Arts Activities Support

Participants reported it was “great to have an opportunity to create new work and a structure to help nurture it." 40 artists worked on 9 new pieces, collectively playing to 930 people. A continuum of opportunities for emerging artists: Two of the Isolated Acts artists had participated in the Works-In-Progress program in prior years; and one of the Works-In-Progress 2016 groups was invited to create a work for Isolated Acts 2017. Red Eye's Fiscal Year 2016 New Works 4 Weeks program successfully enabled the participating artists to take creative risks in a supportive environment, engage in critical conversation and critique as the projects evolved, form new connections with other performance-makers and eventually experience how audiences engaged with and responded to their creations. Following one performance an audience member emailed, “Had a great time at the show tonight! Sold out – extra chairs added - exciting. […] You can see the impact Red Eye has on the artists’ development. What a wonderful program and evening you guys have built. Thank you!” The artists described the program as "enlightening," "validating," and "transformational." Following are additional excerpts from assessments submitted by the Fiscal Year 2016 artists that speak to how well the program served its participants: A critical platform for emerging artists: "Red Eye's Works In Progress program provides avenues for emerging artists I have yet to find anywhere else in the Twin Cities theatre scene. The process of group feedback, and long timeline, provide the space needed for a safe environment and dialogue to be formed between artists that is highly unique. Critiquing and sharing work with peers here in the cities was the perfect way to start defining my own artistic voice." "Creating NOCTURNE was not inevitable; I could have easily continued performing the thoughts of others with joy. But this opportunity gave me the courage and the push I needed to see my vision through. […] At times I felt very vulnerable, and at other times I felt invincible. As a part of a company that is extremely well established, this was the first time that I held the reigns and had agency over my own performance. It was thrilling." On taking risks: "I felt completely free to pursue whatever ideas and impulses came through me. [...] Experimentation felt like the only rule, and that was a truly enormous privilege." On the value of the feedback sessions: "I appreciate the generosity and openness of the feedback- that it's not about defense of a work but about exploration, reflection, and is in service of the artist creating what they are called to create. The program offers both faith in artists and support for taking risks." “The feedback sessions were not only helpful to my process, but I found that in giving feedback to others I was able to engage with works in a totally new way that made me appreciate the variety of artists that are a part of the festival. On the long-term impact of the response protocols: "I have no doubt that the questions asked in protocols will come from my own mouth again, years from now, when I have long since wrapped this experience at Red Eye, but still carry the energy and enthusiasm for both creating and supporting new work into my career." The 15 performances of this year’s festival were very well-attended, and generated the most ticket revenue ever. The program included the work of two artists of color – Pedro Lander, a recent arrival to the Twin Cities, and the other was Ashwini Ramaswamy, long-time, beloved feature dancer with Ragamala Dance Company, who was presenting her first choreography set on other Ragamala stalwarts. This helped attract a more racially diverse audience than the festival typically draws, specifically a large East Asian audience for Ashwini’s performances, and a larger percentage of young people of color to the Works-In-Progress weekend, which Pedro was part of. In addition, there was a significant LGBTQ contingent of attendees (one of the Works-In-Progress pieces featured a cast of transgender artists, while another of the Works-In-Progress and one of the Isolated Acts pieces explored drag culture), along with an unusual mix of dance, theater, film and music audiences because of the mix of disciplines featured. Many of the participating artists included comments in their evaluation narratives about the benefit of having their work viewed and responded to by artists from multiple disciplines, as well as how the process of engaging with each other throughout the six months of the program forged a genuine sense of community: "I am also grateful for the people I have met through this process. Forming new relationships with fellow creative people engenders more communication, conversation, and discussion about many topics within our respective fields. Having a diverse cross-section of artists who support each other is a cornerstone to creating a close-knit performance community. The mutual respect for our different artistic expressions only fuels future ground-breaking work." We began each evening with a brief curtain speech that provided the broader context of the festival and encouraged the audience to stay for a few minutes after the show to provide feedback to the artists. Audiences received annotated playbills, which included short essays from the artists about the work being presented. Red Eye also hosted a post-performance reception each week of the festival to help facilitate informal dialogue between artists and audience. Although we didn’t receive any request for audio described or ASL interpreted performances, we did have patrons in wheelchairs, whose seating requirements were easily accommodated. In terms of economic accessibility, we’ve very much codified a ticket structure that is barrier-free by kicking off each weekend with a pay-as-able show. Most people understand that to mean whatever dollar amount they can afford, but this year a couple patrons paid in “artwork.” We were able to keep ticket prices for the Isolated Acts portion of the festival at $15 or less, while the price for all the Works-In-Progress evenings remained a modest $8.