Producing Heroes with Shanta Thake

Ed Bartlam is a founder and Director of Underbelly and has built a massive presence at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on London’s Southbank as well as producing on the West End and in Hong Kong. The company is known for its sense of adventure, healthy appetite for risk and incredible shows. Ed talks to us about following your gut instinct, fostering and investing in relationships and how he came to own a venue shaped like an upside-down purple cow.

Linda Brumbach founded Pomegranate Arts in 1998, a company dedicated to developing, producing and touring innovative contemporary performance arts projects through creative collaborations. Since its inception, Pomegranate Arts has produced the Olivier Award winning production of Einstein on the Beach (Robert Wilson, Philip Glass, Lucinda Childs), Shockheaded Peter (The Improbably Theater), Book of Longing (Leonard Cohen, Philip Glass), Dracula: The Music and Film (Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass and Universal Pictures), Hal Willners’ Came So Far from Beauty (Leonard Cohen and guests), Healing the Divide: A Concert for Peace and Reconciliation (Dalai Lama, Tom Waits, Anoushka Shankar) and most recently Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music. Linda joins us from New York to talk about engaging deeply with artists, having the right people on your team, fearlessly serving a vision and just when you think it can’t possibly happen, finding a creative solution.

Our guest this week on Producing Heroes is Tommy Kriegsmann, founder and President of ArKtype. ArKtype is recognized as among the world’s leading supporters of new, experimental work. Established in 2005 to support the finest in emerging and established artists based in NYC and worldwide, ArKtype support risk in live performance – creating an ever-shifting mechanism for the fulfilment of artists’ visions for new work, international collaboration, production and touring. The company has grown to encompass renowned artists from twenty-five different countries at any given time, limitless genres and commercial and non-profit support structures for a variety of spaces Tommy’s previous work includes producing the Ringling International Arts Festival in Sarasota, FL, Director of Programming for Spiegelworld’s South Street Seaport season, and most recently Director of Programs at New York Live Arts, including the unprecedented festival Live Ideas: MENA/Future – CulturalTransformations in the Middle East North Africa Region. Enjoy our conversation about facing down the impossible, creating a safe space for artists, enacting change and the crazy things we do in the name of art.

Born during the genocide in Cambodia and having grown up in Montréal, Canada, Phloeun is proud to be part of the movement to use the arts for healing, social transformation and economic development in Cambodia. A visionary cultural entrepreneur, Phloeun has spearheaded Cambodian Living Arts’ (CLA) transformation from a grassroots project reviving traditional arts to the leading cultural agency in Cambodia. Phloeun has led the organization to extend its reach from local to international programming; The major Season of Cambodia festival in New York April-May 2013, a $2.6 million project, involving 125 artists, 34 presenting partners including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim, symbolizes the capacity that Phloeun has brought not only to CLA, but to the Cambodian arts and culture sector as a whole. Join us for Phloeun’s incredible story of bringing Cambodian art to the world stage, the importance of art and culture in a post-genocide society and the power of a smile.

Virginia Hyam is currently Head of Programming at HOTA on the Gold Coast, where she is driving new  programming initiatives across the cultural precinct. Previously she has worked for 10 years at Sydney Opera House as Executive Producer of the Studio and the Head of Contemporary Culture, specialising in the presentation of contemporary performance and as creative producer with Festival 2018 (Arts and Cultural Festival of the Commonwealth Games).Simon Hinton has been Artistic Director / CEO of Merrigong Theatre Company since 2005, managing the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre and the Wollongong Town Hall. Merrigong has built a reputation as one of Australia’s most successful regional companies – producing, presenting and touring exciting contemporary theatre. Simon is currently Vice President of Performing Arts Connections (PAC) Australia, a member of the Theatre Board of Create NSW, and is the Helpmann Awards Regional Touring (Chair).

Ruth Wikler joins us on Producing Heroes. Ruth is the Deputy Director of Programming for Circus Arts at TOHU, Montréal’s premier presenter of contemporary circus. Ruth is a passionate advocate for international artistic exchange. She is a published writer and translator on international theatre and circus. Ruth ran an independent performance series, bringing contemporary theatre to Portland, Oregon. Join us as she shares her tales of unlikely collaborations, cultural diplomacy and producing independently and for large organisations.

Jonathan Holloway's storied career takes him from the National Theatre in London to Melbourne International Festival and Perth Festival, where he closed the city of Perth so 1.4 million people could watch the giants of Royal de Luxe walk the streets. Join us for Jonathan's conversation on the needs vs. wants of an audience, creating giant performance experiences and getting the moment exactly right.

Shanta Thake is Senior Director of Artistic Programs at The Public Theater and a Co-Director of globalFEST in New York City. Shanta shares incredible stories of raising marginalised voices, fostering superstar talent and programming 800 shows a year.

Mark Ball is Creative Director of Manchester International Festival (MIF), where he is responsible for leading the artistic programme for The Factory, MIF’s new large-scale venue for arts and culture.. Enjoy Mark's discussion on nurturing bold ideas, convincing the sceptics, dancing with risk and building cultural spaces.

David Lan is a celebrated writer, director and producer. He was Artistic Director of the Young Vic in London for eighteen years and has worked with BAM in NYC, on the West End and Broadway. David discusses pursuing the unconventional, marrying creative talent with ideas and using the ideals of friendship to develop audience.