Life as a Modern Dancer

Dance Pedagogy for a Diverse World: Culturally Relevant Teaching in Theory, Research and Practice

New Book

Dance Pedagogy for a Diverse World:

Culturally Relevant Teaching in Theory, Research and Practice

Blog Post By Nyama McCarthy-Brown, Author

 -----

Dance Pedagogy for a Diverse World: Culturally Relevant Teaching in Theory, Research and Practice, is the go-to resource for dance educators and dancers who want to explore issues of culture, race, gender, diversity, and equity in the dance classroom. In order to cover a range of topics and offer multiple perspectives, I brought various educators in the field together to provide a myriad of voices. The backgrounds of contributors range in specialty from physical practice to dance theory and included student populations from k-12 to post-secondary.

In the first three chapters, the book provides general information on culturally relevant teaching for dance. Culturally relevant teaching specifically focuses on the needs of students outside the dominant culture. However, because diversity is not only for those outside the dominant culture, the book also offers information on how to provide diverse course materials for all students. Every student can benefit from learning about the richness and value of dance forms outside their particular specialty. 

Chapter four focuses on diversifying ballet classes in teaching approach as well as content. In chapter five, the challenges of privileging Western choreographic devices are brought forth. Selene Carter and I present critical dance pedagogy (a teaching method centered around critical questions of power) as a viable option for dance-making in chapter six. In this chapter there is particular attention to working with non-normative bodies and racial stereotypes. In chapter seven, Dr. Julie Kerr-Berry employs critical pedagogy, as she addresses Whiteness in Dance History. Native American powwow dances are featured in chapter eight, written by Dr. Kelly Fayard, Director of The Native American Cultural Center at Yale College. The term “World Dance” is recognized as problematic and examined in chapter nine. This chapter can offer entry into critical pedagogy for many who are beginning to question the structures of power in dance and how they have manifested in the dance lexicon.

Bay Area artist Corrine Nagata, of Nagata Dance, shared chapter ten with Liza Kroeschell. It serves as a wonderful guide for new teachers. The chapter offers numerous tips for educators struggling with class management, or dance teachers transitioning from a conservatory setting to k-8 dance education.

Readers will find valuable resources, insights, and information throughout this text. Dance Pedagogy for a Diverse World: Culturally Relevant Teaching in Theory, Research and Practice, has something for dance educators of all ages in numerous genres, and much of the content can be applied to other disciplines in the arts.

To purchase the book, please click here.

----

Dr. Nyama McCarthy-Brown is an Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance at Indiana University. She received her BA Degree in Political Science from Spelman College in 1999 and completed her MFA in Performance and Choreography at the University of Michigan in 2003. She was awarded the Future Faculty Fellowship from Temple University in 2007. At Temple, she completed her PhD with a focus on Dance Education and Cultural Studies. 

------------

The Arts Administrator's Alphabet: Letters J and K

Design: Jenny Lederer www.jennylederer.com

Throughout 2017, we will be using the alphabet as a novel way to unpack the many concepts of arts administration. Please join in. Thank you to the following arts administrators for adding ideas to the project:

• Ashley Thorndike-Youssef, Now Next Dance
• Fernando Maneca, BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange
• Hillary Kooistra, Abraham.In.Motion
• Kathryn Humphreys, Hubbard Street Chicago
• Katie Kruger, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center
• Liz Hitchcock Lisle, Shotgun Players
• Phyllis Haskell Tims, University of Utah (retired)
• Rebecca A. Ferrell, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Sarah Crowell, Destiny Arts Center
• Tammy Cheney, Lines Ballet

Arts administration relates to work at dance centers, arts councils, arts education programs, companies, and college programs. Please read on to explore the many and varied topics within arts administration. While not every topic applies to every setting, we hope that you will still find one or two ideas in the post that are useful and applicable to your particular setting. Please feel free to add ideas and links in the comments section below.

This week, we will talk about letters J and K:

• Job titles
• Job descriptions
• Job postings
• "Keep/Stop/Start" evaluation format

---------------

Let's unpack, consider, and reflect upon each one of these words. Even before reading further, you might want to take the list of 4 ideas here and simply journal for your organization. What do these words and phrases mean to you at your organization?

J is for Job Titles

Director, Coordinator, Manager.....Teaching Artist, Arts Specialist, Teacher, Instructor.....

What are the current titles used at your organization? Is there a clear pathway for growth and leadership? Can an employee spend the next 10 years moving from coordinator to manager to director?

For the sake of inspiration and reflection, I encourage you to check out a few examples here; each link goes to an organization's staff page.

Luna Dance Institute in Berkeley, CA

The Dance Complex in Boston, MA

Destiny Arts Center in Oakland, CA

Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in Salt Lake City, UT

American Dance Festival in Durham, NC

Also, I want to highlight the innovative model that Kyle Abraham's company - Abraham.In.Motion - is using. They have dancers as administrators as well. Read more here in a previous post with Company Manager Hillary Kooistra:

http://blog.lifeasamoderndancer.com/2016/04/becoming-an-arts-administrator-5-questions-for-hillary-kooistra-of-kyla-abrahamabrahaminmotion.html

J is for Job Descriptions

Hand in hand with the job titles, there are the job descriptions. To state an obvious question, do you have on hand a written job description for each of your employees? If someone left next week, are you prepared? A job description ideally lists: needed traits/qualities, needed skills, experience desired, work hours, travel required, benefits, who do you report to and who do you supervise, etc.

