Advance Gender in the Arts Announces Partnerships for IGNITE

Advance Gender Equity in the Arts has announced all 35 thought partnerships for IGNITE, a national program for US based women and non-binary emerging theatre artists of color paired with BIPOC women and non-binary national theatre leaders.

"The launch of this inaugural program is based on the roots of shared experience, cultivation and expansion," shares Minita Gandhi, AGE National Program Director and IGNITE Founder. "Many of us have not had the opportunity to have had a mentor, or past mentors have been primarily white and male. This program really explores what it means to draw a new line of inheritance."

The IGNITE program officially announced pairings to participants on April 2nd and will run through July 31st. The program kicks off with IGNITE THE ARTS 2021 Cohort Mixer on May 8th, offering participants a chance to connect to the IGNITE community. During the next several months, thought partners- a new model of partnership that seeks to shake the hierarchical structure of traditional mentorship and focuses on sharing experiences and expanding opportunities in a mutually beneficial exchange of ideas- will meet for 4 one-on-one sessions and everyone in the Cohort will have the option to attend virtual Cohort events throughout the year.

Other IGNITE events include: There will be a panel on Cultivation and Expansion featuring playwright Young Jean Lee, OSF's Director of Equity- Sharifa Johka and NET's Director of Programs and Engagement, Patricia Garza, Play On's Senior Cultural Strategist and Dramaturg- Amrita Ramanan on May 21st. Casey Yasuda, AGE's Social Media and Marketing Consultant will be offering a social media marketing workshop on June 24th. Other panels and workshops will be announced soon and are decided upon by the IGNITE TEAM attending to the needs of what the emerging artists expressed in their submissions.

Submissions for the inaugural IGNITE program were opened from February 4-14 this year. All women and non-binary people of color who self-identified as "emerging artists" were encouraged to apply. IGNITE's pairing committee-Chanel Bragg, Minita Gandhi, Patricia Garza, Lavina Jadhwani, Sloane A.L. Spencer, Caridad Svich-representing the community, then worked to equitably match the artists. Almost half of the artists were paired with someone they specifically identified as their "dream mentor" or "ideal artistic coffee date." The next round of IGNITE opens submissions early 2022.

For more information on AGE's IGNITE program, visit https://ageinthearts.org/ignite/ and find AGE on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.