Building Our Own Tables

“In practice, when we work with our community for community, it feeds us and sustains us. It’s not just a time card to check in and out… After rehearsal I’m not drained, I’m living!” Rose shares about creating Art Rat Theatre, a production vehicle dedicated to gardening anticolonial, anti-capitalist theatre for a truly diverse new era audience and catalyzing a greater network of independent institutionally marginalized, young adult creatives. 

Topics include knowing who’s in your house, unlearning, and nonlinear thinking. 

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“When friends come together to do a thing and it starts to get unclear who’s still about it and who’s moving on, it’s important to say, ok if it’s not a hobby… then what are the requirements?” Eric shares about creating The Movement Theatre Company, which engages audiences in a rich theatrical dialogue, enlightens communities to the important issues affecting our world, and empowers artists to celebrate the many sides of their unique voice.  

Topics include the collaborative leadership model of producing artistic leadership team, paying more than the minimum, and undoing global racism.

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“How many people are really pursuing their happiness right now? That’s in the BIll of Rights that we’re supposed to be doing that…We have to look at how we can ease the burden of medical debt, student debt, housing debt so we can actually all live in the pursuit of happiness.” Ann shares about creating Intimacy Coordinators of Color, which supports and promotes decolonized intimacy education and inclusive hiring practices in the entertainment industry.

Topics include living abroad, having several businesses, and creating a pedagogy. 

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“Funders aren’t actually checking, were black people harmed when they were in your space? Did you actually pay them an equitable rate? Did they feel safe? Were you welcoming?” Iyvon shares about creating The Parnsip Ship, a podcast play company that amplifies bold artists for audiences who crave accessible stories and storytellers. 

Topics include funding frustrations, helpful boards, and pandemic producing.

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“People felt like they had a home. I don’t know if you’ve ever built a theater with community before. There is an ownership and a loyalty when they feel they’ve been welcomed and they belong.” Teresa shares about creating Bishop Arts Theatre Center, which creates a diverse and vibrant arts community while creating sustainable opportunities for local and emerging artists through performances and education. 

Topics include connecting to community in meaningful ways, owning your own table, and race as a social construct.

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“These higher ed institutions are basically training people to keep these white institutions going… They teach us to go into these institutions but they don’t teach us the harms that come with the institutions.” Quanice shares about creating Arts Administrators of Color Network, which empowers artists and art administrators by providing tools and resources to advocate for equity, inclusion, access, and diversity in the arts.

Topics include coping and healing, staying away from DEI, and personal boundaries.

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“White supremacy wants to take away our ability to imagine and to create or to even fathom what an afroindigenous future could be… All of the work has been done if we look back to our Elders.” Tara shares about creating Groundwater Arts, which shapes, stewards, and seeds a just future through creative practice, consultation, and community building.

Topics include implementation of relational life ways, divestment from fossil fuels, and how to move forward with disagreements.

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“As we grew, we became eligible for institutional funding and that is when things began to change. Because all of a sudden the way we did our work had to conform with funders for us to receive our funds.” Kyoung shares about creating Kyoung’s Pacific Beat, a peacemaking theatre collective dedicated to working with artists, non-artists, and local communities to transform experiences of oppression into peace messages through performance. 

Topics include the dangers of the nonprofit industrial complex shaping the work, making theatre in times of war, and a worker-owned collective.

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“We needed to look at how we could work together, first with the BIPOC community. And then, upon completion of that assessment, we would be ready to partner with others.” Michelle shares about creating Visionaries of the Creative Arts, which is dedicated to responding to the critical needs of d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing artists who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color, in Washington, D.C.

Topics include intersectionality of race and disability justice, local, national and international community engagement, and the support of white allies. 

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