Project& : PAN

Jane M. Saks is Founding President/Artistic Director, Project&, an arts entity focused on cultural production with social impact. She is an artist, writer, educator, cultural alchemist, arts advocate, creative collaborator, and producer. Her work challenges and champions issues of gender, sexuality, human rights, race and power within the worlds of arts and culture, politics and civil rights, academia and philanthropy.

Project& partners with artists and thinkers to create new models of cultural participation & experiences with social impact. We focus our work on collaborations with individual artists, communities, organizations to create groundbreaking and original, multidisciplinary productions. The duration of the initiatives is dictated by their nature, need and vision. We create broad, inventive and unconventional models of cultural participation that work to: reinforce agency, creative voice and common humanity, support risk-taking and innovative artistic excellence, and create conditions for uncharted chain reactions exploring essential social and societal experiences and issues. 

PAN is a transformative global opera creation experience, piloted in New York and Chicago and looking to expand to South Africa, Brazil and Palestine. 

PAN engages the communities of participants -- adults living with disabilities in Queens, child refugees from Syria, and queer-youth musicians in Chicago.  It translates their beautiful and raw experiences into a creative piece, bringing people together across the physical, artistic, psychological, social and geographic borders that most often divide. In the end, the participants and audiences are all connected in a co-creative process and community. This supports personal and collective empowerment and equitable participation.

I conceptualize my work as an ecology: each element is necessary, irreplaceable, and different. To only enlist some of the elements available would leave our whole system weak – our creative gestures incomplete. Like malnourishment, we might not detect it immediately, but over time, our capacity is diminished. PAN provides this sustenance.

If there is a clear message at this moment, it is that new models of equitable participation and engagement building are essential and necessary to push beyond our current painful calcification. The moment we are living in calls upon us to think and act deeply about who we are together and who we are as individual human beings.

PAN is a new model of international participatory culture that crosses borders through the communal creative process. It is a risky attempt at addressing this desperate need for the imagining of a new future. Art is often most dangerous and risky -- because it does not imitate, simulate or recreate experiences, but is the actual experience. It participates in creating the shifts that occur. 

Art is dangerous, in the best ways -- because it is often ahead of the curve, it gets there first, before governments, before business, before advocacy – it often gets there before we do.  It’s a catalyst sometimes expressing the aspirations of change, sometimes the human carnage and despair, and sometimes the quiet solitude of the human spirit. Art articulates what does not exist – what can only be imagined: freedom of expression, of movement, another way.

PAN is a collaborative musical written for virtuoso flute soloist (Claire Chase, MacArthur “genius” Fellow) and chorus by Marcos Balter (Brazilian composer, Guggenheim Fellow) and Levi Lorenzo (music designer). 

The chorus is written for community collaborators that yield complex musical results and yet remain fully accessible to non-musicians. Instruments performed by ensemble members include wine glasses, pieces of wood, and other sonic sources that require no previous training, but group workshops, rehearsals and conversation in order to be performed and embodied. Each staging changes the music and adds local creativity, instruments and content that travel to the next location, forever changing the work. 

The result is an opera-like telling of the story of the Greek demigod Pan, exploring issues of creation, destruction, gender, community, and how we create a future from a painful past. It is staged for in-person audiences and built to be presented virtually to audiences everywhere.

The moment and series of moments when a community connects across boundaries they previously assumed were fixed and hardened, when they create something bigger, more beautiful and more technically brilliant than they ever thought possible alone: that moment is transformative. That is the experience of the participants and audiences of PAN.

In the immediate sense, PAN’s production is rooted in its value to the participants and the communities they are part of. The creative community collaborators, artists and participants are able to engage in music and performance-making at a level of communal excellence. They bring the personalized, geography, experienced based performance to their city, neighborhood, country, region, home. For all the creative collaborators we experience ourselves reflected in a musical performance, the rhythms, beats and instruments and the range of cultural contributions alter the work as it travels across borders of distant and overlapping communities. 

