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The Entertainment & Performing Arts Industry Conference (EPIC) is an exciting new global event that is going to be held online across 24 hours on January 10, 2022. This event has been created for Arts and entertainment industry professionals as well as people in training or those who are interested in the entertainment industry. The online event will feature 50 sessions with leaders from numerous disciplines and includes many ways for attendees to ask questions and engage with others at the conference.
EPIC was founded by Anna Robb and Matthew Stern, when both noticed the need to adapt following the sudden and devastating effect of the pandemic on the industry. Anna explained:
“The global pandemic shut down live entertainment and arts around the world. This long and challenging intermission has shown us how we can connect across oceans and continents, forced us to innovate, and highlighted the great value and importance of live art and entertainment. EPIC was born out of these learnings.” – Anna Robb, founder EPIC & Theatre Art Life
While Matthew concurred, saying:
“We’ve learned how small our world is and how we now have the tools to literally reach around the world. So for one 24-hour rotation of the earth, EPIC provides a space for the thousands of people working in the art and entertainment industries to come together to share ideas, connect, communicate and learn from each other.” – Matthew Stern, founder EPIC & Broadway Stage Management Symposium.
The philosophy of EPIC is inclusive across industries, and subject areas are differentiated by craft rather than by genre or artform. These crafts are divided into four pillars:
Are you a creator?
Are you inventing ways to tell stories, engage audiences, and take people on a journey, lending insights, catharsis, understanding?
If you are directing, writing, choreographing, or composing, then this is your pillar.
Are you are performer?
Using your body to sing, dance, act, as you literally or metaphorically walk the high wire, balancing your emotional and physical health and you embody a character or feeling.
If you are performing in opera, dance, musicals, plays, circus, cabaret, this is your pillar.
What about design?
Are you making the physical world inhabited by performers? Do you paint with light, sound, images, or do you build the sets, maintain the equipment, put the designs together?
If you create what is seen or heard this is your pillar.
What does it take to produce?
Are you managing, facilitating, leading the team of creators, performers, or designers? You are a master of logistics and operations, keeping chaos at bay, making space for magic to happen.
If you are a producer, stage or company manager, administrator, this is your pillar.
Are You More Than Just One Pillar?
You can access all pillars and move between them easily at EPIC, the conference for those who are part of making magic.
EPIC is built around the discussion pillars of CREATE, PERFORM, DESIGN, & PRODUCE. Each Pillar features a collection of industry leading directors, choreographers, performers, technicians, producers, designers, and more, representing Broadway, Cirque, West End, Opera, Dance, and Events from across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.
EPIC is a unique event as it has 24 hours of consecutive program delivering opportunities for those in every time zone to participate fully. The online platform features many ways to interact, network and make connections with both conference wide, session, and private text and video chat. Attendees gain insights from industry leaders from various disciplines and cultures, as well as the ability to connect with others in the industry for future collaborations, work opportunities, and friendships.
All presenters and the full schedule will be announced soon. Check out the current confirmed speakers for the event’s four pillars:
Gypsy Snider – Co-founder and Artistic Director of The 7 Fingers
Gilles Ste-Croix – Co-founder of Cirque du Soleil
Sergio Trujillo – Tony Award winning Choreographer for Broadway, circus, and TV
Priti Gandhi – International Opera singer and Artistic Director at Portland Opera
Lulu Helbæk – Director and creative director for International ceremonies, shows, and theatre
Leslie Ishii – Artistic Director of Perseverance Theatre
Matías Jaime – Director and choreographer, founder of Malevo, Argentine dance company
Natasha Jean-Bart – Dancer, coach for circus, creative director of WÄTTSSOUL INC
Michael Moloi – Award-winning South African choreographer, director, performing artist, designer
Safen Muhammad – Founder and Executive Director at Art +, working with refugee and IDP children throughout the Kurdistan region
Giuliano Peparini – Italian director and choreographer of ballet, circus and TV
Samantha Robison – Executive Director of aptART, focusing on sharing artistic experiences with conflict-affected and marginalised youth throughout the world
Mehmet Ünal – Composer and programmer, combining music and technology
Dawn Chiang – Lighting Designer for shows across the world, from Broadyway and regional theaters to Disney and circus
Gabriel Chan – Singaporean lighting designer for theatre, dance, and concerts
Jeremy Chernick – Broadway special effects designer and head designer for JandM Special Effects (Beetlejuice, Harry Potter, Frozen, American Psycho)
Kerem Demiraqyak – Turkey based, studio director at Audiofil, specialist in combining technology and audio-visual performances