To find out more about other arts administrators around the country, check out these previous posts:

Ashley Peters, Accounts Manager and HR Staff Liaison at Gibney Dance

Ashley Thorndike-Youssef, Executive Director of Now Next Dance

Becky Radway, Associate Artistic Director/Managing Director of Triskelion Arts

Caroline Yost, Development Associate of Elisa Monte Dance

Daniel Charon, Artistic Director of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company

David Leventhal, Program Director for Dance for PD

Gigi Arrington, Education Director at Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company

Hillary Kooistra, Company Manager of Abraham.In.Motion

Kathryn Humphreys, Director of Education, Youth and Community Programs at Hubbard Street Dance

Kelsey Favret, Development Associate at ADF (American Dance Festival)

Laura Faure, Director of the Bates Dance Festival

Leah Cox, Dean of ADF (and Former Director of New York Live Arts/Bard College partnership)

Lucia Scheckner, Education Director at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange

Nicolle Wasserman, Director of School Administration at ADF

Sarah Crowell, Artistic Director at Destiny Arts Center

Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Artistic Director of Elisa Monte Dance

J is for Job Postings

And, when you are looking for a new employee, or searching for work yourself....where do you look and post? I suggest the following national venues:

• Dance/USA email list
• NDEO (National Dance Education Organization) email list
• Arts Education Partnership email list
• If you send me a posting, I will share through the Life as a Modern Dancer Facebook Page (email [email protected])

 ---

K is for "Keep/Stop/Start" Evaluation Format

The letter K is a little lean, but the idea of "Keep/Stop/Start" is a great one to consider. When doing evaluations, you can employ this idea with several people involved. Let's say it is time for my own evaluation (I am the Artistic Director of a nonprofit dance center...) The Board asks me to reflect and write about what I want to:

• KEEP doing - my strengths, my work habits, my leadership, my projects...
• STOP doing - areas of weakness and inefficiency, work pulling away from the mission and goals for the year...
• START doing - dreams/goals/aspirations, new skills to build, new projects and initiatives, new goals...

This simple activity could then be completed about me by one or two board members and one or two colleagues (such as our Executive Director and Education Director). During my evaluation meeting, we can discuss what we each wrote, the similarities and differences, and create new goals and areas of growth for the coming year.

--------------

A Life in Dance: A Practical Guide (by Rebecca Stenn and Fran Kirmser)

Post by Rebecca Stenn

A Life In Dance: A Practical Guide is a book written with the intent to broaden a dance artist’s knowledge of the possibilities available to them --- providing inspiring stories of dancers both known and unknown, who have trodden multiple and varied paths. The first half of the book delivers enlightening and personal narratives from over 40 dancers from all generations and genres including Concert Dance, Broadway, Film, and Television. In writing and editing the book, we strove to be true to the extreme diversity of the dance world by including as wide-ranging and all-embracing a group of artists as possible. The second half of the book offers a resource guide for dancers, including outlets that can help answer questions and provide direction for: student loan debt, health insurance, legal advice, funding resources, financial planning, studio space rental needs, and much more.

The inspiration to write it:

Five years ago, while teaching a class at The New School, I had a simple, clear idea about how we might broaden the notion of what a life in dance could mean, and I decided I would write a book that endeavored to delve deeply into this awareness.

I started with this recognition: In dance, a largely wordless art, our shared history is passed down chiefly through visual imagery. We learn to dance by watching our predecessors, by listening to the way they move their bodies and subsequently tuning in to our own movement sensibility. There is a rich practice in this, but something else is required too. In addition to rigorous physical and artistic training, dance artists also need to take part in the extensive tradition of storytelling that other art forms champion to learn the basic realities of having a career in dance, of existing and thriving in the dance world, and of widening the definition of what a life in dance can mean. In short, dancers need to learn how to advocate for themselves, and they need clear, concise guidance about how to do it.

For almost a decade now, I have taught a course entitled, The Practical Side of Performance. I began creating the course with this simple idea: we learn by first observing, then experiencing, and finally by reflecting on what we’ve seen and done. The idea for the course came about as I watched and listened to each group of graduating seniors in the arts as they wrangled with the concept of reconciling all they had learned about craft, rigor, and discipline with ways of actually going out there and creating work, showing work, and making a living doing it. In other words, How did one parlay all that training in one’s craft into an actual career in the real world, beyond the walls of the academy? There was a genuine, tangible need for this course, as the students who had trained in dance, theater, film, visual arts, music, and creative writing faced the ominously practical realities of supporting themselves as serious artists.

