Free-Range Drama Farm

I know it’s been ages since I posted anything here - and I’ve even got a post about Goal #3 in the works, but that’ll have to wait a little while longer.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading up on informal education models and curriculum planning (thanks for the resources, Andrea!), and I today I stumbled upon this really interesting concept called Open Space Technology. It’s really less about education and more about bringing a group of people together to collaborate and co-create something, but I think it could have some really interesting applications for the Drama Farm.

So, what is Open Space Technology?

The basic idea is that you invite a bunch of people to come together for a specific goal (defining a vision or strategic plan for an organization, solving a specific problem, etc.), with these four principles in mind:

1. Whoever comes are the right people
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
3. Whenever it starts is the right time
4. When it’s over, it’s over

At the beginning of the meeting/conference/retreat, the attendees are invited to write down the issues that they feel are most important and post them on the “agenda wall” with a specific meeting time and place. Once the group finishes creating the agenda, they split into smaller groups to discuss the issues - anyone can attend any of the smaller groups, and can move between them at will.

The idea is that only the people who are really interested and passionate about the topic will attend, and they’ll do their best collaborating if left to organize themselves as they deem appropriate. It’s really a very simple idea, but the Open Space method seems to provide a structure that encourages people to participate while preventing it from becoming a free-for-all.

What does this have to do with us?

The way I see it, there are two possible applications for this idea in the planning/operating of the Drama Farm (I’m sure there are more - these are just the two that popped into my head as I was reading).

First, a meeting like this could be a great resource in the planning of the Farm. We’ve been talking about organizing something like a charrette - basically, a meeting of the minds to discuss the direction the Drama Farm is heading and the best strategy to pursue it. But, what we had discussed was inviting a select few “experts” in various fields to meet and talk about specific questions that we had for them. The Open Space conference sounds like a much better incarnation of that idea, since rather than “experts”, we’d have passionate, knowledgeable people who would create the agenda themselves and discuss what they thought was really important.

My other thought is that this could be a really interesting way to collaborate on a theatrical production. Let’s say you have your whole cast and production team together for the first meeting - they’ve all read the script, but beyond that, nothing has been discussed - most of them have probably only known each other for a few days at the most. What if you used the Open Space technique to discuss everyone’s ideas about the play - what they thought the important issues were, what direction they’d like to take things, etc. And what if you used the same technique at all of the subsequent production meetings?

OR…

What if we used it at the beginning of each Drama Farm session, to allow the students to direct the program to suit their interests and needs? We’ve been struggling with finding a way for the program to be flexible and adaptable to each individual group of students, without making it so flexible as to disintegrate into chaos - something like this might be just the kind of structure we’re looking for…

If you’re interested in reading more about Open Space, there’s a great short(ish) summary of it here - or, if you’re looking for something a little more in-depth, check out this OST Practice Guide, via Michael Herman’s website.

And let me know what you think. Am I totally crazy, or might this work? How else could we put this technique to work for us? Ideas? Thoughts? Comment away!

The second one of our big goals for the coming year is to create an education plan for the Drama Farm.  What exactly do we mean by that?  Well, I’m not entirely sure…

We’ve got lots of ideas for the educational principles behind the farm:  students learning in an informal environment; letting them loose to do their work and seek help as they need it.  But, I know there are a lot of ways we can facilitate that learning - “Free-Range” doesn’t necessarily mean “Free-For-All”!

I’ve got a few specific ideas for ways to guide the students’ educations while they’re at the farm.  We could have single-day workshops and seminars on various topics, taught by the staff advisors and/or other professionals in the community. We could do an informal round-table discussion (maybe over pizza one night a week?) where the students could talk with each other and the advisors about topics of their choosing. We could even give the students the opportunity to teach workshops for each other if they’re interested. There are a million possibilities out there - these are just a few.

The question is, how to we take all of these ideas and put them together into something cohesive? I hesitate to call it a “curriculum”, since that brings up images of formal education with lesson plans and such; I think what we want is more like a roadmap - something to plan out where we’re going and what we’re doing along the way, but not necessarily exactly how we’re going to get there.

