On March 9, advertising and marketing firm Situation presented TXB Remixed: The Producer’s Cut, an event convening Broadway and theater industry insiders to reflect on this current inflection point in the business. The format was very specific: Situation chose to screen eight videos of past TEDx Talks from previous editions of TEDxBroadway, which Damian Bazadona co-founded in 2011. Then, one designated speaker responded to each previous talk, in an effort to reflect on topics that remain core to the industry and to track how these areas have evolved. (Watch the replay here.) One such pairing was a TEDxBroadway Talk by Katie Sweeney in 2006 with a response from Deeksha Gaur, executive director of TDF.
Gaur prefaced: “In 2006, TDF member Katie Sweeney spoke at TEDxBroadway about TDF’s autism-friendly performances and the profound impact of this program on her son, Dusty, who has autism, and their family. Her talk, on the importance of making space for everyone at the theater, was touching, humorous in parts and, most important, a powerful call to action to an industry that had not traditionally made space for all its fans and passionate advocates. A decade later, with much good news to report about our industry’s growth in this area, the call to action remains more urgent than ever, not just for audiences, but for producers too. What comes next are my own remarks from TXB Remixed.”