As I approached the development of a course outline, I knew I had to stay true to the maxim that we learn by observing and then doing. How could I do this with a class made up of students spanning all of the artistic disciplines? Because my own personal background is in dance, and because the class would be populated so broadly, I determined early on that the best course of action would be to invite guest speakers from each of the disciplines to come into the class to share their stories. At first glance, the idea of sitting around listening to stories from working artists might not appear to be particularly academic or rigorous. But I knew this would work. The stories and anecdotes led to questions and discussion, and even heated debate. The observation phase of the learning had begun. Taking in the way someone else had navigated and created the map of a life and career was helping students to become aware of the possibilities and to start to think about all of the inherent choices that lay ahead.

Along the way (while assembling reading lists for my students), I noticed that there was a conspicuous absence of resource type books in dance, that addressed these particular needs. There was one such book and it was excellent, but the most recent edition had last been published twenty years ago. My students and I joked that someone should write a book. It wasn’t until I had the epiphany of sorts that I mentioned at the start of this article, that it became clear to me, that I should begin writing and gathering histories.

In thinking about how to organize the book, I knew it had to be true to the same narrative and maxim I had employed both in my class and in my life: that we learn from listening and watching first and then undertaking our own paths. Therefore, I determined early on that the book would be filled with profiles of people who have made a life for themselves in dance. We would sit around and listen to stories.

Who should read it?

A few years into the process, Fran Kirmser (Tony award winning Broadway producer, consultant and former dancer) came on board as co-author, and things really started to roll. We began to make comprehensive and far reaching lists of people we thought offered unique perspectives on the field and subsequently asked them to share their stories with us. There are many beautiful voices that populate the book and through this, we hope that young, emerging dance artists (and others too) will find in it sources for vision, courage and possibility.

In our time, with the advent of the internet and the proliferation of information available there, it becomes less important for a book like this to list every possibility. For us, the significance is discovered, rather, in the personal stories, the anecdotes and tales that aren’t found in lists of performance venues on the internet. The book does include a comprehensive resource guide with plenty of pertinent information, but it was more so our intention to guide with the profiles and the stories they impart and to allow readers to find their own way.

Finally, in putting the book together, I began to identify a recurring theme that has, over the years of my career in dance, become infinitely important to me: there is no one path to success or indeed one correct way of doing things. There is truth to the notion that to attain great skill one needs to put in hours and hours of work and years of discipline, but the belief that all is lost if one doesn’t fit a certain mold is both wrong and dangerous. We aim, in the book, to open up the definitions of a successful career in dance, to widen the conventional path, and to present the countless options that continuously unfold as a career matures. We hope that by offering these many varied profiles, we present an enormously broad perspective. Becoming a dancer is a constant evolution, muddy and complicated and overlapping and joyful and tremendously scary and meaningful.

Websites: 

www.alifeindance.com

www.rebeccastenncompany.com

www.frankirmser.com

To purchase the book on amazon.com, click here.

Photo: George Del Barrio. Rebecca Stenn (left) and Fran Kirmser (right)

Bio of Rebecca Stenn

Rebecca Stenn - dancer, choreographer, educator, and writer - founded Rebecca Stenn Company in 1996. The company has since performed to critical acclaim and sold out houses in over 50 cities including such venues as The Copenhagen Festival, The Edinburgh Festival, The Joyce Theater, BAM Fisher, The Kitchen, Danspace Project, New York Live Arts, Joyce SoHo, Symphony Space, Dance New Amsterdam, La MaMa ETC and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival among many others. The company has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York State Council for the Arts, The Joyce Theater Foundation, and the American Music Center and has been hailed in the New York Times as a company with “Wit, concision and gutsy passion…a collective force.” Recent performances include a return to the Edinburgh Festival, The Joyce Theater Family Matinee series, and solo performances at the Rubin Museum.

As a principal dancer with MOMIX from 1989 to 1996, Stenn performed in over 30 countries and throughout the U.S. and appeared as a featured performer in films for Italian, Spanish and French television. Also with Momix, Stenn assisted in the choreography of and performed as a principal dancer in Lina Wertmuller’s production of Carmen at the Munich Stats Opera, was a featured performer in the first ever 3D Imax film, Imagine, and assisted in the choreography of the Emmy Award Winning PBS Special, Pictures at an Exhibition. Stenn is a founding member of Pilobolus Too with whom she toured throughout the world from 1996 to 2002, creating and performing numerous works for the repertoire and a piece for the Radio City Rockettes. Stenn has been a contributing editor at Dance Magazine and has published work in the International Journal of Dance and the Brooklyn Rail. She has been the Choreographic Mentor for the National Young Arts Foundation and with them has choreographed numerous performances presented at the Kennedy Center. Stenn is currently on faculty at The New School and Princeton University and is Choreographer-in-Residence at Dartmouth College. She has enjoyed Artist in Residencies at Barnard College, Montclair State University (New Works Award), University of Wisconsin (Alumni Award), Keene State College and Lafayette College among others. Stenn most recently choreographed the new multi-media opera Cracked Orlando at The Juilliard School and premiered a new duet at BAM Fisher, and is currently making a new evening length work for Rebecca Stenn Company, to be premiered July 2018 at the Gowanus Loft. Stenn holds a BFA from The Juilliard School and a MFA from The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She is the proud mother of Jonah and Elie Weissman.

