Thursday, October 21, 2021
Directors of Inclusion in Theatre Need to be more than Symbolic Positions
OnStage Blog: Last year, when I finally got the call that I had been hired, I was over the moon. Having worked in other industries, but always being a theater fan, this seemed like a dream come true. The position I was hired for was described as being a key part of leadership discussions on how to improve not only how we cast shows, but also hire for other positions, and how we value the contributions of those employed by us going forward.
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Everything this article says is all too true. It is unacceptable that so many theatres are hiring these positions and then allowing them to have no power to make actual change in the organization. What was the point of hiring then. There is so much potential for change in the theatre industry. And lot of that starts with hiring the right people to make the change. But theatres are only doing half of that job, and then the industry says “we hired people to do this, but it’s not working, we can’t change” and then go right back to their old ways. All of that is an excuse because the theatre company is scared of change and not actually willing to make it. I hope the theatre that this person works at reads this article and realized immediately that this is about them. The other concern they bring up is also so real that people that people will get frustrated and leave these positions, and I have no doubt that that is something that is already happening.
Once again, any kind of progress I feel like we could possibly be making in this industry feels so performative and this article is a great example of that. A theater company can show you any kind of face they want to and they'll even trick people into thinking that just because they've hired someone doesn't mean they'll actually follow through with any kind of change or reflection. It's all so pessimistic, I know, but from what I've seen so far, it doesn't look like it'll change. Another thing they mentioned in the article was how they felt like a prop to make the company look better and I relate to that so hard. Every time I get hired for a job, it's always in the back of my head that I'm their "diversity" hire and I'm not actually good at my job. It's hurtful and I wish people would just listen.
We are truly letting down POC by allowing theatrical orgs to get away with PR stunts like this, instead of pushing them into accepting the change that is made so readily available to them by people like this author. The way white theatre makers are going about being anti-racist, you would think they would try to fix a pipe burst with a piece of tape. Hiring someone to ‘handle it’ and then not allow them to do their job by making excuses and resisting every initiative they put forth is inherently racist, self-apologetic, and unproductive. I do feel that this often happens even here at CMU, mainly because it seems so many professors are so content with the fact that they took the ART class that they think they are done with the necessary efforts to be anti-racist. Students here are angry at the constant microaggressions they are receiving, and when we point them out and ask for corrections and an apology, we are met with indignance and frustration that is simply not our job (especially not the job of POC students) to help them deal with. White higher ups need to start putting in the work constantly, because their comfort is not more valuable than that of someone who isn’t white.
I agree with everything that was said in this article. Especially when the author stated that “it is incalculably worse to hire folks like me and not allow us to do our jobs, rather than doing nothing at all.” I found this really interesting, and I had never really thought of it that way. When you think about it, it almost is worse to hire someone to fill a position almost as if to fill a quota or “save face”, than to just not hire them at all. To give someone a job that they could be so excited for, and then not let them do what you hired them to do is disrespectful in my opinion. It may also affect the rest of the people working with you. If I put myself in a position where I worked in a primarily white environment (which isn’t hard to imagine because it already is my daily life), and I heard that a person of color was being hired as the director of DE&I, I would be so excited to see change happen. But when the odds are that no changes would ever happen because the director of DE&I isn’t allowed to do their job, it’s incredibly frustrating.
This article brings up many points that I feel are perpetuated by the School of Drama. DEI positions are important because they can bring about real change, but they have been used as scapegoats, enabling systemically bigoted insitutions to masquarade as diverse, equitable, and inclusive. I’ve been constantly told that this school is ‘committed to DEI initiatives’, but when professors and peers are explicitly and implicitly racist, any mode of action is arbitrary. There are no outcomes because we are told ‘things take time’. How long does it take for people to learn names? How long does it take for professors to learn that treating students differently on the basis of race is morally incorrect? I don’t blame the people in DEI positions--they are doing their best with the constraints and misinformation given. I blame bureaucracy and all the quiet white people who perpetuate these systems. They may have the best intentions, but their fear of discomfort pushes them to hinder DEI work. Dear white people, challenge yourself to be uncomfortable and listen to people of colour.
I ran across this article in my daily internet usage and it really struck a chord for me with organizations I’ve worked with and this institution as well. I greatly appreciate the systems that have been established in the past 2 years for DEI(diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives both here at CMU and at other arts organizations back home. However, like stated in the article, what powers are they given to actually create any change? If these organizations were really committed to DEI would they have not had these conversations or hired these people before it was popular from the momentum of Black Lives Matter protests in May 2020? It is extremely disappointing to see all of these positions hired, yet no action allowed from the people in those positions. I’ve personally seen it happen at other organizations I’ve worked with, where they express “deep sympathy” for DEI initiatives and a desire to make their space safe and inclusive, then not take any significant action to do those things and even push back DEI training because they “didn’t have the time” for it. PWI’s need to stop pretending to care and actually do something to change patterns of harm.
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