“See one, do one, teach one”: This famous phrase from medical training is more than just a useful structure for turning new practice into deep knowledge. Inspired by visionary theatre-maker Anne Bogart’s appropriation of the phrase, our 2013 National Conference in Dallas will re-imagine how we can all Learn Do Teach as leaders of our theatre movement. From June 6-8, you’ll find the practical opportunities for model sharing and peer connections you’ve come to expect from this annual gathering of 1,000+ theatre people. However, we’re making that exchange even more action-oriented by matching need (Learn) to knowledge (Teach) ahead of time and identifying key goals (Do) to accomplish together.

At the 22nd TCG National Conference: Model the Movement in Boston, we explored how to transform our field into a movement for the digital age, one new model at a time. Using our year-round online conference community, Conference 2.0, we built on that intellectual capital at the 2012 Fall Forum on Governance: Leading the Charge, where we focused on strategies for achieving diversity and inclusion. In February 2013, the movement continues in Philadelphia at our Audience (R)Evolution Learning Convening, where we’ll share models from the cutting edge of audience engagement and community development.

This creative momentum culminates in Dallas at the 2013 TCG National Conference: Learn Do Teach. To further focus our time together, we’ll provide four focused programmatic arcs—Diversity and Inclusion, Audience Engagement, Financial Adaptation and Artistic Innovation—that attendees can follow. While attendees are free to roam among sessions, these arcs offer a deep dive into these key areas—a “conference within the Conference” that captures the intimacy of our smaller convenings. These arcs will match those ready to Learn specific models with those ready to Teach, and connect attendees with shared goals to mobilize together and Do.

Learn Do Teach is more than just a practical approach to the Conference: It is also a call for us all to take leadership roles within our theatre movement. How can we keep learning in spite of our busy schedules? How can we mobilize our movement to make the changes we want to see? How can we pass down the value of our experiences to the next generation of theatre-makers? What would our field look like if Learn Do Teach became common practice? Let’s roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty—learning, doing, teaching—and take ownership of this movement we share.