ISPA Fellow & Member Bring Entrepreneurship Program to South Africa
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
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Posted by: Nicole Merritt
Once a year ISPA selects a group of emerging leaders from the
performing arts field and provides them access to ISPA’s extensive network of
performing arts professionals via the ISPA Fellowship program. One of the goals of ISPA’s
Fellowship program is for participants to take what they’ve learned at
Congresses back to their own communities, thus furthering the performing arts
field from afar. Recently, 2013 ISPA
Fellow Neil Coppen (South Africa) did just that.
While attending the New York 2013 Congress as an ISPA Fellow, Neil
re-connected with ISPA member (and Past Board Chair) Elizabeth Bradley, Arts Professor, Drama, Tisch School of the Arts, at
New York University. Following the Congress,
Neil’s organization Think Theatre and Market Theatre Laboratory teamed up to
bring Professor Bradley to Johannesburg, South Africa to conduct an arts
entrepreneurship program for 25 mid-career artists from South Africa and
Zimbabwe.
ISPA
would like to congratulate Neil and Professor Bradley on the success of their
recent "Self Start Intensive: Arts Entrepreneurship” which took place August 10th
– 18th, 2013. Learn more
about the program presented in Johannesburg in the full press release
below. To learn more about the ISPA
Fellowship program, visit the Fellowship
section of the ISPA website (now accepting applications
for 2014 Fellows).
Self Start Intensive: Arts Entrepreneurship” Programme
Launches 25 New Ventures in 9 Days The "Self
Start Intensive: Arts Entrepreneurship” programme concluded on Sunday
following a successful inaugural nine-day session (August 10-18, 2013). The
"Self Start” course was created in 2006 by Elizabeth
Bradley (Arts Professor, Drama, Tisch School of the Arts, New York
University), and has been conducted around the world. The programme provides
self-employed artists with the skills necessary to recognize opportunities, act
on them decisively, and actualize an arts venture with competence and
confidence. Along with Professor Bradley, volunteer faculty with expertise in
business strategy, visual design, and communications worked with twenty-five
participants to launch their new arts ventures during the week. "This
course acts as a catalyst for artists to shape and define their own work, and
equips them with the practical knowledge they need to communicate and realize
their artistic vision,” explains Professor
Bradley. "We were privileged to work
with an extraordinary group of individuals, and the ventures they have
incubated have the potential to effect real change in their respective
communities.” The Self Start Intensive in Johannesburg is the result of a
collaboration between Think Theatre’s
Neil Coppen (2013 ISPA Fellow) and
the Market Theatre Laboratory.
Coppen and Professor Bradley forged a relationship during the run of his
production Tin Bucket Drum in New
York in 2012, and later reconnected at the 2013 International Society of
Performing Arts (ISPA) conference, where they solidified plans to bring a
condensed version of the Self Start course to South Africa.
"It’s taken nearly two years of planning and
Think Theatre was thrilled to find a funding/ hosting partner in The Market
Lab,”
says Coppen. "The Market Theatre’s administration team and The Lab principal Clara Vaughan have been instrumental in
making this programme a reality by providing the necessary funding and
facilities to support the course.” The Self Start intensive course was offered without cost to twenty-five
successful participants, comprised of mid-career artists and second-year
Market Lab students from South Africa and Zimbabwe. The programme culminated in a pitch session to a
panel of industry professionals, comprised of John Kani, Kyla Davis, Greg Homann, Hayleigh Evans and Lester Adams. In
addition to Elizabeth Bradley, the course was taught by Anne Mundell (Associate Professor, Scenic Design, Carnegie
Mellon University) with the assistance of David Betts (Principal,
Deloitte Consulting LLP) and Bronwen Bradley (Senior Communications Manager,
Opera Atelier). "We
were overwhelmed with the response we received to the call for applicants,”
says Clara Vaughan, the head of the
Market Lab. "Professor Bradley and her
team were given the daunting task of whittling down the 60 applications to a
final 17, who worked closely with our group of Lab students.” The Self Start course provides participants with
a "step
by step” framework through which to realize their artistic vision. Through
informal lectures, practical exercises, class discussions, team projects, and
written work, participating artists were equipped to effectively communicate
their visions and values and successfully launch entrepreneurial arts ventures.
Topics included: articulating a mission, the options for
different producing models, choosing collaborators, developing a strategic
plan, basic fundraising, marketing
and managing the financial aspects essential for start-up enterprises.
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