In the first productions of PAN, participants ranged from 7-year-old twin Syrian refugees to an older man known as a poker shark in NYC, and a Jamaican-born nurse. All of these communities have shaped the version of PAN that is ready to travel the world and experiences its incarnations again and again. 

The proposed first international staging of PAN in South Africa is based on deep conversations with partners on the ground, and a recognition that the issues of creation and destruction and building from a violent and painful past that so resonated in Chicago and New York are also relevant to communities in South Africa.

Our proven theory is to create new models with an impact that changes the way we feel and think about ourselves and our possibilities. PAN is centered on the belief that when we engage in ambitious creative endeavors that are larger than ourselves and at the same time emanate from the core of each individual’s imagination and desires we can envision the vastness, audacity of what we can do together.  PAN crosses all demographics, identities, geographies, languages of sound, voice, experiences and beliefs with the charge of inclusive, difficult, risky, equitable creative work. Together and on our own terms. 

PAN came from a long collaboration between myself and Claire Chase, the award-winning flautist. We asked ourselves: how do you make community collaborated theater that is as socially conscious as the material it addresses? How do we raise our ambitions of artistic excellence and risk along with others in partnership? We were all drawn to opera because of its history as an inherently public and political art form.  

From there we commissioned a piece of music from incredible Marcos Balter that was geared specifically for non-musicians and built to be altered by the players themselves. The piece uses the language of music and physical expression so it can be adopted by communities all over the world. 

Our first experiment with the piece was launched at the Kitchen in New York City to rave reviews, the New York Times said it was an act of “collective virtuosity”. We then brought it to Chicago for a piece geared specifically for young people from communities experiencing high levels of violence and disinvestment. PAN was always meant to be global and now, after research trips to identify partners in South Africa, Brazil and Palestine, we are ready to bring PAN to the world.

I have come to believe that art can be the first respondent-- a song sung to a restless soul, however, after a natural disaster, invasion, tragedy or genocide -- you would not call in “ART” to provide food and water, blood and sand bags. But….It’s the second respondent.…..it provides sustenance, reminds us of our humanity, our capacity to challenge and question, to provoke and instigate, to heal and start trouble, to teach, to celebrate, push against – to feel human, to hear our own voices, to hear the voices of others, maybe, for the first time. It helps us investigate and embrace our interdependencies and our solitudes. That’s why I’ve made this my life’s work.

The content of any society, process, or discussion is shaped, shifted and affected by who actually participates, not merely who is represented. Content is form. And form is content. Project& places participation at the center of our mission, process and practice along with artistic excellence. PAN is created with the recognition that music is a core way to be heard, express oneself, be seen and to participate.

I have been doing this work for over 25 years and since Project&’s inception in 2014, we have, in addition to productions of PAN, created, co-created and produced:

• “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South”, an original theatrical adaptation of oral history Project& developed and traveled the production across the country to Los Angeles, Durham N.C., Washington DC, Chicago, Princeton N.J., Brown University and Northwestern University. 

• “Just Yell/Poetry as Self Defense” with award-winning artist Cheryl Pope -- a youth-engaged performance highlighting the power of art to address violence, its aftermath and juvenile justice, which was presented at the White House as well as other local arenas

• “Truth Booth” with award-winning artist Hank Willis Thomas: a multi-media, global conversation catalyzed through recorded confessions from individuals around the world inspiring dialogues about truth across time and borders

• “Working in America” (WIA) with Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist/Project& Fellow Lynsey Addario: inspired by Studs Terkel, an intimate, honest exploration of the psychological and economic realities of work that shape everyday life. WIA’s three component include: a photographic exhibit, NPR radio series and online living archive. The initiative was inaugurated at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago for a 10-month extended stay welcoming 150,000+ visitors

• “This is Reading” with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage: a trans-media, social sculpture engaged by residents of Reading, PA, labeled “America’s Poorest city,” 

I believe this track record shows my ability to co-create and lead the multi-national engaged initiative of PAN.

