How Grant Kretchik Is Helping To Make the Entertainment Industry More Diverse and Representative

An Interview With Guernslye Honoré

…I wish someone told me that your legacy lives in the students and colleagues that you impact, not in what you achieve for an institution or company…

As a part of my series about leaders helping to make the entertainment industry more diverse and representative, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Grant Kretchik.

Grant Kretchik is a Professor of Acting and Theater at Pace University’s Sands College of Performing Arts. He is Currently a Department Chair for BFA in Acting for Screen and Media. In his time at Pace Grant has served as Interim Executive Director, Associate Executive Director, and the head of the BFA Acting Program, a program he created in 2012.

Grant’s creative projects have appeared off-Broadway as well as film festival in Cannes, Austin, Mumbai, Japan, and London. As a theater director he has assisted Michael Grief on the first national tour of Next to Normal. Other directing project have been seen at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Zoofest (Just for Laughs) in Montreal. Grant is a contributing expert for Backstage magazine and is a contributing author to the book publications, acting for the Screen and The Ultimate Musical Theater College Audition Guide: Advice from the People Who Make the Decisions. In 2019, Grant was recognized in Washington, DC as a recipient of a prestigious Jefferson Awards of public service for his effort in championing local community voices in promoting wildlife co- existence in East Africa.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I loved acting, of course but what was always in my DNA was teaching. When I was in middle school, I was a mentor for elementary students, in high school I coached middle school, in college I coached high school, in grad school I was a substitute teacher for extra money. I wanted to be an actor or so I thought but what I didn’t know was that what I really wanted was to have theater and acting in my life. I wanted to be in conversation with the industry. At 17 or 18 I thought the only way to do that was to be an actor. So that was the dream… I know now as a career academic in a university geared toward pre-professional and professional training, I am living the dream I didn’t know I could have.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I think the most interesting thing to happen is being able to share in other passions and missions, with my husband, in particular. We’ve been involved in wildlife conservation through an organization called Wildlife Conservation Network. In partnership with them we’ve been able to engage in community-based conservation initiatives that promote human-wildlife coexistence by empowering locals to have their voice lead the conversations. We’ve worked with Niassa Lion Project based in Northern Mozambique, Ewaso Lions and Save the Elephants in Samburu, Kenya. We have even helped to found crisis programs such as The Elephant Crisis Fund and The Lion Recovery Fund. All these organizations, while they are species focused, are intentional in making sure that those living alongside the wildlife coexist and even benefit from their natural world. I say, “we” but so much of this is my husband’s mission. For me I’m deeply engaged or inspired and it’s like having a mini part-time, second career. It has been so interesting to me to find these other missions in my life that galvanized me- when I thought I could only be or do this one thing and I could only succeed if I did it fully. It is important to have other interests.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I’m sure it’s an email. I am often guilty of responding the wrong thing to the wrong person. When I was offered the opportunity to teach a college acting class, the days and times were not working. I thought I was forwarding the email on to my boyfriend, now husband, and saying something that was littered with curse words. It turned out I was replying to the department chair! Thankfully, they offered me another class the following semester. That was eighteen years ago, and I’ve been with Pace ever since.

Ok, thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main focus of our discussion. Can you describe how you are helping to make popular culture more representative of the US population?

Oh! Wow! I don’t ever think of anything I do precisely like that. You know it’s just one thing at a time. I had a mentor or hero I used to thank and tell her how extraordinary she was, and she’d reply, “All I’ve ever done is my job.” If I had to answer, I would say that my instinct with, “In The Podlight” podcast or even in my career is to provide a space for people, in particular marginalized people, in the industry to share their experience in a post pandemic landscape or to raise awareness about programs doing amazing thing to support artists in this challenging career in a very particular time. I don’t know if that’s something I’m doing to make pop culture more representative, I mean the folks we interview are the boots on the ground. They’re doing the work. At Sands College our population is made up of many identities. I wanted the podcast to reflect that.I wanted to create a space where people, in particular students, could find out more about the impressive work being done.

Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by the work you are doing?