Joe Dulude II – Makeup Designer for TV, theatre and film (Wicked, Beetlejuice, Anastasia, Allegiance)
Carin Ford – Sound Engineer on Broadway (The Prom, Shuffle Along, Paradise Square)
Craig Leo – South African designer, puppeteer, and performing artist (War Horse, The Handspring Puppet Company)
Vinnie Macri – Clear-Com Market Outreach Manager
Peter Milne – Australian projection designer and technical director at The Electric Canvas, and specialist in large-scale and architectural projection mapping
Chris Moylan – German lighting designer for theatre, circus, events, TV, concerts, installations, raves, clubs
Omar Serna – Senior Event Producer and Video mapping expert, Senior Producer, Proshow in Mexico
Tamás Vaspöri – Co-founder of Maxin 10sity and Projection Mapping Artist
Shannan Calcutt – Multi-award winning performer and instructor of comic acts
Pavel Kotov – Senior Casting Director at Cirque du Soleil
Boris Verkhovsky – Acrobatic and Human Performance Designer, Director-Expert of Human Performance at Cirque du Soleil
Rodney Hicks – Broadway actor and playwright (Come From Away, Scottsboro Boys, Rent)
Taaj Jaharah – Trainer and physical therapist for performers and athletes
Cha Ramos – Multi-disciplinary performing artist, intimacy and violence choreographer (Company, Jagged Little Pill)
Lorenzo Pisoni – Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning actor, Broadway movement co-ordinator, and circus performer (Circus Kid, Beetlejuice, Frozen)
Bret Shuford – (Broadway, TV and film actor, and life coach (Wicked, Paramour, The Little Mermaid)
Niki Winterson – Theatrical Agent for film, theatre and TV in the UK
Sammy Lopez – Broadway Producer, Director, and Social Media Manager
Chris Boneau – Theatrical publicist, communications strategist, media training consultant, and professor
Scott Givens – Producer of large events, president of FiveCurrents
Joyce Arbucias – Creative Producer at The Imagination House, global leader in content creation for theme parks and cruise ships (Disney, Carnival, Princess, Busch Gardens, Dubai Parks)
Christian Bjerrum – Actor, co-director of Bæredygtig Scenekunst NU, leader of sustainability in performing arts in Denmark
Molly Braverman – Stage Manager and Director of Broadway Green Alliance (Wicked)
Richard Hester – Production Supervisor for Jersey Boys around the world
Peter Maccoy – Stage Manager, Company Manager and Educator, Senior Lecturer in Stage Management at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in the UK
Lisa Porter – Stage Manager, Educator and Author, head of the MFA in Stage Management in USCD
Susan Sampliner – Company Manager on Broadway, co-chair Broadway Green Alliance (Wicked, Chicago)
Kim Shaw – Company Manager on Broadway (Fiddler on the Roof, A Bronx Tale, Amelie)
EPIC also provides an expo of companies sharing their products & services for the theatre and entertainment industry such as: Clear-Com (global provider of audio communication solutions), Creative Connors (state-of-the-art scenic automation company), ETC (international leader in lighting technology), Vectorworks (global leader in design technologies, software, & CAD), and more to be announced.
TheatreArtLife and The Broadway Stage Management Symposium have brought together an epic team of curators to develop the 50 sessions of EPIC. including: Wendee Lee Curtis (Broadway & National Tour performer, television, anchor, spokesperson, & host), Sophie Duncan (Award winning choreographer, dance, and pole artist incl. work with Cirque du Soliel, Franco Dragone, The Old Vic, and MGM Ent.), Matthew Jessner (Artistic director & performer in theatre and corporate events including work with Cirque du Soleil, Disney, and Franco Dragone), Cody Renard Richard (advocate, educator, producer, and stage manager for Broadway, Television, Cirque, and Opera), Krista Monson (Writer, creative director, and stage director for circus, concerts, theatre, special events, and social action, as well as award winning choreographer and tap dancer), and more to be announced.
EPIC is presented by the founders of TheatreArtLife (TAL) & The Broadway Stage Management Symposium (BSMS). TAL is a global media website, providing insightful articles and webinars for every aspect of the entertainment and arts industry. Contributors and readers come from every corner of the globe. TAL hosts job notices, live and recorded webinars, the TheatreArtLife Podcast, articles from a global contributor pool and professional development opportunities. BSMS brings together Broadway’s stage managers and their colleagues to share their experience and expertise with stage managers of all levels from around the world. During the shut down BSMS hosted 49 educational webinars for the global stage management community, while producing the 2020 and 2021 conference in a very successful and highly regarded online platform.
Tickets are available now with different package options that allow access to the conference for an incredible one-time experience, as well as access to the replay of all 50 sessions.
For more information and to register, head to www.GlobalEpicEvent.com
Get your tickets from eventbrite
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Michelle is a musician and composer from the UK. She has performed across the UK and Europe and is passionate about arts education and opportunities for women and girls.
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