Becky Boesen
Theatre Artist, Storyteller, and Creative Community Builder
Becky Boesen is a Nebraskan change maker who showcases the catalytic power that comes from the simple act of human beings clearly seeing, knowing, and appreciating each other through the sharing of stories. She began her unique career over 20 years ago in the arts, where her outside thinking, knack for innovation, and bold approach were rewarded as creative assets. She now draws from all she continues to learn from from the arts as she walks alongside people, schools, and communities who are ready to take on creative placemaking and ready to try unconventional ways of accomplishing their dreams and goals.
In the theatre, actors in their roles are taught to identify an objective, or the thing they want most. They then strategize how their character will use their strengths to tackle any obstacles that get in the way, and pursue their goals with wild abandon. As scenarios change, so does the strategy. Actors learn to improvise and adapt in the moment, and most importantly, how to work together to get something done. Sometimes there is tension or discomfort. Other times there is great joy and cause to celebrate. In any given circumstance on stage, if actors want to achieve their goals, they must be active listeners, stay flexible, and learn to work well with others to get what they want and need.
About a decade into her stage work in the theatre, Becky started to realize how well what she'd spent her life training for translated into "the real world". As she began to explore connected career roles and nonprofit leadership, it also felt good to have the skills to connect with people a little differently than she was experiencing in traditional professional development trainings. Theatre gave her the confidence to speak up and ask, "Can we try doing this a little differently?"
People and organizations started to tap Becky to provide trainings, help create education and engagement initiatives, and to consult with leaders and teams who had big ideas, but needed that extra boost of confidence to try things in a new way.
She's still creating, too, and supporting folks as they learn to leverage the arts for good.
This is where Becky's passion and purpose aligns: helping people trust their own creativity, unique ideas, and abundant talent to accomplish their goals.
Part theatre artist, part research nerd, she's spent over a decade working side-by-side with the people of the Great Plains. tackling community priorities, co-creating education and engagement initiatives, developing high level arts programing, and maybe, in some small way, helping shift the social and emotional culture of Nebraska.
Outside of her independent work as an artist and consultant, Becky is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of BLIXT, a nonprofit that grows goodness with the arts. A published author and playwright, Becky's original plays and musicals have seen productions in Nebraska, Florida, South Carolina, West Virginia, and beyond. Becky is a public speaker and consultant, working alongside organizations to help craft messages and programing that unleashes their missions. She's an adjunct professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University, and has been teaching at Nebraska colleges and universities for over a decade.
Becky is the recipient of an NEA Award for her original musical PUDDIN' AND THE GRUMBLE, was a finalist for the Richard Rodgers Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters, and was recently honored nationally as a Chime Change Maker for her work alongside creative communities. She is also the recipient of three Mayor's Arts Awards in her hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, a former Nebraska Arts Council IAF award winner, and was honored with the Melba Cope Award at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She's a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists' Guild of America.
Becky lives in Lincoln with her husband Tyler, their two children Evan and Quinn, (and their two rambunctious Wheaten Terriers, Winston and Cheese).
In the theatre, actors in their roles are taught to identify an objective, or the thing they want most. They then strategize how their character will use their strengths to tackle any obstacles that get in the way, and pursue their goals with wild abandon. As scenarios change, so does the strategy. Actors learn to improvise and adapt in the moment, and most importantly, how to work together to get something done. Sometimes there is tension or discomfort. Other times there is great joy and cause to celebrate. In any given circumstance on stage, if actors want to achieve their goals, they must be active listeners, stay flexible, and learn to work well with others to get what they want and need.
About a decade into her stage work in the theatre, Becky started to realize how well what she'd spent her life training for translated into "the real world". As she began to explore connected career roles and nonprofit leadership, it also felt good to have the skills to connect with people a little differently than she was experiencing in traditional professional development trainings. Theatre gave her the confidence to speak up and ask, "Can we try doing this a little differently?"
People and organizations started to tap Becky to provide trainings, help create education and engagement initiatives, and to consult with leaders and teams who had big ideas, but needed that extra boost of confidence to try things in a new way.
She's still creating, too, and supporting folks as they learn to leverage the arts for good.
This is where Becky's passion and purpose aligns: helping people trust their own creativity, unique ideas, and abundant talent to accomplish their goals.
Part theatre artist, part research nerd, she's spent over a decade working side-by-side with the people of the Great Plains. tackling community priorities, co-creating education and engagement initiatives, developing high level arts programing, and maybe, in some small way, helping shift the social and emotional culture of Nebraska.
Outside of her independent work as an artist and consultant, Becky is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of BLIXT, a nonprofit that grows goodness with the arts. A published author and playwright, Becky's original plays and musicals have seen productions in Nebraska, Florida, South Carolina, West Virginia, and beyond. Becky is a public speaker and consultant, working alongside organizations to help craft messages and programing that unleashes their missions. She's an adjunct professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University, and has been teaching at Nebraska colleges and universities for over a decade.
Becky is the recipient of an NEA Award for her original musical PUDDIN' AND THE GRUMBLE, was a finalist for the Richard Rodgers Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters, and was recently honored nationally as a Chime Change Maker for her work alongside creative communities. She is also the recipient of three Mayor's Arts Awards in her hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, a former Nebraska Arts Council IAF award winner, and was honored with the Melba Cope Award at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She's a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists' Guild of America.
Becky lives in Lincoln with her husband Tyler, their two children Evan and Quinn, (and their two rambunctious Wheaten Terriers, Winston and Cheese).