The night of the opening performance of PAN on Chicago’s West Side was the day of the tragic and intense Laquan MacDonald murder trial decision. Everyone thought the police would get off, as usual, and the entire city would be in flames. The whole city closed down in anticipation.

I called the gentleman in charge of the public park building where the performance was located and said, “If you’re open, I’m open”. Surprised, he agreed. I felt that it might be the place people would need to go and gather to connect no matter what the outcome. The Police, partners, funders called me to cancel. I told them I felt it imperative for us to perform. We needed to be safe and we needed to be together creating and supporting each other. 

That night the performance was an amazing outpouring of grief, anger, expression. The Mayor of Chicago attended in the midst of deserved controversy and blame, civic leaders, institutional heads and members of communities most affected by police violence, many of our collaborators from the various neighborhoods brought everyone in their house to join. The energy in the building was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

In the early 2000’s I began creating work that even more directly addressed issues of identity and agency. This included issues of race, gender, gender identity and orientation. I wanted to impact structures and systems by shifting the accepted canon -- adding works to it that could not be ignored.

I received hundreds of hate letters, funders refusing to support initiatives because of the weight of the subjects and perspectives, asking for changes. They felt the work inappropriate, political, or with an agenda. 

It was often a long road of creative inspiration and daily conversation and criticism. And then the artists/works started to receive awards: Guggenheims, MacArthur Fellowships, Obies, Pulitzers. I, too, was recognized with awards for supporting the bold belief in the authentic, unadulterated voice: UN Human Rights Awards, LGBTQ Hall of Fame Induction, Chicago Foundation for Women Impact Award, to name a few. I don't need them for me to do my work. For me they serve as a constant echo I hear as I move ahead to the next challenge or issue pushing the social curve. It whispers, keep leading as you have no idea what fertile ground you may be turning, watering, testing.

Project&’s work resides in the dynamic, innovative and essential intersections of art, social equity, participation and cultural impact. While each new work might embody a different medium, be it theatre, visual and photographic exhibitions or musical performances, at the core of each initiative is participation. Through this engagement, Project& elevates diverse voices, bodies and narratives and collaborates with populations that do not always feel heard, seen or acknowledged.

Because every project undertaken by Project& serves as a new model of cultural production, everything we do is innovative and original. This core innovation of PAN is the creation of a community musical initiative  that is excellent and innovative within its own field, participatory at its core, and co-created by participants who usually have limited access to these kinds of cultural experiences. The result is unlike any kind of collaborative musical-theater in existence. PAN is also co-created between and among  communities, growing and changing as it travels from city to city. By focusing on aspects of our society and communities experiencing the same destructive and violent forces depicted in the story, the commonalities and differences between participants on opposite sides of the globe are laid bare.

Activities: Building on existing deep and necessary partnerships with community organisations and artists in Johannesburg, Constitutional Hill, Democracy Museum for the first global performance of PAN. Rehearsing for at least a month to create a unique performance community, including mentorship and training from past participants from New York and Chicago. The development of unique instruments and sound-making materials for the performance. Sourcing a local voice artist and poet to contribute to the piece as we have in New York and Chicago. Performing PAN as a week series of free and open gatherings on the top of Constitutional Hill. Replicating this process in years to come in Brazil and Palestine. Documenting the process excellently for the development of the curriculum and create a film based PAN element. 

Outputs: Starting with South Africa, over some time a series of performances of PAN on Constitutional Hill (South Africa), Brazil and Ramallah (Palestine). The development of an easily understandable curriculum that explains the model of PAN and allows it to be replicated by multiple communities and artists. 

Short Term Outcomes: The strengthening of confidence and connection within participant communities. The inspiration of, and empowerment of community audiences who witness their stories and sounds represented on a professional stage. Deepened connections between communities in Palestine, Brazil, South Africa and the United States. A broadened sense of what musical-community-building is and can be. An engaged and high standard of community-collaborative performance of non-professional musicians can achieve experimental and excellent work. 

