Thursday, April 21, 2011

On Generosity

Generosity in the theatre has been on my mind lately thanks to Polly Carl's recent HowlRound blog. If you haven't read it yet, you should definitely do that now. Polly shares some inspiring ideas for how we can all be more generous and create better conditions for that to happen.

I was thinking about it on Monday at our intern networking night at Steppenwolf. If you havent attended one of these before, they are free events where interns at Chicago area theatres can meet and network with peers and then participate in breakout group sessions with leaders from various job disciplines like Theatre Management, Marketing, Development, Education, Stage Management, Design etc... The interns always ask a lot of great questions and the breakout group leaders give really valuable and practical advice about working in Chicago theatre. I am always amazed at the willingness of Chicago artists and administrators to share knowledge with anyone who has a desire to learn. It was a fun night and a great example of mentorship. In that same spirit of generosity, what's the best advice you've ever received as a theatre artist or administrator?

1 comment:

Greg W said...

Dennis Zacek told me as a young pup get involved with a theatre I liked in whatevery way they needed help. And once I got involved, do whatever was needed at 110% because someone will notice.