 I was uncomfortable because I'm not a very good bad cop everyone's streaming just so you know, there is no coffee in the space There's no coffee in the space And thank you so much, but please that's why we give you rakes indulge And stay caffeinated Or hydrated whichever lifestyle you prefer So now we're switching gears, but not Not not beyond what we learned earlier in the first session But in addition to and in context of right so that first session gave us such a beautiful lens of legal compliance Recentering our understanding and now we have the privilege of engaging with individuals who have actively engaged with creative Solution building solution generating within their own organizations And I am going to introduce them quickly and then we will start with shareouts Because I have pictures for everyone on this panel. I'm very excited about them So first we have Ed Stollsworth. He's the director of operations of new 42 studios Then we have Devin Berkshire who is the director of field wide communications with theater communications group No director of field-wide communications and learning conferences She does so many things Please look up Devin Berkshire on the theater communications group website and Jonathan Schmidt Chapman who's the executive director at theater for young audiences USA Roberta Pareda who is the producing director of the playwrights realm and we have Nicole Brewer returning Who's the founder of conscientious theater training theater through an anti-racist lens so welcome them with me? Thank you so much For being here Yes, so I'm starting with Ed. I have asked him to share something. Do you want me to go to someone else? Good because your slides first Yeah, yeah, please please share the microphone So I have asked Ed to share this photograph that you see and by the way We will be publishing this slideshow on our social media and on our website so that people can access it and Reference their notes But I have asked him to talk about a new 42 studios dedicated family room that serves as a lactation space caregiver and child support room for artists Yeah, you can apply for that. Please engage please interact That's the energy I feel as well I'm gonna allow him to to talk about it further. I just want to draw your attention to the word Dedicated in that it doesn't it's not also a broom closet. This is a dedicated space And Ed I would just love to hear from you the origins of this room and and and the story behind it. Thank you so much So at new 42 we were a larger not-for-profit and we have of course the new victory theater which is of course and rooted in families and and children and youth and youth engagement and but and we have the Duke on 42nd Street and the new 42nd Street studios and We've been doing this a long time and we have such a such a variety of people that utilize our space in particular in the studios We have very small not-for-profit dance companies. We have larger not-for-profits and we have really really big commercial Broadway productions that come in and film sometimes comes in rehearsal. It's it's the the users of the space is just is is really that's the range is enormous and One thing that we that we realize and I will say that it I think that it took us a little bit I wish I wish we'd realize this sooner is that is that our client isn't necessarily our end user And and the people who are actually using the space the people that were actually contracting with Maybe in the space for an invited presentation or maybe in the space, you know for a meet-and-greet or whatever But the end user is actually the person who we Who who we who we thought we had thought everything through but it's it but it's really it's really wonderful to come to these things and to to to to to to realize what we can do more and so This room came into you know because we have because we have people at New 42 who have who have become parents and And we did for a long time have different spaces that they would use they were thankfully never broom closets But they were but they weren't dedicated and they weren't and they weren't Always as as dignified as I wish that they they would have been so We we got together and we we found this space that that wasn't that was really a lovely size and Sat down and thought you know, what can we what can we do to to help the artist even further and So we came up with this space and the first thing we did was was was really put paint on it And you know and some some some furniture from from from target, you know It's not even it's not it wasn't it was a pretty low cost, but really high impact sort of venture that we did and It's been a big hit and I would say I You know for a long time in the beginning people were people were Kept calling it a new mom room and every time that would happen as a single father I would flinch a little bit and say we're gonna call it a new parent room. It's a new parent room and I would say that one one of the things that kept coming up in my head was in thinking about the artists and thinking about the people who use the space is I Wanted is the word belonging and the word because people would say inclusive all the time and that that was a great word But the word that that made me feel really Warm was was belonging and I want everyone who and new 42 once everyone who comes into the new victory or the Duke or Or the studios to to not only feel like they're coming there to work But to feel like that they that they really belong and that they and that that not only are Is what what they are doing and what they are creating? Incredibly important, but that their family is important to us also and that they have this dedicated space To use and I will say that as that I was I was very Sort of it was just a unique interesting story if you don't mind me sharing But the first person who actually used the space was was a gentleman who was pouring in a Broadway show and He came down and turns out that his his wife was also in a was also in a show And so she was rehearsing and that I think that their their mother her one of their mothers was helping out with the baby, but The mother would bring the baby to the studios and he was He shared with us that he's he he really wanted a space where he could feel comfortable to close the door and have privacy and actually remove his shirt and be able to feed the child and have that bonding moment in Complete privacy and it really he was it was bringing tears to his eyes and it brought tears to all sort of all of our eyes It's