Discussion Guide
It would be easy to dismiss the story of Junior Programs as ancient history, but More Than Entertainment: Democracy and the Performing Arts is not just the history of one pioneering company. It is a story of the transformative potential of the performing arts. It is a story of how to use the inherent creativity of TYA to transform what is into something that does not yet exist. As such, although there are numerous differences between then and now, Junior Programs’ seven years of success offers many lessons for today. However, to put those lessons into practice, we need to hack through the thicket of the current institutional structures and assumptions that no longer serve our needs. Using Junior Programs’ experience as a jumping off point, we need to gather our staff, artists, communities, and funders in a shared exploration of collective potential. Using our differences, we need to go deeper, to interrogate our assumptions about what is, and find the cracks in the status quo. Those are our leverage points––the opportunities that will help transform roadblocks into successes. Instead of saying “We can't,” ask instead “How can we?”
Here are a set of questions to help begin the journey. Work your way through all fifteen, or pick and choose the ones most relevant to your situation.
Junior Programs was extremely successful in repeatedly turning challenges into opportunities. What enabled them to do that, and how could your performing arts organization begin to reframe its challenges as opportunities?
Junior Programs believed the performing arts were ‘more than entertainment.’ In what ways does your performing arts organization offer the communities you serve ‘more than entertainment’? How could you offer even more?
Discuss the various ways the Junior Programs Credo influenced their work. In what ways does your organization’s mission really influence your work? How could you increase your mission’s day-to-day impact?
To tailor the Junior Programs Credo to today’s needs, what, if any, modifications would you make?
Junior Programs believed the performing arts were an essential part of preparing the next generation for its role as active citizens in a democracy. Do you agree? If so, how could your performing arts organization play a larger more powerful role in that process?
Rather than focusing on the ways in which our nation has failed to achieve real democracy, Junior Programs highlighted our democratic aspirations––showing the many ways in which diverse races, cultures and ethnicities enrich our democracy. Discuss the difference between these two approaches and identify ways in which your organization might take greater advantage of both perspectives.
Junior Programs’ commitment to normalizing “the other” infused almost everything they did. What could your performing arts organization do to make this a higher priority? What does normalizing “the other” mean?
Despite its commitment to racial, ethnic, religious and economic diversity, Junior Programs’ work was limited by a range of existing social and legal constraints. How do things differ today, and how could your organization increase the acceptance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the communities you serve?
By providing a local structure that included stakeholders from the schools, the businesses and retail merchants, a broad range of social and civic groups, college and university clubs, the media, and other local arts and youth organization, Junior Programs’ partnerships with the communities in which they performed ensured that the community had a stake in the success of every production. Discuss the ways in which your organization could achieve a similar sense of community ownership.
Partnerships were a key factor in Junior Programs success. How can your performing arts organization strengthen its existing partnerships, and identify a broad range of additional organizations that should be added to your list of active partners?
Junior Programs’ partnerships with K-12 schools provided a unique and valued set of pedagogical resources. What would your organization have to do to be perceived as an essential resource to your local K-12 schools?
Junior Programs used the performing arts as a means of weaving the fragmented educational experience and school infrastructure into an organic whole. What could your performing arts organization do to extend its educational impact beyond the current focus on education in and about the performing arts themselves?
Many of Junior Programs’ productions reflected aspects of the then current political, social, and economic issues and needs of their time. Discuss the ways your performing arts organization could offer more productions that help young audiences understand today’s political, social and economic issues.
Discuss the ways in which your performing arts organization is developing the ‘audiences of tomorrow.’ In what ways could your organization do more in that regard?
Discuss the ways various national TYA organizations (e.g. TYA-USA, AATE, CTFA, etc.) can support developing the next generation of TYA leaders and enable the field as a whole to become ‘more than entertainment’.
