NW Spotlight | Gratitude & Reflections on My Time at New Works By Marco Esccer
New Works Spotlight
A look inside our multifaceted, value-driven, community-responsive service organization
Beyond performances and programs, New Works is part of a living, evolving dance ecosystem. This monthly blog series highlight the unseen moments—the collaborations, reflections, and shifts that shape our community. It’s about the ripples of artist support, learning, and shared growth. Each story offers a glimpse into the evolving needs of the dance community and how we respond.
NW Spotlight | Gratitude & Reflections on my time at New Works
by Marco Esccer
Today I’m finishing a cycle with New Works, getting ready for a new adventure in arts administration as Manager of Education & Engagement at Ballet BC, and reflecting with gratitude on my journey at this organization (New Works)—one that has accompanied me through many life transitions in Canada: immigration, shifting from being only a dance artist into a cultural worker, transforming cocoon beliefs and self-distrust into feeling empowered and in the right heart to keep making spaces where artists and communities intersect so we can become better humans together.
Below are scattered thoughts as I recall bits of the journey. I’m sure this is not an end—its ripples will keep spreading, because we are our interactions, and the genealogy of our relationships.
New Works taught me the value of supporting artists. It is an alive organization that grows toward the places that need attention —full of heart, good intentions, and an endless search for resources and partnerships to nurture dance communities and remain responsive to them.
I came in as an artist tasting cultural work and became an extended artist—one who now reflects: What would artists be without the structures that support things to happen?
When I was only an artist, it was easy to point out an organization’s shortcomings. But from the inside, I can see the million pieces that need to align for one class, one program, one performance to happen. The invisible work that makes dance possible in Vancouver. And let me tell you… it is not easy.
At first I was confused and mesmerized. How many things does New Works do?!
• How many programs do we run?
• How many organizations and artists do we support?
• How can all this happen with a relatively small, mostly part-time team?
Then I understood: New Works strategic planning is not static, it's alive and receptive. We see gaps by listening closely and having deep conversations about what’s needed. We find partnerships and collaboration to make things possible.
An organization is made of people—inhabiting offices and Slack—adapting roles to staff, not only staff to roles. New Works holds diversity and different opinions with respect. When ideas clashed, we didn’t cancel each other; we found ways to merge our perspectives and build a bigger ladder.
I never considered my bosses “bosses,” because Jason and Charlotte never called themselves that. We were colleagues—same level of thought, different life experiences—gathering for a cause. A space for motherhood, part-time artists, immigrants, and all the needs those different realities carry. A space to craft life-work balance while navigating the passion that keeps the organization moving, and the invisible never ending work—writing grants while filing final reports.
My colleagues opened my thoughts not with answers, but with questions: What do you think?
I learned the value of advisory committees, of inviting broader perspectives, of thinking beyond our walls by opening them.
One of my favourite parts of the job was envisioning new seasons, new programs. In Mexico we call brainstorming ‘lluvia de ideas’—rain of ideas. And that how I felt on our brainstorming sessions: we are moistened by possibility; it permeates us and forms vision.
Each program taught me something different:
Through coordinating the Cohort Program—empowering more than 30 artists to step into their confidence for self-producing.
Through communications—How do we convey the great work happening behind the scenes? How do we let people see its value?
Through Share Dance—where I began as a facilitator, cried learning what equity-owed fees meant, then became coordinator, supporting educators and building community. This program opened my eyes to the complexity of different realities and the importance of bridging professional and outreach settings, bringing dance where it can’t yet reach and to hearts that most need it.
Through In Practice—the program that brought me in—searching for wellbeing in teaching and expansive leadership, creating studios where everybody feels safe, cared for, welcomed, valued.
Through NWXR—seeing how extended reality could create spaces for queer bodies to explore possibilities that reality isn’t ready to hold yet.
Through artist residencies—fueling artists with trust, space, mentorship, and the courage for creative risk.
