{"id":2115,"date":"2015-11-13T16:30:31","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T21:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.peatix.com\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2018-07-05T04:21:03","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T04:21:03","slug":"organizer-stories-the-tanks-rosalind-grush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/organizer-stories-the-tanks-rosalind-grush\/","title":{"rendered":"Organizer Stories: The Tank’s Rosalind Grush"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today on Organizer Stories we sit down with Rosalind Grush, Artistic Director of the\u00a0storied New York City performing arts presenter The Tank<\/a>.<\/strong> The Tank provides indispensable resources\u00a0to over 1,000 emerging\u00a0artists every year, “fostering an environment of inclusiveness and removing the burden of cost from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers.”<\/p>\n

An insightful and sanguine\u00a0champion of new works and new artists, Rosalind’s interview is considerably more arresting than this introduction, so let’s get right to it:<\/p>\n

\"Rosalind<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Josh Luxenberg
\nRosalind Grush as Douglas Gordon as Kurt Cobain as Andy Warhol as Myra Hindley as Marilyn Monroe<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tank has been going strong for about a dozen years now. Can you give us a quick\u00a0history of its evolution, and what you perceive to be your role in\u00a0The Tank’s legacy?<\/h2>\n

The Tank was founded in 2003 by a group of nine emerging artists, many of whom have since
\nemerged\u2013including Tony-nominated theater director Alex Timbers<\/a> and Pulitzer Prize-finalist playwright\u00a0Amy Herzog.<\/a> They found a space across the street from Playwrights Horizons on 42nd Street, where\u00a0there is a parking garage now. The rent there was $1,500 a month, so the group of artists basically\u00a0figured they could throw a party once a month to cover rent and then open the space up for all manner\u00a0of artistic experiments the rest of the time. The space was founded with an adventurous, joyous spirit\u00a0that prized both risk-taking and inclusiveness.<\/p>\n

And in terms of my legacy, well\u2026I put together our very first co-production, and this year, we\u2019re fully
\nproducing our very first show, which is exciting. I\u2019ve also done a lot of work on our organizational
\ninfrastructure, and we posted our biggest surplus in Tank history in FY15! We\u2019ve been able to double\u00a0our average artist payouts and the number of free rehearsal hours that we provide each year, as well\u00a0as support an ever-growing number of performances and artists. Plus, we had over 10,000 people see\u00a0our programming last year\u2013all on a shoestring marketing budget. We\u2019re on track to continue this\u00a0growth in our 2015-16 season! So hopefully my legacy will be helping The Tank thrive in an arts\u00a0landscape that really needs this organization.<\/p>\n

What is your approach to nurturing artists in the nascent stages of their careers?<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s really difficult to get your foot in the door in this industry. When you\u2019re just starting out, you hear a\u00a0lot of no’s and even more nothing. It\u2019s not uncommon for people to work at organizations in some\u00a0capacity and still get form letter rejections from those same institutions! And then there\u2019s the whole\u00a0process of working on a play or a piece for literally years and not seeing any attention or compensation\u00a0for it. So it\u2019s just important for me to be constantly thinking about the various disappointments and\u00a0frustrations that people need to process in this industry, along with the inherent vulnerability and fear\u00a0that comes with putting your art out into the world. When I think about all that, it\u2019s easier to remember\u00a0that it\u2019s an honor to be advocating for such a large and diverse group of artists, and that the most\u00a0important thing I can do is to treat them with the respect and dignity that they deserve as artists,\u00a0professionals, and people.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>From The Krumple’s \u00a0Go to Sleep Goddamnit<\/a><\/em>, presented at The Tank in April, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

What niche in the New York City arts community do you think The Tank occupies?<\/h2>\n

The Tank is important to the NYC theater\/arts landscape for two reasons: comprehensive resources
\nand inclusiveness. We provide free performance space, free rehearsal space, promotional support, a
\ncut of the box office (where artists can earn over $500 per performance\u2013not nothin\u2019!) and\/or
\nguaranteed stipends in some cases, and a whole lot of other support for our artists. That removes
\nliterally thousands of dollars worth of expenses from the process of getting your work done in NYC\u2013and all with no application fees. We make work possible that otherwise literally wouldn\u2019t be
\neconomically feasible for a lot of artists.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s our open submissions process. We operate with an awesome team of curators who\u00a0identify work that they\u2019re excited about, and then I\u2019d say something like 25% of our programming\u00a0comes from people who cold email proposals to us and don\u2019t know anyone involved in our organization\u00a0already. We constantly give people who\u00a0we\u2019ve never worked with before opportunities to get their work\u00a0out there, to both expand our own network of artists and to diversify\u00a0the voices and stories that can be\u00a0seen on our stages.<\/p>\n

I really think that being this kind of artist-centric organization is what has made us such a mainstay in\u00a0the New York City scene. Listening, saying yes, and not being afraid of new or big ideas are the things\u00a0that have kept us going!<\/p>\n

You literally taught the class on social media marketing. And as\u00a0SM continues to evolve at blinding rates, how does The Tank keep up?<\/h2>\n

