Letter From the Executive Director
by Joshua Heim — Executive Director, Western Arts Alliance
These are trying times.
We have seen swaths of Los Angeles consumed by fire, our budgets and paychecks have been ravaged by inflation, and our nation’s arts and cultural institutions are under attack. This is just the past three months. But what gives me strength during trying times is this question:
What do we do about it?
When I hear this question, I know I am in a room with a bias toward action, which sounds much like a WAA room. For generations, our story has been that groups of people come together to overcome common challenges and do things they could not otherwise do by themselves. Today is no different. WAA rooms – from the board room to the conference room – are asking this question:
What do we do?
I don’t know. No one does because we have not been here before. The idea that the second largest city in the country could burn for three weeks seems as improbable as a coup. And yet here we are. What I do know is there are answers to be found within the community.
Beginning today, we present to you Trying Times, a collection of resources that have helped our community navigate The Pandemic, The Great Recession, A Racial Reckoning, and more. Over the next five months, we will release past conference sessions, performances, articles, and other resources that offer important lessons for the present.
We start with a conversation held in 2021 about Planning and Managing for Uncertainty. Karen Elizondo moderates a panel with Tara Bailey, Jackie “Miss Funk” Lopez, and Stephen Cummings about creative problem solving and resilience in the face of mayhem.
Another gem to revisit is the 2022 panel discussion moderated by Antonio Gomez about Working in a Polarized Community. Theresa Martinez, Iquail Shaheed, Camille Barigar, and Antonio “Tony” Gomez explore the social dynamics that tear communities apart and knit us back together.
Trying Times also includes contemporary ideas, such as an essay by Michael Alexander appropriately titled, Our Response in Trying Times, who reminds us about the power of programming. His essay was recently published in the Winter 2025 edition of the IDEA Newsletter by California Presenters who kindly gave us permission to share it with you. Thank you, CP.
If I take anything from Michael’s essay, it is to focus on what you can control. For many of our members, it’s a stage. To underscore the point that there is power in presenting, Trying Times also includes showcases of artists from the Performing Arts Discovery program. This month we offer Dance To Power, a showcase hosted by Christopher Morgan featuring the work of Extra Ancestral, Robert Moses’ KIN, Nejla Yatkin, Versa-Style Street Dance Company, ANIKAYA, and Kinetic Light. Each artist thoughtfully uses race, class, and gender to explore connection and voice.
There are pros and cons to everything, and having a bias toward action is no different. Impetuous behavior can lead to false starts or weak strategies. We’re seeing in real time the reckless effects of acting without fully considering the consequences. Which is why our first action is to publish Trying Times.
This isn’t the first time we have faced fierce storms. Each time the wind blows, WAA has come together to talk it out, find solutions, and try. In our trying, we have built up collective intelligence–our own WAA-AI so to speak. Now is the time to ask your questions. You’ll be surprised.
We know more than you think.
Trying Times will be the first collection of content in Western Ways, a new online, members-only publication—and a digital reboot of WAA’s former print publication of the same name. If you're interested in exploring this collection and gaining access to future releases, consider becoming a WAA Member.