Home2021 VASTA Virtual Conference

Rising Voices

Listening to the Past, Dismantling the Present, Cultivating a New Future

July 30th - August 1st, 2021

Virtual Conference

Register Here

The Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA) is thrilled to announce the registration for the annual conference, “Rising Voices: Listening to the Past, Dismantling the Present, Cultivating a New Future,” will open on April 15th, 2021. This conferenceaims to examine the roles and responsibilities we have as voice and speech trainers by listening to the past, addressing the monumental cultural shifts of the present moment, and imagining a new future as a voice and speech community.

The circumstances of 2020 have allowed VASTA to truly reflect on what it means to serve our global membership. For the first time in VASTA’s conference history, conference proposals are open to everyone in the VASTA community, as this conference will be fully virtual. No matter where you are in the world, you will have the opportunity to present at the 2021 conference! We are crafting a dynamic, accessible, and innovative conference which will allow for full member participation.

Through innovative collaboration and the sharing of knowledge, scholarship, skills, and resources, we call on VASTAN’s to reflect on what it means to rise through the past, present, and future as voice and speech practitioners.

Listening to the Past
“I ask my ancestors: Who had my face before? Who shaped my brain? They laugh. They know I carry my nation’s tragedies with me.
I sing its anthems. I know the laughter and faces of my people are encoded forever in my deep spaces.”
- José Rivera, Sonnets for an Old Century

To better understand this moment and move forward in our work as voice and speech practitioners, artists, and performers, we must listen to the past. What can we learn from Indigenous artists, who center their storytelling and artistry on ancestry, spirituality, the land, and the community? What can we learn from personal, community, and societal histories and narratives that might shape our work as artists in this brave new world?

Dismantling the Present
“Listening to our stories is part of the decolonization process”
- Edgar Villanueva

In recent months, academic institutions, theatres, and arts organizations have been called on to dismantle long-standing traditions of oppression and white supremacy in order to build a more equitable future. How have we, as voice and speech trainers, been challenged to dismantle our teaching/coaching practices in response to COVID? How have we adapted? How have we innovated our field in the fight for racial justice, incorporated new technologies, and at the same time, made those technologies accessible for our students and clients?

Cultivating a New Future
“We can transform our world by imagining it differently, dreaming it passionately via all our senses, and willing it into creation.”
- Gloria E. Anzaldúa

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the final element is exploring how we can build a future for our field that is accessible, equitable, and anti-racist. How can we draw on the past and present moment to nurture and help grow a better future? What does a post-COVID, anti-racist future look like in the voice and speech field?

General questions or thoughts?

The conference planning committee is here to help!

To get in touch with us, Click Here!

Elisa Gonzales

Co-Conference Director
Elisa Gonzales (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor of Voice and Acting at UMass Amherst. Elisa has performed at the New York International Fringe Festival, the Nuyorican Poets Café, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, and the La Jolla Playhouse. Elisa is a previous contributor to The Voice and Speech Review and has presented her work at national and international conferences. Her creative research focuses on embodied storytelling, with a specific focus on stories that live at the intersection of Latinx/Chicana identity, history, voice, and memory. Elisa is a certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, holds a BFA in Acting from Emerson College, and an MFA in Theatre Performance from Arizona State University.

Joe Hetterly

Co-Conference Director
Joe Hetterly (he/him/his) is a passionate arts administrator and teacher who is interested in cultivating spaces for other artists to create. As an educator, he is a self-reflective voice and speech practitioner who is focused on responding to the needs of the individual artist by drawing on his broad experience with Linklater Voice, Fitzmaurice Voicework, Knight-Thompson Speechwork, and Beth McGuire and Jane Guyer Fujita’s Window into Speech Workshops. His professional experience ranges from working as an actor, in casting, at a talent agency, at a Broadway General Management company, and at Tectonic Theater Project. He has taught at SUNY Purchase and NYCDA.

Marie Ramirez Downing

Board Liaison
Marie is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts, Performance (Acting, Voice and Movement) at Sonoma State University. She has an M.F.A. in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University, a B.A. in Theatre Arts, Acting from California State University, Fresno and is a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher via Kristin Linklater and the Linklater Center for Voice and Language in New York City (2012). Marie has presented identity and heritage, voice and acting workshops at The Association for Theatre in Higher Education, The Voice and Speech Trainers Association, The Southern Theatre Conference, and The Western Academy of Management. She is an elected member of the Board of Directors for The Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).