Through, “In The Podlight,” we are creating a space where professionals from different backgrounds can reach student actors, directors, designers, writers to inspire and uplift the next generation of talent who will become the next generation of changemakers. We want the interviews to help people to identify and see themselves as a force. I think it’s too soon to know how this impacts our listener. I hope it does. That’s the point. I can say that I have been impacted by every single person who has come on and shared something about their perspective of navigating a space as a person of color, a neurodiverse person, a person who’s transgender, as a lobbyist, advocate, or ally. I learned from them. I am impacted by their stories and efforts and humbled by their generosity.

As an insider, this might be obvious to you, but I think it’s instructive to articulate this for the public who might not have the same inside knowledge. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why it’s really important to have diversity represented in Entertainment and its potential effects on our culture?

When people see themselves, hear themselves, they start to recognize that there is a place for them, that they belong. We share stories about all kinds of people and human conditions. We want to share these stories, so we can hear these voices and, in doing so, we create a unique space where these voices are welcomed and celebrated.

1. When people see themselves represented positively and authentically it can have a positive impact on that person, that community and ultimately society. We consume entertainment. In fact, our relationship to theater, film and TV can become our truth. If we fail to tell a truthful story then society will only learn to relate to that. That can be negative, even if it’s not a bad sense of relating, it can still be false and that is problematic at best and dangerous at worst.
2. Done well, done properly it can lead to a greater sense of social connection for the whole of society. Don’t we need that? I know a person who struggles with gender and race bias. It’s not who they are in their heart but it’s in their mind and experiences. I can take this person and put them in a room with someone from any background, gender identity or sexual orientation and they will walk away going, “Wow! I loved them. What A great person.” As storytellers we can do that.
3. Listen to the podcast, “In The Podlight” on “SandTalks” and our guests have far more to offer on this subject than I. The first episode airs September 10, 2024, with new episodes every Tuesday through November 12, 2024

Can you recommend three things the community/society/the industry can do to help address the root of the diversity issues in the entertainment business?

Listen- open the conversation.

Collaborate — be conscience and intentional with whom you’re collaborating with and be intentional in your effort to include more diverse thought. Diversity of thought is going to provoke the best ideas and yield the greatest possible outcome.

Elevate — Uplift the least-represented and most vulnerable voices at the table. Being any kind of minority in a room might already make one feel unsure or fearful, so be aware of that and create space for that person to contribute. Also work to not only have one minority voice in the room.

This takes setting ego aside, while trusting that you do not have to operate from a place of scarcity of opportunity and fear… it means trusting that leadership comes in many shapes and forms and (the biggest voice isn’t always the best voice.)

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

Leadership is seeing people and offering what they need to succeed. A leader doesn’t need to sit at the head of a table. If you’re in a position of power or influence don’t just allow someone to bring their own chair to the table, set a place for them. This can be in a writer’s room, a classroom or in a dining room with your peers, friends or better yet a room of strangers. For example, oh gosh…I like to hold the door for people and say hello, nod, or smile-, especially if the person coming through it appears to need it. It’s a simple way of saying, “I see you.” It might sound dumb and not an example of leadership in the way you’re asking… but it’s an example of a conscious way I try to lead my life. Operative word here is “try” sometimes I fail, but I do try. Kindness is a practice and I think that’s why the expression is “practice kindness” but practice does not make perfect… perfect is unrealistic and unattainable but it is worth aspiring to if we manage our expectations and applaud each other and our own efforts.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?

G- Yikes. Five is a lot.

I mean… Hum. I made mistakes, some regrettable, some silly, some hard but they all taught me something. So that’s hard. I appreciate the lessons even if they were painful at times. I guess I wish someone told me I didn’t have to be tall or straight and I didn’t have to win. I wish I knew that my insecurity would become my great strength. I thought for a long time that my insecurities made me flawed. Now I realize they’re my superpower. I don’t push them away, I embrace them. Without them where would one gain empathy and compassion? How do you build character? It’s like living in a world where you can’t cry or feel. So, I wish I knew that.