Through company management—helping organizations sustain their rhythms, like a brick on a bent house, a lighthouse in a storm, a friend lending a gentle hand: your work has value; let’s do this together.
Through pioneering fundraising from a place of care—remembering to ask those who want to support that we truly need their support, the value of philanthropy begins with volunteering.
Through writing grants—thinking not of “hiring artists” but of building relationships and finding the resources to support them.
Through all this, I navigated fears of impostor syndrome, life challenges as an immigrant and even language. Believe me—I didn’t know how to write emails in English when I started. My colleagues supported me not by correcting my English, but by respecting my voice and giving me time to find my words.
Looking back, I see:
• How many emails it takes to bring an idea into reality
• How many grant applications sustain an organization for 30+ years
• How many programs, performances, residencies, and workshops have touched countless people, directly and indirectly—I started as one of them.
How I met New Works - and the evolution of a relationship:
Imagine someone coming from Mexico, studying part-time, working six days a week in a restaurant, living behind a couch for the first 13 months (including the pandemic) while finding financial stability to move to a place with a room. That was me, six years ago—a dance student asking: Is it possible to align my passions with my calling?
Then Sindy Angel, who I met volunteering at COYUNTURA 2019 (which I met through Carmen Aguirre, introduced to me by Brian Peterman), connected me with New Works in 2021. I began as a Share Dance facilitator, then a Pop Up artist, then supporting social media, then taking on a four-month contract that became the foundation for In Practice. Once I got an open work permit, I expanded into part-time staff as Communications and Program Coordinator. And this year, after realizing my role had grown beyond coordinator, I became Community Engagement Manager—a title that better reflected the relationships, care, and vision I was holding.
Today, thanks to my time at New Works (and of course all the relationships that have supported me through my time in Vancouver), I know my calling is not dance—it is what happens when people enter deep contact with creative process and movement. When relationships grow through trust in possibility. My calling is creating spaces through the body, imagination, interdisciplinary creation, and conversation. My calling is healing—connection, understanding, alignment—supporting people to feel more alive through creative expression. My calling is working in the spaces that make this reality possible: arts organizations.
Today I consider emails to be a kind of love language—part of organizing things to happen, knocking on doors, supporting accountability. We see a screen, but on the other side, a person. How can I be of service?
From idea to reality—send an email.
Administration… I’m not sure I used to like that word, or feel reflected in it as a dancer. We go from dance school to the reality of an artist’s life—There are bills to pay, and all we want to do is be in the studio. So how do we make peace with the broken dream of being a full-time artist? We unlearn the myth that full-time means more fulfillment. We reframe our relationship with dance technique - we are more than a perfect tendu. Art is a path to be more human, not “more artist.”
Our goals will change throughout our career, and so will our concept of success. For me today, success is knowing that I am not only a dance artist.
Arts administration became a gamechanger—connecting me with trust and skills to continue pursuing my creative visions. Enough trust to now be co-directing a dance company (TEMPO Dance & Visual Arts) and finding resources to pay collaborators even without permanent residency—a major barrier when navigating grant systems as an immigrant.
Would all this be happening without my time at New Works? Would I still be connected to the arts, or would I be working full-time in a restaurant? Would I have understood the importance of supporting other artists and have met the organizations and people who inspire me to continue?
I guess I’ll never know. But I do know that today I’m grateful. And that I am stronger, ready to keep persevering for a world that needs embodiment, dance, and passion to be fueled. And I know I have value in the midst of this need… and if you’re reading this—so do you.
There is much more I could reflect on, and I could easily take many more pages of your time. But I want to close with a poem I wrote for the New Works team in 2023, for our 30th anniversary—a letter to the funders caring for a 30-year-old garden. I leave it here for anyone wondering about seeds, gardens, and organizations that nourish healthier, stronger arts ecosystems:
It takes courage to begin
Faceless hesitations linger at the mirror
Is it worth it?
