Wondering if we want to set up a discussion that is more general that would be a kind of open
conversation about SEE itself. I'm kind of imagining it as a place to
welcome new people. A first place to go to get the feel for things?
Over the past 6 months, SITI has been building SEE, SITI’s Extended Ensemble, as an online community for those who feel a connection with SITI’s training and performance. We hope that this community will foster collaboration and discussion fueled by artists and audiences in the spirit of the ensemble.
The community currently includes discussions, an events calendar, and a media section with audio, video and images. We hope to expand offerings as interest and technology develop. We envision that you could use this space for the following: • Extend your relationship with SITI and the training in an online environment • Post information, ideas, and media about the work you are doing or would like to do • Seek out and network with artists who may become future collaborators • Promote performances, training opportunities, and other happenings
We are opening SEE to Facebook users first to begin populating discussion boards, etc before announcing the site to everyone. As a Facebook user, you understand the value and power of social networking online. SITI will continue to maintain its Facebook page, because we believe SEE will be a niche community and Facebook serves as an excellent introductory portal to SITI Company and the Extended Ensemble.
We agree that there seems to be a new online social networking service every other day, and many people are inundated with invitations to join “the next MySpace or Facebook.” But the benefit of SEE over other services are the highly targeted and specific participants. All social networks thrive on an active membership, and niche networks have shown the highest rates of participation. We realized that over the past 15 years there is an expanding population of artists and audiences who have been impacted by SITI: plays and companies formed out of a summer at Skidmore or a workshop in NYC; regular Suzuki and Viewpoints trainings held all over the world; and constant desire to find like-minded artists in your own backyard. We don’t want SEE to replace MySpace or Facebook, rather to complement your online social networking as a resource for a very specific kind of content.
The initial open enrollment period will be from Jan 29 – Feb 5. After Feb 5, membership in SEE will be by invitation only.
Thank you for being a “Friend” of SITI and I look forward to seeing you in SEE.
Best, Brad Carlin Associate Managing Director SITI Company
Thanks for the invite! I'm looking forward to getting a feel for what's in the air and what's going on in the room. I miss you all more than words can...you know.
Way to go Brad!!! So happy to have a way to connect with other folks who have drunk the Suzuki/Viewpoints Kool-Aid! So what's up y'all?! Really looking forward to seeing "Who Do You Think You Are?" in Tempe next month. That brain text is a bitch isn't it? How goes the rehearsal process?
Thanks Jessica - great to see your face squeezed into a tiny half-inch square box on my screen!
Jessica and Susan (Hi Susan, thanks for joining!) got me thinking and some of us in the office talking, that there are a lot of names and faces we recognize and some we know really well. So I would love, and I am sure I 'm not alone in this, a little "refresher" from all the new SEErs on their connection to SITI.
So Ill get it started and I bet others will add on:
How/when did you get to know SITI (Where did you "drink the koolaid" as Jessica puts it)? Where did you train - with who? What shows have you seen or even worked on? And,
What are you doing now? What exciting projects have you been working on recently? Where are you living? Who are you working/collaborating with?
I want to second Brad's nudging of y'all to let us know what's up with all-y'all's stuff and all.
One thing to add, is that if you have photos of your time with SITI or SITI Folk, the SITI "Pool" on Flicker is a great place to share them.
You can find us at http://www.flickr.com/groups/343729@N25/
The "Files and Media" tab here in SEE will show you a slide show of the pool, but it can also be accessed as an RSS or Atom feed in many formats (if you don't know what any of that means, chill out, you don't have to).
A lot of the pics that are in the pool right now are from last summer in Saratoga, and it would be great to see some from other years and places as well. So dig out your digital shoe-boxes (or your actual shoe-box if you have a scanner) and share some pics.
I participated in the Summer Intensive in 2006, and I too find the training has rocked my world. I am so grateful for this forum and to the SITI Company for their work for my opportunity to train with you guys. I saw bobraushenbergamerica at the PAC Edge Festival in Chicago in 2002, War of the Worlds (Radio Play) during the intensive, and one of the most profound experiences of my life Hotel Cassiopeia at the Court Theatre in Chicago in the fall of '06.
I am an actor/designer in Chicago freelancing as an electrician in television. The last play that I performed in was The Busy World is Hushed at the Next Theatre and I have a one of my designs currently at the Royal George Theatre in Chicago.
I am so glad that this forum was created, I have been desperate to continue my training and connect to the wider community and have been at a loss for how to do that.
This is an addition to Leon's welcome to everyone. Already the number of people who have connected or are reconnecting to SITI has increased enormously. How thrilling and cool! I'm getting a chance to say hello to dear friends and colleagues through SITI whom I haven't seen in many years, and want to take this opportunity to say hello to all the new folks who will be part of our world.
It's incredibly moving to me to know that our "family" extends way out there on so many levels.
It's very exciting, so thanks and hello and welcome and...
Interesting Factoid: SEE members represent 13 countries on 5 continents, and 66 cities in 24 states. SITI Company's performance and training has reached 18 countries on 5 continents, and 75 cities in 30 states.
Here is a great blog post from arts manager extraordinaire Andre Taylor. He really captures what we are trying to do with SEE as a social network that is both bottom-up and top-down - he calls them hybrids, and I like it. I also think the bigger issues facing SITI's future can be considered in the model he outlines.
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