Virtual Reality
Producing & Presenting TYA
Online & Offsite
A Week-Long Summit Exploring the Emerging Artistic and Business Practices in Virtual Arts Programming for Children, Families, and Schools
December 7-11, 2020
How are TYA organizations and artists shifting their practice to serve their young audiences virtually? Over the last eight months, theatres and performing arts centers have moved their work from the stage to the small screen, experimenting with streaming performances, interactive experiences, and virtual field trips in the age of COVID-19.
In the midst of that experimentation, many questions have emerged: How do we shift our artistic processes and business practices to a completely new format? How are we pricing, contracting, and producing content? How are we reaching school and family audiences? What can we learn from each other? What will remain beyond the pandemic?
Join TYA/USA for a week-long summit that will bring together artists and administrators, representing over 40 different organizations, for a series of conversations unpacking the creative and business model of virtual TYA programming.
Co-hosted by Jonathan Shmidt Chapman (TYA/USA), Christine Cox (C Squared Entertainment), and Sarah Saltwick (Holden & Arts Associates).
Registration Info
Register now to participate in the webinar series. The sessions will take place from December 7 to 11 at 12-1pm Eastern and 1:30-2:45pm Eastern (with additional sessions at 5-6pm ET on Monday and Wednesday). They will be presented live in webinar format, providing participants with the opportunity to view speakers and submit questions during a live Q & A.
If you register after the start of the series, you will immediately gain access to all of the sessions and resources you’ve missed.
Registration gives you access to:
- The Zoom link to attend all 12 sessions live
- The recordings for all sessions, so that you can revisit them or view any sessions you miss.
- Access to the session “Decentering Whiteness in Touring & Presenting TYA” on December 10 at 1:30pm ET, presented as part of the Listen, Learn, Lead: Antiracism in TYA Webinar Series.
- A private Slack channel for participants to dialogue and discuss the content of the sessions in a deeper way in community.
Registration Fees
TYA/USA wishes to make this series available to as many individuals in the TYA field as possible. Registration is open to TYA/USA members and non-members. If you are not a member of TYA/USA, we encourage you to become one as part of your registration for the series, as your support ensures our ability to continue to provide the national TYA community with vital resources during this challenging time.
For the VIRTUAL REALITY Series, TYA/USA is offering on a “pay what you can” sliding scale fee. The suggested registration fee is $60, which amounts to $5 per session. We are also offering an “Access for All” option so that no one is turned away from participating in the series regardless of their ability to pay.
The website will prompt you to either log in to your TYA member account, or create an account using your name and email address, in order to register. If you have problems accessing your account, please contact us at info@tyausa.org.
Questions? Contact info@tyausa.org.
Featured Speakers
VIRTUAL REALITY will bring together artists and administrators representing over 40 different organizations, including:
Adventure Theatre MTC, Adventure Players Live!, Artistic Stamp, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, Brave Little Company, Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, Childsplay, Cleveland PlayhouseSquare, CollideOscope Repertory Theatre Company, Dallas Children’s Theater, Des Moines Performing Arts, First Stage, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Magik Theatre, Midland Center for the Arts, Nashville Children’s Theatre, New Victory / New 42, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Northwest Children’s Theater & School, New York University, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Orlando Rep, Outside the March, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Poway OnStage, Portland Ovations, Stages Theatre Company, The Rose Theater, Threshold, Theatre Direct, TheaterWorksUSA, Trike Theatre, WolfBrown, and more!
About Your Hosts
Jonathan Shmidt Chapman
Jonathan Shmidt Chapman is an artist, producer, writer, curator, and educator dedicated to the field of Theatre for Young Audiences. Throughout his career, Jonathan has been passionate about innovation, experimentation and advocacy in the TYA field. Most recently, Jonathan served as the first Producer of Family Programming at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, creating ways to re-imagine the Lincoln Center campus as an international arts destination for families. Jonathan is also the Co-Founder of New York’s Trusty Sidekick Theater Company. He led the company through five years of growth and the creation of 12 original works, including the critically-acclaimed Up and Away (a multi-sensory, immersive experience for young people on the autism spectrum). Recent artistic credits include co-creator of The Cerulean Time Capsule for the Kennedy Center, and director of the world premiere of The Boy at the Edge of Everything (Finegan Kruckemeyer) at Seattle Children’s Theatre. He has held artistic and education-focused roles at The New Victory Theater, True Colors Youth Theatre, and the Cloud Foundation.