Will this seed grow?
Will it —and I— survive the weather?
Will my efforts be enough?
It takes patience to continue
It takes love to persist
It takes time to grow
And with all it takes it gives,
It swamp the mornings with hope
It reaches further
Engaging more people on the way
A way for diversity
for reclaiming space for the arts
for creating space for the unseen
for trusting that a path will keep opening
It takes dark nights when despair harass
When abandoning seems closer that keep taking steps...
...And easiear
But a heart keeps beating
Hope keeps moving us up and forward
It takes one to begin
One dreamer
One soul that speaks
One leader that share a vision
It takes two to create
-—Life always begins with interaction—
It takes a family, a team of members with same values
Building a home —and living on it.
It expands into community
Into growth
And support
And compassion
And care
Ripples of wholehearted dedication
And then, the ripple touches you —and moves you—
And you feel its possible again
And you feel welcome into a country of strangers
And you see the kids...
of the kids...
of the kids...
...of 30 generations teaching you how to continue the way
Valuing for who you are
Supporting your path
It takes deconstruction of what we know
It takes joy to see the artists finally feeling closer to fulfillment
But it all —and we all— began somewhere,
With people that took the risk —and committed to it…
Lets never forget that
And then
The garden extends into those who continue the risk-taking of believing in a dream...
Together.
Gracias, New Works. May you keep inspiring artists for many more years. Thank you for letting me be one of your gardeners these past three years—watering the organization with dreams and passion, as the organization watered me. This is not a goodbye—just a see-you-around.
With love and gratitude,
Marco Esccer
To anyone I crossed paths with at New Works: I hope this writing inspires you to trust your path, to know your art has value, and to remember that people and organizations exist who want to help you thrive.
If you want to keep in touch: marco.esccer@gmail.com
All Photos by Carla Alcantara.
About Marco Esccer
Marco Esccer (he/him) is a queer Mexican dance artist, writer, and Dance Movement Therapist whose work bridges the technical, creative, and therapeutic dimensions of movement. Trained in Ballet and Contemporary Dance at Mexico City’s National Ballet and Contemporary School, he also holds certifications in Contemporary Art Production, Dance Movement Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, and Yoga Teaching. His multidisciplinary formation shapes a practice rooted in embodiment, emotional awareness, and creativity.
Marco’s choreographic and performance work has appeared with Dance West Networks, the STAND Festival, Vines Festival, IndieFest, Co.Erasga, The Dance Centre, Coastal City Ballet, and Momentum 180’s Parallel Project as an emerging playwright. He is Co-Director of TEMPO Dance & Visual Art, a current Artist in Residence at the Roundhouse, former Community Engagement Manager at New Works, and now Manager of Education and Engagement at Ballet BC.
Across his different roles, Marco seek to create spaces where presence and expression allow deeper connection and self-compassion. His creative process support participants in cultivating awareness of motion, emotion, and thought, while honouring each person’s lived experience and creative agency. He sees art as a bridge—one that fosters compassion, connection, and the shared humanity that emerges when movement becomes a meeting place for community.
Why New Works Spotlights?
New Works delivers many unique programs, in many different ways, in support of many communities of artists. If you’ve ever asked a New Works staff member, “so, what does New Works do exactly?”, you’ve likely been met with a rambling run on sentence and a laundry list of exciting programs and projects that we have on the go. Up close it may look a little messy, but take a step back and you will see the container: all of our work exists in response to current gaps in the needs of the dance community. This looks like performance opportunities, partnership and collaboration, professional development, teaching engagements, mentorship, skills training, and many more. And we are just one small piece of this vitally diverse dance milieu.
We envision a healthy artist-centred arts ecosystem where connection, collaboration, and opportunity is celebrated beyond the container of our own organization. Through this ongoing blog series, we invite you to join us in witnessing artist experience through and beyond New Works programs, and in celebration of our living, breathing, shared communities.