consulting & facilitation
"Jay brings an
unrelenting optimism
to the table"
Jay is a nationally sought-after consultant and facilitator. He has been a freelance consultant since 2013, and has served as a social cohesion program advisor with the
DeVos Institute of Arts Management and as a facilitator with Penumbra Center For
Racial Healing's renowned Equity Training program. His work includes:
- Program advising and program design consultation for arts organizations
- Curriculum design consultation for arts education organizations & schools
- New play development and workshopping
- Casting support for film, television, and theater
- Cultural consulting for film and television, theaters, and arts organizations
Cultural consulting takes many forms.
Jay's process as a cultural consultant is tailored to each project, and can involve:
- Dramaturgy
- Sensitivity reading a script or screenplay
- Hosting a workshop or training for an ensemble or organization
- Assisting with season planning ("is this show appropriate for us to do?")
- Supporting directors in rehearsals ("I need another perspective here!")
- Equipping an ensemble of actors with tools for self-advocacy
- Supporting an organization in repair after rupture
- Providing referrals and following up with additional and resources
- Helping an organization revise, clarify, and live their values
Jay's perspective is informed by his lived experience as a White, queer, Jewish, transgender man. Some specialized areas of cultural consultation include, but are not limited to:
- Transgender equity and advocacy, and transgender representation on stage
- Contextualizing and staging queer or queer-coded narratives
- American Jewish identity and the history of antisemitism in entertainment
- Lasting and profound impacts of the AIDS crisis on artists and the arts
- Trauma-informed anti-racism training (with Penumbra Theatre)
Jay's consulting clients include:
ABC Television/Grey's Anatomy (Los Angeles, CA)
Artistry Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
Children's Theater Company (Minneapolis, MN)
Duluth Playhouse (Duluth, MN)
Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
La Jolla Playhouse (La Jolla, California)
Mixed Blood Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
New York University (New York, NY)
Sandy Spring Museum (Sandy Spring, MD)
She Rock She Rock (Minneapolis, MN)
SPOKE/MW Productions (Boston, MA)
Theater Latté Da (Minneapolis, MN)
The Playwrights' Center (Minneapolis, MN)
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)
Upstream Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
and many, many more.
To book Jay as a consultant, or to inquire about his rates, send him a note.