And I'll begin reading here in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 at verse 23, I'll read to verse 25, we'll get into our study. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 beginning at verse 23, Paul writes, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Verse 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Now, let's begin by laying a foundation here. We'll look at verse 23, how he says, I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. So that's how he begins here. He's actually about to bring a word of correction. And what he's doing is he's been moving into that as we saw last time because there are things that are going wrong in what has been called the agape feast that the church would at one time have. And so what was happening is they were beginning to dishonor the body of Christ and dishonor the Lord during that dinner. And so he had been asking why if you're going to dishonor the Lord and dishonor one another, are you having these agape feasts at all? You see, this meeting, this agape feast was actually to be what we would today call a somber meeting. But he's saying what you're doing is you're actually just gathering to eat and to drink. And that's why he had said, could you not eat and drink at home? In other words, why are you having an agape feast at all? You see, the well to do were eating before the poor were arriving. They were thinking only of themselves and they were also over drinking. They were getting drunk. They were forgetting about things like brotherly love and it incited division in the church. And so that's why Paul said, are you expecting me to praise you? He had said that in verse 17 when he says, in giving these instructions, I do not praise you. Then he was saying, what do you think I'm going to congratulate you for the things that you're doing? You think that I can approve your carnality? Don't you understand that the word agape in the Greek language speaks of love? The love feast that you're having is supposed to be a place where love is shown to one another. Don't you understand that your carnality has replaced the spirit of God? And what has happened is you are desecrating what has been called the communion service. And so what happened is their activities there at the agape feast, which would include a time of what we call communion, which we'll be looking at tonight. What had happened is the communion service lost its sacred meaning. And it became just a ritual, if you will. It was just something that was tacked on to that evening. It was just a religious ritual. Kind of like Christmas and Easter here in the United States for many has become. It's a religious ritual that has been emptied of its sacred meaning. So there are people who will celebrate Christmas who have no relationship with God. There's no love for Jesus Christ. They're not rejoicing at the birth of the Savior of the world. It's simply an opportunity to party. And the same is true for Easter, where families gather together. Sometimes they'll go to church together, but there's really no sacredness to it. Just Easter egg hunts and ham with the family has replaced the sacredness of remembrance of what Jesus Christ did. And so that is what happens when you allow carnality to enter in and interrupt the point of gathering together in the first place. And so he's dealing with that now. And he's saying, I need to share with you and remind you just exactly what communion is. Now he begins in verse 23 by saying, I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. When he says I received from the Lord, he's speaking of his apostolic authority. I've been given from the Lord the authority to communicate and to deliver to you God's revelations. I have received through the apostolic authority that I have teachings that I communicate to you so that you might know the things that are being said are not things that Paul would say that he had created. The gospel message wasn't something that he made up. That gospel message that he's proclaiming isn't something that came from his own mind. He's saying I received this from the Lord as one for God's authority to proclaim to God's message. And this came from the Lord that these are the things that I'm communicating to you. So I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. And so what he's going to speak about while he's speaking really concerning communion but he's looking at some of the things that are related to communion that find their origin in what is called Passover. He wants to communicate to them the things that God gave to him to communicate. They have asked questions of him concerning the various things including this and so he wants to answer that. What is communion? And so he's giving some practical instruction. Notice verse 24. It speaks concerning verse 23 rather in the same night that Jesus was betrayed he took bread. And so he's saying I want you to know that the historical setting for this and how communion came about was really at a Passover supper. And so I'm going to give you the historical setting and the circumstances of the origin of communion is what he's saying. We know that when we study the New Testament we look in the gospels and the gospels contain the story of Jesus's last night with his apostles prior to him being crucified. We know that Jesus celebrated the tradition of Passover and so he and his disciples were gathered together celebrating Passover. What's interesting and I want you to see this because it's something you might not notice. Notice how it says I received from the Lord that which I delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. There's a reason why he's saying on the same night in which he was betrayed and that is because Judas was present on that same night that he was betrayed because Judas was the betrayer and so at that original communion service as Jesus was about to institute the ordinance of communion there was a false believer present and that false believer's name was Judas. He's referred to in the gospels very often as the one who betrayed him and you find the same thing being said by Paul here. So when Judas is being spoken of he normally will be referred to as the betrayer. In this context he's saying the church gathers together and in the church gathering together in the original nucleus of the church celebrating that communion service amongst the real was the fake. Amongst the genuine was the Judas. So the inference for us even as we're studying this 2,000 years later is that whenever the church gathers together and in context when the church gathers together to have the communion service it is very distinctly possible that amongst the real there will be that one who's not, that one who answers more to a Judas than one who would answer more to the appellation disciple of Jesus Christ. That's the reason by the way whenever we have communion that's why before we celebrate it that's why you'll hear me say this is a service for believers in Jesus Christ. This is not a service for those who've never committed their hearts to Jesus because what I'm really referring to is the fact that Judas was there amongst the real but he himself was not real and sometimes when people take communion even in circumstances like when we have them here there are people taken of the bread and taken of the juice they're doing it lightly because it doesn't mean anything to them and I'm actually asking them and warning them not to do that and you'll see why in just a moment but he's pointing out that Judas was there that night and the night that he was betrayed. Judas is a type of the false believer present at a love feast. As I mentioned he appeared like a follower of Jesus Christ but in fact he's a betrayer and he's saying you are actually acting like Judas because his works were evil and he disregarded Jesus Christ and when you have partying and drinking and carrying on like that you're acting more like Judas than any believer and so he's beginning to share about that and now he speaks concerning it in verse 24 it says when he had given thanks he broke it and said take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me. Now the bread that he's referring to is what is called unleavened bread. It's unleavened or it's without yeast or leaven because leaven in Scripture very often is used as a type of sin and so the unleavened bread is symbolic of the fact that the true bread from heaven Jesus Christ is without sin and so he's speaking concerning this bread that was broken and Jesus took that bread and he broke that bread and he said in verse 23 he said, rather he said this bread is to represent my body, this is my body this is my body verse 24 which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me. That bread that we have when we come in half communion together represents the body of Jesus Christ. In John chapter 6 verse 51 Jesus said I am the living bread that came down from heaven if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever this bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world and so when we gather together to take of communion the bread doesn't become the body of Christ that is unfortunately an error that crept into the church where some would believe that the bread actually becomes the actual body of Christ. Jesus was not teaching that. Jesus is instituting what we call a memorial feast do this in remembrance of me. He is not saying that when you hold that bread and you speak certain words over it that it becomes, well the term is in the Catholic church transubstantiated it changes from the bread and becomes the actual body of Christ, the actual presence of Christ that's not what Jesus was teaching. Jesus was teaching what we call a memorial service do this in remembrance of me and understand what the bread symbolizes what the bread symbolizes is the body of Christ Jesus who is without sin and because he is the true bread from heaven what we do in our partaking of it is by faith we've received the true bread Jesus Christ and been saved so when we take the bread in communion and partake of it in a physical sense what it is would be almost like a point of contact it's one of those acts that gives to us the ability to have a sense of communion with the Lord in a very personal way so when you get that bread when it's handed to you it's not changing into the actual body of Christ but it represents the broken body of Jesus when you look at the bread it's unleavened because leaven represents sin yet Jesus had no sin when you look at it closely the bread that we use has marks in it from the oven if you will and that reminds us by his stripes we are healed when you look at the bread that we serve here it also has holes in it because he was pierced for us and so there's a symbolism involved in communion where we're understanding that Jesus Christ the true bread from heaven has given his life for us and so that we by faith have taken of him and we have become born again and receive our life from Christ so when we take the bread and we partake of it we're simply remembering what he's done that's why he said do this in remembrance of me we're remembering what he did on our behalf and we don't take it lightly because we take into consideration all that he went through how he lived a perfect and sinless life how that he suffered was beaten and died how that he was buried but was resurrected and so when you do these things in remembrance of him it's not just the activity that he went through for us but the meaning of that activity that has a very special ring to our own souls when a Jewish person would consider the word remembrance there were times very often that the word remembrance meant more than simply recollecting some past experience that you have remembering some things by just drawing from your memory some certain facts about something oh yeah I remember my first day of school or I remember when I got