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Shows from Marin Theatre Company, Youth Speaks and Counter Pulse an interdisciplinary arts space

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"We wanna incentivize and give board love too. I think the board is often like the scary people or viewed as the scary people behind the curtains that are doing the work or maybe overseeing or assessing” - Michelle “Mush” Lee, Youth Speaks

This episode is part of our Community Dialogue on the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on our Arts and Culture sector in the San Francisco Bay Area [pause] We are co-producing this special series with our friends at BAVC Media. Over this special six-episode series titled “The State of Our Arts & Culture Organizations” we will feature the voices of innovators, leaders, creators, workers, and funders from our Arts and Culture sector [pause] and the issues, solutions, and actions they are executing to stabilize, sustain, scale and diversify our Arts and Culture sector.

In this episode which is focused on nonprofit Board Development and Governance, we feature the voices of Michelle "Mush" Lee, the Executive Director, of Youth Speaks, Julie Phelps, artistic director and the Executive Director, of CounterPulse, Meredith Suttles, the Managing Director and CEO, of Marin Theatre Company, Jay Mitchell a professor of law and the founding director of the Organizations and Transactions Clinic at Stanford Law School along with my co-host Paula Arrigoni the Executive Director of BAVC Media

Featured 1

Julie Phelps is a celebrated curator and performance artist. As Artistic & Executive Director of the interdisciplinary arts space CounterPulse, Phelps combines grassroots community engagement and institutional frameworks to create a dynamic home for art and culture. Most recently, Phelps raised $7 million to renovate and acquire CounterPulse’s building–launching a new model for placing arts at the center of community development. CounterPulse’s facility is acclaimed by the press and featured in architectural reviews, receiving the 2017 Inspiration Award from CONTRACT magazine. Phelps has funded and launched a curated and acclaimed program of performing arts events, community-based programming, and international cross-cultural exchange projects, and tours nationally and internationally as a speaker, U.S. representative, and dance artist.

Featured 2

Mush is a poet, narrative strategist, and pioneer of spoken word pedagogy. A Harvard University Project Zero Fellow, Mush is frequently a featured speaker on the intersection of emergent cultures, racial justice, and solidarity movements, and women of color in leadership. Her talks and writings have been featured on Vogue, HBO, PBS, AfroPop, Summit Series, Social Venture Network, National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE), and the Berkeley Communications Conference.

Mush has shared the stage with powerhouses like Natalie Baszile, Jeff Chang, David Banner, Hope Solo and Harrison Ford. Her writings have been commissioned by the University of California, Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute, Stop AAPI Hate, and See Us Unite campaigns. Mush has also been published in All the Women in My Family Sing, an anthology of essays by women of color at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

In 2019, Mush was invited to serve the City of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Division as a Cultural Strategist-in-Government (CSIG), where she worked in City departments to infuse policymaking and practices with radically creative and culturally-competent thinking and problem-solving to promote civic belonging. Mush is the Vice-Chair of the City of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Commission and a member of the City’s Funding Advisory Committee. In her spare time, Mush enjoys running, organizing her bookshelf, and laughing at mom jokes with her son.

Organization 1

CounterPulse is a dynamic movement of experimental art that sparks personal transformation and builds enduring community. We provide space and resources for emerging artists and cultural innovators, serving as an incubator for the creation of socially relevant, community-based art and culture. CounterPulse acts as a catalyst for art and action; creating a forum for the open exchange of art and ideas, sparking transformation in our communities and our society. We work towards a world that celebrates diversity of race, class, cultural heritage, artistic expression, ability, gender identity, and sexual orientation. We strive to create an environment that is physically and economically accessible to everyone. CounterPulse’s annual Benefit Banquet and Art Party, on Saturday May 6th, from 5pm till midnight. Make a Donation to support affordable space and professional resources for thousands of artists and arts lovers, and help fund our Neighborhood Arts Program, TenderArts. Get engaged as a volunteer to support artist productions, meet folks in your creative community, and make a difference by giving back to a thriving and dynamic arts community at CounterPulse in San Francisco! Rent production space at CounterPulse for your next event and theatrical production to support CounterPulse’s programming.

Organization 2

Marin Theatre Company had modest grassroots beginnings. In 1966, 35 Mill Valley residents came together under the leadership of Sali Lieberman to create the Mill Valley Center for the Performing Arts [MVCPA]. The nonprofit organization brought arts as diverse as film, theater, poetry, dance and concerts of classical, jazz and folk music to Marin County for a decade. After a number of successful community theater productions, MVCPA began to exclusively produce and present theater performances in 1977.

The small group overcame many challenges to put on critically-acclaimed, award-winning plays in a golf clubhouse, a veterans' auditorium and several schools and parks. To acknowledge the organization's specialization in theater arts and expanded regional focus, MVCPA changed its name to Marin Theatre Company in 1984. This marked the beginning of a period of extraordinary growth.

By 1987, MTC had become a professional theater company, opening its own theater complex with onsite administrative offices and joining with other local theaters to negotiate the first regional equity contract in the Bay Area. Since then, MTC began a new play program to support emerging American playwrights, launching a New Works developmental workshop and public reading series in 2004 and establishing two new play prizes in 2007. MTC joined both the League of Resident Theatres and National New Play Network in 2008. MTC is now the leading professional theater in the North Bay and premier mid-sized theater in the Bay Area. Find out more about Summer Camps, Student Matinees and MTC’s education programs

Buy Tickets for future shows to support MTC’s programming. Make a Donation to support our mission to inspire conversation, learning and action that build more inclusive communities. Get engaged as a volunteer to support productions, and patrons as a Volunteer Usher and provide an invaluable service assisting patrons to their seats, answering questions and most importantly, creating a pleasant and welcoming environment for all in attendance. We value you and your interest and generous donation of time.

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Find out more about the programs of CounterPulse, Marin Theater Company and Youth Speaks

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Voices of the Community is supported by a grant from the Zellerbach Family Foundation, whose Arts and Culture grants ensure vibrant work is created, new voices are celebrated, and artists and audiences inclusive of the Bay Area’s diverse communities and cultures have opportunities to thrive. Find out more at ZFF dot org

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Thanks to our CoProduction Partner

BAVC Media is a community hub and resource for media makers in the Bay Area and across the country, serving several thousand freelancers, filmmakers, job-seekers, activists, and artists every year. BAVC Media provides access to media making technology, storytelling workshops, a diverse and engaged community of makers and producers, services and resources. Get Training, participate in the MediaMaker Fellowship, become a member and produce shows through the SF Commons program.

Thanks to our CoProduction Partner

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