Next Steps

Students in your program have learned many creative skills and may be thinking about how to apply them. Next Steps is a 3-5 day residency program designed to offer new possibilities for maximizing career potential after graduation.

Sample residency offerings:

• The Artist as Citizen: An overview of the field of community-inclusive art making. Topics related to social justice, identity, race, gender, and power are focal points for discussion. In what communities might your students engage after college?
• Theater for the Heart & Mind: A movement class based on SPDT’s approach to meaningful movement.
• Community Connections: A Sample of SPDT’s Arts & Health and Arts & Education workshops for students to experience.
• The Funding Experience: A workshop focused on the different ways that artists fund what they want to do: general operating support, local and national grants for projects/programs, corporate sponsorships, and the pros/cons of the individual artist vs the 501(c)3.
• Repertory and performance: A dance/theater work involving movement, voice, and character development, exemplifying a creative process that comments on the personal and political.

Beyond proficiency in performance and composition, students need tools for translating their creative skill sets and identifying professional pathways. Next Steps will provide your students with additional skills to thrive as creative entrepreneurs. Each residency will be crafted in response to the particular needs of your students.

For the past 40 years, Artistic Co-Directors Suzanne Costello and Stuart Pimsler have introduced innovative community-based programs throughout the U.S. and abroad. They have developed new approaches to working with populations, on and off the stage, expanding the realm of creative entrepreneurship. SPDT’s Community Connections programs have been cited as a “National Model” by The Kennedy Center and recognized for “Best Practices” by the National Endowment for the Arts. Recent SPDT residencies have been presented at Texas Woman’s University, James Madison University, Weber State University, St. Olaf College, Virginia Tech, University of Florida, and National Autonomous University of Mexico.

For more information on the value of an arts degree, follow this link to a video from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project: “There’s a Lot You Can Do With That Degree.”

Contact SPDT at spdanth@gmail.com or 763-521-7738 for additional information or to send an email of inquiry.