By Nikki Shaffeeullah
Generator’s Director of Programming
May Day / May Month at Generator
In Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral acceptance speech last year, he spoke of the cynicism that has come to define the experience of working New Yorkers who once loved the city they live in, but no longer feel that city “loves them back.” This notion of how an institution like a city can practice “love” resonated with me. A city that loves us back might look like strong, well-resourced, responsive social infrastructure: accessible transit, affordable housing, a manageable cost of living, accountable leadership.
I spoke with friends about how our own city does and does not love us back. I thought about how the institutions and industries we live and work in do and do not love us back. And I asked colleagues about their relationship with love and theatre. Love, in various manifestations, is usually what brings one to a career in the performing arts: a passion for the craft, a belief in its power to bring people together, an affinity for the community of fellow theatremakers that grows over the months and years and decades spent in our niche creative industry. But does theatre love us back? The industry remains a place that is difficult to enter and difficult to stay long term. Wages are low, other common labour supports like health insurance, sick leave, and paid vacation are scarce, and work is precarious. Almost all artistic work is engaged via short term contracts, and even creative work that goes on to full production is often initiated and developed through some amount of unpaid labour. Hiring practices are informal in a way that encourages inequitable practices. Arts workers who are without external supports like generational wealth or family/partner financial support, disabled or chronically ill, caregivers, or facing other historical marginalizations, have a much more difficult time sustaining a career. Despite pouring love into it, despite the relationships built through creative practice, despite the impact artistic work can have on audiences and communities, it does not always feel like the institutions that drive the theatre industry love us back. How can it? How can theatre love us back?
In observation of May Day (May 1, International Workers’ Day), Generator is thinking about how the performing arts can love all of us back. To bring this conversation to our community, and to show some love, we have three no-cost offerings for our community this month:
Tenant Rights for Arts Workers
In partnership with ACORN Canada
Wednesday May 6, 6-7:30pm EDT, ONLINE
Wellness Day for Arts Workers
For low-income and uninsured arts workers
In partnership with Rooted TCM
Friday May 22, all day, IN PERSON / LIMITED REGISTRATION
Free individual treatments in Traditional Chinese Medicine including: Acupuncture, Tuina, Shiatsu Massage, Acupressure, Cupping, Guasha & Moxibustion
Free group sessions: Soundbath, yoga, and community acupuncture
Registration information coming soon
Wellness Strategies for Arts Workers
In partnership with Rooted TCM
Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner Saima Butt will lead participants through wellness exercises that participants can facilitate themselves, at home, to tune into their own rhythms, regulate their nervous system, and restore balance from within.
Sunday May 31, 2-3pm EDT , ONLINE
Registration information coming soon
We would love to hear from you. What are the ways you feel your workplaces in the performing arts love you back? What do you as a producer do to support the wellbeing and humanity of those who work for and with you? What else can we all aspire to and work towards?
In solidarity,
Nikki