Theatre | The Guardian: The Young Vic and Royal Court theatres have entered into a pioneering consultation process that aims to identify and root out systemic racism from their venues. The artistic directors of both London institutions have signed up to a two-year partnership with the social enterprise Sour Lemons that will interrogate the internal structures that uphold institutional racism, raise awareness and accountability, and listen to staff’s experiences of racism inside the buildings.
2 comments:
I think that it is essential theaters address their many systematic issues and failures. I think that it is also essential that the way these issues and failures are addressed is done in meaningful and effective way. Too often organizations think that one anti-racist class is enough. Deep systematic change needs to occur. It is a long ongoing process of work and reflection from everyone involved with the organization. Reading this article I am glad to hear that the theater company mentioned seemed to be committed to dismantling these deep systematic failures of racism. I hope that other theater companies and just in general other companies will be committed to dismantling the many implications of white supremacy that exist so prevalently in theater still today this day. It will take meaningful commitment from everyone in the industry to work to achieve a better theater. I hope that progress will be made in the near future.
I am glad that efforts toward equity are still continuing with passion to this day, and it gives me hope for the future of the theater industry. One problem I have with the article is the fact that Featherstone claims that “the pandemic has exposed the industry’s ‘fragilities,’”, while I truly believe that anyone with eyes and a base knowledge of history can understand that there is inherit racism and discrimination embedded in the theater industry. It is good that the pandemic brought with it awareness of these facts, but the fact that people were choosing to stay blind to these issues before a forced period of reflection disappoints me. I understand that lamenting on it can be confusing, overwhelming, and frustrating. The entire industry that we have now was literally built on minstrel shows and racist caricatures, so the fact that racism has been so tightly woven into our practice over hundreds of years is likely not something we can completely deconstruct overnight. However, it is something we must take upon ourselves as artists to right wrongs that are within our power, even if the wrongs weren’t our fault in the first place.
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