you have some kind of sharing with your different school partners come together and celebrate all at once maybe just have a 15 minute round robin thing it builds community but it also shows the school system that you're interested in culture change and bringing people together just a second any questions about school programs going in teaching artists working with communities of trauma we don't expand our skill set I think the conversation was really we want our organizations we want to expand it into different communities but we also need to be willing to then expand our training and our approach to change our approach for different sets of teaching artist training and resource opportunities we did a lot of sharing of resource opportunities so if you're interested in sort of deepening the training and awareness and language of your staff you can check out the well they're all here and I have more that I will write down in a moment it led to another conversation about if you do facilitate a training how then do you keep that in-house and in-train of your staff so that the way and train yourself to facilitate the training which is its own set of things so there's a lot of work that can't be done and should be done how do you put those values into practice don't assume a TA skills based on optics don't assume teaching artists because of their background or the way they look or speak you don't necessarily have all that information about where they're going to be most successful versus experience who has something very we're talking about hiring practices instead of looking on someone's resume strictly at do they have experience talking about do they have the competencies that we need for this position so we can provide training and experience and being willing to do that this is also from an album we hired for diversity and training for assimilation yeah, I've heard to full disclosure that was the executive director of YWCA in Boston and she said that in her panel discussion and it felt so true that the conversations that we're having about EDI work and how many white folks are entering that conversation and it's suddenly a concern that the culture of our organizations are still not changing and so we're all really concerned about diversity but doing nothing it's the hands that Nicole that cartoon that she showed us earlier that we don't want to change but we want to have a diverse staff in both ways. In the classroom if you're working with dual language learners or you have dual language teachers universities are a great resource we'll write some of those resources down as well yes you guys there's like five pages I took so many notes I'm sorry I'm going to get some all up it's something that Jennifer said that was a really sort of I think important thought that she put into our discussion is think about the layers that the students have to walk through to get to you and then think about how many layers you've walked through to get to them that we need to all sort of look at ourselves and our staff and our organizations and make sure that we are meeting them halfway instead of asking them to come all the way to us and then the other big discussion we had is on how to create space that is for everybody and how to sort of educate the gatekeepers the teachers and the different sort of adults that come into your space that have their own ideas on what is appropriate theater behavior etc. and asking yourself as an organization how can I make a welcoming space do I need to change something and what how much space do you hold as well when you are going into communities that aren't yours like how much actual space you hold like how to be honoring with how you are like there was a really key moment today too when I think Nicole sat down and that's like an interesting example of how she was holding the space for us and the power in this work and then skip out the idea of invent what so maybe a community might come to a specific show might be involved in a specific event and then how do you sustain and cultivate and build and continue the welcome engagement that is ongoing into a two-way relationship that there are conversations that's happening around engagement what's going on to support the relationship moving forward there's parents in the communication on both sides work that is mutually beneficial so that it's not about like that it really is about coming together and that really it's rooted in story and how story and especially theater connects to the people now we're getting into the hour you're ready to go on the hour be alright with the first conversation being garbage how do you sit in what's uncomfortable showing off reducing versus presenting and what is that so that a lot of people are like what is engagement is it about that we're producing something in its performance or is the process just as valuable because we are process oriented engagement's responsibility don't be an ass pole so it's been laying he's a great first step is how do you start so one of the questions came up of really how do you start to have a conversation and something that had a lot of energy around it was the listening of how really to be present inside the listening and not assuming what the collaboration will be but really figuring out what it is then ask the base came up again find out what you need to bring to the table what is the knowing really knowing what your organizational reputation is in the community and maybe that might help to bring that down to the conversation bare witness I wasn't sure the proper bear I'm not sure I'm not sure I'm not sure I'm not sure and artists and also to have conversations in the community to not overlap and be aware of where our lives might be and where collaboration might be possible also something that can get to hear about supporting the work of other artists and where do we show up just to really bear witness to the work support of the work what is the short term versus long term like my partner, I got someone coming into the space for a short term and then how do you make it be ready to step in and ready to receive so really make there we had a whole conversation around making sure that your internal table is set in order to be ready to receive and really breaking down what is the culture of theater going for the theater and for audiences so that we really can be welcoming and come as you are and how do we have really thoughtful and intentional conversations about the welcoming space and how do you thread through the welcome through all aspects? Marketing? I was saying that we had an example of people at it, maybe it was something that happened recently at my institution where we thought about reaching out to groups as a whole rather than marketing to individuals. I work out in the least and tried to target individuals that are actually really North American or Western European concepts and that I was saying that people don't come to the theater or to shows or anything that we do if it's not in collaboration with their friends, even if it's a subject matter