Above: Ensemble improvisation in a performance of Bacchae Before (2021), a trans-centered version of Euripedes’ The Bacchae. Performers: Belinda He, Karla Quintero, Wiley Naman Strasser, Silk Worm.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny.
The emergence of new, transformative, even revolutionary creativity…occurs at the juncture between the production of art and the exercise of deep critical thought. —poet Garrett Hongo
Activism is a form of creative practice.
For decades I have built artist power—through community-based curating, facilitating models of artist co-leadership, convening dialogue, and radical lawyering. I have written about this work in Shifting Cultural Power: Case Studies and Questions in Performance, published by the National Center for Choreography.
Through my solo law practice, Movement Law, I build power with artists and arts organizations. As a Fellow with the Sustainable Economies Law Center and as a Fellow with the Grassroots Artist Advocacy Program, I build bridges between the solidarity economy and the arts. I co-lead the Artist Legal Cafe in partnership with Vital Arts and the Sustainable Economies Law Center.
My podcast, the body is the brain, brings artists together in conversation as a resilience practice.
I have deep experience in facilitating shared leadership in the arts. In 2020, I co-stewarded the transition of Hope Mohr Dance, which I founded in 2008, to a model of distributed leadership and a new name, Bridge Live Arts.
Press & Resources about Distributed Leadership Work
New York Times on the transition of Hope Mohr Dance to Bridge Live Arts
Dance Magazine on Bridge Live Arts' new name
In Practice: Stepping Back to Move Forward (In Dance)
Inside Power Shift: A Conversation on Distributed Leadership (Grand ReUnion)
Shifting toward Models of Equity (Stance on Dance)
Collective Models in the Arts (S.F. Chronicle)
Another Bridge Toward Equity (S.F. Classical Voice)
Notes on Stepping Back (the body is the brain blog post)
Value-Driven Restructuring (the body is the brain blog post)
Organizations I have consulted for and/or shared learnings around Distributed Leadership and Governance Transition (some of these presentations have been solo and some have been with colleagues Cherie Hill and Karla Quintero):
Sustainable Economies Law Center (2022)
New Yorkers for Culture and the Arts (2021)
North Carolina School of the Arts (2021)
Draper/Echoing Green Leadership Transition Cohort (2021)
Creating New Futures (White Caucus) (2021)
Arts Connect International (2021)
Berkeley Cultural Trust (2020)
Dance Artists National Collective (2021)
Dance/NYC (2022)
Dance/USA Conference (2021)
LeaderSpring (2021)
National Performance Network (National Conference) (2021)
On the Boards (2020)
Paths to Empowerment: A Panel about Cooperative Governance (2020)