March 18, 2024

Institutional Leadership and Culture | Pamela Tatge

What does it mean to be a leader in the arts? Have you ever dreamt of heading an international platform which boasts both historical and current prestige? As far as dance goes dance, very few are like The Jacob's Pillow. Established on a treasured 220-acre national landmark, it is one of the oldest running dance festivals and home to the USA's most influential dance icons, including the man who started it all, Ted Shawn.

In 2016, Pamela Tatge was announced as the new Director of The Pillow after serving as the Director of the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University, overseeing robust programming and acclaimed artistic initiatives for dance, music, theatre and the visual arts, including the Breaking Ground Dance Series. Pamela was named one of “The Most Influential People in Dance Today” by Dance Magazine in 2017 and is the recipient of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ 2010 William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence and Sustained Achievement in Programming.

Continuing a brand new season and month of Dance Management, this episode tells a story of leadership, helming the 2 in 1 director role and how to establish a working culture at a renowned cultural heritage center. Ready to discover the manager within you? Join us as we foreground dance in the background!

Soundtracks:

Birds - Tyler Twombly
Poison Ivy Yard Work - Uncle Milk
Gypsy Swing - Serge Quadrado
Retro Hip Hop - Nver Avetyan

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Chapters

02:13 - Introduction

10:48 - Importance of Establishing Shared Values

18:58 - Importance of Rattling Around in Other People’s Universes (Liz Lerman)

32:12 - Me. Here. Now. (Jerry Zinser)

Pamela Tatge

Executive/Artistic Director

Pamela Tatge is the Executive & Artistic Director of Jacob’s Pillow, an international dance Festival, professional School, and Archives located in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. Tatge is responsible for setting the artistic vision and strategic goals for all aspects of the organization, including Festival programming, education, preservation, audience engagement, residency programming and artist support, long-term planning, collaborative programming, fundraising, marketing, and more.

In June 2017, Tatge spearheaded the creation of Vision ‘22, a strategic approach to the Pillow’s development through 2022. As a blueprint for enabling Jacob’s Pillow to become a year-round center for dance research and development, the initiative highlights three areas of focus: creating the Pillow Lab, an incubator of new work; enhancing the Pillow’s civic leadership and community engagement; and renewing campus facilities.

For nearly 17 years, Tatge served as the Director of the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, overseeing robust programming and acclaimed artistic initiatives for dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts, including the Breaking Ground Dance Series. Initiatives that were launched and developed during her tenure include the Creative Campus Initiative, integrating arts into non – arts areas of the curriculum; the Green Street Center for Teaching and Learning; Feet to the Fire, examining environmental sustainability through an arts lens; and the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance, the first-ever Masters … Read More