Bio of Fran Kirmser

Fran Kirmser has worked as a consultant and dance producer with artists and arts organizations for 20 years and has facilitated the work of hundreds of artists to stage. She began her professional career at the age of 14 as a dancer. After a career-ending injury, she started working on the other side of the stage. In 1997, she founded Fran Kirmser LLC, one of the first consulting companies dedicated to fundraising and promotion efforts for the emerging artist. Past and present consulting clients include Francesca Harper, Lisa Giobbi Movement Theater, Shen Wei Dance Arts at Lincoln Center Festival, Pascal Rioult Dance Theater at The Joyce Theater, Lucinda Childs Dance Company at BAM, Helen Simoneau Danse at BAM/Fisher, Doug Varone and Dancers, Darrah Carr, and Jessica Chen. In 2002, she launched The Biography Project, a series of biographical plays that tell the stories of artists in an effort to recognize their voices, better archive their creations, and explore their influence on culture. The first was Isadora …No Apologies about American dance icon and feminist Isadora Duncan, choreographed by Lori Belilove.

On Broadway, Kirmser co-produced August Wilson’s Radio Golf and earned a 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, Hair, choreographed by Carol Armitage. In 2008, off the heels of the financial crisis, Kirmser conceived a sports series for stage to explore leadership, competition, teamwork, drive and resilience. She first developed Lombardi, based on the life of the iconic leader and renowned football coach Vince Lombardi, starring Dan Lauria and Judith Light. Produced by Kirmser/Ponturo Group and in association with the National Football League, Lombardi opened in 2010 and was the longest running play of the 2010-2011 Season, where it brought an estimated 146,000 new patrons to the theater for the first time.

Additional Broadway credits include Magic/Bird, Bronx Bombers, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which earned the 2013 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Fran serves as Executive Producer of the feature film Lombardi, based on the Broadway play and produced by Legendary Pictures, and the feature film Louis Vs. Schmeling.

She has served on funding panels in the fine and performing arts such as New York Foundation for the Arts and has taught at Columbia University, The New School, Fordham, and colleges across the country as well as Commercial Theater Institute and The Field where she sits on the Advisory Board. Fran serves as a 2016 Tony Voter and is a member of the Broadway League. Having started out her performing arts career as a young professional dancer and self- produced choreographer, her passion is teaching self-producing and fundraising to emerging artists and helping them to realize their projects to stage!

----------

Contributors to the book  A Life in Dance, who have also written for Life as a Modern Dancer, include: 

Kate Weare

Donna Uchizono

Rebecca Lazier

Helen Simoneau

Colleen Thomas

----------

Related posts:

For a Senior Seminar Course: A Reading List

For an Undergraduate Composition Course: A Reading List

For a Technique Course: A Downloadable Journal

--------------------

 

The Arts Administrator's Alphabet: The Letter I

Design: Jenny Lederer www.jennylederer.com

Throughout 2017, we will be using the alphabet as a novel way to unpack the many concepts of arts administration. Please join in. Thank you to the following arts administrators for adding ideas to the project:

• Ashley Thorndike-Youssef, Now Next Dance
• Fernando Maneca, BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange
• Hillary Kooistra, Abraham.In.Motion
• Kathryn Humphreys, Hubbard Street Chicago
• Katie Kruger, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center
• Liz Hitchcock Lisle, Shotgun Players
• Phyllis Haskell Tims, University of Utah (retired)
• Rebecca A. Ferrell, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Sarah Crowell, Destiny Arts Center
• Tammy Cheney, Lines Ballet

Arts administration relates to work at dance centers, arts councils, arts education programs, companies, and college programs. Please read on to explore the many and varied topics within arts administration. While not every topic applies to every setting, we hope that you will still find one or two ideas in the post that are useful and applicable to your particular setting. Please feel free to add ideas and links in the comments section below.

This week, the letter I has a hefty list of ideas and words:

• Income
• Individual donors
• Interns
• Insurance
• Injuries and injury reports
• Independent contractors/IRS
• Instagram
• Informational interviews
• Inclusion
• Isolation
• Interpersonal relations
• Infrastructure
• "Imaginative learning"
• Inspiration
• Institutional reinvention
• "I" verbs: improve, increase, ignite, inspire, and a few more

---------------

Let's unpack, consider, and reflect upon each one of these words. Even before reading further, you might want to take the list of  16 ideas here and simply journal for your organization. What do these words and phrases mean to you at your organization?

I is for Income

For your organization, what is the balance between earned income (revenue) and contributed income? There are many sources, both big and small. This list includes things that people pay for (classes, workshops, memberships, tickets, and merchandise) as well as contributions (individuals’ donations, corporate sponsors, and grants).

A few years ago, I made a spreadsheet for choreographers to use to make a simple yearly budget. Read it again here:

http://blog.lifeasamoderndancer.com/2015/02/building-a-dance-company-creating-a-budget-for-2015.html

Has your organization clearly articulated your goals in terms of donations, grants, and earned income? For example, you might aim for 10% of your income this year coming from grants.