Having worked in non-profit theater marketing for years, I\u2019m pretty used to reading about trends and\u00a0best practices on non-arts sites like Mashable. I also look at both arts and non-arts companies to see\u00a0what things seem to be working and what things aren\u2019t, and adapt those observations into mission-specific strategies. And I can\u2019t lie\u2013our interns are a huge part of our marketing team! Listening to how\u00a0people even a few years younger than I am use social media and then letting them run with the\u00a0strategies we talk about is a huge way for us to remain responsive and build platforms for our artists\u2019\u00a0work.<\/p>\n

Looking back, what are some of the more successful or memorable\u00a0events\u00a0you’ve been involved with at The Tank?<\/h2>\n

This might sound cheesy, but I think that almost every event we do has some level of success in it! We\u00a0work carefully with each of our artists to try to help them set realistic goals for their piece, whether\u00a0that\u2019s just getting it up on its feet in front of some friends, packing the house out, doing a first multi-performance run, seeking industry attendees\u2013whatever it may be. And then we try to give people the\u00a0resources they need to meet those goals.<\/p>\n

That being said, there\u2019s a lot that I\u2019ve been proud to support at The Tank. We did a 24 hour comedy\u00a0festival that had people watching some truly genre-bending improv at 3 in the morning; we recently did\u00a0our first bi-coastal event with live performances both on our stage and in San Francisco connected by\u00a0a video feed; we brought a truly phenomenal physical theater company in from Norway<\/a> who did an\u00a0unreal mask piece about a priest in a small town whose congregation had abandoned him\u2026we do a\u00a0festival in the summer called Dark Fest where we turn off the grid and our artists have to come up with\u00a0alternative power sources for any lights that they want to use in their pieces. One piece constructed a\u00a0bike powered generator for lights in their dance piece! This festival has me thinking about theater\u00a0design in a whole new way.<\/p>\n

I definitely have to mention Manual Cinema\u2019s Ada\/Ava<\/a>, though. I put together a co-production of the\u00a0show with 3-Legged Dog downtown \u2013 they are an absolutely gorgeous venue and an incredible\u00a0organization. The piece was precisely choreographed, incredibly intricate shadow puppetry. The show\u00a0used four overhead projectors, live silhouettes, and a video feed. It was gorgeous, and I was really\u00a0proud to have found the right home for the piece. It ended up extending from a three-week run to a six-week run and was a NYT Critics\u2019 Pick<\/a> from Ben Brantley. For a piece of experimental shadow\u00a0puppetry! Getting our artists the things that they need at the moment in their careers when they need it\u00a0is truly the most rewarding thing about this job, and the thing that really defines The Tank\u2019s role in the\u00a0artistic landscape as not only an invaluable home for artists, but also a leading tastemaker audiences\u00a0can look to for exciting new projects.<\/p>\n

\"Ada\/Ava\"<\/a>From Ada\/Ava<\/a><\/em>, presented at The Tank in June, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Break time! What is the scariest occurrence\u00a0you’ve witnessed in your time as a New Yorker?<\/h2>\n

Well\u2013in my last apartment in Greenpoint, it was really late at night and I was still awake watching a\u00a0season premiere of Downton Abbey, and I saw smoke rising from my floorboards. It turned out that a\u00a0wire had short-circuited and was smoldering on one of the wooden crossbeams. The fire department\u00a0came and cut a hole in my floor to get to the fire, and I could see directly into the apartment below\u00a0mine because it didn\u2019t even have a ceiling. I realized that my floor was actually made out of two layers\u00a0of really thin plywood laid over four crossbeams. I had been living on like an inch-thick plywood floor\u00a0for three plus years; that was scarier than the fire!<\/p>\n

Do you have any grand plans for The Tank in the coming\u00a0months and years? How would\u00a0you like to see the organization evolve?<\/h2>\n

Absolutely\u2013there is a lot of growth this organization can, and hopefully will, see. We currently share\u00a0our mainstage space with a commercial producing company called The Playroom Theater. It\u2019s a truly\u00a0wonderful arrangement for us, but it does mean that we aren\u2019t in the space full time. We have the\u00a0space Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and all day Sunday. We are hoping in the next 3-5 years\u00a0to move to a space that we can be in full time, so that we can provide more rehearsal hours and\u00a0residencies for artists developing new work, support more artists by doing performances more nights\u00a0of the week, and also so that we can do more long runs. It would be huge!<\/p>\n

Can you share with our readers your favorite GIF\/Youtube video\/amusing link?<\/h2>\n

\u201cPlop the ham thusly, please\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Apj8vmMrfQA<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today on Organizer Stories we sit down with Rosalind Grush, Artistic Director of the\u00a0storied New York City performing arts presenter The Tank. The Tank provides indispensable resources\u00a0to over 1,000 emerging\u00a0artists every year, “fostering an environment of inclusiveness and removing the burden of cost from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers.” An…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[36],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eventblog.peatix.com\/organizer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}