Gina Razón

Associate Conference Director
Gina Razón (she/her/hers) is a recovering opera singer, functional voice coach, and founder of GROW Voice, a Boston-based voice and speech presentation training practice. She has taught voice, both singing and speaking, for over eighteen years to individuals, organizations, and in academic settings. Gina continues to perform as a classical mezzo-soprano in concert and opera. She is known for the warmth of her voice and her commitment to connecting others to their authentic voices. Gina holds a BM and MM in Voice Performance, is a practitioner of Fitzmaurice Voicework and a certified teacher of Somatic Voicework. She has served as the voice coach for TEDxCambridge and speaks at national and local events on all things voice and speech. Gina is a member of the NATS, The Voice Foundation, VASTA and the National Speakers Association.

KatherineAustinson

Technical Coordinator
Katherine Austinson comes to this conference as our Tech Coordinator. Kathy has years of experience in nonprofit organizational management, online conference coordinating, event management, website design, volunteer management, public speaking, and fundraising.

Kate Clarke

Peer Review Coordinator
Kate Clarke (she/her/hers) is an actor, singer, director, and Associate Professor of Theater at the University of New Mexico. Kate brings 25 years' experience to cultivating holistic practices for actors and singers through movement and voice techniques. Kate is an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, and a certified instructor of Open Source Forms. Her teaching pedagogy includes: Viewpoints, Suzuki, Laban, Alexander Technique, Stella Adler, and Meisner Studio Work, Shakespeare, musical theater, singing, and low-flying trapeze. In addition, she is the creator of Vibrant Channel Breathwork™, a somatic-creative practical technique for actor training. She is a member of SAG/AFTRA, AEA, and holds a B.A. in Theatre from Oberlin College (‘90), as well as an MFA in Acting, from University of Washington’s P.A.T.P. (2000).

Robin Aronson

Conference Team Member
Robin Aronson is a Professor of Voice and Acting at the University of Southern Mississippi and a Lessac Certified Voice and Body Trainer. Robin has served on the Executive Committee for the Lessac Training and Research Institute and as their social media director. In addition, she has been the President of the Southeastern Theatre Conference Voice and Speech Committee. Robin was as a respondent for the Music Theatre Initiative for the KCACTF Region IV. She is currently vocal coaching virtual productions of Watson, The Legendary Tale of Sherlock Holmes and A Midsummer Night Dream at Southern Miss. International research projects include vocal coaching a bi‑lingual virtual production of K‑POP produced by the Philippine Theatre Educational Association (PETA) in Manila, Philippines. Robin has been a member of VASTA since 2002.

Hetal Varia

Global Outreach Coordinator
Hetal Varia is a resident Voice Faculty at Drama School Mumbai, Co-founder of Ekalavya - Online School of Drama and an independent Voice, Dialect and Accent Coach for films and theatre artists. She works across the globe with international drama schools and films. Alumna of the Voice Studies MA at London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, she has received Charles Wallace India Trust Awards by British Council and a Diversity Grant by Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). Her recent projects include: Aanandovari, The Mirror Crack’d, Pahadon Mein (film, ongoing), A Suitable Boy (BBC web series), Rakt Kalyan, Radio Mirchi, Only Men Aloud (BBC, Wales), Rang De and many more.

Sammi Grant

Conference Registration Coordinator
Sammi Grant is currently an adjunct professor of voice, speech, and acting for the University of Cincinnati CCM and Illinois Wesleyan University. She also works as a professional dialect/vocal coach for theatre and television. She holds an MFA in Voice Studies with Distinction from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Sammi is a second-year Junior Board member for VASTA and is on the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. She recently co-authored an article for the Voice and Speech Review entitled “Depictions of a Voice and Speech Trainer: Current Trends in the VASTA Community”.

Kayleigh Adams

Conference Intern
Kayleigh Adams is an actor and theatre artist from Las Vegas, NV. She is a third-year BFA Acting student at Oklahoma City University, with a minor in Lighting, Design and Production. Extensive studies for Kayleigh thus far in her career include works from Shakespeare and Anton Chekhov, and techniques from Kristin Linklater and Michael Chekhov. Some of her recent credits include Shakespeare’s Cymbeline and Measure for Measure, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley, and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. Her lifelong goal is to work with as many different types of artists as possible, and to always be affected by energies that are not her own. As a nature-lover, she loves caring for her plants and her two dogs at home.