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On Minority Artist Development Programs

I’ve recently come through a number of “minority” artist development programs at a variety of major (read: primarily white and able-bodied) theatre venues and cultural institutions, and have found them to be consistently wanting in a few ways. As a theatremaker and performer engaged in transnational “minority” theatre work in both the United States and the United Kingdom, it’s frustrating to see well-intentioned programs that can serve to helpfully challenge white supremacy fail on basic programmatic aspects. I find it hard to believe that such failures would be accepted as adequate were these programs not alternately blessed and cursed with being exclusively for minorities, people of color, or other disenfranchised groups.

What is needed is an institutional reassessment of why such cultural organizations engage in such work in the first place. Is it as a diversity box-checking exercise? Are they trying to change audience demographics? Are they fattening their bottom line, ever aware of the increasing cuts in arts funding on both sides of the Atlantic? Or are these types of programs reflective of a true activist commitment to unlearn and dismantle structural inequalities? Unfortunately for that last one, exceptions like actor, playwright, and director Kwame Kwei-Armah prove to me that these institutions aren’t in the business of loosening their stranglehold on resources, preferring instead short-term “development” projects that result in minorities fighting with one another for leftover table scraps.

So, I’ve put together a few pointers that may be useful for staff at such institutions when they are tasked with executing a “minority” artist development program, one that may or may not be conceived or designed by those who implement it. Specifically, I’m speaking to middle management: to those who are simultaneously facing pressure from supervisors in offices upstairs to implement a “minority” development program and from “minority” artists on the ground who are frustrated at the program’s failures. (There is, of course, a broader discussion to be had about whether or not these programs ought to be conceived as they are from the top down and how that creates the space between a rock and a hard place that middle management inhabits. I recognize the importance of that topic, but it is beyond the scope of what I’m covering here.) Suffice it to say, for the moment, that such initiatives are sometimes as unwanted by the so-called “community” that they target as they are by those who are responsible for implementing them. When that’s the case, here are some tips on how to make the best of a bad situation.

To engage with difference is to both recognize that it exists and accommodate it on its own terms, rather than on the terms of the majority.

1. Avoid lumping.

A recent program for ethnic “minority” and disabled artists offered a standard bursary to attend programming at a major arts festival so participants like me could learn about taking work there in the future. The program connected me and my colleagues to festival programmers and artists who had presented work at the aforementioned festival in the past. Yet the program seemed blissfully unaware that additional financial and logistical needs might be relevant for colleagues of mine who had disabilities, until those colleagues advocated for themselves. This was based on a serious flaw in logic: that ethnic “minority” and disabled artists can be lumped together and treated in an undifferentiated way, as if the needs of ethnic “minority” artists and disabled artists are one and the same. To engage with difference is to both recognize that it exists and accommodate it on its own terms, rather than on the terms of the majority.

2. Recognize intersectionality.

Just because a program identifies a particular identity marker that it seeks to target or focus on doesn’t mean that the person who applies for and participates in said program is a monolithic robot. Rather, it is important to recognize that the needs and objectives that participants have for participating in such programs may differ widely from other program participants, even if they share some surface-level characteristic that the program has ascribed to them. A prime example of this came when an opportunity recently arose for me to apply for one of multiple part-time civic engagement positions that was oriented towards members of “minority" groups. I turned it down for a host of reasons, not least of which is that the creation of only a few slots for “minority” individuals continues institutional strangleholds on resources at the same time as it allows institutions to be perceived as improving opportunities for minorities despite increasing competition among them. Intersectionality is useful here, because it showcases the ways in which multiple aspects of identity must be catered to. For those unfamiliar with the term, it is worth investigating further, as it is part and parcel of the discourse used by “minority” artists on both sides of the Atlantic.

"Intersectionality Wheel," Joanna Simpson.
"Intersectionality Wheel," Joanna Simpson, A Toolkit for Applying Intersectionality (2009).

 

What is needed for true artist development is the personalization of attention and resources, meeting artists where they are rather than where a program believes them to be…It’s only through good processes that we end up with good artistic products.

3. Individualize support.

This builds on the two points above. It’s no use offering a group of (“minority” or majority) artists a series of workshops as a form of compensation for not paying them enough, and then being astonished when attendance dwindles over time. What is needed for true artist development is the personalization of attention and resources, meeting artists where they are rather than where a program believes them to be. If an institution’s approach is to commission a piece in an effort to work with artists who haven’t engaged with that institution before, it is essential to invest in what that artist wants out of the relationship so that they feel part of a collaborative process and willing to engage with that institution in the future. Where too many institutions fail in their development programming that is oriented towards “minorities” is in their preference for product over process, rather than the other way around (the renowned and respected Sundance Theatre Lab is a notable and positive exception). It’s only through good processes that we end up with good artistic products.

