Filling the Gaps: Philanthropy's Role in 2021

Please join Yale Schwarzman Center and Yale Summer Cabaret for a virtual Session — a roundtable lunch discussion about contemporary philanthropy in the arts, sciences, and social services. At the table will be funders and recipients discussing their perspectives on the relationship between donors and recipients.

Sessionists include (scroll down for bios):

• Chloe Knight, Yale Summer Cabaret Co-Managing Director
• Doug Robinson, Yale Summer Cabaret Co-Artistic Director
• Ben Cameron, Lecturer in Theater Management, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale
• Onyeka Obiocha, Director of Integrated Capitals and Learning, The Heron Foundation
• Aziz Dehkan, Roundtable Executive, Director/Lead Organizer, CT Roundtable on Climate and Jobs
• Sarah Scafidi, third-year joint degree (MFA in Theater Management/MBA) candidate with the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and the Yale School of Management

There are two ways to participate:

1. Be an on-screen Sessionist. The first six individuals to register for this session will be invited to join the six listed above as on-screen Sessionists. On-screen Sessionists will each receive a $30 GrubHub voucher to order their lunch for the event!

2. Join the interactive audience. Once the remaining lunch seats are filled, registrants may tune into this discussion as members of the live interactive audience. Prior to the discussion, audience members will have an opportunity to submit questions to the Sessionists. Audience members will also be invited to participate in anonymous polls and post-event reflections.

Register now

About YSC Sessions

YSC Sessions invite you into conversation with thought leaders in creative fields, bringing people into dialogue to inspire fresh ideas over a meal.

Session Speaker Bios

Ben Cameron

Ben Cameron, Lecturer in Theater Management at Yale, is President of the Jerome Foundation after serving as Program Director for the Arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation from 2006 to 2015. Previously, he served as the Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for not-for-profit theaters, from 1998. Between 1993 and 1998, he had been active in corporate philanthropy, first as senior program officer at the Dayton Hudson Foundation and subsequently as manager of community relations at Target Stores in Minneapolis, Minnesota. From 1988 through 1992, he worked for the National Endowment for the Arts, serving as director of the theater program from 1990, a role he undertook after seven years of working in not-for-profit professional theaters around the country as a director and dramaturg. He has taught atUNC-Chapel Hill, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, and Columbia University in addition to Yale. He received a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; an MFA in dramaturgy from Yale School of Drama in 1981; honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters from DePaul University in Chicago in 2001 and Goucher College in Baltimore in 2010; and in 2003 an honorary MFA in Acting from American Conservatory Theater. He appeared annually on the Metropolitan Opera Saturday afternoon quiz feature for 18 seasons, lectured on theater on the Queen Mary 2, twice ridden a bicycle from Minneapolis to Chicago to raise money for AIDS, and was a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee for 9 years.

Aziz Dehkan

Aziz Dehkan was born and raised in New York City. With a degree in Biological Sciences from Rutgers University, Aziz built an award-winning passive-solar house and started one of the first organic farms in New Jersey. In management and development roles, Aziz has worked for social and environmental justice organizations including The Coalition for the Homeless, STRIVE, The Fortune Society, and Mother Jones. As a community organizer and Director of the NYC Community Garden Coalition, in response to structural racism, he has led the fight for land tenure and food security. Aziz served on the steering committee for the People's Climate Movement rallies in NYC, Washington DC and #Sandy5. Dreaming of a free Iran, Aziz is tirelessly searching for progressive solutions that support justice, equality, and liberation.

“Making climate change an urgent priority across America needs a groundswell of local community support. The Covid19 pandemic has taught us that America’s structural system is fractured. The climate crisis affects everyone, but not everyone equally. We need to build roadmaps from which we can begin to create jobs with an economic policy that moves us away from nonrenewable energy. Working with unions and trades, we must adopt policies promoting job growth to ensure access to jobs for displaced fossil fuel workers. To protect the climate with just equitable solutions we must — together as a society and with coalitions — play leading roles in confronting the climate crisis. It is our moral imperative for future generations.”

Chloe Knight

Chloe (Theater Management ‘24) is thrilled to be a Co-Managing Director of Yale Summer Cabaret 2021 and to be working with their incredible team. Prior to Yale, Chloe served as a Project Manager at consulting firm Advance NYC, where she provided application strategy and managed the institutional and government portfolios for several nonprofit theater and arts organizations in New York. She’s held myriad positions at arts organizations in Boston and New York including Actors’ Shakespeare Project, the Lark Play Development Center, and Page 73 Productions. Originally from Glencoe, Illinois, Chloe received a BFA in Acting from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. With her roots in theater education and new work development, Chloe believes in theater management as a form of artistic activism. Outside of theater, she enjoys traveling and getting lost in art museums.

Onyeka Obiocha

Onyeka Obiocha is Director of Integrated Capitals and Learning at The Heron Foundation. He previously worked at the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale where he served as Managing Director. Prior to that, he was the inaugural Director of Innovation at Dwight Hall, focusing on developing trainings, programs, and partnerships to support members of the Yale and Greater New Haven communities dedicated to creating social change. Onyeka is also the past President and Co-Founder of A Happy Life, a social enterprise dedicated to creating a happier world for all. He also launched Breakfast Lunch & Dinner, a design studio that aims to build social cohesion through economic and cultural development. Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Onyeka consulted for Special Olympics International and launched a microcosignment program in South Africa. Onyeka earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut.

Doug Robinson

Doug Robinson is one of the Co-Artistic Directors of the Yale Summer Cabaret. He is a rising  second-year playwright at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and a Virginia native. Doug’s plays have been produced at Imagination Stage, Rorschach Theatre, Ally Theatre Company, and the Capital Fringe Festival. He has also worked at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Theatre Alliance, The Hub Theatre, and Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.

Sarah Scafidi

Sarah Scafidi (2023) is a third-year joint degree (MFA in Theater Management/MBA) candidate with the David Geffen School of Drama (GDSD) at Yale and the Yale School of Management (SOM). Originally from Northeastern Ohio, and most recently Philadelphia, Sarah last served as the Artistic Assistant at Arden Theatre Company. She has held positions at Round House Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Kitchen Theatre Company, and Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre. During her time at Yale, Sarah has both directed and produced for the Yale Cabaret, served as co-leader for the GDSD’s People of Marginalized Genders affinity group, and been a member of the Social Impact Consulting Club at SOM. She will be the fall term managing director of the Yale Cabaret this coming year. As both a nonprofit leader and theater director, Sarah believes in the extraordinary power of the arts to foster human connection and ignite change. Sarah is a proud alumna of Messiah University, the National Theatre Institute, and the SDCF Observership program.  She enjoys cooking, hiking, and exploring local breweries.