my license or I remember my first date and that's not what it's talking about in this context to remember is more than just remembering certain facts it is also calling to your heart the experience and emotions that you had at that time there are certain things in other words that if I say you know where were you on a certain date you might say oh I was in a certain place but there are other things that I might say to you do you remember when you and perhaps something that would be of a great personal memory do you remember what it was like when you had your first child or your wedding day or you know something that was significant and if you stopped for a moment you might begin to think yeah I remember not only remember that but I also feel the emotions of that very often when I'm teaching here in our church and you'll see me stop for a moment and I'll have an emotional moment it's because I'm doing something called remembering I'm actually not just drawing up the memory but I'm revisiting the emotion and as I revisit the emotion that emotion comes out of me as I'm sharing with you that's basically what he's saying don't do this in remembrance of me what are you saying don't ever let it get stale don't let it become a ritual don't let it become something you just do don't do it that way when you take communion remember remember what I said remember what I did remember your fellowship with me remember all that you saw and what you experienced remember and that's what the Lord would call us to do we prepare our hearts before we have communion that's why we don't just grab a piece of bread and grab some juice and just eat it we actually prepare our hearts that's why we have worship as the bread and the juices being handed out because we're preparing our hearts to meet the Lord in a special way and communion is intended to do that when he speaks about this his body that was broken it would refer to his crucifixion the beatings that he endured it includes the stripes that he received it's remembering that his body was broken beaten he was ultimately killed Isaiah 53, 4 and 5 says it like this surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows yet we considered him stricken by God smitten by him and afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed in 1 Peter 2, 24 the apostle said he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness by his wounds you have been healed this is my body which is broken for you I became flesh for you I suffered and I died for you and I did all of this for you in 1 Peter 3, 18 it says Christ died for sins once for all the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to God and so he speaks concerning the bread he also goes on in verse 25 to say in the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me or as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes this cup this cup is the new covenant the new covenant he says in my blood now to understand this when he refers to the cup we have to consider Passover and let me read to you some things that I brought out I stole from other people that will help you the Passover supper the Passover supper is a celebration of deliverance from Egyptian bondage in the Passover meal well it begins with the pronouncing of a blessing over the first cup of red wine and then passing it to the others who are present there are four cups of wine that are passed around during the meal the four cups represent various promises that God gave to Israel you might want to mark this Exodus chapter 6 verses 6 through 8 says this therefore say to the Israelites I am the Lord I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians I will free you from being slaves to them and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment I will take you as my own people and I will be your God then you will know that I am the Lord your God who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob I will give it to you as a possession I am the Lord and so these four cups represent four promises and they're drunk at strategic moments of the meal the Passover meal called the Seder begins with a blessing that is recited over the first four cups Blessed art thou, Lord our God King of the universe who has created the fruit of the vine and that's what Jesus himself blessed in the first cup as is recorded in Luke 22, 17 and 18 after the first cup was drunk bitter herbs dipped in fruit sauce were eaten and a message was given on the meaning of Passover then the first part of a hymn was sung the halal was comprised of Psalm 113 to 118 the first part sung usually was either Psalm 113 or Psalm 114 after the second cup was passed the host would break and pass around the unleavened bread then the meal proper which consisted of a roasted sacrificial lamb would be eaten the second cup is to remind them of the ten plagues and the suffering of the Egyptians when they hardened their heart to the Lord in order not to rejoice over the suffering of our enemies they spill a drop of wine which is a symbol of joy as they recite each of the ten plagues thus remembering that the joy is diminished at the suffering of others the third cup is the cup of redemption and it is had after prayer and then it's passed and the rest of the halal is sung the third cup is taken after the meal it's called the cup of redemption which reminds them of the shed blood of the innocent lamb which brought Israel's redemption from Egypt in this we see that Jesus took the third cup in Luke 22 verse 20 and it's mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11-25 in the same way after supper he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me this was not just any cup it is the cup of redemption from slavery into freedom that's the cup that's spoken of that's the cup that Jesus blessed then you have the fourth cup which celebrated the coming kingdom that was drunk immediately before leaving the fourth cup is called the cup of praise and believers see in the beautiful high priestly prayer of John 17 that Jesus took time to praise and thank the Lord at the end of the Passover Seder his last supper the spotless Passover lamb had praise on his lips as he went to his death now Matthew recorded the events of that night while they were celebrating Passover it says in Matthew 26 verses 26-28 as they were eating Jesus took bread blessed it break it and gave it to the disciples and said take, eat, this is my body and he took the cup, gave thanks, gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins for the release from bondage or imprisonment so this new covenant is the covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ the covenant of redemption so when we gather together and we eat the bread in our communion service we are considering the broken body of Jesus the body that was given for us when we drink of the cup it is the cup of redemption symbolizing his blood that was poured out on our behalf we have not been saved by any good works our sins have been forgiven because he poured out his blood for us and covered our sins with his blood in 1 Peter 1 18 and 19 it says for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot and so Ephesians 1 7 reminds us that Jesus' blood has been poured out for us for the remission of our sins he shed his blood and we have been purchased by it so when we gather together and have communion it is a holy time every time the church gathers it should be regarded as a holy time as a matter of fact if we began to think of our relationships with our brothers and sisters as always being a holy convocation you probably would have more edifying conversations find better things to do together if you realize, if we as a church realize that when the body of Christ gathers together it's not always in a building like this on a church grounds but it's when brothers and sisters go out for coffee at Starbucks or when we go to some meal somewhere and when there's brothers and sisters together if we understood that we're really together celebrating our relationship that we have together because of Jesus Christ it would change a lot of our relationships for the better, it really would we would begin to understand that we were bought with price we would understand that Jesus poured out His blood for us we'd actually become more edifying we'd treat people better even when the waitress comes up and all we'd be kinder to her we'd be nicer, we'd actually leave a tip and things like that Marie, my wife used to be a waitress she used to work at Bob's Big Boy and before she was saved she was a college student and she worked at Bob's and when she got saved we were dating and she began to speak to me and she shared with me something she said, you know I used to work at Bob's Big Boy and there was a church that was close by she says I really didn't like to work the lunch crowd on a Sunday morning why is that? she says because the church people would come in and never leave a tip they always left tracks she said I just didn't appreciate that because I can't pay my bills with a Bible track I can't put a gallon of gas in my car with a Bible track and yet so many times the church is not you, I'm not speaking to you I'm just speaking of the church in general but so many times believers I've seen this to be true believers can be some of the most stingy people on the face of the earth it's true this is in here can you raise your hands if I have any please don't worry about it I'm not going to make you look bad there we have some I'm telling the truth aren't I they're cheap aren't they they're nodding but they don't want to they think you're going to kill them it's true we need to do good to our brothers and sisters who wait our tables we need to have a generous spirit we need to understand these things listen if the Lord has worked in our lives this is what he's supposed to do communion is a remembrance of the things that Christ has done he died on a cross for us he poured out his blood for us and these people are gathering together and instead of understanding the cup of redemption and the blessing that Christ gave they began to eat and to overeat and they started to eat early so when the poor who had really little or nothing showed up partaking in any meal a meal that would have been the best meal that they'd have had that week but the people who had were keeping from those who didn't and they were doing it in an unfair way and it was dishonoring their brothers and sisters but they were drinking and over drinking at church services and getting drunk and that's why Paul said am I supposed to praise you I don't praise you because when you get together you're not better than yours don't you understand he's saying to the Corinthians don't you understand the significance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ don't you understand that when you gather together and dishonor the poor amongst you that you're forgetting what Jesus Christ did how that he came to save how that he came to lay down his life because he loved us to pour out his blood so that we might be saved don't you understand that that is the essence that is called his new covenant a covenant that was actually established by the blood of Jesus Christ and so he's saying when you gather together you need to remember what Jesus said he said do this in remembrance of me recapture in your mind not only the event but the emotions the reality and the significance of such an act he says in verse 26 for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes whenever we eat communion partake of communion we remember his death we remember what he did and we look forward to the promise that he would return for us now notice verse 27 therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord examine self and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened by the Lord therefore my brethren when you come together to eat wait for one another but if anyone