Resisting retreat: How North American arts leaders are reinventing collaboration in a time of crisis

In a world increasingly marked by political polarization, rising costs, and shrinking institutional support for the arts, a group of visionary leaders from North America gathered at the Sibiu International Performing Arts Market (SIPAM) to share insights, offer warnings, and, most importantly, propose solutions. The panel, titled Advancing the Arts Through Innovative Strategies, Adventurous Programming, and Worldwide Alliances, brought together arts professionals including Alicia Adams, Cathy Haase, Elena Siyanko, Gilles Doré, Frank Hentschker, and Stephanie French. The conversation was moderated by Cosmin Chivu, Associate Professor at the Sands College of Performing Arts in New York.

The panelists outlined a new vision for survival and transformation in the arts: one rooted in perseverance, community engagement, and bold international collaboration.

Joining virtually from the United States, Alicia Adams, former Vice President of International Programming and Dance at the Kennedy Center, offered a powerful reflection on the resilience required to work in the arts today.

“Artists and arts organizations are always in crisis,” Adams said. “There’s never enough money, never enough time, never enough stages. But we have to stay in the mix. We have to be present.”

Reflecting on her own 30-year activity at the Kennedy Center, Adams emphasized the importance of mission-driven programming and adaptability. Her recent festival, Earth to Space, tackled themes of environmental awareness and artistic engagement with science. “We must hang on to our missions, to our beliefs. Find new language, new paths, but remain true.”

Gilles Doré: “The ecosystem is shifting, but connection Is non-negotiable”

Gilles Doré, General Director of CINARS, highlighted the shockwaves Canadian arts organizations are experiencing from political rhetoric and visa complications across the border. “We’re seeing Canadian companies hesitate to travel to the U.S.,” he explained. “The fear of not getting visas is real.”

Yet Doré stressed the necessity of maintaining cross-border relationships. “We should win the soft politics,” he urged, advocating for Canadian governmental support to cover premium visa fees. “We must continue to support international exchange, this is how we preserve our democratic and artistic values.”

Doré also offered a broader perspective: “We’re in a redefinition of artists, programmers, and publics. Instead of doing 200 shows per year, companies now do 30 and they’re considered successful. The biggest challenge is maintaining dialogue with the public: Who are they? And how do we bring them back?”

As President of Stephanie French Consulting and a longtime supporter of the arts, French addressed how institutions can strategically communicate their values without alienating stakeholders. “Sometimes, it’s about adjusting language, making subtle shifts to get through the door,” she said. “Then you’re on friendly ground and can present the work from your true vision.”

More than anything, French advocated for inter-organizational collaboration. “It’s time to stop working in silos. Share productions. Share costs. Plan networks from the beginning. Collaboration is how we disrupt the disruption.”

Elena Siyanko, Co-Director of the newly launched Down to Earth Festival in New York, painted a sobering picture of the cultural landscape in the U.S.: shrinking programming, high rents, and the collapse of experimental art ecosystems in Manhattan. “We no longer have large-scale platforms like the Lincoln Center Festival,” she underlined.

Yet Siyanko and her collaborators are responding with action, not despair. Down to Earth, launching this September, will bring international and local performances to underfunded parks in Harlem, Queens, and Brooklyn. “We are co-creating with communities. We’re reclaiming public space. And we’re making it all free.”

She credited Quebec’s support and collaborative spirit for making past international exchanges possible: “The expansiveness of vision from colleagues in Quebec helped us launch our previous work and will help us again now.”

As Executive Director of the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at CUNY, Frank Hentschker has long been a bridge between academia and global performance. COVID-19, he said, radically reshaped this mission.

“We listened to artists who said: ‘We don’t want a renaissance, we want something different.’ That means moving outside the four walls, outside the elite theater model.”

Hentschker described Down to Earth as a deliberate attempt to challenge New York’s exclusionary cultural model. “The idea is to offer something human, something overlooked. Like flowers blooming in parking lots, art needs to find its way through concrete.”

He added, “The Sibiu Festival shows what’s possible when an entire city performs itself. We may not have Sibiu’s squares, but we have parks, streets, and people hungry for art.”

Actress, writer, and Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio, Cathy Haase offered a heartfelt and cautionary intervention rooted in her decades of experience in performance and pedagogy. Though more introspective than logistical in tone, her comments struck a deep emotional chord with the audience.

“Artists are not machines of output,” Haase said. “They are vessels of risk, of truth, of memory. And in order to continue doing this work, honestly and urgently, they need room to be brave.”

She urged institutions and communities alike not to reduce artists to cultural laborers or passive content generators. “We talk so much about innovation and infrastructure. But underneath it all, the artist needs to be seen as a whole person, not just a performer. That human element can’t be lost in this conversation.”

Haase also challenged younger practitioners and emerging leaders to return to a place of curiosity. “Being brave doesn’t mean being loud. Sometimes it means listening harder. Being more porous. We need more artistic environments that protect that.”

A call to action: stop the narcissism, start collaborating

As the panel drew to a close, moderator Cosmin Chivu shared a piece of advice he had recently received: “It’s time to stop being narcissistic and start collaborating.” Each speaker responded with passion and affirmation. Hentschker emphasized community as the antidote to loneliness: “A good life is found in connection. The arts, especially theater, are the heartbeat of that.”

Elena Siyanko added, “It’s through partnerships, locally and globally, that we survive. It’s how we make work relevant. How we change places and people.”

And finally, Alicia Adams, with characteristic clarity, closed the panel: “This work is not for the faint of heart. But we persevere. We find new ways. And we keep going, together.”