just a and he was just really really grateful and so So it's just it's it's been wonderful. We have our regular employees that use the space We have and anyone who comes into the who comes into the studios can use the space and you know We're always looking to do it a little bit better and make sure that we can Make sure that we can make sure that everyone who knows That we have the space so we're always trying to you know We have a suggestion box and everyone who comes into the space gets a security tag So we're making sure we've since we realized We give all this information to the clients But since they're not the end user it may not make it to the end user all this information the different things that we have so So right now we're coming up with different ways that we can really communicate with those people who walk into our doors And one of the things we're working on is just like you know a sticker on the back of their security tag that they can Read and realize the different things that are in the building that they can use that they may not realize is here They may not know to ask so I love that This sir. I've entered this space personally And as a parent as someone who has been in a variety of spaces, you know You know I have talked about this to enter a space where there was enough thought to put paint on the wall It tells me something about the how much they've thought of me And so when we were talking about value in humanity this sort of low-cost high impact is about anticipating saying how can we show that? We were compassionate and thoughtful before someone asks for the need I also want to point out the importance of you talking about How gendered our conversations around parenting can be in parent access And in just so that we're all clear We cannot have gender parity without including all genders as caregivers because then caregiving will continue to fall on the binary And continue to overwhelm women and individuals who identify off the binary transgender non-binary parents And so the understanding of when we have a dedicated space that you intentionally Created to be gender-inclusive it allowed for a father to engage in caregiving as well and have that bond With his child. That's really beautiful. I would love to also talk about the actual items in the space because they are so smart They they all have such utility. Can you just kind of give us a little your target list? Sure. Yeah That's also very low-cost. Yes. Yes, absolutely. There's I mean, it's a there's a very comfortable rocking chair The tables are there and specifically so that people can bring photos of their children and and put them put them there next to them while they're while they're while they're pumping or You know just to have that around them We have you know pretty inexpensive Bluetooth speakers so that people can put on the different types of music that they want We do have two chairs in there so that two people could use it at once and there's a privacy screen That's very very Light that if they if they do want privacy they can put it in between the two spaces and then we you know Bought a small refrigerator to store milk if they need to that's separate from clearly the green room and there's a You know little on the on the front of the door as a Vacancy or occupied little sign and then in the hallway outside We just put in a white noise machine just so that it's even a little bit that other level of privacy But we have yeah, so that's the actual stuff in the room Final final pop quiz in and I can I can assist with details But we're gonna be talking in a little bit about our PI, but the room was also used for caregivers and children Recently, do you want to share a little bit about the impact that had yes, so over the summer we had Performer come in and her and she had a six or seven year old with her her child and Their camp had been cancelled for the day and but she had rehearsal and so and she did she did have a caregiver with her But they and they were they went to our green room Which was fine, but the green room can get very crowded and you know those lots of other adults in there And so we so we had them we said, you know, we have this other dedicated space and so they went and sort of you know hung out there all day and Drew me a thank-you picture and it was really wonderful and And so so we do that and it's interesting because I've actually started using it myself I had to I had to have a conversation with my son's teacher and we all have It's an open office and I mean I could have had the conversation in the open office It wasn't bad, but I was just like I'm on a little privacy So I'm gonna go in here into the new parent room and use it as a parent and just and just sort of you know It's it's for me. It's like Our spaces are so are built to inspire creativity to be blank canvases to to to be safe and and I think that as a parent Sometimes you have that that thing in your head that that worry that that whatever it is in your head and that and if And if this room can help take away any of that worry that you might have or any of that concern that you might have then then it's my job to provide it to you because because Then I am I am helping make the space More accessible and take away that worry from your head so that it can maybe be more clear So that you can create even more in our other spaces That's my job and it's important that I do that Thank you And just to just to acknowledge this this transference of value that instead of Investing directly in the products investing in the people who are the contributors of making the thing that we say we make Thank you so much Ed. We're gonna shift to Devin Berkshire her title is still wrong, but it's all Googleable. So you can you share what you really do and I Have been working with Devin for a while. She is on our pal steering committee as well But the work that she does with TCG as an advocate for parents is wonderful as well And I've asked her to talk about managing remote work And creating affinity spaces for support. So this is on the topic of flexible work arrangements, right? If someone's like I need to work from home, what does that look like and and what can you share with us in terms of? Managing that yeah, so I'm actually the director of conferences in field-wide learning at TCG so I'm on the team that produces and programs are national convenings and When I first had a kid at TCG is the year that our conferences became family-friendly Because I needed to bring my five-month-old