Create and Activate

Create + Activate: A NET/TEN BIPOC* Collaborative Community in Ensemble Practice is an artistic-exchange circle which will meet virtually over 6 months focused on group relationship building and cohort-based peer knowledge sharing.

Program Dates

January 22 & 23, 2022

February 26, 2022

March 26, 2022

April 23, 2022

May 14, 2022

June 25 & 26, 2022

All sessions will be 10am-12pm PST / 1pm-3pm EST, and hosted online via Zoom

A $1,000 honorarium will be provided to each cohort member to offset any expenses associated with participating in the program.

About the Program

Create + Activate is a support space for BIPOC ensemble artists where courageous conversations can lead to a new paradigm of collectively created culture and practices. The cohort will examine our integration of equity in our own personal artistic practices, and empower participants to brave forward the field of ensemble creation.

As the performing arts sector begins to prepare and plan for reopening from a global pandemic, NET acknowledges generative artists’ and ensembles’ feelings of anxiety and overwhelm from the many ways they are needing to continually pivot in this ever-shifting environment.

In addition, as our theater field continues to face ongoing racial reckonings sparked by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others, there is a continued need to make space for NET BIPOC members to process, collaborate, and nurture relationships to support each other.  Our members are invested in bringing the lessons from this challenging time forward to inform the creation of a more just and equitable non-profit arts sector, and to continue the work that many BIPOC-led ensembles and artistic ancestors have labored for.

The cohort will be invited to participate by a panel of colleagues and peers, and will include approximately 12 BIPOC ensemble representatives and individual artists from NET’s membership. All current NET members will be eligible to submit interest forms for panel review.

INTEREST FORMS ARE NOW CLOSED

NET offers Create + Activate with the hope to fulfill the following aims:

• Build interconnected relationships, community, and capacity among BIPOC ensemble-focused artists and practitioners;
• Provide support to participate in group-structured peer knowledge sharing around ensemble practice;
• Feature and share cross-sector and cross-discipline resources and facilitators to inspire innovative creative practice;
• Document and share the cohort’s discoveries and impact with the field;
• Co-create an iterative and responsive experience following the needs, dreams, and desires of the cohort in the design of the experience.

The cohort will be invited to participate by a panel of colleagues and peers, and will include approximately 12 BIPOC ensemble representatives and individual artists from NET’s membership. All current NET members will be eligible to submit interest forms for panel review.

Create + Activate Project Team invites participants to investigate the following guiding questions during this process:

• What does it mean to interrogate being an ensemble maker of color? What about ensemble practice speaks to you? Does ensemble practice hold your full self?
• Are there unique ways you approach the ensemble form that are inherent in being an artist of color?
• Are there offerings this group can contribute to the larger narrative of theater and/or ensemble practice currently in place?
• How are your well-being, creative work, and artistic growth nurtured by a community of ensemble makers of color versus individual exploration? By the broader ensemble community? By NET?
• What does it mean to be a BIPOC artist in a predominantly White Ensemble? Are you able to bring your full self into a predominately White Space?
• What does it mean to codify one’s Ensemble-Based Practice? Is there tension/conflict in attempting to create a system/methodology that could ultimately be commodified? Is there anything sacred to your practice that should only be shared within the safety of creating work within your Ensemble, or within your Creative Process?

*NET understands that the term BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and/or People of Color) is not universally embraced by People of the Global Majority. It is being used to show solidarity between the rich and vastly diverse racial, ethnic and cultural histories of Black, Indigenous and/or People of Color (BIPOC).  Throughout the course of this initiative, and based upon the conversations and insights from the cohort, this term may evolve. NET aims to honor the spirit of the term BIPOC by centering Black and Indigenous artists through the project team, panelists, guest advisors and artists, and cohort invitations.