I grew up poor with a single mother and I spent so much time pretending to not be that. I thought I was only likable if I wasn’t poor. I was also gay in rural Pennsylvania in the late 90’s. I was gay in the early 90’s too but not out. I was also good at track and field, student government, speech and debate and theater. I was oddly popular for a poor closeted gay kid who kept trying to hide those things. I don’t know how I would have done it differently, but I know that each of those are things, I’m so proud to be now. They’re my story and my truth. Maybe I wasn’t wrong, but I was afraid, but fear isn’t the worst if you are surrounded by people who help you believe in and love yourself until you know how to. Then you pass it on.

I wish someone had told me there are a lot of careers in arts and entertainment if you aren’t an actor. I love my career and all the interesting ways I have been creative as an actor but also as a director, author, master teacher and now podcaster, too!

I wish I knew that I did not have to control the outcome but just go on the journey.

I wish someone told me that your legacy lives in the students and colleagues that you impact, not in what you achieve for an institution or company.

The older I get the more I realize how little I know. I was twenty-six when I taught my first college course. By thirty and starting to run university degree programs, helping to build Performing Arts at Pace. I had no Idea what I was doing. I wish someone had told me that doing something is more important than knowing how to do it. I think I would have relaxed a little more in the early years. I might have had better work life balance.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I don’t know about influence. I like to think I’ve helped some people. I hope I have. I’ve tried. I’m sure I’ve let some down too. Anyway, what movement would I inspire? Something environmental perhaps. We have so many important causes that folks champion, but I believe so much of that is futile if we aren’t protecting our natural resources and ecosystems. Or kindness- EMPATHY it would be an empathy movement that would cover a lot- Empathy toward the environment, toward acceptance. We must stop tearing each other down for things we fear politically or religiously. If you don’t believe in reproductive rights, fine. Did everyone’s mother tell them, “to mind your business,” growing up? Just leave others alone.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Oh my… so many. I could use 10 Dolly Parton quotes, but I think one of my favas is Theodore Roosevelt. “It is not the critic who counts; not the person who points out how the strong stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends themself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if they fail, at least fails while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

This is a quote from the early 1900’s but it resonates with me more today. We are at an age where it is so easy to critique and tear each other down. We have these devices that give us an instant platform. We react emotionally, quickly, and publicly without the time and thoughtfulness to consider each other. We are happy to be validated when others agree but we attack anyone that challenges our perceived reality or truth. We no longer stumble on diverse thoughts that we can contemplate; many seem to seek only that which provides us with a perception of being stronger, safe, or smart.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Dolly Parton. 100%. She’s an icon and her openness is as beautiful as her mystery. Does anyone know who she is? She has this ability to allow people from all different backgrounds, different political beliefs, religious beliefs, cultures to project themselves onto her without judgment. She’s referred to as the great unifier and I think it’s simply because she has no judgments. She finds the good in everything and everyone.

At the same time to be where she is there must be tremendous ego or self-assuredness and so she’s like this benevolent ego maniac who leads only with humility and generosity. She is never not her brand; she is never not Dolly Parton — is that her authentic-self? Fascinating. Then of course there’s the music, the talent. She is soundtrack of my life.

She was so poor growing up, now has amassed this tremendous wealth. I grew up very poor (like very poor) and managed to follow my dreams. I always credit my family for the love and support but in many ways, Dolly was also my inspiration. I loved her since I was 5 and she helped me see myself, see that I was responsible for working hard and pull myself up. She helped me believe that I could belong in other spaces than the old trailer park. She also showed me that no matter how far you go, always come home to your heart.

The enigma that is Dolly Parton. I want to have breakfast with her and lunch and dinner and a drink, two drinks! She has a wine brand now, ya’ know.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

@grantesinferno

SandsTalks on your streaming platform

@SandsCollegeofPerformingArts

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!

About the interviewer: Guernslye Honoré, affectionately known as “Gee-Gee”, is an amalgamation of creativity, vision, and endless enthusiasm. She has elegantly twined the worlds of writing, acting, and digital marketing into an inspiring tapestry of achievement. As the creative genius at the heart of Esma Marketing & Publishing, she leads her team to unprecedented heights with her comprehensive understanding of the industry and her innate flair for innovation. Her boundless passion and sense of purpose radiate from every endeavor she undertakes, turning ideas into reality and creating a realm of infinite possibilities. A true dynamo, Gee-Gee’s name has become synonymous with inspirational leadership and the art of creating success.