Take the Pledge

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Photo: Citywide Youth Coalition + Black Lives Matter New Haven leading a march, rally, and teach-in (CityWide Youth "Take It To The Streets" by Lucy Gellman, The Arts Paper, July 31, 2020)

 

The Arts Council is committed to becoming an anti-racist organization because the lives of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people are still at risk in Greater New Haven. 

 

This past June, the Arts Council released a statement that condemned state-sanctioned violence and acknowledged that white supremacy within our own organization has damaged our community. We owe a great debt to residents who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in our region, who have not benefited from our programs and services to the same degree as white residents. 

 

We took time to determine our next steps. After several conversations among our administrative staff, interns, and Board of Directors, we are collectively committed to fighting structural racism in our organization with the urgency, dedication, and creativity that this crisis demands.

 

Today, we are announcing five commitments for this year. They are intended to help us fight white supremacy and work towards becoming an anti-racist organization:

  • Require that everyone on our team - employees, Board of Directors, contractors, and volunteers - attend The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s Undoing Racism/Community Organizing Workshop
    x
  • Facilitate affinity groups for BIPOC and white arts professionals in our region
    x
  • Develop policies to identify, report, and resolve racial harassment issues in our workplace
    x
  • Adopt an anti-racist advocacy platform that addresses arts funding, political participation, police and prison systems, housing, and education
    x
  • Secure financial resources specifically for creative projects led by BIPOC artists and collectives

We will update you on our collective progress and each year we will draft new commitments. We expect that this process will continue for many years and have a central influence for our future.  

 

Part of our process focused on identifying where the Arts Council’s assets are best realized. There are many areas where we are not suited to take action and, instead, should seek partnership. For example, we do not produce our own performances or exhibits or have experience teaching anti-racism. 

 

We hope that you will join us as partners in these commitments, but it is urgent that you make anti-racism commitments that are unique to you and your creative practice or organization.

 

   

Not just another diversity pledge.

The City of New Haven's Department of Arts, Culture, and Tourism is also organizing tools, activities, guides, and events to help you keep your commitment to becoming an anti-racist organization. 

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