[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Announces Attendees for October’s Berkshire Leadership Summit

[Gail Burns]

September 21, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

www.wamtheatre.com

pr at wamtheatre.com; 518.243.9627

Press photos can be found at:

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


WAM Theatre Announces Attendees for October’s Berkshire Leadership Summit

“We see the operation of a glass ceiling, a metaphor for the barriers
facing women stuck at middle management where they can see the top but
cannot reach it.”

- from the Wellesley Centers for Women Study

LEE, MA - Organizers of the pilot Berkshire Leadership Summit, an event for
women aspiring to, or already in, leadership positions in the non-profit
theatre, and hosted by WAM Theatre, are excited to announce that the
attendees of this event have been selected.

Of the 163 women theatre professionals who applied to participate in the
Berkshire Leadership Summit, 75 have been accepted, hailing from 22 U.S.
states and four Canadian provinces. This cohort reflects an emphasis the
Steering Committee members placed on diversity, accessibility, and
intentionality early in the process. Towards this goal, the steering
committee members, comprised of Kristen van Ginhoven, Artistic Director of
WAM Theatre (Steering Committee Chair); 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, went through a rigorous selection process that focused on
creating a cohort that balanced career (early/late/mid-career), background
(race, sexual identity, geography), and level of leadership experience. The
process resulted in an intentional balance of these criteria in an effort
to provide the greatest opportunity for personal growth and
community-building for each attendee at the summit.

“When I stood up at a microphone at American Conservatory Theater's Women's
Leadership Conference in August 2016 and said WAM Theatre would host a
summit as a next step in the national conversation around gender parity in
the theatre, never, ever did I think it would result in this sort of
response,” explained Kristen van Ginhoven, WAM’s Artistic Director. “The
desire for this sort of event is very clear. “

“Getting this sort of response confirms that we were embarking on something
timely and critical in discussions of equity and inclusion in the field.”
said Shafer Mazow, Steering Committee Member and a lead developer and
organizer of the Women’s Leadership Project and convening that inspired the
Berkshire Leadership Summit. “Women of all backgrounds, experiences, and
identities struggle to break the glass ceiling in theatre, and the
diversity of applicants proves we are articulating and addressing a need
for that glass ceiling to be shattered for everyone.”

Early- to late-career theatre professionals from British Columbia to
Brooklyn will come together in Lenox, Massachusetts, for two days at the
end of October. The summit will have a three-part structure: Networking
opportunities, rigorous Skill-Building sessions and Advancing the Discourse
panels, which will be livestreamed through HowlRound. The Steering
Committee will announce the speakers, panelists, and schedule next month.

Attendees such as Emika Abe of Atlanta, Georgia, have long felt the uneven
ground of gender parity in theatre and are eager to support other
participants in leveling this playing field. “It can be difficult to
envision myself in a formal leadership position when there isn't an
abundant pool of leaders who look like me from which to gather
inspiration,” she explains. “This creates a barrier to really owning that
we deserve a seat at the table.”

Canadian attendee Heather Cant echoes this sentiment. “The importance of
equality should never need explaining; when all voices are welcome and
heard with equal merit, all the world will truly be a stage.”

Steering Committee Chair van Ginhoven concludes, “WAM Theatre and the
Steering Committee are incredibly proud to be taking action for gender
parity in the non-profit theatre by hosting the pilot Berkshire Leadership
Summit. We look forward to welcoming all of these impressive women leaders
to the beautiful Berkshires in October.”

A complete list of this year’s Berkshire Leadership Summit participants is
below. To learn more please visit
http://www.wamtheatre.com/berkshire-leadership-summit-2017/attendees/.

Emika Abe, Atlanta, GA

C.J. Astronomo, Toronto, Ontario

Leah Barish, Chicago, IL

Eva Barrie, Toronto, Ontario

Devon Berkshire, Brooklyn, NY

Anne Bertram, Minneapolis, MN

Sara Brookner, Somerville, MA

Kamilah Bush, Greensboro, NC

Kristen Adele Calhoun, New York, NY

Heather Cant, Kamloops, British Columbia

Tatyana-Marie Carlo, Miami, FL

Elena Chang, New York, NY

Jamila Cobham, Richmond, CA

Patsy Collins Bandes, Belmont, MA

Angela Combest, Chester, MA

Lori Ann DeLappe-Grondin, West Sacramento, CA

Celine Delcayre, Brooklyn, NY

Deanna Downes, Cedar Rapids, IA

Theresa Erbacher, Washington, DC

Hannah Fenlon, Brooklyn, NY

Karena Fiorenza Ingersoll, Chicago, IL

Aislinn Frantz, Groton, CT

Kelly Galvin, Lee, MA

Ann Garner, Philadelphia, PA

Adriana Gaviria, New York, NY

Maddie Gaw, Berkeley, CA

Tuled Giovanazzi, Calgary, Alberta

Ruth Goodwin, Toronto, Ontario

Stephanie Graham, Toronto, Ontario

Ty Hallmark, Kensington, MD

Pamela Halstead, East Pennant, Nova Scotia

Julie Hennrikus, Boston, MA

Rachel Spencer Hewitt, Chicago, IL

Esther Jun, Toronto, Ontario

Teresa Kilzi, Urbana, IL

Lia Kozatch, Clark, CO

Anne Levy, Tuscaloosa, AL

Shellen Lubin, Chatham, NY

Natasha MacLellan, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia

Porsche McGovern, Greenwich, CT

Tracy Liz Miller, Tempe, AZ

Nicole Miller Marks, Philadelphia, PA

Margaret Morneau, Roseville, CA

Tara Moses, Broken Arrow, OK

Shondrika Moss-Bouldin, Fairburn, GA

Shannon Musgrave, Salt Lake City, UT

Erica Nagel, Oakland, NJ

Brenna Nicely, Arlington, MA

Bridget O'Leary, Watertown, MA

Abigail Pañares, Berkeley, CA

Elizabeth Pangburn, Shutesbury, MA

Rebecca Parker, Buford, GA

Melinda Pfundstein Vaughn, Cedar City, UT

Karen Altree Piemme, San Jose, CA

Lisa Portes, Chicago, IL

Mary Jane Probst, Saint Louis, MO

Martha Richards, Berkeley, CA

Ali Joy Richardson, Toronto, Ontario

Dylan Russell, Richmond, CA

Helen Schultz, New York, NY

Jordan Schwartz, Marietta, GA

Phaedra Scott, Boston, MA

Hana Sharif, Baltimore, MD

Shannon Sindelar, Brooklyn, NY

Brianna Sloane, Sunderland, MA

Nicole St. Martin, Edmonton, Alberta

Bronwyn Steinberg, Ottawa, Ontario

Meg Sullivan, Cranston, RI

Erin Washington, Atlanta, GA

Emma Watt, Somerville, MA

Alexis Williams, New York, NY

Denise Winter, Port Townsend, WA

Danielle Zarbin, Brooklyn, NY


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, MA.

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, 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.

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

# # #

-- 
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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