Long Term Outcomes: The expansion of equitable participation in society, globally. The empowerment of multiple communities through the replication of the model. An expansion of arts education and participation, especially with underinvested and often invisible communities. A broadening sense of the possible collaborations and connections across seemingly hardened boundaries of nationality, language and identity.

Our work focuses on impact on an individual and discrete scale as well as on a large public, far-reaching and expansive scale. We define depth as a scale worthy of value -- knowing that the personal impact is as important at times for real human change and social change. Our Working in America initiative has had 250,000 engagements to date for the exhibit, over 400,000 downloads of our Podcast in partnership with  National Public Radio. PAN has engaged over 100 individuals in the creation and performance as well as over 600 audience participants to date. “This is Reading '' engaged over 500 people and was noted as one of the 50 most impactful cultural initiatives of the year by Politico. We also count the impact on the artists and their practice in our numbers as cultural leaders and voices of far-reaching discourse and social movement.  

Our numbers change depending on the nature, vision, strategy and goal of each initiative. Just Yell engaged an open public audience of over 20,000 in the city’s Center for Cultural Affairs, while the White House initiative engaged a curated group of 125 people ranging from public administrators, WH Staff, Dept of Justice leaders, and more. We expect PAN to serve hundreds of thousands in one year, largely because of virtually streamed performances. And the replication of the PAN model by artists worldwide could lead to an unlimited number of affected community members in five years.

Much of our work has become a national model for meaning making in times of community crisis, a way to reinvigorate a sense of place and identity when outside force threatens to fracture pre-existing social structures and norms.  In this way, I believe that our work is a kind of cultural production that can literally save lives, support other lives and make life even more valuable for us all.

We amplify artistic voices that risk, engage, investigate and inspire, highlighting issues at the forefront of our time. New models of cultural participation. We see the UN, the State Department, NGO’s, individuals, Governments, artists, institutions and movements using and replicating these models to address whatever we face, putting human dignity at the center of all crises and resolutions. We see these models built on human scale with opportunities to scale in-depth – deeper and deeper -- not merely in size or breadth.

Part of my work is to actually try to shift what is considered the mainstream canon.   By adding to the historical record and forever changing who is counted, and valued in society. Who participates, has agency and who shows up. If we add to that canon and shift it, it is never the same. It leads us to many questions: "who isn’t here, who should be, what’s missing, how could it be different – how could I be different in relationship to others, what isn’t being asked, who isn’t asking, and what method or strategy is not being used.” 

We are creating each engagement, every time to be authentic, timely, reflective and reflecting. It is an equitable ecology with no end-user -- impacting everyone participating and shifting the mainstream-canon forever by adding to it. This work offers countless opportunities for successful discoveries and endless barriers as well -- financial, legal, cultural and marketing barriers. In PAN, we have successfully created a model for the music that is easy to travel with the impeccable work of Levi Lorenzo. 

Because we have seen the beauty and difficulties of PAN’s collaborative process, we know that each production will have a deep, transformative impact on communities involved in co-creation. And the connection between each community is purposeful as training and materials travel with the production. But the location is significant for the global project, specifically for the promotion of visibility in communities that are traditionally overlooked. That means that we need the community partnerships and the physical innovations to allow productions in non-traditional places like a conflict zone or in South Africa. We also are limited by the quality and distribution of our materials modeling how to replicate this project. Replication is key to our impact model and so the quality of that curriculum is key.

The barriers to PAN’s success are: funding, location-specific challenges, reporting/creation of an excellent modeling curriculum. I describe a few elements of those challenges below:

Location -- PAN is a performance about creation and destruction, about betrayal and immortality. It is a production that creates deep community across traditional barriers and so it is important to stage global production in a city like Ramallah. But Ramallah is also in an active conflict zone, with limited infrastructure for this scale of production and varying degrees of free and open travel between locations. The political climate there both richly informs the work and will make the work difficult to stage and create without innovative approaches that work around location-specific challenges. This will likely include various virtual methods of collaboration. 

