Watch THE NEXT STAGE Episode 5: Performance Beyond the Proscenium
Webinar/Q&A
THE NEXT STAGE Episode 5: Performance Beyond the Proscenium
Our need will be the real creator — Plato | The Republic
For most of the last 20 months, the pandemic emptied our theatres and concert halls. In a crush of necessity, we moved beyond our soft-seat venues to virtual, and later, outdoor settings. How will we stage our work as the performing arts emerge from the pandemic and into this new era of COVID? Which of our many experiments in gathering audiences and sharing performance will last? Will non-traditional venues play a more prominent role in touring and presenting? What can we learn from artists who’ve always made site-specific work? Join our expert panel for a timely conversation about the future of live performance.
Speakers
Image credit: Pablo Aguilar Photography
Azul Amaral | Creative Director, Grand Performances
Azul Amaral is the Creative Director of Grand Performances, the longest running presenter of free global performing arts in Los Angeles. Before landing at GP in 2019, Azul was the Programs Manager of Grand Park, laying the framework for multi-cultured and multi-generational programming, curating and producing the largest public west coast NYE celebrations as well as year-round free community programming in Downtown Los Angeles.
Over the past 20 years, Azul has established a career as creative director, photographer, DJ, promoter, visual artist, and producer in film and live events working with many of today's current and relevant brands and artists. Clients include Cashmere Agency, The Getty, Brookfield Arts & Properties, The Music Center, AARP, Sony Music, Boiler Room TV, Red Bull, adidas, FOX, Sony Pictures, Complex, Vice, Warner Japan, Fania Records, The California Endowment, and Women’s March LA, to name a few. Over the past six years, Azul has been aligned with several landmark outdoor event productions. The 2021 Grand Performances’ 35th summer season was the most attended in the organization's history.
Image credit: Collin Keller
Christopher Rountree | Artistic Director, Wild Up
Conductor and composer Christopher Rountree is the Artistic Director of Wild Up, curator of Darkness Sounding, and Music Director of Long Beach Opera. He has been artistic director of an interdisciplinary ambient series in an oak grove in LA, called SILENCE, curator of the LA Phil’s Fluxus Festival.
Regarded as one of the most iconoclastic conductors in the field, Rountree’s inimitable style has led to collaborations with: Björk, John Adams, Yoko Ono, David Lang, Scott Walker, La Monte Young, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mica Levi, Alison Knowles, Patricia Kopatchinskja, John Luther Adams, Sigourney Weaver, Ted Hearne, Tyshawn Sorey, Ragnar Kjartansson, Missy Mazzoli, L’Rain, Caroline Shaw, Saul Williams, Ellen Reid, R.B. Schlather, James Darrah, Ryoji Ikeda, Du Yun, Yuval Sharon, and many of the planet’s greatest orchestras and ensembles including: the San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Opera national de Paris, the Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and the Martha Graham Dance Company.
brooke smiley | Earth works and site-specific dance artist; 2020 Native Launchpad Artist (Osage)
brooke smiley is a body and earth artist living in California. She invites collaborative spaces of remembering, creating experiences that span the disciplines of dance, somatics, public art, sculpture, and sustainable architecture. Through performance, workshops, exhibitions, and community engagement, brooke guides choice, agency and freedom in the body, in relationship with one another, and nature. With a strong background in contemporary, post modern dance, and earth architecture brooke’s choreographic and earth works are embodied acts of change catalyzing awareness for environmental and indigenous justice. A multiracial, First Nation (Osage) woman, she is a licensed California contractor, certified Superadobe earth builder, and BMC® Somatic Movement Educator. She currently teaches dance and embodiment practices at University of California at Santa Barbara.
Image credit: Ars Association
Wen Huang | Producer, HORSE
Wen Huang is an independent producer based in Taiwan. Her interests in dance, physical theatre, and interdisciplinary art lead her to productions and tours with dance companies such as HORSE and Legend Lin, as well as independent choreographers and artists. She also works with various organizations and institutions for international projects and events such as ARTWAVE – Taiwan International Arts Network (International networks of performing arts of National Culture and Arts Foundation, 2014 - 2020), Tainan Arts Festival (producer, 2019 - present), Pulima Festival (2018), Future Circus Lab (2017), Art Taipei, Taishin Arts Award, film festivals and dance documentary. Wen majored in Politics and she continues to develop her interests in exploring the world, connecting with people, and being inspired by the journey along the way.
Moderator
Erin Boberg Doughton | Artistic Director, PICA
Erin Boberg Doughton, (she/her) Artistic Director & Curator of Performance at PICA, works collaboratively to curate and produce performance programs including dance, music, theatre, and multi-disciplinary projects as part of PICA’s TBA (Time-Based Art) Festival as well as year-round presentations, commissions and residencies including the Creative Exchange Lab. She also teaches performance as an Assistant Professor and Mentor at PNCA (Pacific Northwest College of Art.) She serves on the advisory council for the National Performance Network (NPN) and is a former National Dance Project hubsite advisor. Erin grew up in Portland and studied dance, music, and theatre at Lewis & Clark College, and has worked at PICA in various roles, starting as a volunteer, since the organization’s founding in 1995.
About the Series
THE NEXT STAGE: Essential Issues in Performing Arts Creation, Presentation, and Engagement is a webinar series produced by Western Arts Alliance in partnership with the Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles and the Taiwan Ministry of Culture. THE NEXT STAGE will gather innovative artists and arts leaders in the United States, Taiwan, and beyond to explore the most significant challenges and opportunities of this global crisis. The series will spotlight diverse voices, new ideas, and groundbreaking innovations to help the performing arts navigate the pandemic and thrive.
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