is hungry let him eat at home unless you come together for judgment and the rest I will set in order when I come these are interesting scriptures what is he talking about in verse 27 whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner what is the meaning of the body and blood of the Lord what are you talking about I don't know let's look at verse 28 no what is he talking about guilty of dishonoring speaks of be guilty of dishonoring the entire meaning of communion you are missing the entire point what you are doing by partaking of it in this fashion is you are dishonoring the entire meaning of Jesus's life and Jesus's grace when you gather together and eat in such a fashion you are forgetting the whole purpose it is interesting when you look at Hebrews 10.29 the writer said how much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the son of God under foot who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him and who has insulted the spirit of grace you are dishonoring the entire meaning of communion you are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord because you are dishonoring what Jesus Christ did for you and in taking it in such a fashion may very well be demonstrating that you don't even know its purpose its meaning and more than likely have not partaken of it in a personal way that's why he says in verse 28 let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup that's why when we have worship before communion that's what we ought to be doing as we are waiting for the bread to be handed to us and the juice to be given to us we ought to be preparing our heart to meet the Lord we ought to be saying Lord thank you for your forgiveness I receive and I confess to you my need and that's what I do that's what I do up here as we are worshiping as I am confessing and saying God cleanse me, God work in me make of this with a sense of the somberness that it's requiring here he says in verse 29 for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep for if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged that's a very powerful portion of scripture there are teachings that are just related to that that are very deep and it's difficult for me to really grasp the depth of those teachings I can give you a couple of thoughts as it relates to this though when he says you're bringing judgment to yourself not discerning the Lord's body there's one application that is very practical and that would be that it's not that you're looking at the bread itself and seeing the actual body of Jesus but you're not discerning the activity of the spirit of the Lord in the body of Christ amongst you right now as we're gathered here in other words if you're born again believer you're part of the body of Christ so if I take communion in an unworthy fashion in essence I'm actually disregarding you I'm disregarding the fact that you are part of the body of Christ and therefore I'm dishonoring you in my unworthy participation of communion because I'm not regarding the work that God has done to cleanse our sins to make us one in Christ and therefore I don't value the church itself there's another application and that would be that not realizing the work of Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross and disregarding that or looking at it as being without value will put me in a position where God chastises me and God can deal with me there is a sin 1st John 5 tells us that leads not into death I do not say that you should pray for it John speaks of sins that actually can lead to God's chastening where he might even remove an erring brother or sister from the body of Christ in a merciful way through taking them home to be with him let's see if I can make sense of this because this is really something I wasn't planning on saying because I don't know if I can say it clearly Jesus Christ is the bread of life by faith I have partaken in him in him I am alive I've been made alive when I see the ministry of Jesus Christ I see him as one who does many things including the healing of my body when I do not regard him by faith and when I begin to reduce him from who he is and what he can do I can actually find myself being placed in a position where I don't call upon him to touch my body when it's in need of healing much of that is going to be built on my disregard for the actual presence and power of Christ when we gather together as the church there have been times in the past I haven't done this recently but I used to do this fairly often where I would say there may be some here in this room right now who have a physical need to be touched by God and I would say as we're about to take communion may I encourage you if you need prayer for a healing as we close our eyes right now raise your hand and I'd like to pray for you because Jesus is not physically present in the bread but he is spiritually present amongst his body and it's especially significant when we're celebrating communion and so what I would do at that time is I would say as we're thinking of what he has done and what he's doing and we look forward to what he will do in the future why don't we open ourselves up right now to what he wants to do in our lives and you may right now have a need for God to touch you and we would do that during communion and people would open their hearts because we were regarding what Christ could do in our life but when you don't think of what Jesus can do when all that is is a meal and it just becomes some bread and some juice then you're really not going to be asking God for anything because you don't expect him to move and so there's a whole lot more going on at this agape feast that Paul is upset about than what meets the eye he's saying you are disregarding all that Jesus did you're not thinking about his broken body for you you're not realizing that you're part of the body of Christ and by his stripes you have been made whole so you're not asking God to touch your body in the event that he might desire to heal you because it's become just a meal it's just a ritual and it's devoid of his presence and because he's concerned about that he's saying you need to understand that and that means not that you're asleep you're in church services else I'd have that every time but he's saying some of you have died some of you have died some amongst you have died because you have not taken advantage of God's promises to meet your needs if you but ask and so the result has been in the reducing of who Jesus Christ is in your midst you're missing the blessings that God wants to bring upon you because your carnality quenches the Holy Spirit and so it's symbolized by the way they're treating communion you don't remember you're not thinking of what Jesus has done and therefore you're dishonoring Christ and dishonoring the body and this he's saying is a great great sin it has to be corrected he says in verse 32 when we are judged we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned to avoid God's chastisement you need to discern the purpose of communion you need to discern the Lord's body and you need to take his chastening properly so that you might repent and return to him therefore my brethren when you come together to eat wait for one another but if anyone is hungry let him eat at home unless you come together for judgment the rest I will set in order come down to one thing guys and we'll close with this simple thought always comes down to one thing love one another show regard for one another God help us to do that God help us to do that I had somebody I'll close with this and then we'll pray I had somebody say to me something and I can say it on Sunday night because you can see that I don't give invitations often on Sunday nights but I can say it now because in the event that in the future I give one you'll be aware of this if you return after tonight and that is they said you know when you give an invitation on Sunday morning and even Wednesday nights and people come forward they were telling me and their follow-up ministers were speaking to me they said when the people come forward and you pray with them and then we're about to close people start leaving when the new believers are walking up the aisle and they begin to walk with the new believers this happens all the time and what happens is the new believers who who've been asked to follow this guy so he can spend a few moments with them and help them to understand gets confused and they said we have seen people who've come forward following these other people out the door because the people who got up for whatever reason and it may be a good reason hopefully it is who got up and walked out and joined these people and we're walking with them actually are leading them out the door and not back to where the follow-up minister can care for them and they said could you please make mention of this so that the church understands that what they're doing is actually disrupting the flow of the spirit and do you understand what I just said and that's really what happens guys it really does and so he asked me that weeks ago and you can hear if you've been in church I haven't mentioned it except for tonight because it came to mind because that's what happens when we close our services guys like tonight when we close our services and we stand and we say let's have one more song please remember that that's your last you're kissing the face of Christ in your worship that is not your time to get up and interrupt other people who are worshiping him so that you can get your children first or get in the car first hope that doesn't sound cruel but it's true because sometimes people just get up and think and I know that other fellowships I know that there are other churches that the last song is the dismissal song I understand that I do but for us it's our last worship song and for those who are new here perhaps and don't know that our last song is not the dismissal our last song is our opportunity together one last time is the body of Christ to sing our praise to Jesus Christ and it's not the time for people to get up and hurry out it is the time for us to one more time together to remember who we are and that means we're honoring Christ and we're loving one another does that make sense to you? that's what we're trying to do here I want you to know that because I really I really don't want you to think that I'm like getting on your case I can do that I have no problem doing that but I'm not doing that right now what I'm trying to do is explain for our visitors so that you might understand and maybe for some of you who've never heard me say this so that you might understand it's our chance to worship Jesus together as we are about to leave go into that world so when people get up and get saved it's not my chance to step in the line with them and hurry out so I can get to where I'm going that's disrupting what the Spirit wants to do and I know you don't want to do that and that's why I'm presenting it like this I know that you want to honor the Lord and you want to love one another because that's what it's all about isn't it to love God and to love one another and that's what Paul is speaking about you get together it's not for the better it's for the worse because you're forgetting the reason that you've gotten together it's to celebrate what Jesus Christ did when he poured out his blood and gave up his body and that's what makes you one in Christ so love one another and honor one another that's really in a nutshell what he's saying and that's what we should be doing too


Researchers are exploring the potential of pineapple leaf fibre, PALF, as a sustainable alternative to synthetic materials in textiles, and have developed non-wovens with improved thermal and sound insulation properties by blending PALF with low melting point polyester. This article was authored by G. Thiligabathai, N. Muthukumar, S. Neela Krishnanan and others.