Does any of this make sense? I don’t really have the knowledge to talk about education plans and philosophies in vocabulary that other people use - but I know that some of you do! Want to help us mold all of these loosely-related thoughts and ideas into a real education plan? Leave a comment below - we could really use the help!

So, the first one of our Goals for 2008 is to set up the company’s structure. Ultimately, the goal is to be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so that we - and our contributers - get all of the benefits associated with tax-exempt status.

The question is, when and how do we want to make that happen? Filing for tax-exemption is a lengthy and expensive process, and it’s not necessarily something that we need to do right now. Also, because we ultimately want to fund the program with an endowment rather than donations from the public, there may be other legal structures that would work better for our needs than just becoming a 501(c)(3) ourselves.

From the research I’ve done so far, it seems as though we have three viable options:

1. Get fiscal sponsorship with a company like Fractured Atlas, which would give us the benefits of a nonprofit without the hassle of incorporating immediately. I know a lot of small organizations take this route - sometimes indefinitely - and it might be a good way for us to start out. That way we could start operating as a nonprofit while we continue looking into exactly what kind of company structure we need.
2. Incorporate and apply for tax-exempt status now, so that we can start fundraising for ourselves. This is the most common route, but we’re not exactly the most common organization. From what I’ve read, it sounds as though you have to receive a certain percentage of your funding each year from public donations, in order to maintain tax-exempt status. If we’re planning on ultimately getting all of our funding from an endowment, I’m not sure if that qualifies as “public donations.” Any nonprofit lawyers out there who could help with this?
3. Set up a separate organization to raise money, which would then be granted to the Drama Farm organization. I don’t know a lot about this option yet, but I know a lot of educational institutions have a similar setup, so we need to find out why, and whether it would be appropriate for our purposes. I’ve got a few leads on this one, but if you know anyone with experience in this sort of thing, please send ‘em my way!

So that’s where we stand with Goal #1. We’re continuing to research and talk to our contacts about what our options are, but if you or someone you know has any insight into this, please let us know! Also, if you’d like to be more involved in helping us figure this stuff out, we’d love to have your help. Just leave a comment below, or drop us an email - we want to hear from you!

So, now that we’ve got a whole year to plot and scheme before we actually do anything, we’ve got a few things that we’d really like to accomplish, in order to be ready to roll once we’re settled in Pittsburgh. Here’s what we want to do:

1. Set up the company’s structure. Ultimately, we’ll want the Drama Farm to be a tax-exempt nonprofit organization - that way any contributions our supporters make will be tax-deductible, we’ll be eligible for more grant funding, and we’ll get all the other benefits associated with nonprofit status. The question is: do we need/want to set that up now, or would it be better to wait? And when we do get it set up, what kind of nonprofit structure do we need?
2. Create an education plan. We’ve got a lot of ideas about the direction we want the Farm to go in, and things we want to work on with the students, but we really don’t know anything about coming up with a real plan for what we’re doing. The idea behind the Drama Farm is very much a free-form education model, but I’d like to work with someone with a real background in education, to come up with a formal plan for how the program will work. Ideas are great, but the more thought and planning we put into it, the better the students’ experiences will be.
3. Create a fundraising plan. Once we get ourselves settled in Pittsburgh, we’re going to want to start doing things - which means we’re going to need some money. Should we do some fundraising this year? Should we wait until we get to Pittsburgh and do a big fundraising push there? And what sort of fundraising should we do?

I know you talented people out there could be a huge help with some of this - some of you have already expressed an interest in helping, which we’re incredibly grateful for! I’ll write more on each of these goals - what we’ve found out so far, what our thoughts are, etc. - through the coming week, but if you see something you’re interested in helping with, jump right in! Leave a comment or drop me an email - your expertise would be greatly appreciated!

Derrick Kwa has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Drama Farm since we first met several months ago, and last week he asked me to do an email interview about the Farm and the educational ideas behind it.

You can check out the interview over here on his blog. While you’re there, read some of his other posts - he’s got some great insight into improving the education system.

Thanks for the interview, Derrick!

