Conversations with the Inspiring Rachel Scandling

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Scandling.

Rachel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in Juneau, Alaska: a small, land- and a water-locked community rich in local arts and culture (as much as a town of 30,000 can be). I danced through my childhood and knew I wanted sunshine in adulthood: “I’m going to college in California” I told my mom when I was 14, to be more specific. And I did. I studied dance and public relations at Chapman University and moved to Los Angeles a few years after graduating. While I lived in Orange County following school, my first full-time job was with Segerstrom Center for the Arts, in fundraising. I knew I wanted to be an arts administrator and – surprise! – entry-level Development positions are the most accessible (read: non-profits always need folks to fundraise).

Once I made the move to LA, now ten years ago (!), I worked at The Music Center (Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County). I had the blessing to be a part of a team of six who opened Grand Park, the 12-acre gorgeous public space in DTLA. I was producing the largest events in downtown the City had seen in years. (Grand Park + The Music Center’s N.Y.E.L.A. and Downtown Bookfest were particular points of pride!) Simultaneously, though, I wanted to continue working closely with artists making and developing contemporary performance work (boundary-pushing, discipline-crossing, question-centering). I produced with Yuval Sharon and The Industry opera company for five years, and also began to help produce the Los Angeles Exchange [LAX] Festival.

Along the way, I continued to teach vinyasa yoga, a practice I picked up after I stopped dancing. The longest relationship I’ve had in LA has been with Yogala Studios in Echo Park. I’ve taught an evening class there since its opening, seven years ago. Since then, I’ve adopted a terrible little terrier, gotten married, and moved from DTLA to Highland Park. In the transition of getting married, I returned to grad school, this time somewhere with winter, at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. I graduated with an M.A. in Performance Curation in spring 2018 and subsequently left my work as Cultural Arts Manager for the City of Redondo Beach to pursue independent producing and the building of a small non-profit arts organization, Los Angeles Performance Practice.

At Wesleyan, I wrote my thesis about feminist practices in contemporary performance. This is to say, I’m a feminist and interested in work and practices that use feminism as a structure or guiding principle. (There are many feminisms, however, I only believe in and participate in feminism that centers intersectionality.)

I believe feminism has the capacity to dismantle structures (such as white heteronormativity & hegemonic systems) built to accommodate only select people. I believe in the centering of peripheries and the de-centering of “normal.” And, I believe that performance practices (the sharing of stories through time & space, more generally put) offer an avenue for the sharing and understanding of these beliefs.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It certainly hasn’t been easy. I often go weeks/months without seeing my friends and family, and I feel like I’m always working (but don’t we all feel this way?). With that said, I am a lucky woman, in that, I have parents, friends, a partner, and a community who believe in and support what I do. I am conscious of that care and do not take for granted the ways in which I am positioned to be able to pursue my career in the arts.

I was able to pay off my student loans through family support. It is important to call attention to this. So many many students and graduates are unable to do so and student debt is a binding, heavy weight of financial stress, and can ultimately be immobilizing. The greatest challenge in my career was to take the so-called “leap of faith” and leave my institutional full-time, salaried position to pursue independent producing and curation. I was only able to do so once my loans were paid off. To young women that are dealing with debt, I see you. I encourage you to ask for a raise and remember that you’re worth it. Remind yourself of how valuable your contribution and your time is to your company/employer/organization.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am an independent producer and work with various artists and LA arts organizations. I am currently the Managing Director of Los Angeles Performance Practice, a small non-profit organization devoted to the production and presentation of contemporary performance by artists whose work advances and challenges multi-disciplinary artistic practices. The mission is to support a unique and diverse constellation of artists and audiences through the active creation and presentation of groundbreaking experiences that use innovative approaches to collaboration, technology, and social engagement. Anchored in Los Angeles, our artists and projects have national and global reach.

It is our goal to, across a range of platforms and partnerships, build an active network of contemporary practitioners—curators and producers, artists and designers, audiences and patrons—all leveraged in service to the ideas and issues of our time.

Our annual contemporary performance festival supporting both emerging and seasoned LA-based artists, Los Angeles Exchange [LAX] Festival, recently celebrated its sixth year. In 2018, we worked with 27 artists throughout our programs and platforms and shared performance with nearly 4,000 audience members.

I believe deeply that performance, whether it be theater, dance, opera, multidisciplinary, immersive, site-specific or one-on-one storytelling, has the capacity and responsibility to be a force for mutual understanding in an increasingly insular world. We connect more when we share stories and experiences.

Do you have a lesson or advice you’d like to share with young women just starting out?
I was recently at a conference, which held a panel discussion with leading women administrators at performing arts institutions across the country. I was fortunate to be in the room as we developed action items and tools to support each other in the field. One (of many) takeaways was the concept of “making it visible.”

I guess I can formalize that here: Make It Visible.

If you are the only woman at the table (literal or figurative), point it out.
If you are the only woman of color at the table, point it out.
If you are the only white woman at the table, point out there are no women of color.
If you are one of many white women at the table and there are no or few women of color, point it out.
Be accountable.

And, an old favorite women should all practice:
Stop apologizing. Trade “sorry” for “thank you.”

It feels good, I promise.

Contact Info:

• Website: performancepractice.la
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @lapersonnerachel or @la_performancepractice
• Facebook: @losangelesperformancepractice

Image Credit:
Image of City Hall at Grand Park by Javier Guillen, Gema Galiana

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