Episode 63, ACT 2: Looking Back to Look Forward - Collaborate, Cultivate, Celebrate

What do the words intentionality, collaboration, community, responsiveness, tenacity, perseverance and leadership have in common? They’re all terms or themes that emerge in our newest episode. And they’re all used in reference to teaching artistry and its pivotal role in the constant reshaping and elevation of arts education and arts administration. In Episode 63, Act 2: “Collaborate, Cultivate, Celebrate,” a number of big ideas and questions arise, two of which take center stage: In a world in which the non-profit industrial complex holds such a firm presence, how do we establish a more equitable leadership model? In what ways can we center teaching artists’ voices and perspectives to help drive organizational practices forward? In this newest installment, a panel of arts practitioners and administrators discuss the merger between Association of Teaching Artists (ATA) and Teaching Artists Guild (TAG) and the interpersonal discussions that were had, and the big ideas and systems that, out of necessity, were deconstructed and/or developed in order to make that meaningful merger happen. These brilliant minds also chat​​ about the impact, positive and negative, that the pandemic had on the internal operations of non-profit organizations. This includes, of course, the innovative ways teaching artists and their expertise were invited into new discussions and either uplifted or not given their due. The panel’s conversation really hits full throttle when the panel discusses​ ways they’ve let go of hierarchical leadership models and instead chosen to embrace a more equitable concentric leadership model. That’s when they dive into a rich discussion about the emergence of that type of model and how the pendulum has swung into the position of embracing equity and rejecting old, oppressive models that have for so long kept the non-profit industrial complex aloft.