Now, it gives me great pleasure to introduce Session 14 and I'm going to go ahead and tell you a little bit about Dr. Ayeshetu Musa-Maliki PhD. Ayeshetu is a lecturer in the Department of Nursing Science at Amadu Bello University in Kaduna, Nigeria. She holds a Bachelor of Nursing degree and is a registered nurse and midwife in Nigeria. She's very experienced and has doctoral studies from the University of Cape Town and has also developed a screening tool for intimate partner violence. She obtained her PhD nursing degree in 2019. She's been published in both local and international journals and has attended several local and international conferences. Her interests are in maternal and child health, disaster emergency preparedness, gender-based violence, clinical nursing and ethical issues in nursing. It gives me great pleasure to introduce Dr. Ayeshetu Musa-Maliki and I will hand you over the presenter. Thank you, Jane, for this introduction. Welcome, everyone, wherever you're watching from, to the Bachelor's in the Nationality of Midwives. The public is a routine screening for intimate partner violence at pregnancy women in the nursing area. Our staff from the background may select who is at the end of the time the reforming mission. In intimate partner learning, it will see a public act issued. It affects women's rights and because of basic knowledge the fundamental rights of women and it's the major cause of mortality, mobility and disability globally. And yes, this intimate partner violence can be prevented or mitigated when and where identified early. The students design a behavior that can cause physical or sexual or psychological harm including aggressive or corrective controlling behavior to an intimate partner either currently in relationship or partner. In the developed country, the prevalence of intimate partner violence among partner elements range 1% to 50%. And in Africa, the prevalence of sexual violence is 7% in Uganda and 50%. But prevalence in Africa may be issued right due to this type of method of data collision and type in. In Nigeria, here the study was conducted. The IS-17 in Nigeria, which is 9% and 2% in North Nigeria. They put North Nigeria where the study was conducted is where the blue screen being done and the system is not being done and not reporting of violence in each facility. They have to accept to be cared if it really represents what is happening in the North. But besides of intimate partner violence from pregnancy to children and girls, it affects the political and negative and unborn child. It can lead to conflict. It can also lead to sexual and physical disease. I am post-traumatic stress. It also leads to pre-term labor of the child in abortion or miscarriage. On the side, as the non-left has also. The effect on the child, the unborn child is that it can lead to low weight stress syndrome. It also leads to the initiating of breastfeeding for the newborn child as such, after the mental and physical development of the child. And pre-natal death also leads to pre-natal death. The of the right questions of symptom-free women, according to a procedure that is not very from the place of the police. They receive free access to all the L.I.S.I.D.s of IPVs. Also leads to management and reserve of the page of IPVs of the L.I.S.I.D.s. You can also revend future inheritance in intervention of the first place. It also leads to a reunion and sensitization of IPVs of the final two minutes. It also reviews the social stigma associated with IPVs. All final two minutes will be screened for any personal violence. So it doesn't mean that you go that comes on you later, partner violence or distance. But the social stigmaization will be reviewed. And studies have shown that it is cost-effective and not harmful to women. It's the position of L.I.S.I.D.s of IPVs to meet. L.I.S.I.D.s are in a unique position to keep L.I.S.I.D.s women. Because you are the L.I.S.I.D.s of IPVs, this is the L.I.S.I.D.s clinic. And due to this L.I.S.I.D.s, L.I.S.I.D.s and L.I.S.I.D.s to meet a health special relationship in which L.I.S.I.D.s can easily comply on the L.I.S.I.D.s. And also, there are organizations that are in those which are screening, and also which are screening for IPVs by midwife. So I have the American notice, a station, we have a metamorphosis of the station as an oncologist, and we have the American College of Human-Midwife. In developed countries such as the United States and United States of America, United States of Europe, Australia and India are accepted with their screening for the COVID-19 and COVID-19. And it's good to know that we think we need to be part of this country. In Nigeria, the study is being conducted, a journal and a college conducted a study, and they found that the accessibility rate of COVID-19 is the same. Although this means that it's not sure that it's not sure that the digital fact that it's the same in Nigeria is actually the same for partner value. So with the co-development of knowledge and the accessibility rate of the screening, among foreigners in Nigeria, this study and the respondents who are personally being escorted to screening before collecting data from them. In addition to the structure of the question given to the foreigners, there was an open end-to-end question through which the foreign language police were escorted to screening. The article of Pura, the article of Pura was obtained from the recite. The phone consent was obtained before the commencement of the college. Though research-based methodology and utilizing the midwives to gather information from the patients within their existing practice, they may have knowledge and expertise in their field and they know the finance domain, the attendee, and this also brings us between the process and the structure. The design of the study was a cross-sectional study and the reciting of the academic clinic of the statutory institute in Nigeria, for the state of Nigeria, the public, the study population is pregnant women. The institution of this criteria are pregnant women who have the screen for intimate partner violence with abuse, assessment, screening through the midwives in the intimate clinic. The pregnant women that were escorted from this studies, they doze through a 56-week pregnancy due to the seasonal age of the pregnancy and with the doctor, I think, to those more before others. So we will not be able to obtain the data from them and they will not be able to wait to fill the questionnaire. So we are then headed from the study. I'm pregnant women that may be sick or out of the state of Nigeria. I think that was a simple random sample. We have 50 papers in the board. We will work to one and some papers are left behind. We have the statement of the piece of paper. There will be even no question. We have to wait for the doctor to begin. The sample size was 19. The sample size was the same even in a ring. We have a confidence level of 5% and even 5%. So we derived that based on the sample size. The sample size was 150. We have the average of 20 and 30.9% in the intimate clinic. It's important to use the center of the questionnaire after being screened by the abuse assessment screening through the data collection suffered of 40th of January 2017. The abuse assessment screening through. And also the abuse assessment screening through who also translated to the local language, which is AUTA, and back translated back to English by two individuals from the Department of Nigeria and African culture in Bulgaria. On the comment of the screening, I was introduced to the phenomenon by the midwife during the health talk in the hospital. In Nigeria, we do our health talk in the hospital, which we don't have. The partner of the phenomenon, we are not allowing them to enter the clinic. They are they are just out of the hospital. Already the pregnant women are allowing them to enter the clinic. So this is also important. So I was introduced to them by the midwife. I will explain the research process. I will also speak for voluntary participation of the pregnant women to be screened. Then after after after the review of the screen, those women that volunteer interest, we are taking to you and giving you full permission to read and explain further and obtain consent. Also obtain consent from the pregnant women. We are taking to another private room where there is screened by the midwife themselves. The screened women for internet partner violence. This is the abuse assessment screening through. The after screening, the pregnant women will ask to see if the people separate from the girls to see