Find the number that works best for your organization and its mission. Income can vary widely from organization to organization – some arts nonprofits exist on a model with 90% of their income coming from grants and donations, since much of their services are free of charge. Other arts orgs heavily rely on earned income from things such as dance classes, youth programs, and ticket sales.

One other consideration with income…….each year are you trying to increase income, or maintain at a consistent amount? Your studio size, number of shows per year, etc. will dictate your maximum earning potential. (For example, I run a dance center with 4 studios, but we have almost reached our max in terms of number of classes we can run each week within our current space.)

I is for Individual Donors

Related to the big topic of income, how many individuals donate to the organization or department each year? How vibrant and robust are your email list, mailing list, Facebook Page, and alumni network in general?

And, very importantly, how do you keep communication strong once individuals have donated?

I is for Interns

Interns can become an essential and valuable component within your organization. Internships can be a win-win for a college student, graduate student, or any eager individual of any age. For our organizations, which are notoriously understaffed, an additional temporary staff member will add helping hands, fresh ideas, and teamwork to our organization.

A few cautionary words, though, on internships. Please think deeply to see if you can offer each intern a stipend for their time and contributions. Additionally, Darren Walker’s New York Times op-ed sheds light on the issue of “privilege” with internship programs. (Walker is the current head of the Ford Foundation.) Taking Walker’s words to heart – how can you extend, expand, and invite to widen the circle of opportunity for your internships?

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/opinion/breaking-a-cycle-that-allows-privilege-to-go-to-privileged.html

I is for Insurance

Liability, health, fire, building, renter’s, earthquake…..lots of kinds of insurance! We need to care for people and facilities. What do you have for your organization, building, and staff members?

If artists or teachers rent your space, do you require that they have their own insurance?

Don’t forget about insurance matters related to:

• Field trips
• Carpooling
• Site-specific work
• Renting a theater or space other than your own building

I is for Injuries and Injury Reports

This can be a detail that can be commonly overlooked --- whether you are operating a theater or dance studio. But, timely and thorough documentation is necessary and responsible.

Consider making an injury report form for your organization. Key details to capture include:

• Date
• Time
• Location of accident
• People involved
• Witnesses
• Describe the circumstances
• Describe in detail the person’s injury
• Did the person hit their head? If yes, and the person is a child, you should always call home to alert the family.
• Did you call or speak with the family?
• Did the person go to the hospital?

Keep a copy of this report for your records, and make sure that all employees know about this form.

I is for Independent Contractors/IRS

Hiring someone as an independent contractor implies that it is temporary and finite. You pay the person a paycheck, but no taxes are taken out. The artist will then need to file a Schedule C when doing taxes, claim the income, and then pay taxes on the income. Many dancers will have a variety of independent contractor gigs performing, teaching, choreographing, and writing.

Over the years, it has been shown that the IRS will go through waves of “cracking down” on dance studios, yoga studios, etc. who have a lot of independent contractors. A colleague was just sharing their dance studio’s situation this year related to this. Please take note that if you are regularly asking a person to teach for you, especially several years in a row, that person is no longer an independent contractor. This will be a red flag for the IRS.

I is for Instagram

In this age of social media, can an Instagram feed support your program and connect you with your local community (or national or global community)? What would your Instagram photos highlight and capture?

Consider if you will need photo release forms to run an Instagram feed, especially if taking photos of students under 18.

I is for Informational Interviews

As an arts administrator, or aspiring arts administrator, informational interviews are excellent opportunities to connect with leaders in the field. Especially for a field with few formal degree programs and books, informational interviews can answer big questions and curiosities. It can be some of the cheapest professional development out there! I recently traveled to NYC and set up three informational interviews with colleagues at comparable arts centers.

Many people will gladly sit down with you to share their experiences and help support future arts administrators. Make sure to come prepared with a set of questions, and consider trying to limit the time together to 30-45 minutes.

(I co-direct a 60 year old nonprofit dance space in Berkeley, California. Feel free to come by anytime for a site visit and informational interview. www.shawl-anderson.org)

I is for Inclusion

The word inclusion can refer to so many communities. What does inclusion mean to you ---- considering your local community but also inwardly? Do all staff members feel included? Why or why not? Let’s deeply consider: physical disabilities and accessibility, gender, sexual orientation, cultural backgrounds, economic diversity, and intergenerational and multigenerational work.

Read Dance/USA's statement on equity and inclusion here. Also from the Dance/USA website, there is a thorough and thought-provoking piece called "A Model for Equity: Diversity and Inclusion." Clarity and intention around the words and actions of diversity and inclusion must be considered in our organizations.

I is for Isolation

Are you feeling isolated – geographically, or at your site? The nature of our work can make us feel alone or solo. You might also be the only person at your site doing a particular job (ex. grantwriting or handling student registrations). In this internet age, arts administrators can break out of isolation through Facebook Groups, conferences like NDEO and Dance/USA, email lists, and blogs. Starting an informal brown bag lunch series can bring arts administrators together in your community once a month, or a few times a year.

