ASSITEJ Global Hosts Coffee Session To Advance Diversity, Inclusion In TYA

The Association of Theatre for Children and Young Audience Practitioners (ASSITEJ) global will hold its latest coffee session, a virtual talk show held periodically by the association that addresses the challenges in Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA), as well as successes and suggestions for the advancement of TYA globally.

Tagged How To Think About Diversity, Equity and Inclusion In Artistic Collaborations, the sessions to hold virtually across several time zones on the 7th and 8th of November will feature diversity, equity and inclusivity like Shavanna Calder, Elisha Beston and Michael J. Bobbitt.

Creative director, performer and Equity and Inclusion consultant, Calder is instrumental in the pinning of the Anti-racist and Anti-oppressive Futures for Theatre for Young Audiences Guide, and has worked with individuals and organizations such as TYA/USA in their journey to Equity and Inclusion.

A producer, educator and TYA performer, Beston is the founder and artistic director at Freddo’s Children’s Theatre, Singapore, a new TYA company dedicated to promoting diversity on stage.

Bobbitt is an award-winning theatre director, choreographer and playwright who has dedicated his professional career to arts leadership. A former artistic director at New Repertory Theatre in Waterton, Massachusetts; and the Adventure Theatre, Maryland, Bobbitt gained extensive experience in non-profit arts management by training at Cornell University’s Diversity and Inclusion Certification Programme, and at Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Non-profit Management and its National Arts Strategies Chief Executive programme.