Christine Cox
Christine Cox is a producer, agent and general manager. Her agency, C Squared Entertainment, specializes in young audience programming. She represents a variety of artists that perform in venues all over the United States as well as internationally. She has been a long time advocate for family programming and a board member of New York City Center Circle. She is the lead producer of family friendly magic show, The Amazing Max. As a teaching artist, she created an educational dance program, 5th Grade Ballroom Stars, which teaches respect through ballroom. She also co-created the NYC based children’s entertainment company, A Princess Visit, which was featured on the Today Show. Currently during Covid-19 she has pivoted The Amazing Max into a full virtual business offering virtual magic experiences and magic lessons to children all over the world, including Kuwait, Finland, China, and Australia. Christine and her husband are currently on a “life tour” using this time while working virtually to live in other parts of the country that they would have never experienced prior to Covid-19.
Sarah Saltwick
Sarah Saltwick is a Co-Director at Holden & Arts Associates and the main sales contact for the Northeast, Southeast, Great Lakes in the USA and as well as Canadian Venues. She and the HAA team work closely with artists from all over the world and venues to create meaningful engagements of school, family, and general audiences on stage, in communities, and now online. Founded in 1983, Holden & Arts Associates is dedicated to sharing stories and creating partnerships. Sarah began her work at HAA in 2008 and is grateful for the leadership of Michael and Theresa Holden, HAA’s founders, as well as her fellow Co-Directors Spring Karlo and Stacy Meshbane. Sarah is a graduate of Hampshire College (BA) and the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas in Austin (MFA). In addition to her work at HAA, she is also a playwright. Her plays have been produced nationally and received critical acclaim from the Austin Critics Table and B. Iden Payne Committee. Sarah lives with her husband, musician and visual artist Toto Miranda, their 2 year daughter Beatrix, and their cat Lulu.
Schedule
Below you’ll find more information, including dates, times, titles, and description, for each of the Webinar Sessions in the series.
Sessions are each day from December 7 to 11 at 12-1pm Eastern and 1:30-2:45pm Eastern (with additional sessions at 5-6pm ET on Monday and Wednesday).
Registered participants can access recordings of the sessions as they become available on the Participant Resources tab of this site.
Episodic TYA Video Content: Deep Dive with The HI Way (Honolulu Theatre for Youth)
Join TYA/USA for a conversation with the creative team behind THE HI WAY, the episodic TV series that has innovatively explored our world since COVID-19 for a young audience, created by the TYA ensemble of Honolulu Theatre for Youth. The team will share insights on how they created the project from idea to fully-produced episodes, the impact of broadcasting the show on local TV, how they learned to use a different vehicle to continue creating TYA in this time, and how it might impact future work.
Producing Virtual Content and Artist Contracting
How are TYA Theatres and Performing Arts Centers navigating the producing process of content for schools and families? This presentation and panel discussion will offer a deep dive into a variety of topics, including the production of live vs. pre-recorded content; budgeting for virtual production; artist contracting; presentation agreements; and more.
Featuring speakers from Adventure Theatre MTC, Atlantic for Kids, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Nashville Children’s Theatre, Northwest Children’s Theater & School, and Orlando Rep.
TYA Experimentation in Isolation: Deep Dive with Threshold (Australia)
Join TYA/USA for a conversation with the creative team behind Threshold, a new Australian company that creates experiences aimed at bringing people together at life’s big moments. Their range of projects include audio-based TYA (MOUNTAIN GOAT MOUNTAIN), mail-based TYA (FEATHER QUEST), and other forms of remote experimentation. Grab a drink of your choice and join us for some inspiration from the other side of the world.
Audio-Based TYA: Deep Dive with Mundane Mysteries: Playdate (Outside the March & Theatre Direct)
Join TYA/USA for a conversation with the creative team behind MUNDANE MYSTERIES: PLAYDATE, an immersive telephone-based TYA experience for kids, created by Canadian company Outside the March in collaboration with Theatre Direct. The team will explore the way the project was developed and produced, how it impacted young audiences over the last year, and the future possibilities for this type of non-traditional theatrical engagement.