Hello! Sorry I’ve been away for so long - there have been some Big Changes in the works here in Drama Farm Land, and I didn’t want to say anything here until we’d told a few key people in person…

You may remember that at the end of last year we were excited about the possibility of finding the Drama Farm a home of its own. We had hoped to be able to buy or rent the property housing the Red Barn Theatre (just outside of Pittsburgh, PA) from its owners, allowing the Red Barn to continue to operate during the summers while we used the space for our programs through the rest of the year. Sadly, the property was sold to developers the day after the Red Barn closed its 2007 season, so that’s no longer a possibility.

As we considered the ramifications of moving the project to the Red Barn, though, it became clearer and clearer that Pittsburgh would be a much more ideal place to get the Farm up and running - with or without the Red Barn as a venue. After much discussion, we’ve decided to transplant the whole operation to Pittsburgh and set up shop there. It’ll be about a year before we’re fully moved and prepared to get things rolling again, so the pilot program will remain on hold until the spring of 2009.

That’s not to say that we won’t be working, though - we’ve now got a whole year to do nothing but research and plan, so we can jump right in once we’re settled in the ‘Burgh. I’ve got several goals for the coming year, and I’m going to need your help to achieve them - but that’s for another post.

For now, thanks for your continued support, and stay tuned - we’ll have lots more to talk about soon!

You may have noticed that in the last few hours, references to the pilot program all over the website have been changing from 2008 to 2009. Bet you’re wondering why that is, huh?

Well, just as we were gearing up to get the pilot program up and running for the summer of 2008, a great opportunity came our way, and we just couldn’t pass it up.

Our dream from the very beginning has been to ultimately find the Drama Farm a home of its own. Imagine a dedicated facility where our students could come to get away from the hassles of college life - a quiet retreat where they could just do theatre, far enough from the rest of the world that they could focus on their work, but close enough to a city that they would have access to all the culture and resources they wanted. Wouldn’t that be great?

After talking with several friends back in Pittsburgh, PA (where the Drama Farm idea was first conceived), it looks like those dreams might be a lot closer than we thought. I can’t go into the details just yet, but there’s a good possibility that we might be able to acquire an actual farm outside of Pittsburgh, complete with farmhouse and barn theater, to use as the Drama Farm’s permanent home.

Given that possibility, we’ve decided to postpone the pilot program for now, in order to focus all of our energy on finding a way to make this happen. We’re still working on plans for the pilot program, though, and we hope to be up and running in Pittsburgh (farm or no farm) by the summer of 2009.

Until then, we’d still love all of your help and input into our plans - those of you who have chipped in so far have been a huge help already, and we’re always looking to get more people involved!

I’ll also have more info on our plans for the farm soon, and you’ll be sure to hear about it as soon as I do. So stay tuned - it’s going to be an exciting year!

It’s only been a few days since the big Pilot Program Announcement, and the support and encouragement has been coming in from all directions!

Chris Brogan and Derrick Kwa both gave us great writeups on their blogs, and our new Facebook group already has 19 members!

Still only 3 people in the forum, but I expect that will probably take a little longer to build up - if you be a part of our plotting and scheming, stop on by and say hi!

Finally, I’ve gotten emails of encouragement and offers of help from at least half a dozen other people who hadn’t even heard of the Drama Farm before two days ago. It’s great to know that we’ve got so much support already - and we really appreciate the help. Keep the emails coming - we want to hear what you think!

As promised, I’m here to tell you more about the Drama Farm Pilot Program that we’re planning for the Summer of 2008. We’re pretty excited about it - hopefully you will be too!

So what’s this pilot program all about, anyway?

Well, anyone who’s been following along for the past year or so knows that we’ve got some pretty big ideas for what we want the Drama Farm to be. Up ’till now, though, that’s all they’ve been: Ideas.

Now we want to put some of those ideas to the test. We want to gather a group of students and advisors and do a sort of mini-version of the Drama Farm’s program, to see how things work and get some feedback from people involved in the process.

To that end, we’re planning on renting some studio space here in Alameda for a couple of months, and hopefully making a deal with our local performing arts center to use their theater. It’ll be a very low-budget program, but we’re hoping to raise enough that we can cover our costs without charging the students admission.