I is for Interpersonal Relations (with Parents, Students, Board of Directors, Donors, Community, Staff, and Faculty)

Next, let’s take a few minutes to reflect on our interpersonal relations. Within your role, who do you interact with on a regular basis? Using the "SWOT" model, what are your: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats?

If you also consider your entire staff, how would you rate the interpersonal relations for each staff member on a scale of 0-5, with 5 representing excellent and a strength of the employee.

Who are your role models for interpersonal relations?

I is for Infrastructure

Speaking of staff members.....how many people are on staff? What is the division of labor? How many different hats does each employee wear?

What words and phrases would you use to describe your staffing right now? Lean, stable, overwhelmed, spread thin, efficient, productive, collaborative...

A cautionary tale....growth and expansion means there needs to be employees supporting this increase in students, registrations, scheduling, subbing, performances, foot traffic, and much more for your organization. For each new addition, do employee hours need to increase? Will the increase in income cover these costs?

And, how would you rate employees right now in terms of their workloads?

Two examples I have turned to for ideas include Tanner Dance and Mark Morris Dance Group.

On the Tanner Dance website, see how they clarify and describe "who does what":

http://www.tannerdance.utah.edu/about-us/administrative-staff/

And, check out this impressive org chart for Mark Morris (the company and the school):

http://markmorrisdancegroup.org/the-dance-group/about/staff

I is for Imaginative Learning

When I think about imagination, the arts, and arts education....I turn to Maxine Greene. Her work, inquiry, and curiosity was the driving force for the Lincoln Center Institute (LCI) program for decades. Check out her book of essays called Releasing the Imagination.

I also suggest checking out Andrew Taylor's article "Capacities for imaginative learning," which highlights some essential components of the LCI work.

http://www.artsjournal.com/artfulmanager/main/capacities_for_imaginative_lea.php

Taylor himself notes in the article, "[The] nine 'Capacities for Imaginative Learning' offer some useful language to define the goals of integrated arts education. But to my eye, they also describe the core competencies of a vibrant and engaged cultural organization, or even an 'artful manager.'"

Also from the LCI lineage emerged the book Imagination First: Unlocking the Power of Possibility by Eric Liu and Scott Noppe-Brandon.

I is for Inspiration

For many of the artist profiles here on the blog, I ask questions such as:

What was the last show that really inspired you?

Current inspiration and curiosities:

I have come back to Jeanine Durning's response to this topic many times over the years:

It’s an interesting question these days. I really believe that being inspired is a practice and takes work, that it doesn’t just happen, or is given to me, and I really take that on as an audience member – to meet the performance on its own terms. I’m usually inspired by anything or anyone who is purely generous, purely committed, where I feel something is at stake for them, when someone is “all in,” when I’m not treated like an idiot, where an aspect of humanity – whether that’s terrifying or joyful – is revealed to me, not because the choreographer or performer want me to see it, or is forcing it on me, but because it emerges as a result of truly being fully inside something. That usually has nothing to do with being “smart” or witty or ironic. The question reminds me of a Chuck Close quote I recently saw, something like: Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just get to work.

I is for Institutional Reinvention

Today, I was browsing medium.com for some of Deborah Cullinan's recent pieces. Deborah is the vibrant leader of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Here is the link to her piece entitled "It's Time for Institutional Reinvention." Click here.

With your institution:

• What is the institutional history?
• What is the institutional stability?
• Why reinvent or reimagine your institution?
• How are you relevant?
• How are you financially stable in the current economy, political climate, and funding environment?

"I" Verbs: Improve, Implement, Invest, Incubate, and More....

Last, here is an interesting list of 15 verbs that begin with the letter "i." Consider offering this list to your staff or board at the next meeting. Ask each person to select one of the words that resonates for them right now with your organization; have each person share for a minute.

• increase
• improve
• institutionalize
• implement
• infuse
• inform
• interrogate
• invent
• invest
• ignite
• instigate
• incubate
• imagine
• innovate
• inspire

------------------------

The First Six Months: Dance + Change Project

For 2017, I am collaborating with graphic designer Jenny Lederer to post one idea or question each month. This offering --- post-election --- aims to pause us all for a few minutes each month to think about our dance work and our role in society. Today I share with you the first 6 ideas for 2017. Please share, please pause, and please join me in considering the role of dance, the arts in general, and arts education in the United States at this given moment.

I hope that these graphics can be posted in your buildings and can be used with colleagues, in staff meetings, and in discussions with college students.

Download ModernDancer_6up_JRandall_PRINT

 

The Arts Administrator's Alphabet: The Letter H

Throughout 2017, we will be using the alphabet as a novel way to unpack the many concepts of arts administration. Please join in. Thank you to the following arts administrators for adding ideas to the project:

• Ashley Thorndike-Youssef, Now Next Dance
• Fernando Maneca, BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange
• Hillary Kooistra, Abraham.In.Motion
• Kathryn Humphreys, Hubbard Street Chicago
• Katie Kruger, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center
• Liz Hitchcock Lisle, Shotgun Players
• Phyllis Haskell Tims, University of Utah (retired)
• Rebecca A. Ferrell, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Sarah Crowell, Destiny Arts Center
• Tammy Cheney, Lines Ballet

Arts administration relates to work at dance centers, arts councils, arts education programs, companies, and college programs. Please read on to explore the many and varied topics within arts administration. While not every topic applies to every setting, we hope that you will still find one or two ideas in the post that are useful and applicable to your particular setting. Please feel free to add ideas and links in the comments section below.

