[Capdist-announce] Berkshire Leadership Summit Announces Keynote Speaker and Presenters

[Gail Burns]

October 18, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

www.wamtheatre.com

pr at wamtheatre.com; 518.243.9627 <(518)%20243-9627>

Press photos can be found at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/sets/72157648698789976/>

Berkshire Leadership Summit Announces Keynote Speaker and Presenters

LEE, MA - WAM Theatre is excited to release the program schedule of the
upcoming Berkshire Leadership Summit, taking place on Saturday, October 28
and Sunday, October 29, 2017 in the Elayne P. Bernstein Center for the
Performing Arts at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass. Over 20 nonprofit
theatre leaders, professional experts, and resource providers will be
leading a cohort of 80 attendees from across the United States and Canada
through a series of programs that will develop their vocabulary, skills,
and strategies for successful leadership.



Michelle Hensley, Founder and Artistic Director of Ten Thousand Things
Theater in Minnesota, will be providing the keynote address. Ms. Hensley
will discuss her efforts, as an artistic director finding herself in a very
male world, to create a place where she could work and live with her values
intact - a central theme of this pilot event.



Michelle Hensley has directed and produced over 25 years of award-winning
drama brought directly to nontraditional audiences in prisons, shelters and
housing projects, as well as the general public in and around Minneapolis
through Ten Thousand Things Theater. A McKnight Theater Fellow, Ms. Hensley
was named the Star Tribune's Best Artistic Director in 2012, received the
Francesca Primus Prize for outstanding contribution to the American theater
by a female artist, published her book All The Lights On in 2015, and just
last month received the Ivey Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The keynote speech will kick off the weekend summit which is filled with
panels, plenaries, and conversations. 16 skill building sessions will be
offered on topics ranging from fundraising to board development, and will
be led by over a dozen experts in the field including Patricia Bonner-DuVal,
President of Bonner Enterprises; Debbie Chinn, Executive Director of Opera
Parallèle; Jenna Deja, Vice President at Arts Consulting Group; David J.
Diamond, Theatre Consultant, Producer, and Founder of Career Coaching for
Artists; Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director of Williamstown Theater
Festival; Julie Hennrikus, Executive Director of StageSource; Joan Lancourt,
Founder of Greater Boston Theater Board Leaders Group; David Mallette,
Partner at Management Consultants for the Arts; Dr. S. Atyia Martin, Chief
Resilience Officer at City of Boston; Laura Penn, Executive Director of
Stage Directors and Choreographers Society; Ellen Richard, Executive
Director of Laguna Playhouse; Sarah Shampnois, Managing Director of Company
One; and Erin Washington, Founder of Soul Center.

"By directly addressing the common barriers outlined in the
A.C.T./Wellesley Centers for Women research, our goal is to provide such
intentional training resources and direct action that there is no question
that these candidates are positioned and prepared to lead with success."
said Rachel Fink, member of the Berkshire Leadership Summit Steering
Committee. "We have gathered a remarkable group of current and future
leaders and I am so excited to witness their collective power as they
mobilize to impact our field for the better."

Other program highlights include:


   - *Saturday plenary session: **Leadership Shifts: From the Wellesley
   Report to Executive Search* This group discussion, moderated by Rachel
   Fink, Managing Director of Theatre Bay Area in San Francisco and
   Berkshire Leadership Summit Steering Committee member, will use the
   findings from the Wellesley Centers for Women/A.C.T. research as a
   springboard for a conversation about current hiring practices in the
   nonprofit theatre, industry efforts towards gender parity, and tactics to
   address the barriers to advancement detailed in the study. Panelists
   include Emika Abe, Assistant Managing Director of Alliance Theatre; Michelle
   Bonoan, Managing Director at Koya Leadership Partners; and Ineke Ceder,
   Research Associate at Wellesley Centers for Women as well as Jenna
Deja, Joan
   Lancourt, David Mallette, and Laura Penn.


   - *Sunday plenary session: *Successive Leadership: Leading on While
   Passing the Baton This plenary, moderated by Liz Diamond, Chair of the
   Directing Department at Yale School of Drama and Resident Director at Yale
   Repertory Theatre, will tackle what leadership development looks like over
   the lifespan of a career, as well as transitioning leadership skills and
   positions to a new generation of women. Panelists include Martha Richards,
   Executive Director of WomenArts, and Hana Sharif, Associate Artistic
   Director of Baltimore Center Stage.