Streaming, Marketing, Presenting, and Pricing Virtual Content
How are TYA Theatres and Performing Arts Centers actually reaching and delivering content to school and family audiences? This presentation and panel discussion will offer a deep dive into a variety of topics, including the options for streaming platforms; virtual programming marketing strategies; co-productions and cross-field collaborations; and local vs. global reach.
Featuring speakers from: Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, Childsplay, Midland Center for the Arts, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and TheaterWorksUSA.
Mail-Based TYA
Join TYA/USA for a conversation with the teams behind three innovative mail-based TYA experiences: Bay Area Children’s Theatre’s PLAY ON! KIT, Dallas Children’s Theater’s MY FAR AWAY ADVENTURE KIT, Brave Little Company’s PAPER OFFERINGS, and the creators of ARTISTIC STAMP. The teams behind each project will share insights on their creative processes, the intricacies of producing mail-based experiences for youth, and how these projects might impact their future work.
Packaging Virtual Content for School Audiences
How are TYA Theatres and Performing Arts Centers navigating the presentation of virtual content to their school audiences? This presentation and panel discussion will offer a deep dive into a variety of topics, including format of school content; virtual field trips; streaming performances vs. educational engagement material; navigating streaming platforms in school environments; and more.
Featuring speakers from Playhouse Square, Childsplay, Des Moines Performing Arts, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Poway OnStage, and Trike Theatre.
Happy Hour: TYA Agents Showcase
Join TYA/USA for a session featuring several TYA agencies representing a diverse group of touring artists. This session will highlight a range of virtual offerings from leading TYA artists available to be presented in homes and classrooms nationwide. It will also explore the shifting role of the TYA Agent in the current landscape of our industry.
New Plays Performed Virtually: The Impact of Idris Goodwin's FREE PLAY
Join TYA/USA for a conversation with award-winning playwright, poet, and changemaker Idris Goodwin about FREE PLAY: Open Source Scripts Toward an Antiracist Tomorrow, Idris’ five short plays for multi-generational audiences that have been produced virtually by organizations and artists across the country and beyond. In conversation with a variety of organizations that produced readings of the FREE PLAY series in the past few months, Goodwin will moderate a conversation exploring the impact the plays have had on a diverse set of communities nationwide.
Featuring speakers from CollideOscope Repertory Theatre Company, Dallas Children’s Theater, Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre, and New York University.
Decentering Whiteness in Touring & Presenting TYA (Presented in association with IPAY)
(Presented as part of TYA/USA & Arts in Color’s Listen, Learn, Lead: Antiracism in TYA Webinar Series)
How can Presenters, who curate domestic and international performances for young audiences for their local communities, take an active role in reflecting their audiences on stage? How can the Presenting field interrogate the ways that white supremacy can impact notions of “Quality” in aesthetics of TYA? Join a panel of presenters for a roundtable discussion unpacking the challenges and the opportunities for creating a more equitable landscape in touring and presenting TYA in the US.
Featuring speakers from the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Lotus Arts Management, IPAY, and New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
For more info about this series, visit www.www.tyausa.org/antiracism.
Interactive & Activity-Based: Featuring First Stage and Stages Theatre Company
Join TYA/USA for a conversation with the teams behind three interactive activity-based TYA experiences: First Stage’s THE QUEST FOR SOLOMON’S TREASURE, Stages Theatre Company’s DETECT THE STORY, and Adventure Players Live! The teams behind these projects will share insights on their creative processes, discuss the ways in which their organizations have shifted to create programming for the current moment, and how these projects might impact their future work.
Planning for the Future of TYA Virtual Programming
How are TYA Theatres and Performing Arts Centers planning for their spring programming, and looking to the 2021/2022 season? What have we learned so far about virtual programming? What are we learning from our current experimentation that can be applied to next season, and beyond? This presentation and panel discussion will include a research presentation from WolfBrown on the Audience Outlook Monitor study, as well as a variety of perspectives on the future of virtual programming in TYA.
Featuring a research presentation from WolfBrown along with speakers from Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Magik Theatre, New Victory, Northwest Children’s Theater & School, Portland Ovations, and The Rose Theater.