Jim Carrick-Birtwell: Welcome and introduction

This transcript is auto generated

 

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the wonderful thing about the virtual

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world

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is that you feel that you are both

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connected to the entire universe

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and all alone at the same time so i'm

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hoping

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that the smile or the brilliant smile

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that i see on your face

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means that you can hear me right now

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excellent

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um i i want to say first of all what a

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pleasure it is to be asked

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to uh to to speak to to this um august

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organization or this whole people that

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are here today

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um you know often often when people ask

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you ask me to speak the first question

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is always

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why um and and actually

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jim answered that by by kind of saying

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that

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he sees a link in

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creativity purpose meaning

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and culture you know and it applies

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to every aspect of society

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particularly right now on a morning like

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this morning where

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no matter where you are politically um

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one

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one either is i don't know keeping their

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fingers crossed

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or one is uh deeply mindful

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of of the tricks that that life can

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throw at

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us um you know creativity and

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imagination is

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is is everything we're in a moment in

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history i think where

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where we cannot rely on on any

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past orthodoxies every past orthodoxy is

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simply there

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as a reference point to help guide us

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through this portal

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on this the first day of lockdown

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and so i i speak about purpose meaning

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and culture

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and and the way that it relates to my my

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game um as a narrative creator as a

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curator of of of art

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and in theater

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it plays out a little like this that our

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job

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is to slightly attempt

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to ride the zeitgeist nobody really

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knows what the zeitgeist is

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no one could have predicted the exact

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date of me too

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or the arab spring or black lives matter

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but as a

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curator of a space for artists for

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talent

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we have to sit there and look deeply

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at the trends and then

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analyze what might what might

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catalyze deep reflection

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what might catalyze change what might

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just

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entertain in a way that would allow

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people to feel good about themselves

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and gets to tomorrow all of those

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responsibilities

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they fall upon us we narrative creators

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we

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curators of the artistic space

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but none is as important actually as our

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reliance

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on discovering new talent

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on nurturing new talent

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there is a underlying belief structure

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that just around the corner is the next

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big star and i don't mean star in terms

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of

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someone that we worship but i mean the

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star is in someone whose contribution

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to our world can serve

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more than just the review pages of of

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our newspapers

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that can actually provoke change

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but at least reflection i mean i

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i don't want to sound evangelical but

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for me theater is is

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the 21st century church i say that

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because we go in

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to that space and we wait for a word

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we wait for the word to be given to us

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so that we can think about that word and

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use

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that word in order to motivate us

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through the next week and

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we do it communally we we sit with

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others and we see how the frequency and

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the vibration and the

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energy of the message sent through the

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three-dimensional form of the human

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being

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how it lands on us and how it lands on

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our

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companions who we may not know but we

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have

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shared if the play works we have

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shared something together

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we have taken it in together

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and that of course is born out of the

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imagination

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of the artists who come together

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to help us commune and

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again again i'm using these big words

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commune

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i mean these big words is evangelical

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church of the 21st century

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but i believe profoundly right now it is

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incumbent upon us all

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to have faith hold on to the truths that

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we know

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but also be ready to change

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as soon as the argument lands in our

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spirit and soul

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that tells us this is the direction of

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travel

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the palace of the imagination i often

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say

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doesn't sit within a theater but it sits

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within the mind of those who choose to

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come into that space

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and partake with us

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um theater is a non-linear abstract art

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form

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if i say to you in a television or film

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hey i'm in paris

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you uh you you want to see the eiffel

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tower or something like that in the

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background

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in the black box in the magic of theater

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i simply have to say to you

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i'm in paris and your mind does the work

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for me that is the power

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of the imagination of the audience

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and so i use that to select

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the work that i think should go before

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our audiences i'm i'm really proud there

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was a moment just before lockdown

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and i say this not to self-aggrandize

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but to say

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why i think that everything we do

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is not just about ourselves or our

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individual sectors

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but actually is about society there was

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a moment

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when we had a play on broadway and we

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had a play in the west end death of a

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salesman

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and we had a pulitzer prize-winning play

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in our main house

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and we had a play playing prisons and

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homeless shelters touring southwark and

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lambert

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where we work and for me that was my

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proudest moment

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of being an artistic director because it

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meant that we were serving

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every demographic that we possibly could

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and as i speak to you today i'm really

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mindful

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that one might go what is the link

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between

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theater and hr well for me

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the link is we are serving we are

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looking at the potential

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of everyone and we are trying to explode

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that potential we are bringing new

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energies and new life forms almost

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into our organizations not just to

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revolutionize them because i don't fully

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believe in revolution

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i believe in sustained and accelerated

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evolution that way it doesn't keep

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turning on itself

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but it keeps growing my job as an

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artistic director is to keep

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bringing in that blood to keep us

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evolving while holding on to the wisdom

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and the successes of those who have had

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experience

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and can negotiate with our audiences

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probably in a more familiar way

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and it's the combination of the wisdom

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of those who have

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been in our game for a while and the

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energy

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and new vision of the young emerging

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people

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that i think creates a vibrant sector

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and so i would say that to you

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i would ask the question to you that i

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asked to myself

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every day which is how how are you

