Hello everyone! I finally figured out how to use the blog. I really love having this tool to keep up with everyone. I wanted to let you all in on a bit of good news for me...I have been promoted to the postion of Associate Director at Young Playwrights' Theater in Washingotn, DC! Here is my Artist Statement and Bio:
Patrick Torres
Patrick is a director and educator working in Washington, D.C. He is the Associate Director of Young Playwrights’ Theater and his local directing credits include Anima (Mead Theatre Lab); Soft Cover Hard Core (John F. Kennedy Center); Much Ado about Nothing (Vpstart Crow); and The Tale of Jumping Mouse (Round House Theatre). He was awarded a Drama League Directing Fellowship in 2003 and was selected as an SSDC Foundation Observer to assist in rehearsals of The Glass Menagerie at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Patrick has an MFA in Directing from University of Southern Mississippi.
Theatre Statement
I create and promote theatre that directly addresses specific communities by building a forum where people come to be challenged, inspired and enter into a conversation with their neighbors. I believe this requires a deep personal investment to discover the theatrical experiences (be they traditional plays, innovative new works or bold explorations of theatrical form) that will make the theatre vital to the lives of those it serves. I am driven by the ways that a diversity of voices contributing to the art of theatre can awaken understanding in a community.
Also, I found this on line and I have been watching it to remind myself that all of the rigorous preparation I have been doing to guide the creation of over 500 new student plays this semester can have a strong impact on the world. I hope you find it re-inspiring as well!
http://www.tcg.org/events/conference/2008/kwei-armah_transcript.cfm
Friday, August 15, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
National Diversity in the Arts Information Bank
An online resource for employers and practitioners to explore diversity in the arts
This idea was inspired at NPAC/TCG Conference Denver 2008. I've been spit-balling with many colleagues, most of all, Kimiko Shimoda who runs our FAIR program. I'd love to get your feedback. Do we need something like this? How could this model be improved? What's missing? What's great about this model? Personal thought and observations are vital at this stage. Thanks for your help!!!
This is a direct response to conversations about issues of diversity for arts organizations including inclusion, recruitment and retention.
The National Diversity in the Arts Information Bank (NDAIB-horrible acronym!) is an online resource for organizations and individuals looking to improve their efforts in either hiring a more diverse work force or find organizations looking to hire a more diverse workforce. It is not a job placement site. It is a user generated site that connects people with tools and information that already exist in order to build a more diverse and sustainable field. The information is all opt-in. That means that individuals would only report as much information about themselves as they wished. The site would be key word searchable so people could look for others like themselves working in the business or organizations that were working in certain veins for example. It has 4 major components.
Organization Profiles
These are profiles created by arts organizations. They can include basic demographic data, a narrative of their diversity efforts, action plans, programs and strategic efforts that are already in place (ex. OSF FAIR or the OSF diversity council) as well as grants or other awards being used to work on diversity within the organization. This section provides organizations with working models to learn from, gives individuals seeking employment important information about places they might like to work, and promotes the good work organizations are already involved in.
Individual Profiles
These are profiles created by individuals who are already working in the field. They can include pictures, bios in narrative form, biographical information in list form, resumes, and even blogs. These would be opt-in format, the individuals would be able to report as much or as little information about themselves as they wished. There would be drop down menus so people could use language from the site to describe the areas of the arts they worked in (ex. Development, stage operations, acting, etc) as well as the areas of diversity they belong to (i.e. gender, differently-abled, ethnic information, geographical locations, etc). Instead of “other” categories” there would be places to write in your own descriptions if none of the words were accurate for the individual (ex. Instead of identifying as “black” a person might want to identify as “brown skinned” and there should be room for that. This section taps into social networks that are already in place, provides individuals with successful examples to emulate, and promotes the good work individuals are already doing.
TOOLBOX-links
This would include links to service organizations, funders, job banks, articles of interest, conferences, etc. There’s already incredible work being done in the area and this is the place to see all the places it can be accessed.
FORUMS
This would be place for people to connect and communicate. People could ask for advice, discuss issues, suggest links for the tool box section, or bring up other useful information.
This idea was inspired at NPAC/TCG Conference Denver 2008. I've been spit-balling with many colleagues, most of all, Kimiko Shimoda who runs our FAIR program. I'd love to get your feedback. Do we need something like this? How could this model be improved? What's missing? What's great about this model? Personal thought and observations are vital at this stage. Thanks for your help!!!
This is a direct response to conversations about issues of diversity for arts organizations including inclusion, recruitment and retention.
The National Diversity in the Arts Information Bank (NDAIB-horrible acronym!) is an online resource for organizations and individuals looking to improve their efforts in either hiring a more diverse work force or find organizations looking to hire a more diverse workforce. It is not a job placement site. It is a user generated site that connects people with tools and information that already exist in order to build a more diverse and sustainable field. The information is all opt-in. That means that individuals would only report as much information about themselves as they wished. The site would be key word searchable so people could look for others like themselves working in the business or organizations that were working in certain veins for example. It has 4 major components.
Organization Profiles
These are profiles created by arts organizations. They can include basic demographic data, a narrative of their diversity efforts, action plans, programs and strategic efforts that are already in place (ex. OSF FAIR or the OSF diversity council) as well as grants or other awards being used to work on diversity within the organization. This section provides organizations with working models to learn from, gives individuals seeking employment important information about places they might like to work, and promotes the good work organizations are already involved in.
Individual Profiles
These are profiles created by individuals who are already working in the field. They can include pictures, bios in narrative form, biographical information in list form, resumes, and even blogs. These would be opt-in format, the individuals would be able to report as much or as little information about themselves as they wished. There would be drop down menus so people could use language from the site to describe the areas of the arts they worked in (ex. Development, stage operations, acting, etc) as well as the areas of diversity they belong to (i.e. gender, differently-abled, ethnic information, geographical locations, etc). Instead of “other” categories” there would be places to write in your own descriptions if none of the words were accurate for the individual (ex. Instead of identifying as “black” a person might want to identify as “brown skinned” and there should be room for that. This section taps into social networks that are already in place, provides individuals with successful examples to emulate, and promotes the good work individuals are already doing.
TOOLBOX-links
This would include links to service organizations, funders, job banks, articles of interest, conferences, etc. There’s already incredible work being done in the area and this is the place to see all the places it can be accessed.
FORUMS
This would be place for people to connect and communicate. People could ask for advice, discuss issues, suggest links for the tool box section, or bring up other useful information.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)