CRP Fundamentals
Transform your approach to feedback with Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process®
Build Your Expertise Through Communal Practice
Join our 8-week intensive CRP Fundamentals Program and learn directly from our trained facilitators in a collaborative, supportive environment.
Applications typically open two months prior to session start
- Winter session: January–February 2026
- Summer session: June–July 2026
- Fall session: September–November 2026
April 6-27, 2026
Application Period
April 28-May 8, 2026
Cohort Selection & Scheduling
Summer: June 2–July 21
8 CRP Circle Sessions
Tuesdays in June & July from 7-9pm EST
Fall: September 18-November 7
8CRP Circle Sessions
Saturdays this fall from 11-1pm EST
What You’ll Experience
The CRP Fundamentals Program in-depth experience in Critical Response Process® circles with Lerman-trained facilitators and a small cohort of dedicated practitioners from diverse disciplines.
Over eight weeks, you’ll:
- Practice the method in actual feedback sessions with real creative work
- Experience every role in the Critical Response Process®
- Build essential skills to recognize feedback dynamics
- Develop proficiency in facilitating meaningful critique
- Connect with peers who share your commitment to thoughtful feedback
- Receive personalized guidance from experienced CRP facilitators
Is This Program Right For You?
The CRP Fundamentals Program is perfect for:
- Workshop participants who have taken a CRP workshop with their institution and want to deepen their practice
- Self-taught practitioners who have read about CRP and are early in their practice of implementation
- Aspiring facilitators preparing for future certification
- Artists and creators with works-in-progress seeking structured feedback
Program Overview
8 Weeks of Immersive Learning:
- Weekly 2-hour virtual sessions via Zoom
- Summer session: June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and July 7, 14, and 21
- Fall session: Sept. 19, 26, Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, and Nov. 7
- Small cohort of 12-16 participants
- Hands-on practice with real creative work
- Comprehensive debriefing after each session
- Reflective analysis of critique dynamics
- Opportunities to present your own work for feedback
- Co-facilitation experience alongside trained facilitators
Certificate of Completion for CRP Fundamentals awarded to participants who attend at least 6 sessions and complete the final reflection.
If you attend 6 of the 8 circles and complete a final written reflection, you will receive a Certificate of Completion of the Critical Response Process Fundamentals Program. This designates you as having a fundamental level of knowledge in CRP.
This does not certify you in Critical Response Process – nor does it allow you to charge money to teach people Critical Response Process.
Your Completion of the Fundamentals will be taken into consideration if you decide to apply for the 10-month Full CRP Certification Program.
Investment
$1,200
Early application discount and limited scholarships available
“CRP is like a well-tended campfire.
The artist offers kindling, a work in progress to the circle. Responders gather not to judge, but to share warmth and reflection. The structured steps of CRP act like stones around a fire, creating safety, holding space, and helping the artist see their path without extinguishing their spark.”
– Mary Loder, Manager, Professional Dev & Training, EdPlus at ASU
About Liz Lerman and Critical Response Process®
Liz Lerman is a choreographer, performer, writer, educator, and speaker whose work has been recognized with numerous honors including a MacArthur “Genius Grant.” The Critical Response Process® (CRP) is her acclaimed methodology for giving and receiving feedback on creative works in progress, now used by artists, educators, and organizations worldwide.
Learn more about Critical Response Process® >
Meet Your Program Facilitators
Phil Stoesz and Sumana Mandala, certified CRP facilitators, will guide your journey through CRP Fundamentals.
Phil Stoesz (he/him) is most at home in a room full of people. He is a Certified Critical Response Process Trainer – a practice that constantly waters the soil of all his facilitation and process design work. His facilitation is grounded in service, imagination and meaning-making – values that come from his Mennonite heritage, queer identity, and theatre training. He has co-led workshops in CRP for the Arizona State University, the Michael Chekhov Institute, the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Plaid, Google, and in dozens of other classrooms, studios, and small conversations across the dinner table. Learn more about Phil here.
Sumana Mandala (she/her) is a certified trainer in the Critical Response Process (CRP) and Bharata-Nrityam artist and teacher. Through CRP and its values, she centers the importance of every voice in learning together and the related principles of responsibility + response in any space she enters. Sumana’s training in racial justice facilitation and sexual and domestic violence prevention infuses her practice of CRP with the depth of new perspectives. Her ongoing project Look into my Voice, Hear my Dance uses CRP to facilitate survivors of sexual/domestic violence telling their stories in collaboration with practitioners of Indian dance. Sumana is especially interested in using CRP to develop new dance-works, promote healthy relationships among youth, create awareness about violence prevention, and enhance equity in educational settings. Learn more about Sumana here.
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We will never ever ever sell or share your name.
photo credits: Courtney Lively, Lise Metzger, Neda Movahed
