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July 31st: Community Engagement Artists and Creatives Grant, December 31st: New England Presenter Travel Fund, December 31st: Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Scholarship, December 31st: 24 Seven Dance Convention, December 31st: National Theater Project Presenter Travel Grant, December 31st: Breck Creek Artist-in-Residence Program

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DDP Talks To

"The Devil Ties My Tongue" by Amy Seiwert performed for the SKETCH Series, 2013. Photo by David DeSilva. Courtesy of Amy Seiwert's Imagery

Examining other art forms with historic issues in hiring women: theater, symphonic/classical music, opera. Also including more contemporary fields: lack of women in country music, hip hop, contemporary pop music, and other genres.

Phoenix New Times: More Than a Dozen Women Accuse Art Maven Bill Tonnesen of Sexual Misconduct

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By Hannah Critchfield

6 September 2019

It’s hard to drive through the Valley without seeing a building or sculpture that’s been touched by the hands of Bill Tonnesen. As a landscape architect, designer, and artist, Tonnesen has been a visible presence in the metro Phoenix creative scene for two decades. He’s well known for his eclectic plans and projects, some of which, like a Phoenix memorial to the Jewish Holocaust, never moved from concept to reality, while others flourished, like the Lavatory, a provocative, “toilet-themed” immersive art museum that opened in November 2018 and often attracts younger people who post photos of the experience on social media. He’s been written about in the New York Times, Arizona Republic, and Phoenix Business Journal. People who have met Tonnesen describe him as wickedly intelligent, odd, and imposing. (In a self-published book, Tonnesen: Twelve Months to Fame and Fortune in the Art World, Tonnesen once said he resolved to be the world’s “third most famous artist” within a year.) Control is important to Tonnesen, and he has a lot of it – both creatively, in the local art scene, and financially, owning properties throughout metro Phoenix.

For at least a decade, rumors of sexual harassment have followed the 66-year-old artist. People long have accused Tonnesen of using his position in the arts world to exploit the young, vulnerable women with whom he often surrounds himself. Last week, a Facebook post describing one such incident went viral in the Phoenix community, generating thousands of views and hundreds of shares and comments. The Lavatory has since temporarily closed, and Tonnesen’s own Instagram has been deleted.

Read the full article in The Phoenix New Times.

Charlotte Ballet/Todd Rosenberg Photography 2017

New York Times: Want to Feel Like a Russian Ballerina? Start With the Tutu

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By Bianca Ladipo

“We have some of the best costumes. Come, look,” Tatyana Mazur says as she guides me to the back closet of the small dance studio she runs with her husband, Roman Mazur, in the corner of an unassuming strip-mall in Buffalo Grove, Ill.

Inside, I am met with an explosion of velvet, tulle and satin. The dozens of dresses, tutus and elaborate headpieces stored here comprise a rare collection of Soviet-era dance costumes, still in use more than 40 years after they were made.

12 years ago, when I was 14, I wore one of these costumes. The bodices, bejeweled with hundreds of hand sewn sequins stood in stark contrast to the minimalist costumes of modern ballet productions. The faux gemstones may have seemed large and gaudy up close, but onstage they subtly caught the stage lights, illuminating dancers as they moved. Every decorative element was exaggerated to be visible from the last row of any theater.

Many of the pieces in Tatyana’s collection are delicate and noticeably weak from years of wear. Decades of sweat stains have discolored the fabric lining and the once vibrant satin has faded to pastel. The velvet pulls at the seams, worn-out and frayed. Columns of sizing hooks leave a record of differently shaped Russian, Ukrainian and now American dancers.

Read the full article in The New York Times.

Dallas Opera Rightfully Takes Action Following Allegations of Sexual Harassment by Domingo

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New York Times: Dallas Opera Cancels Gala Starring Plácido Domingo

By Michael Cooper

5 September 2019

The Dallas Opera canceled its big-ticket March 2020 gala concert with the opera star Plácido Domingo on Thursday amid new accusations that he had sexually harassed multiple women.

