Page 31 - APAP - Inside Arts - Conference 2020

houses, clean their houses, tend to their gardens. There’s little awareness, as they co-exist side by side.”
The particular traumas of these times are not new. Instead, increasing awareness, empathy and accountability around historic violence, exclusion, oppression and silencing is hitting more individuals and institutions harder – and creating a greater sense of urgency for immediate change.
“We’re always in times that are traumatic for some, but others have been insulated from the trauma and could look away.
For some of us it is hitting us harder than before, our safety net is breaking, but for many that safety net is continually broken,” said Wollesen, executive director of The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland. “The trauma of the #MeToo moment is the trauma of coming to terms with normalized behavior that should never have been normalized.”
“We have this real privilege that our actual work is bringing people together,” said Thake, senior director of artistic programs at the Public Theater in New York City. “What are we doing with that time, how do we not squander that privilege? I think there is a real question of what have we and have we not been doing: We are in this world with white supremacy on the rise and hateful rhetoric being deeply prevalent – and what is our role?”
“The thing about these times is we had been lulled into a notion that we were always going to be all right,” said Thomas, a cultural
“MY EXPERIENCE OF LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT GENEROSITY, ABOUT SURROUNDING YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE SOMETHING TO TEACH YOU AND ENTERING INTO SPACE IN THAT WAY.” — Shanta Thake
strategist and equity consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. “And that has disconnected us from our cultural heritage
as Americans as those who protest: those who stand up for different beliefs. We have a legacy of protest and change in our country; this is in our DNA.”
LEADERSHIP AS CALLING, LEADERSHIP AS SERVICE
The APAP|NYC 2020 co- chairs agreed on several characteristics they feel to be crucial to leadership now. Above all, they view leadership as a set of skills and actions that build
on shared values to guide and inspire others, to create, as Fisher said, “a sense of connectedness and strategies to move forward.” A place, in this particular case, in which the membership can find their voice.
Primary among this set of skills are generosity, listening, risk taking, facilitation and humility.
“My experience of leadership
is about generosity, about surrounding yourself with people who have something to teach you and entering into space in that way,” said Thake. “Recognizing where strengths lie in any room and being able to bring those out in folks. It’s kind of like a good rehearsal. You’re looking at the makeup of the room and trying to build something together. That’s how you put on a good show, and it’s how leadership works – where you’re really getting the best and most out of everyone in a space.”
“Whose voice is present?” said Wollesen. “Who has the privilege
to have voice? Who do we need to be listening to or listening to more intently? Leadership is allowing ourselves to be humbled at times. We should not have all the answers but be bringing forth conversation.”
Bradley, too, emphasized an active listening to what people need.
“What are the barriers to engagement?” she said. “What are they seeing, what do they need? What's missing from the tools that they feel like they need to
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