Createquity.: In Createquity’s vision of a healthy arts ecosystem, each human being today and in the future has an opportunity to participate in the arts at a level suited to that person’s interest and skill. Accordingly, it’s important for us to understand the ways in which the current arts ecosystem falls short of this ideal, in particular by failing to include everyone equally or give everyone a fair shot at the opportunities they deserve.
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This article is important: the ideas, questions asked, and resources are all great and there’s a lot here to digest that I think anyone who works in the arts needs to digest. Even if you don’t ever plan on being at the helm of an arts organization, your choices can impact cultural equity. You work in this field. This is your landscape. You are responsible for how its cultivated: who you give to, who you work for, where you see shows, the people you hire, the conversations you have with colleagues… all of it can change that landscape. We should all be well informed and conscious about how we’re participating.
I was particularly interested in one of the questions the article asks: How does the level of exposure to and/or interest in arts careers and arts administration jobs differ across race and other demographics (e.g. income, education)? I think this question is especially vital. And my mind immediately went to how low or no paying internships can reinforce economic disparity within the field (only students with parents who can afford to support them or are willing to rack up and pay off debt can take them) and how that affects racial and other forms of diversity.
This is a tricky question. Though arts equity is an important problem to address, there are many things that hinder it. They mentioned some of those factors, but I think one of the most important ones is the people who tend to donate. Usually, people who donate to arts organizations are older white people. Because they are the ones giving money, the arts organization feels that they must cater to the people who give them money. There is not as strong a culture of giving to the arts among different demographics. I wonder if they instituted a program that each organization had to give a certain percentage to other arts groups, it that would help spread the money around to help the whole arts ecosystem. I really appreciated their question: “It’s worth questioning at what point most institutions tend to prioritize their own preservation over the health of the entire arts ecosystem.
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