if there will be given the questionnaire or not. And those that selected one will, given the question, those that could not speak English, they use their houses and abuse assessment screening through for them. And if the people aren't from the girls, they will also give in. So in fact, assistant also, also invited. So they are also working for the study and we work here for the study. These are assistants translate the questionnaire and explain the process to them and also write it for those that cannot speak, but could not write their response. When you're speaking out, she writes it in the questionnaire. But this was done for few because those that couldn't, couldn't write. And this process was prepared over two months. It was this one because we have to explain the screened women before we give them the questionnaire. So if they are not through, they're not given the questionnaire and use the type schedule of the midwife in the internet clinic. We don't want to drop your number of things. So we give them the allowance to the type schedule of the midwife. We allow them to screen for always two months, for almost two months. And when the screen was given the questionnaire, they are ready to collect the use of this assessment screened through and to collect the questionnaire. The question concerns social demonstrators and the question on the screen and an open question on reasons to explain their answers. The where I'm from where we have very reliable internet. So it can be problematic. Hello, this is Jane. I'm one of the facilitators helping out. Our other facilitator, Jimmy, is also with us and she was hoping to present as well. But she is also in Nigeria. So we're having a lot of connection problems. Thanks, Caroline. It's much appreciated. So if it's okay, I'll share too.  I think she's actually gone again. That's exactly right. There's Halima. Hi, Halima. Yeah, I'm going to meet myself now. Okay, that's great. I think we've lost Aisha again, Aisha too. So I'm going to go ahead and take the presenter. As we can see, it does appear that we need to do routine screening for intimate partner violence. And that would be wherever we are in the world. That would be so super important. And all pregnant women, irrespective of ethnicity, religion and background, really accepted this screening policy. Pregnant women do feel that routine screening for intimate partner violence will ensure safe life for both them and their unborn child. And I'm seeing, oh, good, you're back. Hooray! Let me unmute you. That's so awesome. I don't see that you've got, you don't have your microphone back yet. Can you speak Aisha too? Yeah, I know. You have a lot of sister midwives from Nigeria. We are very, very sympathetic. So I was just speaking. If you'd like to chat in the chat box, I can move your slides for you, because we do need to start concluding. That would be great. Is that Jumi? Yeah, I'm here. I'm just wondering if Aisha is back. Aisha too is back. She is back, but her sound, she has no microphone. So would you like to just read through? I will make you the presenter again. That would be fantastic. Let me just find you again, Jumi. Yeah, Aisha too is here, but her, she doesn't have a microphone. So I'm going to just make you the presenter. There you go. And I'm going to just... Okay. My honor. All right. So from the study, she has identified that the prevalence of IPV in pregnant women visiting a tertiary hospital in northern Nigeria is quite high. The prevalence of pregnant women were satisfied and accepted routine screening for IPV to be incorporated into the ANC routine. That means they were well disposed to it. And the form of IPV that the women talked about or know about is the physical IPV, intimate partner violence. However, the screening tool failed to pick the sexual violence that could be experienced by some of these pregnant women. That's a limitation. And of course, this calls for the assessment tool that was used to be quite cultural sensitive to pregnant women in Nigeria. And of course, we need to appeal to the cultural sentiments of this women trying to see what's next. Okay. She has some recommendations here that routine screening for IPV is not being practiced in Nigeria. And that is the truth. It's quite... If this is incorporated into ANC on a routine basis, it will be very fantastic. And so that's our recommendations because the women are quite disposed to it. And it's actually a matter of urgency. We need to look at components of our ANC, see how badly affected some of these women are already, especially because they are not quite receptive to routine IPV screening. And she recommended that the hospital management to ensure efficient implementation of the policies by midwife. Also, she recommended that there should be training because this is quite novel for us. We don't do routine screening for pregnant women. Maybe for some women when we can't see these but it's for pregnant clients who want to enter clients. So, she's recommended me to be that IPX but they can bring women and... I see that your speaker is back. Do you want to give her a chance to see? Oh, she was back. Oh, yeah, there she is. Okay, go. I was having some challenges here. You can tell me what you have to think about. Hey, what are you thinking about? I'm thinking about the the Okay. I was having some challenges there. Internet connection. Okay, for my recommendation. As a matter of engineering, since we have seen that the prevalence is high, and also the accessibility rate is also high, the policy rate is at a higher level, which should make policy possible. So, including training for intimate partner violence, and you've seen in SNESA within. Also, the management has ensured that this policy will be implemented by the midwife. And also this midwife, they are not trained for intimate partner violence. So, it should be a training for the midwife to be able to file a screening effectively. And resources should be available for this movement. Because if it's hardly one screen somebody, and when you don't have, you don't have a ticket to give the person, you don't have anything to give the person. What that is the person's strength for this. So there should be resources for this movement. And also there should be collaboration between organizations and law assessment agency and digital assistance. They find that this remains, they might want to take a test order to fix court order else to get the police involved. So, if the hospital and collaboration will be difficult, it would be easy to assess it. I don't think it would be difficult because of our condition as well. You may turn the slide. Thank you. Is that you finished your presentation now? I'm taking the presentation right away. I can turn my slide. You can flip my slide. Oh, right. Okay, I've got it. Oh, Jane, you're back. That's fine. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, some reason Halima has the thing. Let me just find her out here. Sorry. I'm just trying to find our speaker in the long list of presenters here. Halima, if you can hear, if you can give the presenter button. Oh, there's Ayushita. There we are. There we go. Thanks, Linda. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, what a beautiful presentation. Dr. Moussa Maliki, we are so honored to have you. I think it was actually great, Aisha, because we were able to really concentrate on your message from Nigeria and really a universal problem now for intimate partner violence. And as somebody said, not just for the women, but also we need to consider the men that are exposed to this as well. Are there any questions for Dr. Moussa Maliki? Everyone is saying very well done. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. And we will be presenting this also in our YouTube channels and everything else. I'm going to just take back the presenter. Oh, Ayushita, could you say again the prevalence of IPV in this study? That's a question from Jinja Midwife. Okay. Prevening for IPV in this study, the lifetime prevalence is at 2% of 90 respondents. Why death in in-depth pregnancy is the 4% of 29 women that came down with HIV. Is that explaining? Okay, IPV is an intimate partner violence. And if you could just clarify for Denise, could you just say again how you define intimate partner violence? Okay. It was physical violence, sexual pathology, and a pregnant woman, but as a spouse or partner in a relationship. Okay. Thank you. We got that. Thank you so much for the clarification, Denise. And we really appreciate it again. I'm going to go ahead and turn off the record button. Thank you.


