Membership Spotlight – November 2025

Entrepreneurial Arts and Cultural Leadership: Traits of Success in Nonprofit Theatre.

LIGHTROOM in London, U.K.– designed and executed by Imagination Stage Alum David Sabel. An arts center that offers inspirational and innovative immersive experiences — a new genre with implications for TYA?

With co-author Brett Ashely Crawford, a book tour to talk to arts management students about entrepreneurial arts management practices, as identified and detailed in our book.

We need children and youth in theatres now, growing up loving theatre, and populating our theatres when they are adults.

The Washington Ballet (Septime Webre and David Palmer) were phenomenal collaborators with whom we worked (in 2012) to develop, write and choreograph a co-production of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. The seamless integration of dance and theatre told the story in a completely new dance/theatre genre.

Gail Humphries. professor and author. I first met her when she was a theatre professor at American University. She became an innovative practitioner at iStage and continues to offer sage advice in all my endeavors.

bfogel8804@gmail.com. Or LinkedIn

One bold project my team is working on is a Carnival festival at the museum in partnership with Caribbean communities across New York City. The festival uses food, performance, and visual art to tell stories of resilience. This is especially relevant as climate change threatens islands across the Caribbean and even here in Manhattan, the island we all share.

These are my favorite kinds of programs because they bring together local vendors, artists, and scientists to show just how interconnected science and culture are. It’s a celebration of creativity, community, and climate awareness all in one.

There’s so much art fueling me right now, but one piece that’s really stayed with me is the unsanctioned takeover of The Met Museum, titled ENCODED, by a collective of 17 North American Indigenous artists. My first instinct was, “Us next!” The programmer in me was immediately buzzing as I thought about how we could share our resources and platform to continue this kind of work across cultural centers.

Their message, that institutions like The Met and by extension museums like AMNH don’t belong to any one of us, really resonated with me. I take that as both a challenge and an invitation. I believe these institutions belong to all of us, and that means everyone should have a say in the stories we tell. That’s a guiding principle in my work: programming that’s shaped by ideas from across our community, from visitors to security guards to scientists. That shared authorship is what keeps the work alive and meaningful.

I’m grateful that when we have big ideas, it’s often a matter of when and not if. My dream project is expanding our work while creating sustainable depth and volume. I’d love to see a full calendar of festivals, lectures and residencies supported by a robust team that can bring them to life sustainably. Too often, we sacrifice ourselves to achieve our dreams, and I’m focused on building models that allow both innovation and care to coexist.

That said, I’ve also been in the New York Liberty’s DMs, because I see some exciting connections between the museum’s work on biodiversity loss and conservation and the most famous elephant on the planet – Big Ellie! That kind of playful partnership where sports, science, and storytelling meet is exactly the kind of work that energizes me.

I often say that my career has allowed me to serve the institutions that raised me. As a theater kid growing up in Brooklyn, I found outlets for my creativity, my Type A focus, and my joy through arts organizations like those supported by TYA/USA.

The institutions that TYA/USA nurtures provide essential spaces for young people to imagine themselves and the world “as if they could be otherwise,” to borrow from the philosopher Maxine Greene. We need more of that kind of imagination right now, which is why the work of TYA feels both urgent and deeply hopeful.

I work with too many fabulous collaborators to choose just one. But when I first joined the museum after leaving Lincoln Center, working with Polyglot Theatre on Ants and later Bees really stood out. It felt like a beautiful merge of my “old world” in the performing arts and my new one in science and culture at AMNH. That collaboration reminded me how naturally wonder and curiosity can connect across disciplines and audiences of all ages.

I’m so grateful to have mentors who have guided me, even from a distance. One person who stands out is THE Alex Sarian, President & CEO of Arts Commons in Canada. We check in from time to time, reminding each other to keep chasing our Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) in whatever form they take in the moment. Watching his journey as an author and as the youngest executive to lead a major performing arts center, I’m constantly learning from his vision and drive. He’s living proof that those BHAGs aren’t just dreams; they’re roadmaps.

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and/or through publicprograms@amnh.org as we’re always looking for opportunities at the intersection of science and art.

My graduate thesis is the biggest project in my life right now! It is titled Children Will Listen: Making the Case for the Development of New Works for Young Audiences. My thesis was inspired by two ideas — the fact that childhood theatre attendance has a positive correlation with adult theatre-going, and my passion for the development of new work. I have been exploring the history and current state of TYA, especially through the lens of creative development. Via this exploration, I am planning to make the argument that the development of new and original TYA plays and musicals deserves increased resources and research. I am deeply immersed in literature review and informational interviews right now, and I can’t wait to see what conclusions I am able to draw!

Not exactly a piece of art, but a project in general — the TYA/USA and Alliance Theatre TVY Development Program. One thing I have learned in the past several months is that works for children — especially children aged 0-4 — have very different developmental needs than works for adult/older audiences. However, the vast majority of development and commissioning programs in the United States cannot accommodate those unique needs. I am so excited to see what this new, dedicated development space can do for TVY practice and the TYA field as a whole.

My absolute dream is to pioneer a new play and/or new musical festival that solely presents works for children, families, and intergenerational audiences. I just finished working on the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Festival of New Musicals, and in addition to reinforcing my passion for new work development, it also got me thinking about what a festival like that could look like if every new work was intended for young audiences? What if producers and presenters could attend alongside children and families — and they could see the responses of their audience in real time? That’s my next big brainstorm…

Well first, there is the personal connection — I grew up attending theatre, dance, live music, and more. As a professional theatre maker, I am a living and breathing example of the power of youth arts programming. But with that said, the value of TYA certainly doesn’t lie solely with its ability to generate future adult theatre-makers. I think its the ability to create future thinkers and empaths. The potential impact of TYA stories is so much higher than the stories we see on stage as adults, because young people have not yet learned how to “other”. When children see a meaningful lesson on stage portrayed by, for example, a family of birds, they don’t say “Well that was a nice story but, I’m not a bird, so I don’t relate”. They can feel empathy and compassion without the condition that the person telling the story must be just like them.

I recently had the immense pleasure of supporting Chris Nee, Chris Dimond, and Michael Kooman on a presentation of their musical Finn at the 37th Annual Festival of New Musicals. I think it’s safe to say that everyone in the TYA community knows about Finn, and knows what happened to it. However, by line producing this presentation, I had the unique pleasure of getting to know the show beyond just what happened to it. Chris, Chris, and Michael’s wonderful outlook and commitment to sharing Finn with children and families was such a joy to be around.

I am grateful to my thesis advisor, Tory Bailey, who has wholeheartedly supported my interest in TYA since the very first time I presented my ideas to her. My excitement about this topic is big, but her encouragement is even bigger!

Please connect with me on LinkedIn, or shoot me an email! kharristheatre@gmail.com.