and pump while I was producing the conference and was like I shouldn't be the only one allowed to do this Um So that was the year we started talking about a family-friendly conference And I think we still have a ways to go till it's truly feels family-friendly, but we do call it that still um and Okay, so when I first became pregnant um I Had a wonderful supervisor who is still floating throughout the field Daveena McMillan who was not at the time on the family track and I just remember sitting down with her before I had my child and Telling her that I wanted to work from home one day a week Once my child was born and I came back from maternity leave and she did not bat an eye and said totally and just kind of went to bat for me for to our leadership and to our executive leaders and I just I have to lift her up for that and also just Put that into the space as a reminder that It's not just other parents and caregivers who can be our best advocates in our workspaces She was my supervisor and she was not a mom and not planning on being a mom anytime soon and frankly younger than me and she Was my biggest advocate during that time And I needed one because when I started this process at TCG I didn't have the same level of sort of access to our executive leaders and I Needed an advocate and she she was there for me And so I she empowered me to start advocating for myself and then As she left and I was sort of her successor in that role I Kind of try to pay that forward a bit and so I do think that is kind of like the cycle of advocacy in our organizations that we can start and perpetuate Starting now if we haven't already So that that began my journey of just sort of becoming a partial remote worker and We have had a leadership transition since then so I did have to sort of Readvocate for letting myself keep that schedule even as my Son grew and my child care needs were different than they were at the time when I asked for that Now it's honestly just about It's just about making the schedule a little bit more manageable. It's not about a specific child care need which it sort of was originally and Now I'm like known sort of as the mom at TCG who works one day a week But something in that started creating a lot of a lot more conversation. I think in our workplace for more remote working Technology obviously has made this much easier than it used to be and it's interesting I do have conversations with Mothers at TCG who are mothers of older kids who have been mothers at TCG since their kids were younger who asked for this decades ago and we're told straight up no and So we've come we've come a ways from then but also There is some friction almost between I would say between that generation and and mine and the ones below me the younger the younger generation even than me in In in these workplace practices partly because of that prejudice faced decades ago or a decade ago and the barriers the barriers put up for parents back then and Sort of this feeling of well I I managed to raise two kids and had to commute into work every day So, you know, why are we making kind of special accommodations for parents now? And I've had a lot of interesting conversations around that question with with parents of grown children and I do think I Do you think we've we've had some really productive conversations around why of that particular precedent and the way that things Have always been should never be a reason for just keeping things the way that they are and I do have to say like this is the the ability to remote work in today's workplace I mean, I know this doesn't apply to theater artists as much people who are visiting artists and who are Freelance artists. This is more about people who work in organizations on a day-to-day basis, but this really is a no-cost High impact solution. It does not have to cost anything in our workplace. We utilize Google now like Like it is the central system that we use it's where all our files are kept so I can do that anywhere Microsoft now you can access online So as long as your systems are sort of updated There is zero reason why you can't do a ton of your work from home unless you are in particular roles that keep you in the workplace in which case I do think We should empower our folks who because we have these conversations at TCG There are some roles as we start talking more and more about telecommuting and making that more of an option there are definitely roles that That I just have less less access to that option than others and we've started the conversations within departments about making sure that It is accessible for everyone at least sometimes. There is no reason it can't be for everyone at least sometimes and That the remote work is is a thing, but also we've started bringing our kids to work more I mean that was just when I was visiting a maternity leave that I didn't actually bring my like two-month-old baby to work, but Other than to visit but But I have brought my kid to work and set him up. I mean I've just been so touched about the actually how Open my colleagues have been to that and our executive leaders have been to that. There was such a warm welcome And I do think this is new. I think that this has come a little with our new leadership There was such a warm welcome to my like four five. He was five at the time four four-year-old son In my workplace and that the fact that they like took one of our central meeting rooms and our operations manager lowered the table so he could have the meeting room for a day and the table was his height and And and just like kind of put the chairs on the side and that became sort of like his reserve space for our reserve space for the day I've been in in theater workplaces. I always lived up Cleveland Playhouse because They I walked into their space when I did a conference site visit in 2015 And I I needed to I was on a site visit in and the first thing I needed to do was pump And I had to go into their space and be like I know I'm just here to tour your space But I'm somewhere where I can pump I gave them a heads up via email and they're like, you know, we got you covered and I'm like bracing myself to get put into You know a bathroom or a Backstage or something and they open up the door to a room that looked a lot like yours and they had a changing table and like a Play mad and it was there for young children and for New parents, but they also called it a privacy space for other employees to be able to use so there was sort of company-wide buy-in And