Gallery Players mourns the loss of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and Breonna Taylor, and are outraged by their deaths. The recent events have foregrounded the insidious racism that is embedded in our country. We stand in solidarity with the members of the Black community at large and, in particular, the Black artists and audience members of Gallery Players. We realize that we can do more and we must do more to fight racism in our country, and it begins with taking a stand in our own organization.
Gallery Players recognizes that it is part of a larger community – theater and otherwise – and has a responsibility to make changes for the betterment of the community. Acknowledging that we still have much to learn and there is much work to do, Gallery Players is committed to making changes to its theater-making and we will begin with the following action steps:
- Gallery is donating funds to several of the organizations from the list below.
- Gallery has committed to immediate board recruitment to ensure that BIPOC voices have seats at our table and are part of the decision making process.
- Recognizing that our recent steps towards diversifying the season programming is not enough, Gallery is committed to creating season programming with more BIPOC artists as playwrights, directors, producers, designers, and actors.
- Gallery will revisit casting notice language and consistently use language that demonstrates commitment to intersectional, anti-racist casting as well as examine the outreach to BIPOC artists.
- Gallery will investigate the barriers that keep BIPOC audience members from attending more of our productions and make our theater a welcoming space for all theater-goers.
- Gallery will change the name of its children’s education program, as we have learned that the term has racial connotations from its vaudeville history. We will be renaming the education program with something that fills participants with pride, just as the art that they create fills them with pride.
Gallery Players holds itself accountable to make the systematic and internal changes necessary to create a space that is free from oppression and amplifies the work of BIPOC voices.
Here are a few of the organizations to which you can donate your funds or volunteer your time: