Organizations and Reports/BIPOC Demands:
A collaborative network of more than 300 BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) theatermakers released Principles for Building Antiracist American Theatre and BIPOC Demands for White American Theatre. BIPOC Demands to WAT
The Black Artist Coalition is an assembly of DMV artists and advocates from the Black community who are committed to regionally improving the status of Black actors, theater art administrators, theater designers, and stage directors by adopting and enacting racial, cultural, and ethnic policies that are equitable; advocating for language and stories of inclusivity; representing the collective mindset of the organization; and by offering support to Black artists to hold accountable and dismantle biased practices within regional and local arts organizations.
Arts Administrators of Color Network (AAC) is a nonprofit organization committed to empowering arts leaders by providing opportunities, tools, and resources to advocate for access, diversity, inclusion, and equity in the arts for all. AAC is establishing the Accomplices Leadership Institute (ALI)—which is geared toward white folks in the arts field who are interested in dismantling systems of oppression and racism in their everyday lives and workplaces and ultimately achieving liberation for all.
Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP): The APAP board of directors and staff incorporate Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) as one of APAP’s top priorities, woven into all its organizational activities and strategic directions. We commit to the work of REDI with openness and deep institutional commitment, realizing that REDI is a sustained practice that rejects tokenism and instead embeds equity across the performing arts field. Recognizing that all peoples, cultures, genders and their performing arts contribute meaning to and understanding of our humanity, we promote the collective power of multiple voices. We are dedicated to support REDI work that has purpose for APAP membership and leads to meaningful, sustainable action in advancing access, equity and inclusion in every part of our field. Through REDI efforts with our members, allies, and partners, we strive together to create a more just performing arts community.
Discussions:
Roundtable discussion and blunt exchange about whiteness, trauma, funding and foundational institutional change. featuring several African American male theater leaders.
For BIPOC women in theater who have had enuf: A roundtable on resistance. In light of #WeSeeYou, Regina Aquino, Thembi Duncan, Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi, Paige Hernandez, and Deidra LaWan Starnes have their say.
Racism within DC area theatres. Roundtable discussion between seven gender diverse artists in the theater community talking about the barriers that Black women, femmes and nonbinary folx face in the community.
Interviews:
A Q&A with Nicole Brewer, a passionate advocate for anti-racist theater. She has spent the last seven years refining and practicing an inclusive method of theater training and practices that she calls Conscientious Theatre Training (CTT). She has authored four articles about the need for the theater industry to shift from racist and oppressive models to anti-racist and anti-oppressive. Her article “Why ‘Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion’ Is Obsolete” was reported by American Theatre magazine as one of their top ten most read stories of 2019.
Interview with Amy Smith and Kris Smith, co-facilitators of the first-ever Accomplices Leadership Institute (ALI) cohort, to talk about ALI’s pilot program. Amy Smith, dance artist and non-rofit business consultant in the arts, centers her work on supporting artists who have been historically under-resourced, specifically women, trans artists, and artists of color. Kris Smith, a trained social worker, facilitator, and visual artist, works to impact structural change around issues related to healing trauma, anti-racism, and equity.
Reports:
Here are some resources and reports about the economic benefits of diversity.
BCRE-National-Report2018 – “The Business Case for Racial Equity” conducted by the Kellogg Foundation
Delivering-through-diversity_(McKinsey)2020 – “Delivering Through Diversity” conducted by McKinsey & Company
Diversity Matters2015 – “Diversity Matters” conducted by McKinsey & Company
EDI Consultants and Experts:
Monica Almond, The Almond Group: www.almondgroupllc.com
Art Equity: https://www.artequity.org/
Ed Ally: https://www.edallyconsulting.com/
Wayfinding Partners: https://www.wayfindingpartners.com/
Hart Learning Group: https://www.hartlg.com/
Black Theatre Network: http://www.blacktheatrenetwork.org/
Embracing Arlington Arts 