Russia also left Crimea without water. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Olexii Danilov, speaking on United News TV, said that the recent explosion at the Karkovka hydroelectric power station carried out by the Russians has resulted in a loss of fresh water supply to Crimea. The Crimean Peninsula's water supply is fed by water from the Nipro River, which flows through the North Crimean Canal located in Nova Karkovka. Russia's action will make it impossible to supply water to Crimea in the near future, Danilov said. According to Danilov, water supply to Crimea will be impossible for the next three, five, ten years until this dam is rebuilt. In order to shed light on the potential risks associated with water supply to Crimea, Kyiv Post reached out to Mikhailov Khorov, Ukraine's former deputy minister of environmental protection and natural resources. Khorov said that the situation in Crimea would revert back to its state when Ukraine cut off water supply through the North Crimean Canal, following Russia's occupation of the peninsula in 2014, but it won't cause any drinking water shortages. According to calculations, Crimea has sufficient water resources to meet the population's drinking water needs, but using it is not easy at all.


I just want to say that I did say last night do not go to Chinatown and eat dumplings at 2 a.m. you'll regret it today so if you did that I'm sorry. So welcome this morning it was such an amazing day yesterday and thank you all for your deep engagement in this convening we are lucky this morning as Susan noted yesterday the really the the impetus for this whole program came out of a couple of really important pieces of work one of course was Todd London's outrageous fortune but the other that we'll hear a little bit about today was David Dower's Gates of Opportunity and so we are you know really here because of that work and so he has David has graciously offered to have a conversation with us this morning just to kind of harken back a little bit and talk about where we are now so I'm gonna hand you want Mike or do you yeah all right I'll do it that way and I'll sit here so he can see me this alright Travis can you hear yeah okay good morning this yeah this was it was something to hear you yesterday Susan remind me of the the work that we've all done and it's a lot of us and it didn't take much to say you can have the mic for 15 minutes I said yes right away even though the the schedule is it's early for everybody so we'll try to be lively I wanted I want to do a little bit of context and then I really need you all to to jump in the main thing that we want to talk about this morning less about for me it's less about the stuff that I that it gates of opportunity happy to talk about any of that if any of you participate in that I can't remember so we'll talk in detail but how many of you have read outrageous fortune yeah most of you good and how many of you participated in the data collection and outrageous fortune yeah so you remember what was happening when you were being surveyed and interviewed so I want to start this morning you know there are any number of ways to talk about the beginning it's interesting that we're here just a few days after Zelda past in so many ways there's a beginning there in Zelda's work and Margot's work prior but I think we if we start from 2002 really quickly some of you may have even been there in 2002 TCG hosted with the support of the Mellon Foundation and with the support of the Duke Foundation hosted convening in Portland called New Works New Ways and if you participate in that just a couple so let's start there really quickly and the goal of this morning is to lay out what you're you're actually in a continuum of work that's been going on since well before 2002 but but really where I came into it in a focused way was in 2002 so I know I can talk about that some of the rest you can bring in the earlier history but you're in a continuum and the really important thing for me to convey to you is that we are all delegates to this much larger question and Todd was on it without rages fortune how do we change the economics for playwrights in the American theater that question has yet to be answered and this is yet another step in the inquiry and Zelda Fitzhandler to just talk about her for one second one of the things that she said to many people including me at various points she when she decided to leave arena she'd been there for 40 years and she decided to leave arena to go take over the program at NYU tish and I asked her why how did she know that was the moment and why I had just left the Z space and wasn't certain that it was the right moment and Zelda's answer was that she wakes up every morning with a set of questions that are burning for answers and if the once the institutional context that she was in was no longer the most effective place to answer urgent questions it was time for her to move shift her context to where the urgency could be supported and so she went from producing theater to training the next generation of theater artists because that's where the urgency was for her and in a lot of ways the urgency hasn't changed it hasn't changed for the economics of playwrights it hasn't changed because there is a program it hasn't changed because you guys have grants it hasn't changed we're still in the urgency of those questions and this is the context in which we are pursuing those answers and so it's important for me that this morning what we talk about is what can each of us do what is needed what's the opportunity to move the inquiry forward when we first started this particular program which came after a lot of other work the foundation really set it out and Susan laid it out a little bit yesterday there was a panel of people that the foundation was asking to help nominate theaters that could move this inquiry forward in the first round and then it became an open application in the second round in the first round what the foundation was was asking was how do we how do we ship that needle how do we shift the economics for playwrights generally and who are the best advocates delegates to that question and it was a pilot program and what and the success and those of you who are repeating now congratulations to you and thank you to you because some part of the success comes is documented by the fact that there's so many of you who are now repeating in it that inquiry is active and making progress and you guys have moved the needle some yourselves and now there's a whole new group and a whole new set of communities and I'm so sorry that we don't have Alaska on the map we'll figure that out but there's a whole new set of communities that are at work on it in 2002 when Mellon and Duke and TCG gathered people around new works new ways the question there was how do we get out of the current model and the and the whole it's creating around new work and the people who make new work and what new ideas are there about how we could support the creation development and dissemination of new work in the theater in in this country and it was a contentious meeting it was a challenging meeting and one of the problems that we had at the outset in that meeting was that the frame was still the same frame even though the the conversation was looking for some the new works in the new ways the conversation moved between the producer and the playwright the producer and the playwright and to a certain extent there were some presenters in the room so it moved between producer presenter playwright as if those were the only available models and there were a number of people and kirsten you were there and Polly was Polly was there so Carl was there and that's where Carl and I first started our work together and we kind of realized that there were about a dozen of us in the room who that left out we were development centers we were places that artists in general but playwrights in particular were being able to sort of design their own approaches and that these were the new approaches and it took a minute it was a contentious minute for us to get into the conversation in the new ways and in that moment the Mellon Foundation being in the room and the Duke Foundation being in the room they started to ask questions how many of you are there who are working in new new ways how would you even organize yourselves how would we even know how to support this effort is it an organized effort what is it and what we realized was it was primarily in that dozen there were a handful that were New York organizations but there were also communities nobody thought of at the time where these ideas were popping up they weren't on the map and so we weren't organized and we didn't have an agenda we didn't have an idea we didn't have a trajectory we didn't have an inquiry we were just trying to sustain our institutions and trying to support the artists we were working with I was focused on the Bay Area the playwright center had a dual focus both Minneapolis bringing writers to Minneapolis but then also functioning as a as a national service organization new playwrights was there Lark was there here was there and in that meeting was the first time we saw each other as possibly a movement or a network or something other than isolated people serving the producing organizations and if you remember the tenor at that time and it's somewhat talked about in outrageous fortune we were all including us and not just the producers and presenters we talked about you as my playwrights those of you who are playwrights in the room and we would argue over who made Sarah rule no no no Sarah rules my playwright well no no we made clean house well there were these four readings before clean house ever had a production yeah yeah but we did it and and the institutions argued over ownership and if you were on the foundation side at that time we were totally exposed as that every grant that came in said I made Sarah rule but we didn't see it we didn't talk and so we didn't know our underwear was showing and we were trying to create a movement we were trying to make a case each of us for our individual organizations as the place that made Sarah rule and I only say that because she was the one at the time that came up the most and and in part of the gates of opportunity conversation Sarah talked about that like how awkward it was to have to say every time someone called her to say did ex theater make you yes and she would say yes because she wasn't sure if she said no that she'd ever have another chance to work again right I mean every playwright in the room knows if you if you dare to tell the truth in a circumstance like that you are risking your career that's one of the pieces of the needle we have to move we have to be able to tell the truth and we have to be able to ask questions and expect the truth and so in 2002 we weren't telling the truth and so what came out of that was and I'm gonna name another person who hasn't been named I don't think yet is Olga Garai she was at the Duke Foundation at the time and the part of the contentious moment and this is like a self-serving story part of the contentiousness of that moment was that I asked a question that was