Rachel Spencer Hewitt details a replicable and sustainable model for including parents in the performing arts. It takes more than just a babysitter, she writes.
'As a freelance artist and the founder of the Parent Artist Advocacy League for the Performing Arts (PAAL), I have spent years researching different parent support solutions in our field. Based on my findings, I compiled a handbook, the PAAL National Handbook of Best Practices. When Roberta Pereira, producing director of New York City’s the Playwrights Realm, approached me about committing all these practices to a singular Off-Broadway production in an effort to manifest radically inclusive change, I knew PAAL’s research and recommendations were ready to put into action. We named the project the Radical Parent-Inclusion Project (RPI), and Roberta discovered the perfect piece for its application: Mothers by Anna Moench. In line with the mission at the Playwrights Realm, we centered the budget, structure, and approach of radical inclusion around the playwright—Moench, a gifted artist and a woman of color—and expanded it to include the entire creative team and staff.' ... Keep reading on Howl Round
'As a freelance artist and the founder of the Parent Artist Advocacy League for the Performing Arts (PAAL), I have spent years researching different parent support solutions in our field. Based on my findings, I compiled a handbook, the PAAL National Handbook of Best Practices. When Roberta Pereira, producing director of New York City’s the Playwrights Realm, approached me about committing all these practices to a singular Off-Broadway production in an effort to manifest radically inclusive change, I knew PAAL’s research and recommendations were ready to put into action. We named the project the Radical Parent-Inclusion Project (RPI), and Roberta discovered the perfect piece for its application: Mothers by Anna Moench. In line with the mission at the Playwrights Realm, we centered the budget, structure, and approach of radical inclusion around the playwright—Moench, a gifted artist and a woman of color—and expanded it to include the entire creative team and staff.' ... Keep reading on Howl Round