The Summit’s theme of “Centering Humanity,” engages with the how-to and impact of humane practices and caregiver support that center restorative justice, anti-racism, gender inclusion, and the interconnected access needs of the disability community. The artistic component of the event will be announced in the coming weeks along with the sessions and speakers. Registration is now open at www.paaltheatre.com/summit. 

The PAAL International Summit 2021 Mission:

CENTERING HUMANITY

Action, Accountability, and Affinity Solutions

For Humane and Sustainable Practices in the Performing Arts

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“From fundraising resources for caregiver funds to return practices that center support, the PAAL Summit creates an opportunity for us to develop more humane and ethical practices as a community. We want to abolish the harmful idea that growth happens in isolation. This Summit acknowledges fatigue and encourages forward movement with field-wide accountability and support,” shares Rachel Spencer Hewitt, PAAL Director of Programming and Resources. 

LaNeshe Miller White, Executive Director of Theatre Philadelphia and member of PAAL Board of Directors, emphasizes the importance of leadership and individuals gathering for action around the conversation of how to keep support relevant in this moment - with national policy everchanging, the Summit will provide resources for stable and sustainable support.

The sessions at the 2021 PAAL Summit: Centering Humanity will include strategies for increasing parent and caregiver support upon theatre’s in-person return, create accountability cohorts that focus on communal change, and provide affinity spaces that prioritize healing and rest as part of revolutionizing theatre practice. Institutions and individuals participating and interested in supporting the gathering are encouraged to use the #makearthumane hashtag.

All participants in the PAAL Summit will have support in three phases: 1) Access to the Summit Sessions to gather and engage with applied solutions, 2) Shared Worksheets and Resources for piloting, modeling, and implementation, and 3) Automatic Admission into PAAL Accountability Cohorts 2022 (PAAL Cohorts) in the spring and fall of 2022 for community feedback and support.

PAAL Cohorts is a new program that will pilot directly following the 2021 Summit. The program consists of local theatres that are engaged or preparing to engage in parent and caregiver support, representatives of which will meet in shared learning spaces throughout the year. PAAL will provide continued guidance and connection to experts as the organizations develop and implement solutions. Theatres interested in these cohorts should attend the PAAL Summit for more information. 

All registrants will receive access to the 2020 sessions for expanded learning opportunities. 

All sessions will be interactive and include takeaway materials for application. 

PAAL is providing an industry-wide discount code in order to make Summit attendance more accessible. Additional financial support is available for BIPOC-led organizations. Institutions that can afford the full ticket price are invited to purchase at full cost, and that purchase will support scholarships for institutions in need. Individuals who are not currently employed full-time by a theatre institution, and would benefit from this training, can use the individual codes available on the registration page. For more admission information, visit PAALtheatre.com/summit.

ABOUT PARENT ARTIST ADVOCACY LEAGUE (PAAL)

Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) is a national advocacy organization serving as a resource hub, community, and solutions generator for caregivers in the performing arts and media and the institutions who support them. PAAL created the first all-gender, all-discipline national PAAL Childcare Grants for individuals and institutions and the PAAL National Handbook of Best Practices for Parent and Caregiver Support. PAAL continues to provide digital training, consulting, and creating active and ongoing affinity spaces for all caregivers in the performing arts and media every month, Third Thursdays, which also includes affinity spaces for BIPOC mothers, Black mothers, Single Mothers, Pregnancy and Infant Loss support, and more. PAAL’s work has been mentioned in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Shondaland.com, American Theatre Magazine, Hartford Courant, HowlRound Theatre Commons, WAMU for NPR News in Washington D.C., and the recently published book From Aphra Behn to Fun Home: A Cultural History of Feminist Theatre. On International Women’s Day in 2019, PAAL was selected as one of 10 “Changemaker” organizations invited to take the stage and present at Disney Theatrical’s Women’s Day on Broadway in New York City. PAAL partnered with The Playwrights Realm to create the first-of-its-kind Radical Parent-Inclusion Project for the production of MOTHERS off-Broadway, and has participated internationally in think tanks, on panels, and facilitated workshops on parenting in the arts at multiple gatherings, including the national TCG conferences, BroadwayCon, Actors Equity Association, Professional Association of Canadian Theatres, the first national conversation on caregiving in the Latinx community at the Latinx Theatre Commons Annual Convening, Miami in Motion, in 2019, and the upcoming Shakespeare Theatre Association Conference 2022, LMDA 2022, and SETC 2022 for the second year..

ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER:

THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both onstage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, FreeShakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout NewYork City’s five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Lab, Public Works, Public ShakespeareInitiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of

American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamiltonby Lin-Manuel Miranda and Girl From the North Country. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 184 ObieAwards, 55 Drama Desk Awards, 58 Lortel Awards, 34 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York DramaCritics’ Circle Awards, 56 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org

The Public Theater stands in honor of the first inhabitants and our ancestors. We acknowledge the landon which The Public and its theaters stand—the original homeland of the Lenape people. We acknowledgethe painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards and we pay our respects to the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land. The PublicTheater honors and celebrates the people and legacy of Seneca Village, one of the earliest free Black communities in New York City, which was located in what is now Central Park.