they had a separate room for parents who needed to bring their kids to work Called the family room that had a workstation set up and like a play space For a parent to be able to have a private space where their kids could sort of be loud and play And they could also work sitting right beside them. And this was like four years ago and this blew me away So I do think remote work is is sort of one solution And it's huge for parents with schedules that are all over the place But also the ability to bring your kids into work when you actually need to be in the office but your kid randomly has a day off school that you can't figure out why it's a day of school, but like Does anyone know what I'm talking about? We have these random days for Chancellor's Day like what is that? so so Yeah, that that has to be something that I think for For truly inclusive like family-friendly practices in a workplace both things have to be possible Creating affinity spaces. I mean Rachel and I were talking about this This is actually sort of aspirational for us We do a lot of affinity spaces at TCT conferences around identity, but also around professional role in the field And actually I think it was 2015 actually co-facilitated with my colleague here Rob We did I think our first I Wouldn't call it an affinity space, but our parent a parent focused conversation and we've since had some affinities We had a mother's affinity space in Portland, which I co-facilitated with Rachel and our friend Kenesha and Affinity spaces hold a certain value for the folks in them That I don't think I'll get too far into I mean we all kind of know the value of solidarity And I think they can be used in a workplace for sure I've thought about creating a sort of caregiver affinity space at TCG and just sort of haven't gotten to him yet But I think there is there's a value in solidarity and in sort of mutual support outside the realm of kind of judgment from our peers and then there is a value in like action planning and sort of movement building even within a workplace and group sort of Advocating for each other and and planning on how to do that more in the space So I do think that affinity spaces in a workplace if you were to start one can be sort of Multi-purpose and you sort of have to decide what your affinity affinity space would be for But we do have affinity spaces at TCG internally in our culture We have one for people of color at TCG. We have one for women at TCG We have one for artists at TCG So affinity space is by and large in workspaces I'm I'm like a big advocate for but a caregiver one is something that anyone can do If your workplace does buy into the notion of affinity spaces and want to make room for that kind of Sort of employee personal development, which I'm also a big advocate for Then that is one place to really start other than that. I would also advocate for forming just like a discussion group around how Your organization can make Can engage in family-friendly practices sort of at large or caregiver friendly practices at large Which ultimately do kind of benefit everyone at the organization whether they're a caregiver or not. So I'll stop there It's pretty good You may engage I saw some people go Go for it. Thank you She was so generous we can be too I also know So she's being very passionately I know firsthand from the work that she's done in the work that we've engaged in together that this works I just want to address I can read minds some alarm bells that are going off in your heads Insurance liability of the space children in the space dot dot dot First of all Broadway babysitters just to give another shout out. They have mobile insurance That covers any space that their caregivers occupy. So there are organizations and if you're in New York City Here's an example of one you can use Where their caregivers have the insurance that your space needs in order for a child to be taken care of Also, if you are attached to a university, you need to double-check that against the university's HR policy But I also want to say when we're talking about Children in the space and you're in an area of the country where an organization like Broadway babysitters is not available Take a look at your HR handbook Take a look at your insurance together either with your HR or your general manager and say does this cover Unaccompanied minors or is it okay to have accompanied minors in the space? It depends so much on whether or not the guardian is constantly present with the child So I just encourage institutions if you're terrified of the liability conversation Still engage because there is a plethora of options that could create support for the parent Even if you can't imagine it right away when they ask for it I'm also going to advocate for this idea of Mobile remote work since Devon I've been talking about and I've been engaging with different groups about it remote work Helps parents, but it's one of those solutions that has interconnected access possibilities think of people who have limited mobility Access when you create a policy in your organization that you are allowed to engage digitally What you're saying is that you are making spaces as accessible as possible and when there's a limitation You still want to create a way for your people to show up and be engaged and some some advanced player tips If you're doing remote access start with a personal check-in and always end with a shared task list So everyone knows what's expected of them and that goes back to HR's write everything down Amazing and and actually what you said What you said in terms of don't accept this is just the way it's always been done That's going to come back to us as well. So if everyone holds on to that nugget I'm going to also now shift to Jonathan Schmidt Chapman who is the executive director for theater for young audiences USA And I did get that one right right And he's gonna talk to us about I'm not managing remote work. That's a copy paste look at the picture So this this thing. Yeah, you may as it inspires you I'm gonna allow Jonathan to share with us what this is an image of but it's wonderful information in regard to Maternity and paternity leave survey for theater for young audiences. Thank you It's such an honor to be here and I speak to you today as an artist an organizer and a parent my husband and I are parents to a almost three-year-old So before I get into those numbers, I want to talk to you a little bit about theater for young audiences USA So I represent about 800 members