Alec The Third To Host PAAL Gala Honoring Shanta Thake Of Lincoln Center

Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) will produce their first gala at A.R.T./New York's Mezzanine Theater. Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, will receive PAAL's first Leader in Care award. Thake's essential role in facilitating the partnerships made PAAL's annual international summit for leadership training possible.

Since the Fall of 2021, Shanta has been key to Lincoln Center's ongoing efforts to ensure the arts are central to the civic life of the city, welcoming new audiences, championing genres historically underrepresented on campus, and ushering in accessible ticket models. Known for her work across disciplines, Shanta leads a team of curators to bring exciting emerging and established artists to Lincoln Center's indoor and outdoor stages, and spearheads multi-genre collaborations with Lincoln Center's resident organizations.

"We are so privileged to honor Shanta with this inaugural award," adds PAAL Founder Rachel Spencer Hewitt, "I met Shanta while knocking on doors of institutions advocating our solutions for parents and caregivers to anyone who would listen. Through the generous connection of our mutual friend Stephanie Ybarra, Shanta not only listened but facilitated a formal gathering where we could bring this work to leadership. In the process, Shanta provided me with caregiver support personally and made caregiver support possible for so many other organizations. She's an exemplary Leader in Care."

The gala will close out PAAL's annual summit on creating caregiver support in the industry, inviting guests to a happy hour of performances by gifted caregivers with on-site or in-home care provided to artists and attendees. Funds raised will go directly to support PAAL's childcare/caregiver and emergency grants, institutional initiatives, partner projects (The Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival with Blackboard Plays) and more.

Alec The Third (Bushwick Variety Show) will perform and host. Darius-Anthony Robinson (Pippin), Jessica Delfino (Mom Report), and Andrea Jones-Sojola (The Music Man) join the previously announced live performers Harper Grundei, Gary Grundei (Mrs. Drake), Maigan Kennedy (Disney On Classic), Ethan Lipton (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Tatiana Scott (In The Heights), and Haley Swindal (Chicago). A brief multi-media moment with exclusive video contributions feature Mahogany L. Browne (NAACP Image Award nominee), Joanne Javien (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Toshi Reagon (NYFA Music Composition Award) and Lady Rizo (Time Out London Theater award). The national directors of PAAL leadership are Rachel Spencer Hewitt, Garlia Cornelia Jones, Adriana Gaviria, and Tamanya Garza. Mara Jill Herman will produce and Gary Grundei will music direct.

The PAAL Summit is the fourth annual convening from Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) in partnership with The Public Theater and A.R.T./New York and will run over four consecutive days online, November 30-December 3, 2022, with virtual sessions the first three days and a hybrid opportunity for the gala on the final day. Sessions will provide expert insight to both experienced and early-stage caregiver initiatives and planning.

Tickets for the PAAL Gala are $500 for a table (5 seats), $100 for individual table seats, and $50 for stadium seats. PAAL Members who attend the PAAL Summit receive free admission to the gala. In-person and streaming tickets can be purchased at https://www.paaltheatre.com/gala-tickets

ABOUT PARENT ARTIST ADVOCACY LEAGUE (PAAL)

Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) is a national advocacy organization serving as a resource hub, community, and solutions generator for caregivers in the performing arts and media and the institutions who support them. PAAL created the first all-gender, all-discipline national PAAL Childcare Grants for individuals and institutions and the PAAL National Handbook of Best Practices for Parent and Caregiver Support. PAAL continues to provide digital training, consulting, and creating active and ongoing affinity spaces for all caregivers in the performing arts and media every month, Third Thursdays, which also includes affinity spaces for BIPOC mothers, Black mothers, Single Mothers, Pregnancy and Infant Loss support, and more. PAAL's work has been mentioned in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Shondaland.com, American Theatre Magazine, Hartford Courant, HowlRound Theatre Commons, WAMU for NPR News in Washington D.C., and the recently published book From Aphra Behn to Fun Home: A Cultural History of Feminist Theatre. On International Women's Day in 2019, PAAL was selected as one of 10 "Changemaker" organizations invited to take the stage and present at Disney Theatrical's Women's Day on Broadway in New York City. PAAL partnered with The Playwrights Realm to create the first-of-its-kind Radical Parent-Inclusion Project for the production of MOTHERS off-Broadway, and has participated internationally in think tanks, on panels, and facilitated workshops on parenting in the arts at multiple gatherings, including the national TCG conferences, BroadwayCon, Actors Equity Association, Professional Association of Canadian Theatres, the first national conversation on caregiving in the Latinx community at the Latinx Theatre Commons Annual Convening, Miami in Motion, in 2019, and the upcoming Shakespeare Theatre Association Conference 2022, LMDA 2022, and SETC 2022 for the second year.

ABOUT A.R.T./New York

The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York is the arts service organization dedicated to supporting New York City's vibrant and diverse community of nonprofit theatres. Founded in 1972, A.R.T./New York assists over 400 member theatre organizations, as well as an increasing number of individual members, in managing their producing practices effectively so they may realize their rich artistic visions and serve their diverse audiences well. Over nearly five decades, A.R.T./New York has earned a reputation as a leader in providing progressive services to our members-from shared office and rehearsal spaces to technical assistance programs for emerging theatres-which have made the organization an expert in the needs of the New York City nonprofit theatre community. A.R.T./New York supports nonprofit theatre companies in New York City by providing four core programs: Funding, Training, Space and Connections.

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