Since our beginning 21 years ago, partnerships have been at the center of Roadside's work. We create our plays from the stories and songs told to us by our audiences and neighbors and from the concerns expressed to us by our community. We work regionally and nationally with civic organizations, tribal councils, churches, schools, universities, artists, arts presenters, economic development councils, social service agencies, and individuals to create community cultural residencies that draw together diverse segments of the host community to uncover and celebrate their histories and cultural heritages in order to address contemporary concerns.
In the past five years, Roadside and its partners have intensified this effort. From 1991 to 1996 Roadside conducted 41 national residencies, 24 regional residencies, and 35 cross-cultural exchanges in 30 states and Europe, reaching 122,192 people with 1,488 performances and workshops. One of the important results of this work is the creation of new theater audiences that are diverse as to race, income, tradition, and education.
Each partnership is unique. Each residency is tailored to the expressed needs of the host community. Some partnerships are cross-cultural, cross-racial, cross-generational. Some partnerships occur over three to 10 years and yield deep and far-reaching results. Some partnerships are short and achieve particular goals. Some lead to the creation of new plays and theaters. All of them are important.
We hope you'll enjoy reading about some of these partnerships in this newsletter. And thanks to you--our presenters, audience members, funders, friends--as you read this, we are setting forth on a new season of challenging work at home and away.