around the country professionals theaters artists who are focused on young people specifically And I think the first thing to kind of unpack is when I say children's theater Some people in this room depending on your point of view probably have a stereotype or an image in your head And it may be lesser than art for tall people or taller people and I think This conversation needs to include a conversation around how we value young people have we value children What kind of art we think they deserve because we within our industry Discriminator against kids or have biases against kids and families that impact policy So when we think about well, it's just for kids. It doesn't have to be that high quality They don't it's not really art. It's for kids I'm gonna get my equity card doing that show for kids so that I can make the real art All of these things that are baked into the way we we think about young people within our industry affect policies for kids affect the way we think about kids and families and when we look internationally the way as we view childhood within the arts and Creating for young people is much more fluid depending on where you are then in our country Which is very siloed and we see the industries is distinct. So I just they feel like we need to throw that out in the room first our theaters within the TYUSA network spend their time very thoughtfully thinking about how do we serve families How do we create art that speaks to young people? Age appropriately, how do we challenge them? How do we inspire them? How do we create spaces that are Uniquely family-friendly. So there's a whole lot of expertise within the TYA field that I think doesn't necessarily Transfer over to the there's no good term for it the adult theater the you know theater that is for adults So one offer I want to make is that I feel like we can create more symbiotic Relationships between the industries around this conversation and we'll get into that in in a little bit So so this year TYA USA launched our first National study and a collection of data around the industry specifically of TYA TCG has been doing this for a long time and when I took my position about two years ago I was asked all the time for that those numbers around the industry and had nothing And was shocked to find that there really hadn't been a comprehensive data collection around the professional Theater for young audiences industry nationwide, so we just published a study on all kinds of statistics around The theater's business practice and learned a lot things that we some things that we inherently know But now we have numbers to support and other things that we didn't know and now we have data backing it up So one of the things we learned or wanted to learn about was paid maternity and paternity leave and this is broken down by budget size So you could see the percentage of theaters within each of those budget categories We have 50 theaters responding to this question 60 theaters were eligible to take our survey And so it was a pretty high response rate And a pretty even breakdown among those budget categories And it's interesting we were talking about this earlier to see that drop when theaters get to a certain budget level That's just an interesting thing. I think you know one of my assumptions is maybe that's about the Conversation we were having earlier around what we if we had offered to you we have to offer it to everyone And as the theaters scale up and organizations get bigger that potentially gets harder to offer those policies This is outside of paid vacation time. So this is specifically paid leave And I think you know unfortunately this conversation with theater for young audiences needs to be Contextualized within a conversation about the financial realities within the TYA sector So other data that came back in this study demonstrates how as an industry we're trying to produce theater at the same level with the same structures with the same unions as theater for taller people and yet our ticket prices are Well below 50% of what we can earn based on what our colleagues can earn But you know ticket pricing and structures run subscriptions Ability to have donors because young families even though they are direct patrons are not necessarily giving Philanthropically the way our colleagues are able to build a base of donor of donor engagement So all and the way the funding community looks at children and doesn't see us as art alongside our Our counterparts that are applying for similar funding from theater Foundations so all of these things add up to the fact that that even if our organizations want to support parents They're unable to the budget structures are such that we're already kind of in addition Disadvantaged place structurally Most of our theaters don't have HR people You know we're unable to really provide those structures even if we want to and so the conversations I've been having with pal have really led to TYA USA thinking about how do we push the TYA field forward because arguably We should be leading this conversation our Organizations are structured around the best policies for our families We're constantly thinking about how to serve our families and children as audiences We should be making it. We should be Be the boundary breaking in terms of supporting artists and professionals working in the industry So it shouldn't mean that once you become a parent. It's no longer possible to be an artist making work for young people Right, we should be including the parents it would be artists who become parents in that conversation And what's interesting is a lot of our theaters are thinking about how to include young people in the rehearsal process Or the development room children are brought into Rehearsal processes or workshops or readings and yet we're not quite connecting the dots around how to create rehearsal spaces for artists with kids and And and potentially even creating processes where artists as parents can create work for kids including their children in Development and what that could look like. I think that could be a model for us The other point is that for child matinees for example at regional theaters at theaters for adults There could be more collaboration between TYA theaters and regional theaters in the same cities that don't talk to each other right now Around joint programs, you know rather than just offering child care during a matinee What if a program was built led by teaching artists so that kids are actually Engaged in something