First MI Last
Since 2021, I have self-produced evening-length dance works and hosted workshops to engage my community with performing arts. Creating and presenting effective artistic events requires surprisingly similar skills to developing accessible digital products. My 3-month residency with a local arts organization showcases the detail-oriented, thoughtful process behind coordinating community classes, creating a new work, and presenting public performances.
Role
Producer
Director
Choreographer
Skills
Communication
Resource Coordination
Research
The Ask
Dallas is home to the largest arts district in the country, presenting renowned works of music, dance, theatre, and visual art daily. While many talented artists live throughout the city, most Dallas neighborhoods lack space and opportunity to present local art.
As the city grows, smaller areas, such as Oak Cliff, rely on local organizations to connect with art. From workshops to galleries to performances, how might I use an artist-in-residence (AiR) program to engage Oak Cliff residents in new artistic experiences and meet local artists?
The Offerings
Over 3 months I produced 4 free, beginner-friendly dance workshops, a pre-show behind-the-scenes gallery, and an immersive contemporary dance-theatre production. Each component prioritized accessibility (to physical spaces and artistic concepts) and direct community engagement.
Featured Moments
Creative Movement Workshops
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Guided exercises encouraged joyful somatic awareness and responsiveness to others, for new and experienced dancers.
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Participants directly contributed to ideas and choreography in the final show through careful conversation about aspects of identity, labels, and names.
Nametag Mural
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Visitors to Arts Mission over 3 months could fill out a sticker and add it to a mural.
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The piece became a backdrop in the performances, to which audience members got to contribute after the final scene
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Pre-Show Gallery
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The venue’s unique architecture allowed me to control foot traffic while keeping patrons engaged.
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Curated research and rehearsal snippets gave insight into the ideas within the show and an introduction to how dance works are created.
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Immersive Dance-Theatre Show
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Creative use of angles, entrances/exits, and levels of the performance space to supported the project's message and kept the audience engaged.
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Based on workshop discussions, we strategically created opportunities for low-stakes yet meaningful audience interaction.
Empathize
Review of Previous AiR Works
Based on previous residents’ project outcomes (focusing on theatre and dance), I found the following trends among active community members/working artists versus newcomers:
Active Members/Working Artists:
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Prefer opportunities to directly interact with the resident artist and performers.
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Enjoy events where they create their own art.
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Desire the chance to contribute to the final show.
Newcomers:
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Prefer to attend a show or visit a gallery as their first interaction.
(More motivated to attend if they personally know the resident artist or another performer.)
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Feel intimidated by events advertised as “classes" or “workshops”.
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Tend to spend $20 or less on their first event.
User Interviews & Personas
From a group interview, we crafted 2 distinct user personas and an empathy map. We identified desires for:
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Deeper cultural and personal connection to their neighborhoods.
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A home that grows with them- accommodating life changes without sacrificing a beloved community.
Peer Interviews
I spoke directly with people fitting either of the 2 types of prospective patrons, in small group and 1-on-1 settings.
For both groups, the most important factor to attending workshops was day of the week and time. Despite varied work schedules, most people described regular routines during weekdays and weekday evenings. They were unlikely to break routine to attend the limited workshop series, but they enjoyed irregular activities on weekends during mid-day and afternoon.
They also described a higher motivation to attend if a friend previously attended or planned to join them. So, I created promotional videos for each workshop using footage from the previous sessions. Participants' got to share an exciting video of their experience on social media, and their friends got an elevated sense of familiarity and motivation to join next time.
Define
In a city saturated with art in isolated areas, how might we:
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Convince community members to try an unfamiliar, potentially vulnerable artistic experience?
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Highlight the work and benefits of local arts programming, such as a residency?
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Demonstrate the cultural and social value of supporting local artists?
Ideate
Diverse Opportunities for Engagement
Challenge:
What types of engagement might appeal to active artists and community members versus first-time supporters?
To encourage newcomers towards direct engagement, the dance workshops were advertised as “dance labs” featuring “beginner-friendly improvisation” exercises. Event descriptions emphasized a focus on community-building and exploratory, non-technical movement. All 3 workshops were donation-based, only 90 minutes long and strategically occurred on Saturday afternoons- avoiding potential conflicts with religious services and typical work schedules.
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By lowering potential barriers and stakes of attending, I maximized the chance to capture newcomers while still providing an enriching experience for active members. I cultivated conversation with every newcomer and connected via email or social media. These personal connections fostered stronger social and emotional motivators to participate in later events.
About 50% of newcomers that attended a "dance lab" also attended the final show.
Accessible Art in Every Facet
Financial Flexibility
Our target audience for this project was Dallas city residents aged 22-45. The most recent demographics show an average household income of about $80,000 for this age range with high variation between households. To accommodate the range of income in the area, the final show offered tickets on a sliding scale. Over half of the final audiences purchased low- or mid-priced tickets.
Providing Context
“First MI Last” utilized contemporary, often abstract dance techniques to convey nuanced ideas. The pre-show gallery included research notes, reference images, and rehearsal footage that built the overall show. This extra feature provided deeper insight to curious fellow artists and relevant context to first-time dance patrons. The underground gallery also served as a warm, spacious waiting area, instead of forcing guests to wait outside the building during December.
Authentic Connections
Creating impactful art at a local level requires commitment to personally know your audience. The workshops were shaped around conversation about identity that sparked conversations even after each event ended. The show itself featured monologues from each performer, highlighting the literal and personal meanings of their name. Each performance finished with audience members adding their name to a backdrop mural of nametag stickers then enjoying open space for conversation and self-reflection.
Final Products
Insights
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As with digital products, facilitating familiarity for new patrons is key to ensuring engagement.
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Considering the full audience experience, from arriving to leaving the venue, created a welcoming experience for newcomers and a robust, out-of-the-ordinary experience for local art-lovers.
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Incorporating personal experiences of workshop participants and performers into the final show facilitated stronger, more complex responses from all audience members in post-show conversations.
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Combining one-time events (dance labs & shows) with ongoing installations (nametag mural) allowed for in-person and asynchronous connection with potential patrons - expanding my audience for future projects.