BCA Conference of the Birds

The Art World class will be visiting the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) for Conference of the Birds on Friday, April 6, 2018 at 5:30 pm at the BCA.

The event includes a special tour and insights offered by Robin Allen LaPlante, Director of Marketing and Communications and Wanda Strukus, PhD, Chief Programming Officer. The BCA will be presenting a major new work of dance theatre which brings together performers from all over the globe to tell the story of the epic Sufi poem Conference of the Birds. Muslim, immigrant, refugee and dance communities will weave the stories of modern-day travelers into this narrative about the world’s birds and their quest for the divine.

Topics to be discussed during the visit include grant funding, commission for new work, international sponsorship’s, as well as challenges and opportunities in operating a performing arts facility with the resources to produce this type of multi-disciplinary work.

There are limited spots open for all Arts Administration students; if you are interested please let us know by Monday, March 19, 2018 at 10 am! To RSVP, or if you have any questions, please send an email to the Arts Administration office.

This special visit is a collaboration between Professor Lanfranco Aceti, Program Director for the Arts Administration Department at Boston University and Louise Cao, the Director at interim of the AASA.

Biographies:

Robin Allen LaPlante is an arts administrator who specializes in communications strategy and social media marketing. A former musical theatre nerd with BFA from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, she enjoys using storytelling to engage new audiences for all art forms. Currently the Director of Marketing & Communications at Boston Center for the Arts, previously Robin spent nearly five years in the marketing department at NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley, the country’s most popular hour-long weekly classical radio program, where she developed branding and content for their popular YouTube Channel and Web Series and managed all marketing efforts for the yearly national tour. Prior to that she was the Marketing & Development Associate at The Lyric Stage of Boston. Many years ago, she began her career as Office Manager & Company Manager at City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she created the theatre’s first social media account, a MySpace page. In addition to her skills in arts marketing, Robin is an excellent baker and also enjoys canning jams, pickles, and other condiments.

Wanda Strukus (Chief Programming Officer, BCA) is a producer, multi-disciplinary artist, and teacher whose work focuses on ensemble-based, collaboratively created theater, dance, puppetry, and film/video.

She holds a PhD from Tufts University, where her research and practice centered on puppetry and masked performance, an MA from the University of Arizona with a playwriting focus, and a BA in Film Studies from Wesleyan University. Her theater and dance projects have appeared in theaters, galleries, parks, and abandoned buildings throughout New England and she has collaborated with The Revolving Museum, The Yellow Springs Theater Company, Shakespeare in the Valley, Artists for World Peace, Riverside Theatre Works, Another Country, Salem Theater Company, Chicago Women’s Theatre Alliance, and others. With Two Roads Performance Projects, she co-produced and curated the award-winning site-specific dance festival, Dance in the Fells, and creates public art projects across a wide range of media.

Her plays have been produced in Boston, Chicago, Tucson, Kalamazoo, Ruston, and Yellow Springs, and published by Dramatic Publishing and Grain Magazine.

She was the founding director of the BFA in Contemporary Theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and has taught and directed/choreographed at Northeastern University, Marlboro College, UMass Lowell, Boston College, and Clark University.

She is an alumna of the Jacob’s Pillow Choreographer/Director Lab, a recipient of a Green Street Studios Emerging Artist Award, and has served on the Medford Arts Council.  She performs and collaborates with Crabtree/Carabetta Collective and Two Roads Performance Projects.

Image Credit: Conference of the Birds. Performers: Lacina Coulibaly and Wendy Jehlen. Photography: Steve Wollkind. Courtesy: Boston Center for the Arts.