2024 RISE Summit Panel

Finding the Funds: Making Equitable Theater under Capitalism

Hosted by ACCESS Broadway NY, Design Action, Theatre Advocacy Project, and Theatre Producers of Color

Two designers, a producer, an HR professional, and an accessibility advisor discuss the money of theatre making in this facilitated conversation organized in partnership between Design Action, Theatre Producers of Color, Theatre Advocacy Project, and ACCESS Broadway New York. This conversation will delve into pay equity, funding co-designs and collective designs, hiring practices and retention, protected classes, representation, and how we balance all these things and continue to create theatre as production costs continue to rise. It is a conversation about where pay equity meets equitable representation. Join us as we identify structural barriers in the system that need to change and discuss sustainable models for financing our work looking forward. Panelists will include moderator Amara McNeil (Design Action), Sammy Lopez (Producer, TPOC), Carolina Ortiz Herrera (Lighting Designer, Design Action), Maria Porto (Accessibility Advisor, ACCESS Broadway NY), and Caylin Waller (HR Professional, Executive Director, and Co-Founder of TAP).

The RISE Summit, sponsored in part by Disney Theatricals and AKA, hosted a series of panels and seminars speaking to this year’s theme of Belonging: Past and Present.