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Friday, November 18, 2022
4615 Theatre announces transition to shared leadership
DC Theater Arts: The founding Artistic Director of 4615 Theatre Company, Jordan Friend, has announced his decision to step back from day-to-day leadership responsibilities and will no longer be the artistic director of the company.
2 comments:
Jackson Underwood
said...
I had never heard of 4615 Theatre before reading this article, but it sounds like a wonderful company. A q7th-century tragedy in multiple rooms of a house sounds like something I absolutely want to see. Huge budget productions on giant stages are cool, but there's just something so real and raw about artists coming together with no money or resources and creating something beautiful and breathtaking. From the sound of it, Jordan Friend planned to eventually step down from when he started as the artistic director, and rather let it be led by those in the community who are creating every day. It’s wonderful to see a diverse group of creatives sharing leadership responsibilities in this company. I really hope that this horizontal leadership structure serves the company well and is not a hindrance. With a structure like that, communication will be so important, but if anyone is suited for it, its theatre professionals.
I find it absolutely fascinating that Friend founded this company with the intention of one-day handing it off to others. I'm curious whether he always had a particular timeline in mind or if this just felt like the right time. It seems that very few people work so hard at building something only to later give it away. Of course, he's still staying involved as a board member, but he's no longer directly involved with the day-to-day artistic decision making. That must be tough; it's naturally very hard to surrender control. But Friend sounds like a wonderful, caring person and an asset to the theatre community.
I'm also interested in what prompted the decision to move toward a horizontal leadership structure. There are benefits to a leadership team, but there are also pitfalls. As Jackson mentioned, communication will be key in the effectiveness of this type of structure. Fortunately, it appears that this team is very familiar with working alongside one another, and that they have all had leadership roles within the company for years. I hope that this structure is successful for them and that they continue to bring compelling art to the DC community.
2 comments:
I had never heard of 4615 Theatre before reading this article, but it sounds like a wonderful company. A q7th-century tragedy in multiple rooms of a house sounds like something I absolutely want to see. Huge budget productions on giant stages are cool, but there's just something so real and raw about artists coming together with no money or resources and creating something beautiful and breathtaking. From the sound of it, Jordan Friend planned to eventually step down from when he started as the artistic director, and rather let it be led by those in the community who are creating every day. It’s wonderful to see a diverse group of creatives sharing leadership responsibilities in this company. I really hope that this horizontal leadership structure serves the company well and is not a hindrance. With a structure like that, communication will be so important, but if anyone is suited for it, its theatre professionals.
I find it absolutely fascinating that Friend founded this company with the intention of one-day handing it off to others. I'm curious whether he always had a particular timeline in mind or if this just felt like the right time. It seems that very few people work so hard at building something only to later give it away. Of course, he's still staying involved as a board member, but he's no longer directly involved with the day-to-day artistic decision making. That must be tough; it's naturally very hard to surrender control. But Friend sounds like a wonderful, caring person and an asset to the theatre community.
I'm also interested in what prompted the decision to move toward a horizontal leadership structure. There are benefits to a leadership team, but there are also pitfalls. As Jackson mentioned, communication will be key in the effectiveness of this type of structure. Fortunately, it appears that this team is very familiar with working alongside one another, and that they have all had leadership roles within the company for years. I hope that this structure is successful for them and that they continue to bring compelling art to the DC community.
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