Are you interesting? (Of course you are!) Do you dig On the Boards? (You should!) Do you want to be one of OtB’s new “interesting-person” ambassadors? (That question probably doesn’t mean anything to you yet!)
The project’s goal is to bring new voices and perspectives to OtB and to engage new communities in programming and activities. The Ambassador Project seeks to activate dialogue and engage communities in conversations about OtB events and performances. Fifteen individuals will be selected to form three-person teams, with each team partnering with OtB for a two-month period.
“I’m trying to do less of my job,” artistic director Lane Czaplinski joked when I called him for a little more detail. He added that he thinks it can be stultifying when the artistic director is always the one facilitating the conversation at her/his institution. So he dreamed up this little experiment.
The idea is to bust the bonds of insularity and assemble five three-person teams to call some shots at OtB, including curations, artist interviews (onstage and on the website), and parties. On the Boards is looking for all kinds of folks: programmers, DJs, sculptors, musicians, graphic designers, architects, editors, photographers, rappers, gamers, vinters and distillers, and other people who grapple with aesthetic issues on a day-to-day basis.
A condensed version of Dark Matters by OtB favorite Kidd Pivot/Crystal Pite, just because.
“We want to deepen the experience of coming and hanging out here,” he says. “Each team will also determine an event: It could be humanities programming, it could be a speed-dating party, it could be a naked ping-pong tournament… We want to arrange it so they feel like they have the keys to the place and can determine a bit of what happens here.”
Czaplinski is especially hoping that younger and older folks—and folks who aren’t dance- or theater-makers—will apply for the ambassadorships. (He’s already got plenty of middle-aged performance geeks hanging around the place.) “My big hope is that people who aren’t always already at the table, already shaping the conversation, will show up.”
If you’re interested, download an application here.
