WASHINGTON, D.C.: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has launched the Miranda Family Fellows Program, a new fellowship program in partnership and with a lead gift from the Miranda Family Fund, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s family philanthropic fund. The new program aims to provide fellows from historically excluded communities with the resources and training needed to build careers as arts administrators or theatre technicians. Fellowships are structured as paid, year-long, department-specific positions with benefits and a housing stipend. Due to the pandemic, the inaugural fellowships will take place over one and a half years, beginning as remote positions in Winter 2021. The application deadline is Jan. 7, 2021.
“With great respect to the work and sacrifices past Woolly fellows have made, transforming Woolly Mammoth’s early-career opportunities into full-time entry level positions was long overdue,” said Maria Manuela Goyanes, Woolly Mammoth’s artistic director, in a statement. “Woolly is tremendously grateful to have found such a like-minded partner in the Miranda Family. We share the same desire for young people, and particularly young people of color, to see a long future for themselves working in our theatre industry. I am also indebted to our staff, specifically Becca Tuteur, Emily Lathrop, Elynora Sapp, and Allison Lehman, led by Kristen Jackson, for creating the foundation of this program, which reflects the importance of radical inclusion in all that we do at Woolly.”
The inaugural round of fellowships will be available in Woolly Mammoth’s connectivity, new work, and production departments, with the goal to eventually expand the fellowships to all Woolly Mammoth departments. The connectivity fellow will work with the company as it links its artistic mission with its social and political mission through artistic programs, community engagement, and audience enrichment activities. The new work fellow will be immersed in the theatre’s artistic team as part of season planning, new work development, and production dramaturgy processes. The production management fellow will help realize the technical aspects of the organization’s productions in a safe and resource efficient manner.
In addition to the opportunity to work within Woolly Mammoth departments, participants will receive ongoing professional development opportunities, including mentorships with industry leaders and peer networking. Fellows will also receive anti-racism and anti-oppression training and access to affinity spaces to deepen their analysis of equity, diversity, inclusion, and access, and the role arts organizations can play in furthering social justice movements. Additionally, fellows will receive coaching as their develop effective leadership styles grounded in their values.
“Woolly Mammoth is committed to serving as an agent of change in the creation of a more equitable and just theatre ecology,” said connectivity director Kristen Jackson in a statement. “Joining the Miranda Family on this initiative is in keeping with Woolly’s active engagement in the struggle against oppressive systems, and responsive to the needs of communities that have been systematically excluded from pursuing a career in the field. Programs like this one are long-overdue in the field.”
Applications for fellowships running March 2021 through June 2022 are being accepted through Jan. 7, 2021. More information on the fellowship, including how to apply, is available online.
