TOUCHSTONE THEATRE
BETHLEHEM, PA
WE-Making is a suite of resources that explores the relationship between place-based arts practices and social cohesion as a means to advance health equity and community wellbeing. This We-Making story is one example of how place-based arts and cultural strategies uniquely contributed to social cohesion and wellbeing in this community. Throughout this story you’ll see terms paired with actions in parentheses (e.g., social capital, collective action, place attachment, civic engagement, self-determination of shared values). This is to denote for the reader how the WE-Making framework was specifically incorporated. Explore the WE-Making framework and resources.
Founded in 1981,
Touchstone Theatre is a professional not-for-profit theatre dedicated to the creation of original work. At its center is a resident ensemble of theatre artists rooted in the local community of Bethlehem, the Greater Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, and the international community of Ensemble Theatres. The Touchstone Theatre Ensemble creates original theatre and re-imagines select texts, tours and presents original and ensemble-created works and offers educational programs and community-building projects. We strive toward a community of civic engagement through artistic expression. We seek to create art that celebrates and uplifts, as well as confronts and challenges.
How arts and culture moved the dial in Bethlehem
Touchstone is an arts organization that responds to the real-time needs of local communities, particularly the diverse demographic of folks who call Bethlehem, Pennsylvania home. As we face the challenges of today’s world, prominent hurdles such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the road to racial justice have only encouraged Touchstone to continue adapting and reinventing itself to remain a driving force for in the community.
Prior to the onset of all that 2020 held, Touchstone launched a new initiative that premiered in the fall of 2019 called
Festival UnBound, inspired by the closing of Bethlehem Steel after an almost 150 year history. We began to explore questions of a rather daunting nature. Who are we, now that the Steel is gone? What are the challenges ahead and what are the values that will hold the community together as we face the task of shaping our future? Out of these questions came this first year of
Festival UnBound, a collection of arts and community dialogue around concerns of diversity, sustainability, health, youth leadership, and interconnectedness.
The success of 2019’s Festival UnBound prompted responses from the community calling for its return after what had been intended to be a one-off community gathering. When the beginning of 2020 marked a stark halt to the development of programming, Touchstone pivoted to the envisioning of a new iteration in order to continue the conversations started during the Festival’s first year and shift focus to the erupting social unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The kickoff to this iteration took the form of the
Lehigh Valley Song Project. In a time of global pandemic and important discussions about racial justice and inequality, the Lehigh Valley Song Project was created to celebrate the connectedness and freedoms that benefit our communities. Top Lehigh Valley musical performers from across genres signed on to create a diverse, honest, hopeful look at the future – through song.
“This is an artistic response to this unique moment in history,” stated Michael Duck, the project’s director and a Touchstone Ensemble Affiliate (creative responses to trauma). “And we are choosing to respond by breaking down barriers, celebrating the ways we all help each other, and plainly stating that everybody deserves and needs freedom from disease, freedom from violence, and freedom from hatred.”
The Lehigh Valley Song Project and the release of its original song Lehigh Valley Be Free kicked off 2020’s Festival UnBound and proved the possibilities of collaboration in isolation and the power of an intersectional approach to complex issues. The Project was subsequently nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award.New Paragraph
...amplify the drivers of social cohesion...
As Festival UnBound morphs and grows, it works to weave together our decades-long history of artistic, educational, and community efforts bolstered by our reputation as a trustworthy partner and high-quality arts institution. Festival UnBound was built upon the foundation laid by Touchstone’s history but was prompted by a compounding desire for addressing and embracing the increasingly intersectional nature of those who call the Lehigh Valley home. The totality of Festival UnBound’s four iterations has been filled with art and conversation which highlighted voices of BIPOC, the Latinx community, the Black community, the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, youth, and individuals living with disabilities (collective efficacy- community ownership; aligning with community change goals). Events were performed outdoors and indoors at various venues. All of this year’s events were free to the public!
This flexible approach to theatre-making, the ensemble’s longevity, and our audience’s readiness to embrace the unconventional was critical to our effective COVID-19 adaption. Beyond
Festival UnBound we began
producing films, live streaming, creating a mail-based storytelling series, and many outdoor shows - first on our two rear balconies, then on a newly-built permanent stage on our property, with both configurations using our parking lot for social-distanced seating. Touchstone was proud to continue offering original performances during the pandemic, providing an outlet to boost wellbeing through a shared, positive, and safe experience for our community.
...to increase equitable community well-being.
In all Touchstone does, the intention is to “move the dial” of the community to which it belongs. Its approach to this doesn’t merely entail determining the direction in which this dial must be cranked from an institutional level. Rather, Touchstone’s effort centers around the needs and desires of the community itself, looking to this community for their vision of its own future. An essential portion of this is the prevalent dedication to the facilitation of young artists’ discovery of their own voices through in-school and after-school arts education programs for elementary through high school students, and the two-year MFA-granting program provided in partnership with Moravian University which works to shape the vision of up-and-coming artists as they enter the community.
As this 40th season initiates, and as the needs of the community change in this year and beyond, Touchstone looks to continue cultivating relationships and a sense of belonging, shaping the idea of the common good, and inviting participation from all corners and intersections of the community to nurture and grow a sense of social cohesion within this community.