   - *Sunday pinnacle conversation: *A Clarion Call for Advancement In this
   final conversation, moderated by Erin Washington, attendees will hear
   from leaders in the field who have taken action on women's leadership and
   discuss what’s next. Panelists include Carol Dunne, Producing Artistic
   Director at Northern Stage; Joy Meads, Co-Founder of The Kilroys and
   Literary Manager/Artistic Engagement Strategist at Center Theatre Group;
   and Kristen van Ginhoven, Artistic Director of WAM Theatre and Berkshire
   Leadership Summit Steering Committee chair.


Summit organizers are also thrilled to announce that the keynote address,
plenaries, and pinnacle conversation will be livestreamed on the global,
commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv
<http://howlround.com/tv>. The keynote presentation will be
livestreamed on Saturday,
Oct 28 at 9:30 a.m. EDT (New York) / 8:30 a.m. CDT (Chicago) / 6:30 a.m. PDT
(Los Angeles). Saturday’s plenary session will be livestreamed on Saturday,
Oct 28 at 4:00 p.m. EDT (New York) / 3:00 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 1:00 p.m. PDT
(Los Angeles). Sunday’s plenary session will be livestreamed on Sunday, Oct
29 at 11:15 a.m. EDT (New York) / 10:15 a.m. CDT (Chicago) / 8:15 a.m. PDT
(Los Angeles). The pinnacle conversation will be livestreamed on Sunday,
Oct 29 at 1:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 12:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 10:30 a.m.
PDT (Los Angeles).

More information about the Berkshire Leadership Summit schedule can be
found at http://www.wamtheatre.com/berkshire-leadership-summit-2017/.

ABOUT THE BERKSHIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

The pilot Berkshire Leadership Summit will be hosted by WAM Theatre on October
28 and 29, 2017, in the Elayne Bernstein Performing Arts Center at
Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass.

The summit is informed and supported by the research that American
Conservatory Theater commissioned from the Wellesley Centers for Women. The
HowlRound blogpost about the study can be found at
http://howlround.com/women-s-leadership-research-results-and-recommendations

Sponsors and supporters for the summit include Lynn and Richard Atkinson,
Hannelore Voness, Joan and James Hunter, Jack and Suzy Wadsworth, Arwen
Lowbridge of Baystate Financial, Classical Tents, Blue Q, ZONTA Club of
Berkshire County, and the donors of the GoFundMe campaign.

The Berkshire Leadership Summit Steering Committee: Kristen van Ginhoven,
Artistic Director of WAM Theatre; Akiba Abaka, Audience Development Manager
at ArtsEmerson; Rachel Fink, Managing Director of Theatre Bay Area; and
Shafer Mazow, who currently works at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and
was a lead developer and organizer of the Women’s Leadership Project and
convening.



The BLS Advisory Committee includes Ineke Ceder and Sumru Erkut, authors of
the Wellesley Study; Elena Chang, Associate Director of Equity, Diversity
and Inclusion at TCG; Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director at Williamstown
Theatre Festival; Carey Perloff, Artistic Director at American Conservatory
Theatre who commissioned the Wellesley study; Laura Penn, Executive
Director of the Society of Stage Director and Choreographers; and Martha
Richards, Executive Director of WomenArts.



ABOUT WAM THEATRE

Based in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, WAM Theatre is Where Arts and
Activism Meet. The company was co-founded in 2010 by Canadian director,
actor, educator, and producer Kristen van Ginhoven. WAM’s vision is to
create opportunity for women and girls through the mission of theatre as
philanthropy. Inspired by the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into
Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, WAM
donates a portion of the proceeds from its theatrical events to
organizations that benefit women and girls. Since 2010, WAM Theatre has
donated more than $32,500 to twelve nonprofit organizations and provided
paid work to more than 200 theatre artists. In addition to the main stage
productions and special events, WAM Theatre’s activities include a
comprehensive educational outreach program and the Fresh Takes Play Reading
Series. For more information, visit www.WAMTheatre.com
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/>

# # #

-- 
Gail M. Burns

*Marketing + Publicity Associate*
www.WAMTheatre.com <http://www.wamtheatre.com/>
413-274-8122

*Our 8th Season:*  <http://www.wamtheatre.com/special/>
Fresh Takes <http://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes-2017/> | Emilie
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/emilie-remount-2017/>| Stars in the Orchard
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/stars-in-the-orchard-2017> | The Last Wife
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/the-last-wife/> | Leadership Summit
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/berkshire-leadership-summit-2017/>


Make a donation now <https://www.wamtheatre.com/donateonline/> to WAM
Theatre!
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