that's meaningful artistically while their parents are watching a matinee Or their caregivers are watching a matinee and what would that mean to create a vibrant space within a theater for adults? That is in partnership with the children's theater locally How what can we learn from each other and I think those those bridges need to be built in a way that right now We're I'm seeing across the industry that the children's theater sector and the adult theater sector are totally siloed within the same cities including New York And finally so we have a festival and conference as well annually We present about 12 shows for young people that professionals come in to see it's a networking conference for Professionals in the TYA industry and it's a really weird thing to have like 300 adults watching a show for kids And that's like the world. I always have lived in And this past conference we said how do we make our conference truly family friendly? We have the opportunity where we're hosting our conference at the Alliance theater Which is I think a real leader in thinking about Families and kids as part of an institution alongside the new victory These are two like the most forward-thinking venues around this issue the Alliance also has a similar space To the new 42s. They have a toddler takeover festival every year where they have Hundreds of families with kids under five that take over the whole Woodruff Art Center and our conference overlapped with that festival So for the first time we offered a family package for attendees who could bring their kids to the shows at the conference and Sessions and take part in the programming and we saw huge response We had about 30 families come and professionals who have said I've come to this conference for years I've never brought my family. This was a totally different experience to get to bring my kids To into a professional space where I'm normally, you know, thinking about my kids at home watching work that they could connect to and so by providing that in invitation we were able to Connect those dots and think more about how to support think about our professionals within our industry as parents themselves Yeah, thank you so much. I'm gonna For once ask you to hold your plasks. I'm gonna keep diving in here Jonathan and I have had wonderful conversations on this topic and and the word that I want to highlight is Intergenerational and how as a field we lack intergenerational conversations And to connect this to buy-in right the language Let's let's also know that what's ringing in my head that I hear all the time from Theaters of all the way up to production contracts and commercial level. How do we bring more young people into the theater? How do we get them to buy our tickets? And the problem is when you tell the children that they're not allowed in the space as they're growing up When you tell them that their theater is different from our theater Why should they once they turn 18 jump to your box office if they haven't felt included there since the beginning? And so this understanding of it's not just about audience engagement and engaging with the community It's engaging with an intergenerational community this idea of family packages. I think it's absolutely brilliant Come enjoy this conference with your family I would jump out because that sounds so much easier than finding a babysitter who I'm paying I also want to lift up a seed art share and rally North Carolina everyone at home Google them You can Google them here and they develop curated programming for children to go along with the theater shows the parents are seeing So that when the families go home, they talk about the art together And also want to lift up our pal chief rep and rally North Carolina Johanna Maynard Edwards, who is the executive director of women's theater festival rally North Carolina Their festivals are just to affirm this this concept that Jonathan's proposing Is so doable? They created a family accessible conference Festival this year and seed art share came alongside them to create programming so Pal is very excited about engaging in this intergenerational conversation because when we succeeded building this network We can help facilitate those conversations and imagine How much more robust our understanding of the art is that your people create when we have a stake in it? As we should, you know, there shouldn't be that budget gap either So Thank you so much for that. Is there anything else you want to add in terms of You said that there was an outlier on the sheet or did you feel that was covered on the budget survey? Oh, no, I think that was covered Yeah, I'm just curious. I think that that now providing statistics for the TY field will hopefully lead to conversations about a Lot of these numbers increasing or thinking about well, our colleagues are doing it How can we do that? That was kind of the goal of this study was to unite a very siloed field In terms of thinking about how we're where we were ranking on a lot of these policies And compare it to our colleagues within the TCG network and thinking about where we fit as a subset of a larger industry Because some of the realities are different, but there's a lot we can share Brilliant. Thank you so much. Now you may applaud I won't hold your hands anymore So brilliant So good, and we're gonna jump to Nicole. I shifted the order on you apologies But this is too surprise This is to go Nicole Brewer who we spoke to earlier founder of conscientious theater training theater through an anti-racist lens I've asked Nicole to share a story of her experience when she asked for access for something to be done differently and the answer that came back was a semi-no because It was it had always been done that way So could you share with me what that example was and how how it worked out? Sure, so I was directing and Thank God in this case for white supremacy culture workplace culture in terms of a culture of exhaustion because There was some miscommunication between these different individuals At this organization, which allowed me to then slide in with my need and then Ignore emails saying otherwise right and to get what I need it so basically it was around, you know that rehearsal schedule being at nighttime and How for my family? I'm the strong parent in my family and it just means like all the logistical things like I say care of right and So it's very disruptive when I'm gone at nighttime for the that period of time and For this particular production. It actually