The Dallas company, where the Spanish-born Mr. Domingo made his United States debut in 1961 on his way to opera stardom, became the third major American institution to cut ties with him over the recent allegations, joining the Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera. Mr. Domingo is still scheduled to sing later this month at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; the Met has said it was awaiting the outcome of an investigation by the Los Angeles Opera into the allegations against Mr. Domingo, the company’s general director.

Dallas pulled the plug on its gala after The Associated Press, which reported the first round of mostly anonymous allegations against Mr. Domingo last month, published a new report Thursday in which a singer named Angela Turner Wilson went on the record and accused Mr. Domingo of reaching into her robe and grabbing her bare breast during a makeup call when they were appearing together in Massenet’s “Le Cid” at the Washington Opera in 1999.

Read the full article in The New York Times.

NPR Illinois: IL Department Of Labor Prepares For ‘No Salary History’ Rollout

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The Illinois Department of Labor is gearing up to help business owners with the new ‘no salary history’ law, which takes effect Sept. 29. The measure prohibits employers from asking applicants what they made in a previous job. 

Under the measure, asking about salary history as a way to determine pay could result in a fine. 

Michael Kleinik, director of the Illinois Department of Labor, said he’s taking the necessary steps to educate employers and help them avoid those penalties. 

“Most companies would have to redo their application process. Probably most applications ask what the past salary is, so they have to get away from that.”

In case of a violation, the Illinois Department of Labor would investigate.​ 

Kleinik said there is additional information on their website. A hotline is available at 312-793-6797 to help answer questions. Kleinek said he’s also working on preparing workshops and other outreach events across the state. 

Listen to the story here.

Forbes: On Women’s Equality Day, How To Fight The Gender Pay Gap

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By Liz Frazier

Women’s Equality Day celebrates the passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. The progress we’ve made over the past century is clear; more women are running for office, we make up nearly half of the work force and are more likely than our male counterparts to attend college and earn professional degrees.

So how is it then, after almost 100 years of progress towards equality, are women still only making 81% of what men are making? Weekly earnings dating back to 1979 show a gender pay gap, when women earned 62% of what men earned. In 2018, women’s median earnings were 81% of men’s. While the gap has narrowed, progress has virtually stalled for the past 13 years, hovering around 80-83% .  (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).

To find a solution to this problem, we first need to understand the root. The pay gap has been attributed to multiple factors, such as: women are more likely to leave the workforce to care for their families or having to do with education. A study conducted by The Ascent, a division of The Motley Fool, took a deeper look into some of these commonly given reasons for the gender pay disparity.

Read the full article on Forbes.com.

Women’s Media Center: Legislators introduce The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

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By Aviva Stahl

23 May 2019

A bipartisan group of legislators reintroduced The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) last Tuesday, with the aim of closing the gap between existing protections for pregnant workers and discrimination that still persists against them. The bill was first introduced in 2012 by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) but failed when opponents claimed that it would create an undue burden for companies. Now, the legislators hope for a different outcome.

“No woman should be forced out of a job or denied employment opportunities simply because she is pregnant,” said Representative Lucy McBath (D-GA), one of the sponsors of the bill.

If passed, the PWFA would close existing gaps in workplace protections for pregnant employees by obligating employers to make minor changes to support them – for example permitting someone an extra bathroom break during a shift, or a chair to sit on. Modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act, the PWFA states that providing  reasonable accommodation is the affirmative duty of an employer unless doing so would pose an undue hardship to his or her business. In addition, the legislation prohibits employers from discriminating against people on the basis of their need for reasonable accommodations related to childbirth or pregnancy.

At the moment, only 25 American states have accommodations laws in place to protect pregnant women, which means that individuals in 50 percent of this country can only rely on federal statutes to guard against workplace discrimination. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), passed in 1974, provides some safeguards, as did a 2015 Supreme Court decision that outlined when and how the PDA should protect accommodations.

Read the full article on Women’s Media Center’s news page.