that's of interest to them or something that is important. So I was just talking about making sure you will get your angles properly especially when you're talking about community. I mean defining audience development versus community engagement and audience engagement. The stories on the stage and that the community will want to consume it so really be one of the stories that are on the stage and who they want to come. Note we were talking to in terms of engagement. Where are the assumptions, where are your assumptions and where can you break those down? When is compensation required in terms of pain for artistry, pain for consultation? So when is pay and standing up in that work and do you have something really great, I can capture it well about not holding on to the, like if we're really having these conversations but then we're holding on to the jobs. So then where is that and how do we break that down and honest about that? Can't see what we're saying, we're not saying we need to work physically in our faces with us. How do you engage with communities that have opposite beliefs and views from your work, views as the whole, views as the individual? Great example around a stage reading to launch community town calls to unpack ethical questions but how we not only engage from the point of view that we might pull with the theater company might pull but reaching across the aisle, plays that have a point of view from the right or right view, right leaning and really bringing that conversation to the forefront. And then we had a great drama, so then we resorted to that. Besides what you want to give and the assets you want to give and being really clear and specific and transparent about that. And then that there's synergy of what do we want to do in need and then what do they want to do in need and how we come together in that conversation for synergy and then we might end up living here. Still sad that what do they need in the relationship with the community? Great, great. I love that. Relationship with communities. Any of these four topics that somebody feels they haven't had a chance to share or they still, you know, burning issues that they want to talk about from today? I realize we never did this sort of lay of the land. How many people in the world are education directors or education staff at a theater? How many people are theater leaders, artistic and or managing directors? Are there any trustees in the world? No, teaching artists. Is there anybody I've not included in that in any category so far? Sorry, public school teachers who are higher education. There you go. And now it's going to happen. Service organizations? Service organizations and New York City Printed Education. No, not education. Yep, you are staying on for the rest of the TCG policy. For those of you, there's at least one session that I hope will be of interest. It's on Friday. I can't look at you and look at something close to me at the same time. On Friday there is at 11 a.m. an hour and a half breakout session on looking, it's called, looking back to look forward, building and sustaining a quality arts assessment system. So if you need a refresher or, you know, exposure to arts assessment, please come to that session. It is being moderated by Evelyn Francis and Pamela D'Casquale from Cleveland Playhouse is coming in forward. Julie Havens from Commonwealth Theater Center will speak along with Alison Hub, also from Commonwealth Theater, and Samantha Wire-Vello will also participate and also will have different models of assessment. There will also be an affinity space on Friday for education folks, so you will have another opportunity after a couple of days have passed and you sort of had a chance to mull all this over to come back together again and maybe process what's been going on at the conference and carry some of these things through. I'm wondering if there's any other conversation or discussion or questions about the conference in general that you want to pose now. How many people are coming to their first conference? So if you have any questions, navigate. The app is fantastic. Put it on your phone, please. Schedule your sessions tonight. Go to the agenda and, you know, build your agenda for yourself. I don't think there's anything wrong with ending a little early and just giving you guys a few minutes to chat. Do you have something you want to share? I just want to say come to the party. As a co-chair of the host committee, we have a great museum called the City Museum and I think it's pretty specific and unique to St. Louis and that's where the opening night party will be. So please join us. And this is all amazing learning that's going to go on this week as well as the late night party at the dot-zack on Friday. We've got some really awesome performances planned as well with a DJ. So we're here to also have a little fun too. Absolutely. I don't have other announcements, logistics, but yes. I have a question about the City Museum one. Are we exploring the museum or are we just like parting to the side of it? Like, should I wear jeans or a dress? Because I'd want to crawl through a tunnel. Great. I brought jeans. There's a where? This is an observation. I want to thank all of you. This has been an extraordinary day. It was really planned with a very large planning committee. I want to thank the planning committee. There were a lot of members of the planning committee here in the room. Thank you for all your time and helping to practice agenda through the day. It's been an amazing opportunity to hear some really wonderful voices. So thanking the speakers. I want to thank the entire Metro Theatre Company staff. Thank you all for your hospitality. There will be, there aren't yet probably, but there will be two buses to take everybody back to the Grand Hyatt at the Arch. There will be a welcome reception in progress. And we have our own special space in case we want to mingle together as a group. Mills Studio 3 has been designated for us. So please join us there. I do have some other announcements. These are your, if you are registered for that conference, these are your tickets. Don't lose them. Don't take them off and throw them away. You will need that through Saturday night. If you're registered through the conference, please go back to the hotel, to the registration table and register there for the rest of the conference. What we did today was just check in for here. If you purchased meal tickets, you'll need to let those at registration as well. If you are not staying for the rest of the conference, thank you so much for making a trip here for the one day. And I know there are people in the room who did that. Thank you very much. I'm going to ask you to give me your name text back because we're running short and I'm going to recycle it. And also we're going to reset this room to be like an open rehearsal. So if you don't mind lending your bra on to the effort, we'll maybe pick up our chairs and help put them back. And with that, thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you.