RISE Series E4: Caylin Waller (Theatre Advocacy Project)
The Women & Theatre RISE Series presents mini-interviews conducted at the Inaugural RISE Summit with network partners of RISE Theatre, all of which are organizations working to increase equity in the theatre industry. In this episode, Hayley and Amy talk with Caylin Waller from Theatre Advocacy Project. Scroll down for episode notes and transcript!
Episode Notes
Hosts: Hayley Goldenberg and Amy Andrews
Guest: Caylin Waller, Theatre Advocacy Project
Music: Chloe Geller
Listen to all published episodes of the Women & Theatre RISE Series here.
Many thanks to RISE Theatre, Maestra Music, Playbill, and all the amazing organizations working to increase equity in theatre!
Episode Resources:
Theatre Advocacy Project website
About Theatre Advocacy Project:
Theatre Advocacy Project | TAP is revolutionizing HR for the performing arts by ensuring safe and equitable working conditions for all theatre professionals. TAP envisions a future in which all theatre professionals are safe from discrimination, harassment, and abuse, allowing for the advancement of braver, more collaborative, and exploratory art-making.
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Episode Transcript
(Music)
Hayley: Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to the Women & Theatre RISE Series! We’re your hosts, Hayley Goldenberg…
Amy: …and Amy Andrews! On this series, we share mini-interviews conducted at the Inaugural RISE Summit with network partner organizations of RISE Theatre.
Hayley: We’re thrilled to uplift these amazing organizations that are working to make the theatre industry a more equitable space.
Amy: Today, we’re excited to share our interview with Caylin Waller of the Theatre Advocacy Project.
(Music)
Hayley: Hello, beautiful people! We are here at the Women & Theatre Podcast booth at the RISE Summit with Caylin Waller from Theatre Advocacy Project. Caylin, welcome to Women & Theatre!
Caylin: Hi, thank you for having me!
Hayley: Yeah! Caylin, could you share your pronouns and tell us a little bit about Theatre Advocacy Project?
Caylin: Yes. My pronouns are she/her, and Theatre Advocacy Project (or TAP) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to create safe and equitable working conditions for all theatre professionals. And we do that through a suite of HR and DEI tools for organizations, as well as community events and education for individuals.
Hayley: Fabulous, thank you.
Amy: Fantastic. Caylin, can you tell us about something you’re working on that’s lighting you up?
Caylin: Yes. Something that I’m working on that is lighting me up right now is - we piloted this year a cohort of four theatre organizations who are very small budget. So we’re working with four indie-sized theatres in the city who are sharing a TAP House membership.
Hayley: Cool!
Caylin: And it’s really exciting to see folks who would maybe not necessarily have the financial resources to access some of the services be able to come together and share ideas and resources.
Amy: Love that! We just heard you speaking on a panel. One of the big themes that was coming out was about folks sharing resources to create more equity in the industry, so I love that you’re making that a reality in your work as well.
Caylin: Thank you so much for saying that, it means a lot.
Hayley: Caylin, could you share with us what you think is the biggest challenge in the theatre industry right now that we’re facing?
Caylin: Oh yeah. That’s a tough question. I think there are a lot of challenges. There are also a lot of exciting things about the theatre industry, but I think that one of the challenges, particularly in the work that we do at TAP, is we work primarily in the nonprofit space. And so I see a lot of theatre organizations who are interested in HR services but don’t necessarily have the financial resources available to them to take advantage. And so really what we’re doing at TAP is finding ways to create pathways of access to our tools.
Because one of the other challenges in the theatre industry is that, so often, people in the arts are placed into leadership positions because they’re really really great artists - performers or designers or something of that nature. But they don’t necessarily have the business background or the HR expertise to know how to effectively manage conflict or deal with creating inclusive environments, how to build a workplace culture. And so one of the things that we’re really trying to do is meet the needs of the industry and meet the financial needs of the industry at the same time. So it’s an interesting challenge.
Hayley: Yeah, definitely.
Amy: For sure, yeah. Caylin, can you tell us what is one small step that listeners can take to increase equity in the theatre industry?
Caylin: That is a great question. I think… Surround yourself with people who have different identities to the identity that you might have. One of the things that I think of for myself is that I am a lifelong learner, and so I think it’s really important for me to be around people who know things or have experiences that I do not know or have. And so, I think that that is a really important way that we can build bridges and increase equity amongst the industry.
Hayley: Yeah, I agree. Thank you.
Amy: That’s fantastic.
Caylin: Thank you!
Hayley: Could you share with our listeners where they can find more information about you and Theatre Advocacy Project on the internet?
Caylin: Yes. Okay, so it is a mouthful, but it is theatreadvocacyproject.org, and our handle is @theatreadvocacyproject for Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn and all of the things.
Hayley: Fabulous, thank you.
Amy: Great, thank you so much for being with us today, Caylin. And thank you all for listening to our conversation with Caylin Waller from the Theatre Advocacy Project!
Caylin: Thank you!
(Music)
Amy: Women & Theatre is a proud network partner of RISE Theatre.
Hayley: Thank you so much to RISE, Maestra, Playbill, and RISE Program Manager Victoria Detres for collaborating with us on this series. Thank you for listening to the Women & Theatre Podcast. We’re your hosts, Hayley Goldenberg…
Amy: …and Amy Andrews! If you like what you heard, subscribe and give us a 5-star review wherever you listen.
Hayley: You can also follow us on social @womenandtheatreproject to make sure you never miss an episode.
Amy: The music for this show was written by talented Women & Theatre community member Chloe Geller.
Hayley: Thanks again for listening, everyone. See you next time!
Amy: Bye!