The Times Herald: Esther Cepeda: The crippling legacy of gender stereotypes

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28 August 2019

As a lifelong lover of the ballet — and as a child of immigrant parents who could not afford to start me in classes when I was little — there was no question that my own kids would be enrolled in dance training as soon as they hit preschool.

When my son was 4, the movie “Billy Elliot” had already come out, telling the story of an English coal miner’s son who, at age 11, battles masculine disapproval to study ballet. The heartwarming film hardened my spine against skeptical family members who wondered why I enrolled my firstborn in level-one tap and ballet classes.

When, predictably, he was the only boy in his class, no amount of assuring him that many big, strong men were proud to call themselves ballet dancers would assuage his shame. Especially when all the mommies fawned over his teeny black slippers.

He cried at his recital and, when it was over, I let him quit. That was that for his dance-related college scholarship.

Read the full article in The Times Herald.

Los Angeles Times: Column: How John Proctor and #MeToo helped cure my ‘work in progress’ theater phobia

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By Mary McNamara

15 August 2019

Some people get anxious when they fly, I get tense when I go to a play. Particularly if the space is small and intimate and there is no intermission.

I fret about tech disasters and dropped lines, bad casting and flawed sets as if I were the playwright’s mother or some make-or-break investor. Mostly, I worry that it will be terrible and that I will be trapped. Theater is an active, communal experience; what if I, as an audience member, can’t hold up my end because despite what the reviewers said, I just really hate this play? It’s not like I can hit the remote or get up and leave. I can’t even slump in my seat and commune in horrified hilarity with my friends. The people who are making it are right there.

And that’s for a play that’s finished. Watch a work in progress? Honey, there’s not enough Xanax in the world.

Then my older daughter became a summer intern at the 22nd Ojai Playwrights Conference’s New Works Festival and so I went to the final production. By the time it ended, with a denunciation of John Proctor, a celebration of Lorde and 200 people on their feet cheering, crying and dancing their way onto the stage, my theater anxiety had vanished; I was cured.

Read the full article in The Los Angeles Times.

The Times: Witch hunts and hysteria: Helen Pickett’s The Crucible is a ballet for our times

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By Allan Radcliffe

2 August 2019

It is a warm, sticky summer day in Glasgow in 2019, but the occupants of the rehearsal room of Scottish Ballet’s headquarters at the Tramway have travelled back in time to Salem, Massachusetts, in the spring of 1692. The company — with the choreographer Helen Pickett at the helm — is fine-tuning an early sequence in its new ballet of Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. A group of young women are dancing in a forest at night, weaving among each other with staccato abandon.

Read the full article in The Times.

Philanthropy Women: Funders, Please Step Up On Crisis in Women’s Media

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By Ariel Dougherty

1 August 2019

The failure of the feminist movement to tackle changes in public media policy may be one of the most significant shortcomings of my generation. Take these few facts as proof. According to a report from the Global Media Monitoring Project by Margaret Gallagher entitled Who Makes the News?, the percentage of women in newsmaking roles stagnated at 23% from 2005 to 2015. And the output from media that focuses on women? Even more dismal. According to the report, “Across all media, women were the central focus of just 10% of news stories – exactly the same figure as
in 2000.” And just a few more statistics to get your hair standing on end: women only directed 8% of the top 250 grossing films in 2018, and women-directed films reach just 2.75% of screens in the U.S.

Challenging the image of women was a founding goal of the National Organization for Women in 1966. A year later, more radical women raised addressing media stereotyping of women as one of four demands made at the National Conference for New Politics. I am learning about all of this and will be telling the longer story of the evolution of feminist media in an upcoming book. Alarmingly, though, in just the past month of my research, two major feminist media outlets have announced either closure all together and/or dire drops in their funding and major layoffs. In this time – when Roe v Wade is threatened, immigrant children in camps are sexually abused, and women of color leaders are asked “to go back to where they came from” – it is deeply disturbing that the strongest and most experienced feminist voices in media might be curbed.

Read the full article on Philanthropy Women.