just wasn't necessary for me to rehearse at nighttime and so I made the request to rehearse during the day and That was pushed back with like well. No one has asked for that in 20 years and that's the email. I ignored And then we were able to rehearse during the day, right? Which was much better for me to rehearse during the time for that particular Organization that my kids were already in school and allowed me to then be present for them At nighttime, which is just important in my family for maintaining those kind of rituals While still allowing me to practice my art. So yeah, that was one instance of just going. Oh Okay, I can actually ask for what I need and I will preface this by saying that that decision was based off reading an article That I had just read around the like pal curated series and it was just present in my mind that that is actually something that I could ask for right so Thank you for that And it ended up working in my favor So That access was created for you because you made a decision To choose not to abide by the way that it's always been done I don't want to challenge the room that whenever that phrase comes up in your own mind or comes up in conversation To offer the question the next question. Yeah, but why and aren't there more than one way to do things? And just like it's okay to throw the ball and the other person's court I've also asked Nicole to share, you know, once that access in the space is created to share an example Of how she makes access for other people and why in terms of one of the examples that she shared with me I've done an interview with her and put it on the podcast. I'm so excited in terms of when people show up Late into the space and what's behind your decision for how you treat that moment? Yeah, so when I am directing things or even facilitating I Want people to feel seen and I want them to be able to bring their full authentic selves to Whatever it is that we have gathered to do right and some of the things that have been done to me around lateness Carry this huge weight of shame Right that I should have been able to you know be there on time And I know that when I went through my BFA training it was just like Hammered in that you know to be on time was to be late, right? And that we needed to be 15 minutes early And so we could just have this kind of presence around time then life happened and I had some kids and sometimes my kids are just hell bent on Us not making it to where we need to be right On time and again, there was just a lot of shame with that showing up with spittle or the anxiety around come on Let's just go like I have this phrase now or I tell my kids walk with purpose. Yeah, just walk with purpose So I would show up to things constricted Jawtight body tight spirit tight. Who's clocking me? Who's checking me and do I have one of those three acceptable reasons for being late, right? That I could give to someone and then they can like give me the freedom to just be so I didn't want to uphold that and so Wherever people are coming from I welcome them. I say welcome, right? I let them put their stuff down and I just check in with them and Have like a little exercise around that but I think that that's really important for just setting folks agency Around you take care of what you need to take care of Please don't skip a meal so you can be here on time and then be here, you know hungry and upset Don't rush your kids out the door Without having to make whatever your ritual is with your kids because you feel like the time is more important or getting to the job Is more important and sometimes we just need Unstructured time before we transition into the next thing or at least I'll speak from the eye Sometimes I need unstructured time before I transfer into the next headspace to process and be present And so for me It's very very very important to kind of like address and I'm gonna use a phrase that came from Let's playwright James. I'm so I absolutely love James goes. Well, what's the DNA behind that? So for me really going oh, I'm upholding this thing around time Oh, I understand the DNA around this like white supremacy culture and this culture of exhaustion and this culture of production Right as seen through the eyes of prejudice and bias and racism Wait a minute You know, there's another way to be and I have found that people are really receptive To not having to categorize their life Under like some was sick. I was sick traffic death. I Feel like I'm missing one. You know, I mean The train. Yes, or the train. Yeah Yeah, that's so beautiful and and to just to echo what you're saying like to Understand it like I offered to ask the question. Well, but why do we do it that way? I think so often the phrase time is money whether we're consciously or subconsciously using it comes to mind So when someone's 10 minutes late, they've cost you money and money is already tight And it's because we are coming from a place in our field Where resources are so limited that this person for them to cost you in a way that's not productive Feels like an attack It feels like it's compromising your room and I would encourage us to Disassociate those two things where actually time is a resource And if that person if you trust that person and they show up and they have borrowed some of your time They've borrowed some of your resource, but if they need it to contribute to the room They're actually going to be giving it back, right? Yeah, thank you and I've I've I've always like had a more flexible understanding but this intentional word welcome I just thank you for sharing because I use it now and Rebert, uh, yes, we're jumping to you So Rebert and I recently worked on a project at a playwright's realm called the radical parent inclusion project I'm gonna kind of pause on that for a little bit because one of my favorite stories in terms of a creative problem solving that Roberta has is How she shaped her leave and so I've asked her to Share that story and kind of break down what that looks like Yeah, so first thing I just want to say that just being the space and actually listening to all these stories It's very special to me because my daughter who's now to she's sitting on my lap in that picture Actually her first show that she saw was actually in this very room about a year ago I brought her to see the mobile units mid-summer night stream and we sat right there And can you take a one-year-old to see Shakespeare apparently you can because I did and it was all right everybody survived