Curriculum -- the value of a model lies not only in the way it inspires audiences, but in how easily it is explained. Every element of PAN from the composition of the fundamental musical piece to the process of collaboration must be explained in an accessible way so that young practitioners and composers can create their own versions. Thankfully, we have a number of experienced instructors in the collaboration team. And so we are looking forward to the space and time to really figure out how to make a public global opera an accessible and understandable process for people everywhere.

We are uniquely positioned to address far-reaching issues like equitable participation and social justice as well as creating impact because central to our practice is bridge-building across fields, agendas, expertise, experiences, mediums, communities, structures, forms and artistic practices. We see no unnatural partners. Current and past partnerships include Filipino Domestic Workers Association from the north side of Chicago, Pulitzer Prize-winning artists and writers, post- incarcerated youth, the Obama White House, unemployed workers in Reading, PA, cultural institutions and  transgender youth groups, Disabilites Rights Organizations, Gender Equity Organizations, Racial Justice Organizations, Labor Organizations, cultural institutions, anit-violence initiatives, civil rights entities, Universities and schools, Public Libraries and Park Districts. For our geographic specific work we partner with artists, organizations, entities and individuals throughout the entire aspect of the work -- commissioning poets, designers, on the ground teams members and institutional collaborators.

Our audience, collaborators and partners include those anticipating an association and experience as well as those who unexpectedly engage. 

In the first two productions of PAN we partnered with PAN’s Creative Team, including Chase, Saks, Balter, Lorenzo and Doug Fitch. We worked intensively with Brooklyn’s Evergreen Middle School for Urban Exploration, QueensLab,  Riseboro Youth and Elderly Center,  People’s Music School, New York City’s The Kitchen, Chicago West Side Community Music School, Mt. Tremper Arts Residence, St. Paul Conservatory, NY State Youth Post-Incarceration Project, The Poetry Foundation, Garfield Park Field House, The Women’s Building in Chelsea, New York, International Contemporary Ensemble, AllState Insurance and Harvard Music School. 

Project& is a non-profit entity that also owns some intellectual property rights of the works it produces. This means that, while the innovative projects rely on grants and donations to get off the ground, traditional investments follow. As the work is produced, it will start to generate revenue and projects that achieve traditional success are able to fund more innovative or unusual works in their nascent stages. At this time, we are working on a purely non-profit basis, but are building towards this hybrid model.

The expansive nature of the Elevate Prize makes it unique and uniquely suited to a project like PAN where traditional categories of work are combined and intertwined. The Prize is global in scope, but also focused on an individual’s vision for impact in the world. It understands the importance of the arts to human progress and connection, and encourages a mindful exploration of how projects can scale to elevate all of humanity -- this last point is a central focus of my work at Project&. Scale can be both deep and broad. PAN does both, creating deep and transformative work in a specific context and then linking that work on a broad scale. Finally, the project is built to be replicated, creating a limitless potential for impact. We would need financial support, legal, marketing/media/exposure support, and assistance building our network of stakeholders and collaborators and partners. 

Aside from financial and network support to be able to build more sustainable architecture for our work, one of the needs we face is marketing/media/exposure. We would also want to be of value to the ELEVATE Prize community in any way we could. Because PAN operates fundamentally as an innovative model of cultural production, we have to not only understand how to explain the process and the product to multiple populations and individuals, but we also need to break down each element of creation in a way that makes it replicable in deep and broad ways. This is a new kind of communication. Having professional marketers and potentially professional curriculum creators would help us make sure that PAN isn’t just a success in its own right, but stands as a new model that others can take and truly make their own.

In terms of the first iteration of PAN internationally, we would like to begin with South Africa 2021-2022. We would like to partner with Constitutional Hill and the new Democracy Museum as a central and poignant location having been the site of the notorious Old Fort Prison. We plan to perform in collaboration with creative partners throughout Johannesburg as mentioned. We know some possible partners and on the ground creative team members -- set design, costume, a poet who we will be in contact with and would welcome new suggestions.  We will also welcome contacts and connections to media, communications efforts that will assist in understanding the invitation to collaborate and also how to articulate PAN to the widest audience possible at every stage.