Looking Forward: New Year, New Action

To our beloved community—

Six months ago, we wrote to you about our commitment to begin a process of getting in right relationship with ourselves, our community, and our values. We saw the hard truths that we are not yet the anti-racist organization we want to be, and that we have a lot of work—unceasing work—to do in order to get there. Now I’d like to share with you the work we’ve done so far and the work we plan to do in the first half of 2021.

Led by our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force of seven board and staff members, we are now in the mid-point of a yearlong, four-part process of Reflection, Detection, New Action, and Evaluation. This framework comes from Melody Capote, Executive Director of Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), as part of CCCADI’s Anti-Racism Training Institute. After a period of Reflection over the summer and Detection in the fall, we are looking forward to a time of New Action in the new year.

In the DEI Task Force’s first meeting, we identified five areas of activation for anti-racist action within our organization:

  1. Board 

  2. Staff

  3. Artists & Programs

  4. Audience, Donor, & Community Engagement

  5. Policies & Practices

For each of these areas, we have now identified specific goals for growth and specific action steps to take in the first half of 2021. Some of these goals are achievable in the next six months. Others may take years of strategic planning, investment, and action. All of them are necessary, doable, and possible to advance significantly in the coming months. I’m pleased to report that our board enthusiastically endorsed each of these goals and action steps at our meeting this past week. Please see below for the full Spring 2021 New Action Plan.

The past six months have been a period of reflection and detection not only for the Center as an organization I co-lead, but for me as an artist, an arts administrator, and a White man raised and indoctrinated in our systemically racist society. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity for learning and growth created by the activism and emotional and intellectual labor of so many Black folks, Indigenous folks, and People of Color — and some White folks too. The wisdom and teachings of Nicole Brewer, Melody Capote, José Rivera, Winona La Duke, Derrick McQueen, Ibram X. Kendi, Robin DiAngelo, and all the student activists of the Brooklyn College Theater Department have been especially influential for me during this time. This work would not have been possible without them.

The work continues. Now the work begins.

Wishing you all safe & happy holidays, and a new year of healing, growth, and liberation,

Zachary Tomlinson
Artistic Director
The Center at West Park

 
 
 

Spring 2021 New Action Plan

BOARD 

  • Goal: Our board members will be informed about and actively engaged in dismantling systemic racism and white supremacy. 

    • Action: 

      • Step 1: Board members will engage in an anti-racism self-education activity, such as reading a book, watching a film, listening to a podcast, or attending a workshop in the first quarter of 2021. We will provide a list of recommended resources centering BIPOC voices for self-education, and the DEI Task Force will sponsor a conversation where board members can share what they learned with each other. 

      • Step 2: We will engage a professional facilitator to lead an anti-racism training designed for boards of nonprofits and arts & culture organizations in the second quarter of 2021. 

  • Goal: Our board will be representative of our community of service: the diverse artists, audiences, and cultural communities of New York City. 

    • Action: The DEI Task Force will work with the Board Nominating Committee to make a plan for board cultivation that centers NYC communities and backgrounds that are under-represented on our board. 

STAFF

  • Goal: Our staff members will be informed about and actively engaged in dismantling systemic racism and white supremacy. 

    • Action: 

      • Step 1: Staff members will continue self-education activities such as reading books, watching films, listening to podcasts, and attending anti-racism workshops on a regular basis. 

      • Step 2: Staff members will attend an annual anti-racism training designed specifically for arts & culture workers in the first half of 2021. 

  • Goal: Our staff will be representative of our community of service: the diverse artists, audiences, and cultural communities of New York City

    • Action: The DEI Task Force will draft a hiring policy to ensure that applicant pools for new staff hires are diverse and inclusive. 

ARTISTS & PROGRAMS

  • Goal: Our Resident Artists will reflect the racial, economic, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religious, and immigration status diversity of New York City. 

    • Action: We will begin a pilot program of paid Guest Curatorships for artists of diverse and under-represented backgrounds to redesign and curate our Fall 2021 season of performing artist residencies.

AUDIENCE, DONOR, & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

  • Goal: Our audiences and supporters will reflect the racial, economic, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religious, and immigration status diversity of New York City. 

    • Action: We will institute a practice of surveying and connecting individually with our audiences and donors to deepen our understanding of their backgrounds and identify underrepresented communities. 

  • Goal: We will build equitable partnerships with BIPOC-led and BIPOC-focused organizations in the arts and culture sector of the New York City area and beyond. 

    • Action: We will begin a program of outreach to organizations in our neighborhood and circles of community to explore potential partnerships. We hope to meet with at least three new organizations in the first three months of 2021. 

POLICIES & PRACTICES

  • Goal: We will acknowledge the history of the land where we are privileged to be and honor the legacy of those who came before us and called this place home, including the Munsee Lenape, the free Black and immigrant community of Seneca Village, and the LGBTQ+ and allied activists like the More Light Presbyterians and God’s Love We Deliver. 

    • Action: We will write a land acknowledgement that will be shared as part of all our public programs going forward. This will be a living document that will evolve as we deepen our understanding, relationships, and commitments. 

  • Goal: We will continually work toward being a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, anti-racist, and accessible organization. 

    • Action: We will provide updates to our community and the public about our progress on at least a quarterly basis, and we will produce a report for June 19, 2021 with a reflection on the year’s process, what we learned, what we struggled with, and where we go from here. 

 
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