Sep 9, 2026 · 54 min · 10 segments
I recently welcomed J. Noble and Nora Wheaton from American Conservatory Theater (ACT) onto the Snafu podcast for a conversation about theater, storytelling, leadership, and what the performing arts…
Our producer for Responsive Conference this year, Zach, is a performer and an artist of live experiences first and foremost, and we're very fortunate to be able to work with them to produce Responsive.
Recently gave a talk, and I can link to it in the show notes, I'll send it to both of you, on the history of that survive more than 100 years or even more than 30, 40 years, right? So Burning Man or the Chautauqua Festival, which has been going on, I think, 150 years now.
And Zach's been making a study of these immersive arts and artistic festivals that stand the test of time.
I haven't as much other than learning from them, but I'm fascinated by the evolution of the arts funding models over generations, right? So I grew up, as I said, with my mother as a visual artist, right? She does mezzotints, which are etchings on a copper plate run through a printing press.
There's something like seven people in the world who are still doing mezzotints in that way, right? She has a printing press in her home studio.
Which I, as a millennial, have never bought something from live shopping, but I don't know, maybe I will at some point.
Where the attention is going, where the ways in which we engage with art and buy art is going.
Similarly, my experience as an acrobat, San Francisco Opera, one family, $10 million, single family contributing $10 million for this show.
And then we go and perform in front of you and say, thank you for my daily bread.
Our producer for Responsive Conference this year, Zach, is a performer and an artist of live experiences first and foremost, and we're very fortunate to be able to work with them to produce Responsive.
Recently gave a talk, and I can link to it in the show notes, I'll send it to both of you, on the history of that survive more than 100 years or even more than 30, 40 years, right? So Burning Man or the Chautauqua Festival, which has been going on, I think, 150 years now.
And Zach's been making a study of these immersive arts and artistic festivals that stand the test of time.
I haven't as much other than learning from them, but I'm fascinated by the evolution of the arts funding models over generations, right? So I grew up, as I said, with my mother as a visual artist, right? She does mezzotints, which are etchings on a copper plate run through a printing press.
There's something like seven people in the world who are still doing mezzotints in that way, right? She has a printing press in her home studio.
Which I, as a millennial, have never bought something from live shopping, but I don't know, maybe I will at some point.
Where the attention is going, where the ways in which we engage with art and buy art is going.
Similarly, my experience as an acrobat, San Francisco Opera, one family, $10 million, single family contributing $10 million for this show.
And then we go and perform in front of you and say, thank you for my daily bread.
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