And she loved it And so yeah, so talking about specifically about the reserve and leave policy So at my organization the playwrights realm I Was not the first person to have a baby at the organization I actually have heard of I will not name this specific theater But a theater that's been around for a long time like over 40 years I think and apparently they never had a pregnant employee in all that time And so they do not have a maternity leave policy true story, but That was not the case in my theater. Although we are much smaller theater But when I became pregnant I suddenly it was like what do we do like we actually don't have a formal policy It was like an ad hoc thing like when people had the need we talked to them specifically and so I I Started thinking about this and speaking to my artistic director who's not a parent But was very open to this we are an organization that's led by two women and so that's also a very unique thing sadly, but true and The idea we wanted to supplement. There's obviously in New York not obviously, but I hope most of you know the parent the parental leave the FM what is called FM LA FM LA and it doesn't cover all of it. It's going, you know a little bit better each year, but the So what we decided to do as an organization is that we were going to put in our policy like this was going to Become part of a HR handbook That the realm would cover would make it would make it whole so whatever FM LA would cover The realm would cover the rest of it as well for anybody and actually for all the reasons the FM LA is for Adoption for there's a couple of other for actually taking care of elderly relatives as well or somebody with the sickness And so we decided to cover all of that and how are we going to be able to cover that? You know talking about going back to the board and saying The way that we have built the realm is that we have built a Reserve and so every year when you have a little bit of extra money We started creating this reserve and over 12 years this reserve has built up and the idea for this reserve originally was For creative risk-taking is what we call so whenever we decide to do a show that it's a little bit bigger You know like yes, we're doing the wolves. There's 10 actresses in it So how are we gonna pay for that we could? Take from this reserve if necessary, but then my idea in terms of creativity was how could we? Look at this reserve not just for the creative risk-taking How could it be for other things as well because obviously the the difficult thing for planning for a lot of these things is that? You could have a year that nobody Needs that and then you could have a year that five employees need that so you have to have the Flexibility in your budget to be able to accommodate that And I love flexible budgeting as Rachel knows And so the idea was that we would have ability and so you wouldn't have to Mess with our bottom line right so this was something that was totally out and presented it to our board The board was gonna ask all these questions and then I explained I was like let me get through my presentation Then I'll answer any questions at the end I got through the whole thing and I was a reserve and then I saw I was like any questions And there was no questions everybody all the questions that you're asking like we cover them and everybody thinks that's great And so that has been a policy that we have had in place now for a few years Which has been wonderful And another thing I want to add to that's a little bit outside of this, but Since the topic is creativity I was looking around at this panel and I actually have literally Collaborate and aware or another with everybody in this panel right from doing multiple shows with Ed and doing panels for the two of you And then sharing some of my data with you And so I think that this is the other thing that's really powerful in this room and like we're sitting here and everybody's there But there's moments where it's like I would say connect because I think that this is where like sometimes you call somebody and I Remember calling Ed and being like oh, I want to do this childcare matinee and I need a room because it needs to be in The middle of the day and I thought it was going to be a whole thing and Ed was like oh, yeah, that sounds good And I was like that's the call that's it So what I will say is like have these conversations like the people and the fact that everybody who's in this room already I would say means that they care about this and they know this an important subject So like let's have these conversations and see how we can share resources share Even like experiences good and bad experiences because I think that that's how we advance The whole field and you know theater of all ages. I think that that's why it's so important to have you here as well So that's the other thing that I wanted to just say out loud because this is is one of the most powerful things I think it's going to come out of today Absolutely and that that gets at the heart of why we're meeting and how you can use these breaks and you know We thought about making lunches. It's coming up in a little bit like also a work session You're like oh my gosh But we've we've allowed for space for you all to talk with each other And it's because by developing these relationships if you feel alone in your organization If you feel alone in these conversations because you're a part of this room Even if you're watching online, you're not alone anymore Start to engage with the people who are here and and have those conversations and pal is committed You know like when you go back to your offices and this is not even on the agenda Pal is committed to always having it number one So you always have a resource hub to come back to and we can help reconnect you with some of these people as well We're about to slip into the Q&A if I could get a time check perfect. You all hit it right on the head Time is the resource But I just want to do a final call to action Just to go back to theater for young audiences USA that for regional theaters If you know that there's a theater for young audience member in your city and in your area reach out start having the conversation Connect with Jonathan connect with myself because we're ready to start talking about what does this look like? So so look them up make a phone call. You might find some really wonderful collaborators and friends All right. Thank you so much for watching online engage on social media and we're gonna go to spy mode