FREE ADVICE
FREE ADVICE, offered since 2015, is an open and free consultation service with our staff and guest advisors from local arts and cultural institutions. We make consultation sessions available throughout the year, and any artist in the region can sign up at no cost. Artists are encouraged to seek advice for a wide range of topics related to their work, from identifying grant and residency opportunities to locating creative communities and collaborators.
This year we are offering two models: in-person and on Zoom.
FREE ADVICE (In-Person): We’re here to help! Our team is offering free advice to local artists, in the form of 45-minute advisory sessions, hosted at our WeWork offices. These one-on-one conversations are specifically tailored to meet the questions you have prepared.
Current advisors include Marsian De Lellis, Patricia Garza, and Gina Young, of Los Angeles Performance Practice. We specialize in contemporary performance, fundraising, and marketing. You can read full bios of each of us here or see specifics below.
We are thrilled to announce that for April 2024’s IN-PERSON FREE ADVICE session we will have two special guests: Asuka Hisa and Amanda Sroka of The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles! Past guest advisors have included colleagues from MOCA, CTG, REDCAT, Grand Park, LACE, The Ford, and The Wallis.
Please come to your session prepared with questions and any relevant information. These sessions are in-person and will not be moved to Zoom.
About Asuka • (she/her): Asuka Hisa is the Director of Learning and Engagement at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA). She curates and produces programs for museum and community audiences with a focus on artists and social action. She is currently a 2023-2024 Smithsonian Fellow in Museum Practice. In 2019, she was the lead curator of CURRENT:LA FOOD, a public art triennial with the City of Los Angeles’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Public Art Division. From 2007-2011, she was appointed to the Arts Commission for the City of Santa Monica. She was Board President of the Museum Educators of Southern California (MESC) from 2009-2011. In 2003, she received the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture of France. She is a board member of Automata—an organization devoted experimental puppetry, theater, and film based in Los Angeles; and an advisory board member for Crayon Collection, an art education and environmental advocacy organization. She is a lecturer and adjunct faculty member for UCLA’s School of Art and Architecture and Otis College of Art and Design with courses on learning and engagement in contemporary art museums. Meet with Asuka on April 15 at ICA LA via the link below.
About Amanda • (she/her): Amanda Sroka is a curator whose creative work focuses on global histories of contemporary art with a specialized interest in interdisciplinary practices that operates at the intersections of our personal, political, and material worlds. She is the Senior Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles where she has organized presentations dedicated to the work of Carmen Argote, Chris Emile and No)One. Art House, Christine Sun Kim, Trương Công Tùng, and Alberta Whittle, and supported with Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency (2023), Barbara T. Smith: Proof (2023), and Scientia Sexualis (forthcoming 2024). She was previously Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where she organized solo projects with Lawrence Abu Hamdan (forthcoming), Martine Syms, Zoe Leonard, Senga Nengudi, Marisa Merz, Yael Bartana, and Jitish Kallat, as well as group exhibitions such as Fault Lines: Contemporary Abstraction by Artists from South Asia. Prior to that, Sroka was a curatorial assistant at the New Museum in New York. Meet with Amanda on April 15 at ICA LA via the link below.
We are also thrilled to announce a special guest FREE ADVICE on May 14, 2024 with Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx of the Los Angeles LGBT Center!
About Jonathan • (he/him): Jonathan is the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s second Artistic Director, where he leads the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center’s Renberg Theatre, Davidson/Valentini Theatre, and Advocate & Gochis Galleries. He has served on the Latinx Theatre Commons National Steering Committee, has directed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and has adjudicated on review panels for the California Arts Council and LA County Department of Arts and Culture. Muñoz-Proulx has been honored on The Advocate Magazine’s list of 20 Advocates for Change and the Los Angeles Times’s LA Vanguardia list of “Latino innovators, instigators, and power players breaking through barriers.” “Muñoz-Proulx has the know-how and tenacity to steer Los Angeles theater toward a more equitable tomorrow.” – Los Angeles Times Meet with Jonathan on May 14 in Hollywood via the link below.
About Marsian • (they/them): I’m an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and activist who uses puppets, dolls, and humor to memorialize obsessional lives. I’ve served on selection committees, boards, and even my neighborhood council. I organized rallies for the nation’s first LGBTQ+ student anti-discrimination law and once appeared on Oprah. I have collaborated with Los Angeles Performance Practice as an R+D creator, ACCELERATOR participant, and LAX Festival artist. As Development Specialist, I advocate for L.A. artists through grant writing, donor cultivation, and creative problem solving. Did I mention I love puzzles? Let’s dream up ways to resource your project!
About Patricia • (they/them): A little bit about me as a human-I am a Latinx queer person, use they/them pronouns and have a background in theater at the regional level, new play development, dramaturgy, and ensemble-based theatrical practice. I am deeply invested in the local Los Angeles theater ecosystem. I also facilitate equity conversations nationally and love to talk about all things working towards our collective liberation. Of course, I’m also happy to chat about any available programs at L.A. Performance Practice.
About Gina • (she/they): I’ve been writing, directing, and producing award-winning interdisciplinary work for almost two decades, with a focus on queer and feminist themes. The salon series I founded, SORORITY, has presented hundreds of artists in Los Angeles and has a cult following. I first got involved with LA Performance Practice through Free Advice, have since been presented at the LAX Festival, and now serve as LAPP’s Marketing Consultant. Would love to help you conspire to reach more people with your work, or brainstorm in any way that I can!
Available Sessions:
We ask for our in-person sessions if you can please limit your registration to one slot with one advisor per date to make room for other artists to participate, thank you!
April 15, 2024
4pm, 5pm, and 6pm with Asuka Hisa or Amanda Sroka
REGISTER NOW
May 14, 2024
4pm, 5pm, and 6pm with Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx
FULLY BOOKED– PLEASE JOIN OUR WAITLIST BELOW
August 13, 2024
4pm, 5pm, and 6pm with any advisor available
Registration Coming Soon!
Waitlist:
For any of the above sessions that are full, please fill out this waitlist form and LAPP staff will be in communication if availability opens up!
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FREE ADVICE (Online!):
FREE ADVICE is back online fostering creative community conversations by coming together in small groups to learn and lean on each other through an open dialogue. Available to any interested artist or producer, this program offers an opportunity to meet virtually to support a generous exchange of ideas, practices, knowledge, and inspiration. Our staff will be in the Zoom room to offer any additional insight or knowledge of patterns in the field of contemporary performance.
Sessions will begin with a quick round of introductions, and will conclude with a summary of shared resources.
Available Sessions:
April 16, 2024
REGISTER HERE— MORE SPOTS JUST ADDED!
June 18, 2024
REGISTER HERE
We look forward to discussing your work with you!