The Producer Hub Launches To Support Creative and Independent Producers

Octopus Theatricals announced today the formal launch of the Producer Hub, an online resource dedicated to showcasing and supporting the work of independent producers working in a variety of live performance producing models through shared business and educational resources and networking. While centered on the professional development of the producer, the Producer Hub seeks to be a connective space for any stakeholder in the making of live performance. The program prioritizes exchange as a means of learning, and values and facilitates relationship building at all levels. This connective space expands beyond connecting producers with other producers to also include artists, presenters and other culture workers, making the Producer Hub a space to facilitate future collaboration and engagement. Equal parts educational and practical, the Producer Hub is an open-access space that welcomes producers of all levels to sharpen and equip their working toolbox through exchange with a community of practitioners from across the field.

Producer Hub is affiliated with the recently launched Creative and Independent Producer Alliance (CIPA). CIPA represents more than 50 independent producers of live arts - representatives of a critical, oft-overlooked cross-section of the field­. These producers have joined forces as the Creative & Independent Producer Alliance (CIPA) to address the urgent need for rebuilding and sustainability, advance cultural representation and resist historically oppressive institutional structures, and create systems of support necessary to ensure a future for artist-driven contemporary performance in a post-pandemic world.

Producer Hub is currently incubated by Octopus Theatricals; with administrative oversight by Sophie Blumberg, Adam Hyndman and Ronee Penoi.

SERVICES:

Producer Hub will offer a range of services to support the work of those independent producers, theatre makers and organizations who are looking to engage with our community. The program offerings of the Producer Hub were developed based on market research, and consist of the following arms: Shared Business Resources, a Library of Practical Resources, Educational Resources, Networking, Mentorship, and EDI/Social Justice training.

-Fiscal Sponsorship:

In collaboration with the New York based 501(c)3 non-profit organization, The Tank, Producer Hub will provide fiscal sponsorship for independent producers and organizations whose missions are in alignment with Producer Hub. Producer Hub is proud to offer its fiscal sponsorships for a service fee rate of 2% of contributed income, substantially lower than industry standard. Participants will still enjoy all the benefits of fiscal sponsorship including providing tax deduction for donors, the ability to apply for grant funding, etc.

-Resource Center:

Producer Hub avails an online discovery center that aggregates services, opportunities, and resources to the community. The resource center is a free and open source which focuses on major areas integral to an individual's career in the arts. Current databases featured are:

-Jobs Board

-Anti-Racist / EDI Resources

-Professional Development Opportunities

-Funding Resources

-Webinars:

Producer Hub will produce a bi-monthly series of topic-specific webinars on timely and relevant issues across the field. The webinars begin with a focus around themes of ethical producing and responsibility in a post-COVID world. The webinars will be free to the general public with registration. (The first 100 registrants will receive access to a shared virtual space that allows for interaction and direct engagement. Individuals who register after the first 100 guests will be able to participate with the link to a streamed broadcast of the discourse.)

Registration is now open for our first webinar and is available through the Producer Hub website.

Webinar #1: Force Majeure - Thursday, November 19th, 2020 @ 8pm EST

Let's talk about Force Majeure. Contracts have always been a challenge, even before COVID put a spotlight on the force majeure clause. (You know, that clause that we put in in case of "transportation delays, labor disputes, epidemics, acts of God" but never really thought we were going to have to act on). Now, six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the performing arts field is still making work, but we're looking to approach it in a different way. How do we equally share risk, prevent harm and develop alternatives to cancellation without tanking our relationships? Whether you're new to the field, or a contract master, join us and our panelists as we reflect on the work of the APAP Force Majeure Working Group, Creating New Futures, and others, and share their recommendations for how we can all improve our approach to the Force Majeure clause.

Future Webinar Topics:

-Webinar #2: New Media Agreements (Actor's Equity & SAG) - Thursday, December 10th, 2020 @ 8pm EST

-Webinar #3: Sustainable Theater Practices- Thursday, February 4th, 2021 @ 8pm EST

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT PRODUCER HUB:

"The creation of the Producer Hub exists to amplify the essential need to educate and advocate on what I see as one of the most important working sectors in the performing arts cultural landscape that has been historically invisible in our country. [Producers] sit alongside the artist in order to respond and support their ideas and create the necessary infrastructure and support to not only to execute their ideas, but implement, support and sustain the communities of performers, interpretations, makers, designers, production teams AND presenters all necessary to the fabric of these artistic ideas. This work is essential not only in response to how artists are working today in our country, but how we can be prepared for the future. This requires a virtuosic level of creative, risk taking and management skills that one can often find in the ethos of the independent and creative producer." - Linda Brumbach (Founder / Director, Pomegranate Arts)

"We all know the phrase, 'If you build it they will come'. As collaborative artists and producers, we need more than a piece of land and a tractor. We need each other, and we need a wide range of resources in human, fiscal, and logistical forms to build our dreams. The Producer Hub is a dream come true for the people who have made it, and it offers artists in all stages of their work radical accessibility to the means that turn all the lights on. This hub is a Light Web." - Christine Jones (Artistic Director, Theatre For One)

"As budding producers, The Oaks Collective was thrilled to partner with The Producer Hub. Finding funding for creative projects can be challenging even in the best of circumstances, but given the impact of COVID-19 on our economic climate it would have been especially difficult for us to raise the funding needed to make our projects happen. Through their fiscal sponsorship of our production, the Producer Hub provided us with invaluable administrative and fiscal support so that we could focus our energies and attention on creating impactful art reflective of our mission and values as producers. We recommend Producer Hub as a partner for others in the field - particularly women and people of color - who are looking to establish themselves and grow while learning the ins and outs of producing artistic works." -KHALILAH ELLIOTT (Founder, The Oaks Collective)

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