Ramona: What do you assume makes this producing mannequin and manner of working so distinctive? And is it profitable?
Abigail: I imply, it’s actually arduous. Sometimes listening can appear to be inactivity. In our area particularly, and that is shifting, however particularly five-plus years in the past, for these of us who’re fortunate sufficient to obtain sources from foundations, there’s a continuing have to show your exercise, your output. And if you’re listening, that’s not seen as output.
Now the humorous factor about HowlRound and the LTC is that if you hear for sufficient time, you possibly can run into the problem of realizing too many concepts on the identical time. For the primary two years, the LTC produced one occasion a yr. And then there was a time period the place we did 4 occasions in a yr and a half. That was manner an excessive amount of to ask of a volunteer group of individuals—the steering and advisory committees of Latinx Theatre Commons are fully volunteer-based—who’re passionate, who care loads about what we’re doing, who may even have sources, however who produce other jobs.
So it fell to me because the producer to do quite a lot of that work. And it wasn’t an unfair division of labor. It wasn’t like folks had been slacking—it was that we had chosen an excessive amount of programming and I used to be overworked. I feel the LTC fell into a phenomenal drawback to have; the wants had been so deep and we had been uniquely positioned to function that intervention. But it was an excessive amount of and we finally needed to reassess what was potential and sustainable for our mannequin and human sources.
Ramona: Do you see ways in which different organizations may adapt points of those commons-based producing practices? Or do you assume that they’re inherently distinctive to the organizing construction of HowlRound and/or the LTC? I say “or” there as a result of they’re totally different buildings.
Abigail: Right, HowlRound and the LTC have totally different buildings and are implementing the commons in numerous methods, however I feel that their values are related. I do assume some organizations who’re comparatively new to those conversations may strive implementing components of the commons into their organizing buildings, nevertheless it’s actually the values which are going to make the distinction. Concepts like community-curated seasons or festivals herald points of commons-based practices to conventional producing organizations, but when their values aren’t the values of the commons, that means in the event that they don’t worth shared possession and sources, it’s going to really feel hole.
For HowlRound and for the LTC, producing is primarily retaining the ball rolling on power that already exists within the area. It’s about retaining a finger on the heartbeat of conversations, developments, and energies, and determining how you can useful resource these.
Ramona: You’ve been a part of so many convenings and organizing teams. Do you’ve a regular metric of success, or do you assume it’s totally different for each? Do you see widespread threads between those you’ll take into account actually having met their objectives?
Abigail: Metrics of success have to be totally different for each occasion, and have to be particularly outlined on the outset of the undertaking, however what offers a convening or a motion a robust basis is robust championship. Both the LTC and HowlRound have a tradition of championship. It can’t be HowlRound or the LTC producer main the practice. It needs to be people who find themselves in that group—whether or not that’s geographic, identification based mostly, function based mostly, no matter—who’re enthusiastic about this problem and this intervention. If we don’t have sturdy champions, the occasion will collapse.
I additionally return to a set of shared values. If the group that the occasion is serving desires the sources and so they’re dedicated to transparency and openness, then it’s going to be extra profitable. When you might be working with a gaggle of individuals and impulsively they begin gatekeeping, it’s actually disastrous for the occasion.
I consider in what Priya Parker says about some exclusion being crucial. You want to attract a line in order that it’s very clear who the occasion is for. At the LTC, we at all times used to say, who’s the occasion for and who can come? And these could be totally different solutions. We may say, “Open invite, anybody can come, but this event is for New Yorkers. If you choose to come and you’re from Seattle, you need to know that your needs are not being centered. We want you there. We’re excited you’re present. We want your voice and your expertise, and we want you to be teaching and learning, but we are not building this event for you.” That was an necessary distinction.
Ramona: I give it some thought with the LTC Carnavals, that are new play festivals. It at all times felt to me like they’re particularly for Latinx playwrights and artists. Everyone is welcome to return, and quite a lot of producers come from predominantly white establishments (PWIs), however the place quite a lot of new play festivals really feel like they’re for the people who find themselves in search of the performs, the Carnavals are for the artists.
Abigail: Well, I’d say that was a distinction over time. We did one in 2015 and one in 2018, after which the LTC centered the work on comedy in 2022. The one in 2015—and I’m not making a controversial assertion right here—was for 2 audiences. It was for Latinx artists, and it was additionally for decision-makers at PWIs. But one thing that Lisa Portes, who was the champion of each Carnavals in 2015 and 2018, was so clear on, was that this was an financial dialog in addition to a creative one. I really feel equally to today. I’m achieved having a dialog about illustration if we’re not paying artists equitably. In 2015 particularly, she mentioned, “It’s important for us to get these PWIs in the room because they’re not actually programming Latinx artists. They’ve created a myth that there’s no Latinx artists there who can be produced. Well, that’s not true. So we are going to show them that it’s not true.” And we provided a journey subsidy to many of us from PWIs. I feel that was very profitable. There was additionally a heavy subsidy given to decision-makers of Latinx corporations.
In 2018, we realized that whereas the work of the LTC had not been accomplished, the visibility of Latinx artists had modified so drastically between our founding in 2013 and 2018 that we didn’t want to supply subsidies to the PWIs on the identical degree anymore, as a result of they needed to return. What we did was create a construction. We determined that the 2018 Carnaval was going to privilege collaboration. And that PWIs are greater than welcome in that dialog, as a result of the LTC has by no means been in an affinity area. It’s at all times been an area for people who find themselves right here to be round aligned values.
At the 2018 Carnaval, we additionally did website visits to Latinx theatres in Chicago. I feel initially some folks had been like, “Why are we doing this?” And it was like, as a result of you possibly can’t come to Chicago and “support Latinx work” and not go to Aguijón or UrbanTheater Company or Teatro Vista. Those are legacy corporations in Chicago. A number of their artists had been within the Carnaval, whether or not as playwrights, actors, or administrators. Let’s go to their houses. It additionally served to focus on the basic drawback that theatres of coloration have been dealing with for years: they’re those that develop artists, however the artists should make financial selections, and so they go to the bigger theatres or to TV, after which there’s no recognition of those corporations which have been doing the work. So it simply felt just like the smallest model of what we may do to be like, “Hey, get into these spaces.”