The letter H:

• Healthy organizations
• Hot topics
• Human resources
• Healthcare

---------------

Let's unpack, consider, and reflect upon each one of these words. Even before reading further, you might want to take the list of 4 ideas here and simply journal for your organization. What do these words and phrases mean to you at your organization?

• Healthy organizations
• Hot topics
• Human resources
• Healthcare

Healthy organizations

Some big questions are:

What does “healthy organization” mean for your site?

What is a “healthy work environment?”

Which comparable organizations/schools/companies do you perceive as healthy? Why? Which ones do you view as unhealthy?

List 3 strengths that make this happen for your organization; list 3 areas of growth, or aspirations, for your organization.

Hot topics

Which topics are “hot topics” in the field right now? Consider this nationally, in your state, and locally. Are there conferences, forums, and online opportunities for dialogue and support?

Human resources

Many nonprofits and dance companies do not have an official HR Department or HR Manager. So, the question becomes then….Who manages some of these key tasks and topics? One person or several people? The topics vary widely and include:

• New hire paperwork, for staff members and independent contractors
• New employee orientation
• Benefits and employee perks
• Vacation hours, sick hours, PTO (paid time off), jury duty, bereavement
• Workers comp matters
• Sexual harassment trainings, policies, and grievances
• CPR, first aid, and AED training
• Health insurance
• Employee interpersonal issues, discussions, and mediation
• Documenting incidents and complaints
• Employee manual
• Salary comparisons and adjustments
• Sabbaticals

Here are a few related articles if HR is on your mind:

https://www.danceusa.org/ejournal/2012/11/25/employee-relations-basics-lessons-learned-in-dance-usa-s-institute-for-leadership-training

https://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/nonprofit-organizations-and-human-resources-management.html

Healthcare

At the moment of publishing this blog post, healthcare in the United States is in a tenuous position.

For dancers and teaching artists, healthcare is of utmost importance. Whether your organization provides a full benefit package, or a stipend per employee towards their health insurance, thank you for considering the benefits for your employees.

----------

Dance + Change 2017 - July

Dance + Change 2017...

One question or idea once a month....post-election questioning and artmaking.....

Please share this graphic and post it! Download a printable version here:

Download July Dance + Change PDF

Thank you to graphic designer Jenny Lederer and to dance artist Shaunna Vella for being a part of Dance + Change 2017.

----------

The Arts Administrator's Alphabet: The Letter G

Throughout 2017, we will be using the alphabet as a novel way to unpack the many concepts of arts administration. Please join in. Thank you to the following arts administrators for adding ideas to the project:

• Ashley Thorndike-Youssef, Now Next Dance
• Fernando Maneca, BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange
• Hillary Kooistra, Abraham.In.Motion
• Kathryn Humphreys, Hubbard Street Chicago
• Katie Kruger, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center
• Liz Hitchcock Lisle, Shotgun Players
• Phyllis Haskell Tims, University of Utah (retired)
• Rebecca A. Ferrell, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Sarah Crowell, Destiny Arts Center
• Tammy Cheney, Lines Ballet

Arts administration relates to work at dance centers, arts councils, arts education programs, companies, and college programs. Please read on to explore the many and varied topics within arts administration. While not every topic applies to every setting, we hope that you will still find one or two ideas in the post that are useful and applicable to your particular setting. Please feel free to add ideas and links in the comments section below.

The letter G:

• Guidestar website
• Goal setting
• Grants, grant writing, and grants panels
• Guest artists
• Guidance

 ---------------

Let's unpack, consider, and reflect upon each one of these words. Even before reading further, you might want to take the list of 5 ideas here and simply journal for your organization. What do these words and phrases mean to you at your organization?

Guidestar website

Whether doing some research on comparable organizations for work or on the job search yourself, the website Guidestar.org is a great resource for tax information for non-profits. Most importantly, you will see each organization's operating size (ie budget size).

Guidestar.org

Goal Setting

For yourself and all of your employees, quarterly and annual goal setting - in writing and discussed in a meeting - articulates our priorities, gets the team working together, and provides focus and motivation. Many arts organizations can easily go week after week mired in business details, so keeping a macro focus is ever-important.

What are your goals for this summer?

Grants, Grant Writing, and Grants Panels

For your school, department, company, or organization.....how much of your income is dependent on grants? Does this money support specific projects or the general operating of the organization?

Grant writing for all artists and administrators - like the act of choreographing and teaching as well - takes time, practice, support, mentoring....and more time and practice. Bringing a mindset like you do for choreographing and performing - into your grant writing work - is so valuable. Grant writing is about brainstorming, writing, editing, receiving feedback, questioning, tinkering, and risk taking.