4. Silence institutional assumptions and respect work that is produced.

Often in the rush to create showable content like a script, sharing, or something of the sort, crucial decisions are taken out of the artist’s hands. As part of a recent monologue-writing project, the results of which were to be showcased in nearby community venues, I developed a piece that included foul language. The institution that ran the project never asked me to remove the cursing, despite asking for other useful edits to the script that made it a better piece. Yet later they claimed that it was because of the foul language that they chose to not take the piece to some community venues where young people would be present, a decision I wasn’t consulted on or made aware of until shortly before performances were to take place. (To be clear, my objection is not to their choice, but rather to how it was made.) If an artist is participating in a “development” program, how does it strengthen their craft to leave them out of dialogue on important decisions about their own work? I have no issue when an institution objects to content and form in an effort to improve a work’s quality. But it should always do so in a manner that treats both the artist and the work with respect.

5. Understand why this project is being undertaken, on both a personal and a professional level.

Theatre director Anne Bogart, in And Then, You Act, talks about the importance of “stay[ing] close to the why” when making theatre, but it’s management consultant Simon Sinek who makes the relationship between why, how, and what a bit more explicit. Starting with why we are engaging in a project allows us to ensure that how we do what we’re doing connects to our initial purpose. Too often, the ends are seen to justify the means: that if a program checks a bunch of diversity boxes and brings audiences into the theatre who might not otherwise attend, then all will be forgiven. Actually, it won’t. Word will spread among “minority” artists about the failure of such programming. This can often result in such artists choosing not to work with these institutions, despite their heavyweight status. To be sure, it is primarily white and able-bodied institutions that need “minority” artists, rather than the other way around.

6. Admit mistakes and learn from them.

After I (and other artists) completed the aforementioned monologue-writing project, the institution sponsoring it asked for quotes and sound bites about the effectiveness of the project. In this way, they assumed that the project had been a resounding success and sought to use project participants (myself among them) as a way to check off boxes about diversity and show that they were engaged in complex, innovative, and brave programming. An alternative, and better, approach would have been to conduct a thorough and in-depth evaluation of the program that was honest and rigorous in admitting its mistakes. Instead, I felt used by the institution, as it sought to further its own funding and public-relations objectives. The institution’s lack of commitment to its own growth came across as a failure to care for the artists it sought to “develop,” adding a troubling layer to an already problematic project.

"The Golden Circle," Why, How What.
"The Golden Circle," Simon Sinek, Inc. (2013).

These pointers can allow primarily white and able-bodied theatre institutions to put “minority” artists and their development at the heart of what they do, rather than on its fringes. It’s good that such organizations are interested in diversifying their artistic input and output, and it’s important that this work continues even if institutions don’t understand white supremacy or intersectionality or think that these concepts matter. But for the sake of both the project and the headache that the institution and the artists in question go through when serious miscalculations occur, it is imperative that process is privileged over product. At every moment when the end results seem to be taking primacy, I would encourage arts administrators who work at the middle-management level to return to the why of the project, and to remember that the artists they are working with are talented individuals in their own right, worthy of far more respect than they are often afforded.

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Thanks so much for this article and the helpful perspective, particularly number 6.

If I could be so bold...I would actually suggest leading with it in a list like this...as I think one of the problems that many folks run into (myself included) is that often the first response to 1-5 is that my mistakes in these areas are damnable...and I/we try to disprove them in our heads or worse out loud...

(It's also our responsibility of course to deal with that ourselves and figure it out, so I want to clearly acknowledge that too.)

In fact, the mistakes are often the best way to figure out 1-5 by experiencing the inexperience one has in a given area...and being able to honestly look at someone and go, "woah, you know, I messed up a little here, or a lot there, or I really have no idea how to do this well...how can we figure this out?" Thus making the mistakes the most potential filled moments for progress instead of retreat.

If that's said first in a list like this...then one can engage the remaining points actively looking for mistakes instead of responding/reacting to them as they are 'called out.'

Part of the equation that I think can be helpful in getting there more quickly with the hierarchical leaders in the arts...is to also constantly realize that the arts in america are an entirely abusive system, and often the folks at the top, whether more or less privileged, have had to adapt all kinds of defense mechanisms that help them rise in the ranks, and simply survive in a general economic and cultural system that marginalizes them as well...and that those defense mechanisms are painfully problematic in adequately addressing all the important points you make here.

I don't know if that sounds too All Lives Mattery, and I apologize if it does...maybe I am saying it wrong, or maybe what I am saying isn't worth saying...But I think that this is an important part of this systematic problem, and I am looking for ways to make progress more likely in as many ways as possible, and in my experience, this could help and has helped me with mentors who have engaged me on these issues.

You know...aside from a lot of white folks just getting with reality and doing all the work that has to be done on our part and really committing to it as much as we commit to things we decide about ourselves and our careers...but I think your article makes those points so well, which is why I am thinking aloud about other aspects of the issue that can help make that more likely.

Thanks again :)