really not appreciated and I got kind of slapped down by the moderator and I was embarrassed I'd never been in a national conversation before so I was very embarrassed and I left and I was leaving the conference because I thought well I just you know took a crap in the middle of the room and the whole country and and now my career is over so I guess plus I paid to be there myself as most of us had we didn't have the infrastructure to travel in that way and but Olga came and got me and she pulled me back in the room and so have a lot of gratitude for Olga Garai because I was on my way out of not just the conference but out of the field when she stopped me in the lobby and so what proceeded she asked me a question that then led to this work she said well who's the tribe like if I'm a funder who would I even support am I gonna have to do the work of finding those organizations that are focused on artists on playwrights myself you guys don't know and so I spent the rest of the day and a half trying to figure out who in the room it was and we had a dinner something you I know you were at the dinner you might have been at the dinner yeah we had a little dinner table to ourselves to talk about it and that led me to this place of realizing that I was working in San Francisco I was focused on San Francisco artists a lot of them playwrights a lot of it was creating new work and I had no idea how they were gonna move from San Francisco into the field I say this because just about that same time Peter Noctrieb showed up at the Z space and I said hey why you know here's here's a space you could be a resident playwright here I didn't know what it was and then we had a little grant I think it was $1,500 from something called the Ternus all project which is like the sunflower project and I just thought that was enough for him to live on so here and and there were four there were four that year and he was the only one we ever saw and he came in many days and sat on the floor we didn't have a desk we didn't have anything he sat on the floor at one point he sat on a on a the backseat of a van that we had pulled out and put in there as a couch with his laptop and he started writing and and in that moment was where I realized I don't know what to do for him from here like I we don't produce plays how do I connect him how do I connect anybody who takes me seriously and one of the things about the what's underneath all of this is if you if you need more than yes from any of this work if you can't keep yourself in motion on your questions both institutions and artists then you're going to struggle but if you can just take a yes and move forward and and go and ask the question when you need it and take the next yes and go that's what Peter was able to do I said here sure you can have a couch said okay and then he started from there and he was writing plays and then he asked for room to read the plays okay room to read the place that's easy all along the way all he needed was a yes he knew what the questions were that were in his way and he wasn't done and he's not done I'm sure I ask you but so the the motion that we got into there was how do we connect our institutions to something larger so that we're not in our individual contexts and just you know fighting with each other over which playwright we started and so I asked at that time to try and answer Olga's question I asked is there a way that I could go meet my colleagues around the country because I don't know how to create a path for the San Francisco playwrights I had a sense that there wasn't new works freeway somewhere because I could see the same six writers you know everywhere I have the sense that there was a you know super highway but that maybe there wasn't an on ramp in San Francisco and maybe it was my job to build one so I wanted to go find out where there were on ramps and where there weren't on ramps and how they had done it and so I had a small grant from the Mellon Foundation to spend six months on the road I went to 15 cities that's what Gates of Opportunity is based on and just interviewed and the reasons called Gates of Opportunity was I was trying to figure out I knew I was a gatekeeper in San Francisco there were several of us it wasn't just me but there I was one Lisa Steiner already was one before she was even at the Z space so I knew we're there were gates in our communities and it was our job to keep them and they were the Gates of Opportunity for other people and how to what kind of health what was the state of health what were the challenges that the gatekeepers were facing and how did the gates open wider what was trapped behind them and how do we how do we open and sustain those gates so that's basically what you see in there Todd was doing outrageous fortune at the same time and he was really focused on the economics of playwrights both of these projects had the support of the Mellon Foundation and it was because the Mellon Foundation was asking similar questions about how do our resources how does our energy contribute to the forward progress in our field and it I want to pause here for just a moment Susan ticked off a list yesterday of the ways in which the Mellon Foundation has been asking this question for at least the last 15 years about how do their resources serve the common good and part of the common good that they're focused on is the American theater that's part of the common good that they're focused on but they have been very focused on the American theater and they have been stalwart in investing in the inquiry and this inquiry has been about economic justice for artists in the U.S. that's a big phrase but the economy of being an artist in the theater in the U.S. their resources are intellectual resources capital and convening power your resources are your creativity your institutional context these are your resources they are your experience your expertise your years of service these are all commons resources and it's not for nothing that HowlRound is in the middle of this program HowlRound is a theater commons and all of us who are engaged in HowlRound are asking what resources do we have to contribute to the common good and what do we need from the commons in order to continue the progress toward economic justice and artistic excellence for artists what do we need and what do we have Mellon knows what they have and they have been stalwart and they are also very modest about it and so they don't stand up here in front of you and tell you the amount of money they've invested the amount of times they've convened the the hours and hours and hours of research that they put into everything that they've done and they really just tick off the list of programs like you know they were the parties we did the National Theater Project how many anybody here been involved yet in the National Theater Project another yeah you guys have Polly and Carl and Lisa are on that panel another huge effort right not the NPRP the NPRP focused on playwrights that left out ensembles that left out devised work it left out touring work and so another program parallel program the National Theater Project focused on ensembles focused on touring work focused on devising you guys are the cohort that are taking the inquiry forward that's focused on playwrights I repeat myself and repeat myself there because I'm hoping that it will come through this is not a gift although it is a gift in the truest sense this is not a gift this is does not make you special it does not solve your lives this is three years for you to be part of this effort to create an economic model that works for artists to create the circumstances understand the circumstances that lead to community based practice impact in your local community artistic excellence in the field this is a large set of questions you've been asked to help us answer and the important flip here is if you think just think about the money I think in the press release this round and I and I'm not going to ask them and I'm not even going to look at them but I think the press really said it was five point eight million dollars this time look at how few people are in this room is that investment actually enough to do what we're all trying to do move the needle for economic justice and artistic excellence and a quality of life for playwrights and sustainability for institutions focused on new work is this room the answer is that it are we done no we are all delegates to something much larger much costlier the Mellon Foundation isn't going to do it themselves bless you for trying to you're carrying it this long and and one of the things that's happened in the last couple of years is that partners are starting to show up there are other types of programs that are residency based and some of you may be involved in them they are not necessarily coming from the Mellon Foundation the needle is shifting some but it's this cohort the next three years I think are going to be determined as to whether we're going to be able to sustain as a field I'm not speaking for the foundation I'm speaking as a member of the commons whether we're going to be able to sustain playwright residencies as one of the answers five point eight million dollars is an important investment and it's an important injection into research and you are the scientists you are carrying out those studies and you're the ones who are going to tell us learn for us and help us understand what we're up to and how to sustain it and which parts are working and which parts aren't there was and I think Louise I think you were one of the you participated in that maybe will there was playwright residency activity prior to all of this TCG did two different residency programs anybody have one of those did you have one of those yeah yeah that's right yeah okay so Jack did you guys host any of those no okay so TCG had a MetLife program and a program funded by the NEA and they were both focused on playwright residencies and those went away and for many reasons some of them having to do with the particular structural issues of contracts with the NEA nothing to do with success but one of the things that they taught us was well they taught several things one of the challenges that those programs had was there was a very light residency requirement but it was a requirement had to be measured in the number of days and that number of days proved to be really problematic to do a report particularly if you were really only giving a residency for one play which often was the case in many of those cases unintentionally it led to the playwright running a program like a playwright's lab or the education program I don't know if either of you got in that boat or will but but all of a sudden for your twenty five thousand dollars you were being asked to run the education program of the theater and not having time to write so there were things that got learned each round of that about how much money does it take how long does it take is it one year is it one project is that a residency so three years became the next thing and I tell you I made a correction myself that didn't prove to be entirely correct when we started the arena residencies we actually took we had five of them