Who’s going to be involved?

Right now we’re primarily looking for students who are interested in coming and helping us build the program from the ground up. We’ve got some ideas on how to structure things, but we’re really looking for adventurous, innovative theatre students who want to be a part of creating this program and helping to improve it for the students who come after them.

We’re also looking for local theatre artists (designers, technicians, actors) who are interested in acting as advisors for the summer program. While the ultimate goal is to have full-time advisors at the Drama Farm, the pilot program will be structured so that advisors are available primarily by phone to give the students advice and support. Advisors will also have pre-arranged times to drop in and see how things are going, and to work with the students in person should they need it (sort of like office hours in a college setting).

And what exactly will we be doing?

Basically, we’re planning a two-month program for the months of June and July 2008 (exact dates TBA). The first week will be a moving-in and getting to know each other week - we’ll probably schedule a few get-togethers/meetings towards the end of the week, but the bulk of the week will be free for exploring and getting settled.

Weeks 2 through 5 will be work weeks - time for rehearsals, production meetings, design, build, and general collaboration. The basis of the Drama Farm idea is that the students are in charge, so this will be their time to work, along with their professional director, in whatever manner they see fit.

Weeks 6 and 7 will be in the theater. The tech/performance schedule will be determined by the students, and they’ll be responsible for advertising the performances as well. If they want to tech for a week and do one weekend of performances, they can; if they’d rather tech for a day, open the show and then hold daytime rehearsals between shows, that’s their prerogative.

Week 8 will be a sort of post-mortem for the project - we’ll get together to discuss how things went, what everyone liked, what could have been improved, and what other ideas we could incorporated into the program.

This is just a rough structure that we’ve worked out so far; as more collaborators get involved, we’re open to shuffling things around and adding new elements based on their ideas.

We’re also planning to throw in some additional goodies that we want to test out, like having roundtable discussions with the students and advisors once a week, and holding occasional workshops and seminars for the students.

It’s really about experimentation - we don’t know what’s going to happen or how it’s going to work out, but we’ll have fun trying, and hopefully get some good feedback in the process!

How do I get involved?

If you’re interested in being a part of the pilot program, whether as a student, advisor, or just a helpful hand or contributor, we’d love to have you! You can check out the How You Can Help page on our website for more information on ways to get involved.

You can also subscribe to this blog to recieve updates on the program, and join our forum to introduce yourself and join in the discussion as we build the program.

Finally, if you can spare a few dollars for the cause, we’d really appreciate your contributions! You can click on the “Make a Donation” button in the sidebar, or check out our General Store to buy some cool Drama Farm stuff and support us at the same time!

If you’re interested in what we’re doing, please let us know! We want to get as many people involved as we can - the more creative folks we have working on this, the better it will be!

UPDATE: Due to some exciting new developments, the pilot program has been postponed until the summer of 2009. You can get all the details here!

Sorry I’ve been away for so long, but the hard work has finally paid off. If you’re reading this in your RSS reader, take a minute to go check out the new-and-improved website:

We’ve now got all kinds of new stuff: a forum, a store, and even a bunch of banners and buddy icons for you to play with!

More importantly, there’s loads of info on our upcoming pilot program, which we’re planning for the Summer of 2008. If you’re interested, or if you know someone who might be, let us know - we’re looking for all the crazy co-schemers we can find!

I’ll be writing more about everything that’s going on over the next week or so. But for now, a few small things:

If you’re already subscribed to the blog, you should update your reader by clicking here - now that we’ve got our very own domain, we’ve got a brand new feed too! The old one will still work for a while, but eventually it’ll be disappearing. So change it now to ensure you don’t miss a bit of news!

We also have a new Subscribe by Email option, for those of you who aren’t RSS-inclined. Just go to any page on the website, and find the little box in the sidebar that says “Enter your email address” to sign up. Then all of our blog posts will be delivered directly to your inbox! Exciting stuff, huh?

That’s all for now, but I promise I’ll be writing more soon. It’s good to be back!

UPDATE: Due to some exciting new developments, the pilot program has been postponed until the summer of 2009. You can get all the details here!