Taking the next step on inclusiveness in the arts
Over the last few months, I’ve received many responses to a column that I wrote in March about how arts organizations needed to be more inclusive of brown and black people. Arts organizations need to stop saying they want more diverse participants in their programs, then doing the wrong outreach to get us there. They also need to make sure we are comfortable in their spaces if they want us to continue participating in their programs, and bring more people who look like us there.
I received many responses to that column, with some emailing me about their own negative experiences participating in arts programs at predominately white arts organizations. The column was also shared dozens of times on social media. On Facebook, I learned about a young black woman who was told that she stunk by other white students in her dance program because she ate dinner before arriving to the class, and the aroma of her family’s meal still sat on her clothes. She never attended that class again, she said. I also read stories from other black and brown people who described their experiences of being demoralized by their white teachers and feeling isolated in their classrooms as the “token” in their classes.
I received emails from angry white men who said black people should start their own organizations, “like the Jews,” and to quit looking for handouts from white people. He said this as if black and brown people are begging to get access to these organizations and can’t. When really, it’s the organizations trying to broaden their reach and trying to figure out ways to engage non-white populations.
Some of the organizations that I mentioned in my column reached out to me for a follow-up discussion, which I appreciated, which included the Yale Center for British Art and the Shubert Theater. Other organizations were upset that I shared my experiences being the only black student in my class. One even reached out to my supervisor at the Arts Council to express her disappointment with my column, instead of contacting me directly. Thankfully, my supervisor, Daniel Fitzmaurice, the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s executive director, is supportive of diversity and inclusion.
The directors and managers from the organizations that I met with all had one similar question, “How do we improve our diversity and inclusion?” I offered them these bits of advice.
⏩ Stop assuming that all black and brown people are poor and don’t have transportation. There is a vast number of people of color living throughout the region who are middle class and upper-middle class who love the arts. Engage this population. Partner with the organizations that they belong to.
⏩ Diversify your staff and put people of color in management roles, not just in maintenance or security roles.
⏩ Be honest about your organization’s intentions. Define what diversity and inclusion mean to you. Determine what a diverse and inclusive program looks like. Ask yourself if you’re really comfortable with having 50 percent of your program attendees being black and brown people or if this change would make your donors, sponsors, other attendees and their parents (if they’re children) uncomfortable.
⏩ Monitor how black and brown people are being treated in your space. As them if they are enjoying their program. Pay attention to if they are being taunted or shunned by other people in your program. Ask them for their feedback and how likely they are to invite other people to another program hosted by your organization. Make sure your programming has something for them, as well.
⏩ Market your programs through publications that people of color consume and through other organizations that service your target demographic.
I’m grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to have these important conversations with directors of historic New Haven organizations, and I hope that we can continue to have them and make these organizations representative of their surrounding communities.