at the same time to try to see if what happens in density maybe it's density that's going to actually matter instead of everybody scattered all over the place and you can't feel each other what if five writers were on the same staff and trying to move the needle that way and we took out the residency requirement and arena at that point was a had just called itself this named the building of the Meade Center for American theater and we were trying to understand what does it mean to be a center for the American theater well maybe we can create a residency in a center for the American theater that's just about your life as a playwright and doesn't matter whether you live here or not and so those first writers could or didn't have to spend time at arena they were residencies to just be a playwright in the American theater the most successful of those is really Karen Zacharias I mean Karen is now one of the most produced playwrights in the country she was resident at arena arena did multiple productions I think they're on their fourth with her now and she's still in many ways a resident of that theater without the Mellon support but others we're so light that they didn't even touch and so that didn't work either going that way the time the length of time three years was better than one and the money was better in terms of being able to sustain somebody's focus on a residency for a period of time and their role in the institution was maybe better but there were still things to learn and so that's where the NPRP then picked up and said well let's go back to this notion of multiple sites around the country let's keep what we learned about the number of years let's keep what we learned about the salary let's keep what we learned about their role in the institution and the first cohort did not as Susan said yesterday the first cohort did not ask for a prior relationship between the theater and the playwright and one of the things we saw the struggle was how do you actually then embed that if you don't have any relationship if you like each other's work and that's the extent of your relationship but you haven't been through production together you haven't been through development together you haven't shared of you haven't been roommates if you haven't done that it's really hard in three years to make up for that so you'll see that many of you around this room are actually working in your home communities but even those of you who aren't working in your home communities are working in play artistic homes that you had for years prior that became the next iteration that's the next set of things that we're asking here that I won't go on except I want you guys to reflect back and especially some of you who are in the second round but I I'm going to come back to this thing that I'm going to ask each of you to commit to on behalf of the commons I'm going to sit here as a member of the commons and ask each of you who are now privileged by this three years with this support to commit to making a contribution to the commons as part of this and the contribution we need from you is learning curiosity truth doesn't do us any good if the reports that we share with each other are full of lies what help is that that selfishness that's not commons based practice so I'm gonna sit here I'm gonna ask you to be able to be fierce tell the truth help us learn help move the needle for playwrights how do you have you are the playwrights job other people have the director's job other people have the designer's job other people have the ensembles and the actors the institutions touch them all but you know less than the playwrights are part of this process now you have accepted the cash I'm asking you to accept the responsibility and to become a member of the commons make a contribution to the commons and even what we learn that we wish we hadn't we'd learn we'd known in advance even what we think of as failure if it's failing forward you know this we're in the arts there's no such thing as failure as long as we're failing forward I was quoting somebody earlier how many watched Obama's speech I loved one of my favorite lines of the whole convention yes of course we made mistakes of course we aired that's because we tried we're trying together all of us are here trying together nothing is done nothing is settled and if we don't do our job we're the end of it and think of all the writers behind us and all the institutions around us that need to understand how to do this big responsibility but I think we're up to it so questions comments I would love to hear comments about things that have worked or haven't worked but then also questions from from you guys of each other or of me about what I mean by saying I'm sitting here asking you for this any comments thoughts Louise you've been in it for so long meet all these people who've been running their nonprofits for so long one of my jobs has been to also help people transition out of their fields so this is something that I wake up in the morning sometimes crying about because I think that I work with a small company in LA and I've been with them for 20 years and one of the things I'm trying to help my artistic director of that company do is to move on so change is the one constant in our field right it's the only way that we're able to make our work it's the only way you can move on to the next production it's the only way that you can stay fresh and you can stay alive in the business of art right so I think one of the challenges I'm finding is I'm going a lot to meet a lot of older people way older than me who I am trying to help transition so I guess you know one of those big moments that pop pops up for me is how do we keep re-envisioning the field how does a field keep changing how do we allow ourselves to be part of that change and when is that wonderful moment when you know it's time to sort of move on so I think I really wrestled with that for the renewal right so you know do I still have sort of viability here is there can we still make change right and I just want to throw that out because I think that's super important is those those most important moments in my life as a playwright have been the moments where I don't know how to move on so I've had great mentors like Irene Forna as like Todd London like Gordon Davidson even right I think Gordon looked at Che and I and asked us to move on in a very beautiful way he didn't know how to say it in the right way I think right because he had been in it for 30 years right but I think in some way it's like I'm thinking about this a lot how do you know how did not lose the the sense of change and how to not lose the nomadic quality that I think is what makes us so extraordinary right are there other questions on people's minds as you enter this things that didn't occur to you but that you would be trying to answer through this period um we the residency we're about to begin with Lauren one of the reasons she's not here is she is two months into her second child and her first child is 20 months old and we've made a commitment over the past couple of years to become a much more family friendly arts organization for whatever that means and we're experimenting with a lot of different things and have any of the residencies so far had playwrights who were wrestling with being new parents not just parents but new parents specifically and is there any documentation Lauren and I can look at because I mean we're immediately we're immediately finding challenges that we're wrestling with in terms of number of days she can be in the office what is a what is a 40 minute commute both directions mean to someone's life and so anything that's already been written we would love to be able to get our hands on if any of you experimented with it we'd love to talk to you about it because we're gonna do our best to document what it means for us doing it but any guidance that you got any stomach blocks or triumphs you've had we'd love to hear about we're gonna take time for that those some of those questions this afternoon and get into them so I want to make sure that you know we made space for that so it's a great question probably only have another I don't know what time it is so we're right okay anybody have one more thought you want to add into the to the room a question you want to contribute Jack yeah I do no I mean I think as we go on to this that there's now 18 of us that every 18 months we become a cohort and other than that we're 18 different organizations with residencies and so what is what can we do collectively to move the idea of a resident playwright and its value to an organization forward so it ripples to 18 more in three years without funding from melon and it just becomes an institutionalized thing and then how do we take these 18 playwrights as and make and make sure that their work without their agents or each of us as artistic directors is there something we can do collectively to see their work be disseminated and produced by theaters everywhere not because it has the validation of being part of this cohort just because we have made some effort for everybody's work to be part of the American canon yeah production we know matters and and how do we move the needle on production the other thing I just want to say it and then I think I should stop but to that Jack and somewhat to Louise's comment and Jason the we're in a different era and our elders and our people who have been in their roles I'm going to look at Sam I'm going to look at Jack even Ralph for the time that you guys have been leading and there's probably others with similar time Michelle up a lot of that era was physical infrastructure was the infrastructure buildings institutions things set in place what's now is the virtual infrastructure and how round exists in and can knit this group together in ways that we can't do if we have only relying on physical space we can be knitted together in communication in the virtual realm and I would encourage you as we go through the rest of this day to think about what is how do we use that platform how do we use our proximity to each other through the internet our proximity now is values and and our ideas that's our those are our we're joined there more than we are by zip codes and so how do we use the infrastructure that's available to us to this generation to move the thing forward Susan you had a comment and then we're done I just want to build on Jack's comment for a minute because there's 61 other theaters that applied in this round and I would say 60 of them were competitive so as we're thinking about building this network this commons some way to gather them in one of those theaters had been in the first round had been very close to the finals didn't get it and said it was a large theater this is so important we're going to fund this ourselves didn't happen applied again same theater same same playwright and I'm waiting for that to happen but for the theaters that couldn't possibly afford to do that on their own at this time how do we bring them into the conversation make them part of the tribe okay thank you all for your time this morning thank you for joining us on this journey and we continue so have a great day