NYU Abu Dhabi Institute | Book Launch Discussion
May 21, 2024

When the art is the work, how do employers navigate the balance between creative freedom and consistent personnel processes that promote accessibility, equity, and sustainability? Do theatrical production operations value the worker? Celebrating the release of the book, this event features a conversation with Theatre Work authors Brídín Clements Cotton and Natalie Robin, moderated by Ntshadi Mofokeng and Delaney Teehan, about these questions and beyond.

A center of advanced research, scholarly, and creative activity, the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute was established in 2008 for Abu Dhabi, the UAE, and the world. The Institute brings together academics, professionals, and leaders from around the world to its academic conferences and public programs to discuss research areas and topics of local and global significance.

Ntshadi Mofokeng is a cultural worker who writes, curates, organizes to support artists’ rights, and engages with cultural policy. Her experience as an interdisciplinary arts administrator includes working with the Institute for Creative Arts at the University of Cape Town and Gregory Maqoma Industries as well as serving on the inaugural national steering committee of the Theatre and Dance Association (TADA). She has been selected as an International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) Global Fellow and the inaugural class of the Sustaining Theatre and Dance (STAND) Foundation Leadership Initiative. Prior to that, she served in various organizing and management roles within Equal Education, a youth led social movement. She graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College with a BA in Political Science and is completing her masters in Arts Politics at NYU's Tisch School of the Performing Arts.

Delaney Teehan (she/her) is a New York-based theatre maker with concentrations in production management and stage management. She moved to New York in 2018 to study technical theatre at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in the Production and Design Studio, and graduated in 2022 with a degree in theatre and double major in English Literature. She has collaborated with a myriad of arts organizations, such as New York Theatre Workshop, Ars Nova, and The Tank. Since graduating, Delaney has held a full-time position as an Associate Production Manager for Aurora Productions, working on a number of Broadway shows including “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Prime Facie,” “Death of a Salesman,” and “The Kite Runner.” Delaney centers intersectionality, anti-racism, and restorative justice as guiding ethical principles, and she seeks to explore new and creative solutions to longstanding problems in theatrical labor through her work.

Notes from the Field: A Frank Conversation on Pay Equity in the American Theatre | Virtual Panel Discussion
May 6, 2024

This panel brings together a national group of advocates who are provoking conversations around the need for more equitable pay structures in our field: What does it take for a theatrical worker to make a living in 2024? What progress has been made? Where can we go from here? What experiments in pay structures and ways of working have met success? We invite you to witness this robust conversation and listen for ways to support a vibrant, diverse theatrical workforce.

Panelists: Brídín Clements Cotton & Natalie Robin, Co-Authors of Theatre Work: Reimagining the Labor of Theatrical Production; Elsa Hiltner, On Our Team; Daniel Park, Obvious Agency.

Presented by The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, Notes from the Field: A Frank Conversation on Pay Equity in the American Theatre is the first session in a three-part series on Pay Equity.

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based, peer-produced, open-access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world’s performing-arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and develop our knowledge commons collectively.

COMING SOON | Artistic Finance Podcast Interview

Conversations with artists about money. Lighting designer Ethan Steimel asks other entertainment industry professionals how they handle personal finances and the business side of their career.

Related Media from the Authors

• Addressing Gender Inequity in Theatrical Design by Brídín Clements Cotton

• “But Does It Pay?” Internship Culture and Diversity in Theatre Administration by Brídín Clements Cotton

• Wingspace Virtual Salon #38: The World as Studio: Resources for Emerging Designers featuring Natalie Robin