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negotiating

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tomorrow how are you bringing

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the right people to the table sometimes

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against all orthodoxies how are you

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bringing those people

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are you bringing those people into your

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organizations

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that can create sustained evolution

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and when you bring those people in how

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are you looking after them

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how are you caring for them how are you

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making it so that their voice

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their legitimate voice comes through

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without them feeling the bandwidth tax

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of being

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alone of being the new

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of being possibly from a community

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that may not have had access to this

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part of your organization

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before i say i am a

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i'm a hard-wired optimist who believes

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in the

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power of the human imagination to

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supersede nearly every circumstance

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i believe profoundly in the need for

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human beings to interact with each other

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to commune with each other and to

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improve each other

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through that interaction having a

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discussion like this today

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is about all of us having moments to

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introspect

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and then share our wisdoms with everyone

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else

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that might want to listen and so

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in the 53 seconds i have left as i see

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flashing up here

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i i want to i want to thank you for

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inviting me to just

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share these thoughts but most

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importantly

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i leave you with the challenge

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one of my favorite sayings i have two

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favorite saints

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history is like a foreign land they do

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things differently there

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our children will not know our

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dispensation they will not know the

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world that we

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inherited they will only know the world

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that we have given to them

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and we have to make sure that the world

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that we give to them is one

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that we can stare at ourselves in the

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mirror

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and say i did all i could do

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to serve my country to serve my

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community

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to serve my sector in the best way

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possible

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thank you

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can't hear you tim thank you kwame that

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was absolutely amazing um

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appreciate it and it wouldn't be an

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online conference if someone didn't

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start talking without

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unmuting themselves so i'm glad that

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we've nailed that one already from the

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bingo right

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but essentially i was saying while i was

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muted

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thank you so much for sharing that and i

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think

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in my head not only i've been

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transported to my motherland of jamaica

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uh in that foreign land my first

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question is actually for you

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in order to navigate those um

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orthodoxies that you talked about as a

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leader yourself

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i'm gonna throw the question back to you

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how have you negotiated that

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as one of the first black leaders

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of a theater company how have you done

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that yourself

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i i i think tim i i i i seldom ever

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think about myself in terms of

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um of firsts uh though i may have

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achieved a few of them

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i'm you know i think class ceilings are

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there to be broken and once you've

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broken them you don't you shouldn't look

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back

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at it um but but i i think it's lonely

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tim

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i mean i'm not gonna lie it's lovely and

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i think

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it is about building a team around you

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that constantly

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keep you on your toes but also um

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making sure that the loved ones around

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you

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um are buffeted enough to be able to

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come home and

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and accept you going i feel so lonely

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um and give you enough love to help you

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through

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um but but it's about the team it's

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about

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making sure that your team know what you

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want

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the direction that you're traveling in

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that sometimes your orthodoxy

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may be new to them and that you just

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have to keep on explaining and trying to

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be as communicative as possible

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about direction of travel and why it's

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important to you

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why you have the north star that you

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have

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and from a from a personal perspective

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you've already mentioned the love of

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what you do and injecting love

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into the work that you do what is your

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vision

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not just for the arts but i'd love you

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to touch on that given the tumultuous

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times that you've

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gone through and the vocal speeches

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you've got about how important the arts

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is

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but what is your hope for the change

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that we need to see within our

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corporate organizations as a fellow

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leader

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my my hope is that our kpis um in the

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next year and the next two years

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um absolutely underlined that we heard

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we listened and we acted that is my hope

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for this moment

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my hope is that um many people of color

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across the world

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right now are going through and going

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through actually a lot of

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extra pressure they can see that doors

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are opening

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and they're going but it's going to

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close it's on a hinge it's going to

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close any minute now

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i've got to get through i've got to do

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more work i've got to get and and i

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think

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actually what society can do is

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prove to people of color that we've

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heard this time

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we are going to find the way to make

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sure

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that in five years time history is like

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a foreign land we can't even remember

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we don't even know what how we got here

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but our offices

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that our structures are reflective of

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our countries and of where we want our

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country

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to go and where we want our companies to

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be

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as opposed to where they were let's not

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hark about yesterday

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let's concentrate on the brilliant new

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tomorrow

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that we will create so that our children

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don't have to have this discussion

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and in 20 seconds are you optimistic

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about that dawn becoming a reality

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i am i have to be otherwise i don't know

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what i'm doing i i have to be

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i i'm optimistic in the 15 seconds left

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that i will say

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because i have seen the brilliance from

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the communities that want to knock at

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the door and i've seen the generosity of

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in the communities of those who say i

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will now open the door i am

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absolutely optimistic now is the time to

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prove our children that we're brilliant

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kwame kromar thank you so very much

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i know that we'll be talking to you

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later in a forum where we've got a panel

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of conversation

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so many of the guests who would be

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feeling that this was such a short

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snippet

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to get an insight into your mind will be

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privileged to know that you'll be

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in one of the sessions later but for me

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and from the audience at future talents

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20

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thank you so much for for sharing your

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thoughts with us much appreciate

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and we should see you beautiful to be

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with you my brother beautiful to be with

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you thank you

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[Music]

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you