If you ever have the opportunity, sitting on a grant panel in your community can be a highly educational experience. Being a part of a group that is actively discussing why and why not to fund certain projects and programs will ultimately improve your writing in the future.

Last, there is always homework to be done related to your grant writing at your work. Whenever you can, carefully read postcards, programs at shows, and other organizations' websites. Closely read (and take note of) which foundations and grants support their work. Do you see any new names?

Guest Artists

Whether running a dance center, college program, or theater...guest artists will bring in new ideas and new perspectives through classes, workshops, performances, creating new work, panels, and discussions. Guest artists connect us with new voices from our community as well as artists from around the U.S. and from around the world.

Careful brainstorming and planning will articulate for you and the artist alike about goals, expectations, commitments, and logistics like transportation, food, and housing.

In the book Dance From the Campus to the Real World (and Back Again), there are several valuable essays and checklists about residencies. Dance/USA published this paperback book in 2005, and now it is available online for free as a large PDF. Check out Jacqueline Davis's essay "Dance Residencies 101: A Guide to Planning for the World of Possibilities" (pages 19-28). There is also a "Residency Planning Checklist and Questionnaire" (pages 29-37).

Guidance for You

Last, when you are seeking guidance for your own work and own job position, who do you turn to both locally and nationally? Who can you have coffee with, or pick up the phone to contact tomorrow? Take a few minutes to list your current network of colleagues.

-----------------------

The Letter A: Advertising, Advisory Committee/Advisory Board, advocacy, AEP email list, alumni, artist services vs serving artists, artists, arts administration masters degree programs, ArtsEdSearch, assessment, and audiences

The Letter B: Balancing, Board of Directors, board meetings, boardsource.org, booking, bookkeeping, books related to arts administration, brown bag lunch series for arts administrators, budgets, burnout, and business plan

The Letter C: Chairing a dance department, collaboration, colleagues, college level administration, committees, communication skills, community outreach, comparable organizations, Compasspoint trainings, compliance, conferences, conflict management, consensus building, consistent communication, consultants, contracts, Critical Friends Group, Critical Response Method, The Cycle by Michael M. Kaiser, and work as creative challenge

The Letter D: Dance/USA, Darren Walker, data, dealing with difficult people, decisionmaking process, delegating , development work, documenting conflict, and donors/donations/donation letters

The Letter E: Expenses, endowment, engagement, evaluations, educational programming/education department, Education Directors, employment law, and email plan

The Letter F: Fundraising plan, financial procedures, field trips, founders, faculty and staff appreciation, flexible work schedules and hours, fiscal sponsorship, “Filling the Buckets” protocol from Critical Friends Group, financial terms, and Facebook

---------------------------------------------- 

Speaking as a Teaching Artist: Heidi Henderson and Becca Levy

Happy Summer! Looking for a little inspiration this week? Artists Heidi Henderson and Becca Levy eloquently share about the intersection of teaching and artistry in their careers. Click on either name to read their full artist profile from the blog this year.

Heidi Henderson (Wakefield, RI)

Teaching for me is an exchange of ideas, two or more ways. I am continually trying/learning to be more open, more ready to be surprised, more thoughtful, less assumptive. I don't always live up to my expectations. I know that I have a specific way of moving, of being in the body, to teach. There is always a way of being in the world that I can learn to be better at. I love teaching choreography. I love challenging the idea that there is a way to make a dance. I love exposing students to Contact Improvisation, helping them find themselves through the form.

On most days, I am a teacher first and an artist after that, slipping the artist into the cracks in time between the duties of teaching. I think that I trust my teaching more than my making dances. So sometimes teaching may be avoidance of making. I also procrastinate by sewing.

Photo of Becca Levy; credit - Shana Skelton

Becca Levy (Jacksonville, FL)

Teaching is where I get to dive into investigating what is fascinating about the human mind and body. The most satisfying moments are when my students take charge of the material and start to make independent connections.

There has not been a time in my professional career when I wasn’t teaching, so it feels like a tightly woven part of my life as an artist. 

Even though the material I work on with the professional company is really separate from what I’m doing at the College, the way in which I work on my skills as a communicator is shared. I work hard to articulate concepts clearly -  through my physical practice, through every word I say aloud in and out of the classroom, and energetically to students receiving feedback. Teaching is my daily practice (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) in mindfulness.

----------

Speaking as a Teaching Artist: 50 Perspectives

Blog Series: Becoming a Teaching Artist

"Becoming a Teaching Artist" - A Graphic Organizer

-------------------

365 Dance: Words for the Month of July

From August 2014 through August 2015, every day I took a few minutes to write down a dance-related word or phrase from the day. These words emerged from rehearsals, taking class, teaching, graduate school, choreographing, and other projects.

The daily practice was a beautiful thing. I highly encourage that you try it as well - even for just a week or a month. I love the play on words. I love the intersection of movement and language within my dance practice. Revisiting these words two years later, I experience the words again as a touchpoint, starting off point, and seed for reflection.

Again, in 2017, I will share the lists of words once a month, to hopefully inspire other artists and students throughout the year.

Download 365 Dance - July

-----------