Dear LAPP Community,
We are thrilled to announce that Los Angeles Performance Practice (LAPP) is the recipient of a 2024 Mellon Foundation multi-year grant. This two year gift serves as an investment in not only our capacity building infrastructure and movement into a shared leadership model, but also provides support for our programming. We are thrilled that our work aligns with their Arts & Culture strategy of new economic paradigms and institutional models.
This exciting moment also marks a fresh beginning. During the last year, our Founder and Executive Director, Miranda Wright, has been officially transitioning into her new role as Executive Director of Center for the Arts at Kayenta, in Southwest Utah. She now serves on the board of LAPP, and the board is thrilled to have her institutional memory in this role. Additionally, our Producer + Director of Programs, Patricia Garza will depart the organization on April 30th. The mighty LAPP team has worked hard alongside the LAPP Board of Directors to determine a new leadership structure that will support our ongoing, vital work.
After months of dialogue with similar institutions, researching fieldwide leadership models, and examining the specific unique needs of our organization in relationship with our resources and capacity to deliver on our mission, we have determined that a two-person shared leadership team is currently the best model to move us into our future. Creating a collective leadership space celebrates a multiplicity of perspectives and approaches, and allows us to proactively combat isolation and burnout by ensuring shared labor, cross-training, and knowledge exchange, to maintain the many programs and activities that have made LAPP what it is today.
It is therefore with much excitement that we now launch the search for two co-directors: a Director of Advancement & Operations and a Director of Programming & Producing. To oversee the search, ensure the continued delivery of our programs, and manage our staff during this transition, our Board member Terence McFarland has stepped in as Interim General Manager.
We want to take this moment to acknowledge the legacy of Miranda’s work over the past decade. We hope that by continuing to keep LAPP thriving, we honor the incredible foundation that she created in 2010. And as Miranda always intended, artists will remain at the center of our work as we grow and change. We also want to thank Patricia for their stewardship and visionary leadership during these last three years.
There is more in store during this transitional phase, and we will continue to bring you on the journey. We thank you in advance for your support as we move through this time with intention and care. Our goal is to act in transparency and to involve you, our community, in ideating what is next alongside the new team at Los Angeles Performance Practice.
Sincerely,
LAPP Board of Directors
Shannon Scrofano, President
Andrew Ahn, Secretary
Terence McFarland, Treasurer
Dawn Robinson-Patrick, Board Member
Miranda Wright, Board Member
