As a new artistic season gets underway, we are reflecting back on all the things we learned in our 2020-2021 Season. In addition to figuring out new technology and curriculum, like many theatre companies around the country, A.B.L.E. took a hard look at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and how we can do better for our community.
In June 2020, as the country faced a long-overdue reckoning with race after the murder of George Floyd, A.B.L.E.’s leadership released a statement on the Black Lives Matter Movement. We followed this up with a larger statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion which included several concrete goals for our 2020-2021 Season.
As part of our pledge to remain accountable and transparent, here’s what we accomplished in our 2020-2021 season, and what we need to work on in the 2021-2022 season.
1.Goal: Creating a Diversity Equity & Inclusion task force composed of board members, staff, and volunteers, that will assess the organization’s DEI efforts and propose initiatives that encourage greater diversity.
Progress: Our DEI committee held its first meeting in July of 2020 and met every other month throughout the fiscal year. The committee includes:
Nancy Buchanan - ABLE Parent & Board Treasurer
Jenny Fisher - Board Secretary
Maddie Rostami - Facilitator
Marcela Sarmiento - Board Member
Beth Sherwood - Facilitator
Katie Yohe - Founder & Executive Artistic Director
We shared various resources to strengthen our own learning and talked through several key initiatives including designing ABLE’s first diversity survey, developing plans for the new Program Advisory Council and Supporting Artist program, and drafting our first-ever Land Acknowledgement for Romeo & Juliet Remix.
Looking forward: Our DEI Committee will continue to meet monthly to share their ideas and keep us on track. We will post more regular updates on our work. In addition, in FY22, we will also launch our Program Advisory Council and Supporting Artist Program to ensure our ensemble members with disabilities have an active voice in growing our program leadership.
2. Goal: Adhering to a new matrix for Board recruitment that ensures a range of backgrounds are included in organizational leadership, and recruit at least 1 new member into the Board of Directors under these guidelines.
Progress: A.B.L.E.’s board matrix weighs professional expertise alongside personal lived experience to help us evaluate prospective board members. This year, we welcomed Joe Marren to the Board. Joe brings a much needed financial background as well as personal experience as a family member of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Looking Forward: We will continue our efforts towards diverse board recruitment, prioritizing board members who have a lived experience of disability, and/or those who come from historically under-represented groups. Do you know someone who might be a good fit? They can read more about board service and fill out an application here.
3. Goal: Contracting 5 guest artists who will share their cultural experiences with our ensembles, and introduce stories outside of the Western canon.
Progress: In the fall of 2020, A.B.L.E.’s ensembles welcomed guest artists Varshini Pichemuthu and Claudia Rebolledo Sanchez from Rootprints Theatre, John Nyrere Frazier, and Myrto Papoulia. These 4 talented storytellers shared myths from Southeast Asia, South America, West Africa, and Greece (see some of our workshops here). Through these myths, we saw how people around the world have used stories to explain the world around them, teach lessons, and solve big problems. In the spring of 2021, we worked with ASL Master Crom Saunders to learn the Prologue for Romeo & Juliet in American Sign Language. Crom gave our entire ensemble a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of American Sign Language, and helped us learn new aspects of Deaf culture, like sign names. We also encouraged audiences to learn along with the ensemble through our #SignSaturday series on social media.
Looking Forward: We acknowledge there has been a lot of gatekeeping to joining A.B.L.E’s teaching team. This fall, we are overhauling our process for recruiting and training new teaching artists so we can appeal to a wider pool of applicants. This includes increasing pay rates for our teaching artists and key staff. We will also continue to invite regular guest artists to share diverse perspectives and voices with our actors. When it is safe to return to in-person sessions, we hope to establish new venue partners outside of our current artistic home in Lincoln Park.
4. Goal: Removing barriers to participating in virtual sessions by providing technology stipends for volunteers and teaching staff, and offering equipment loans for those who need reliable devices.
Progress: A.B.L.E. offered $4,250 in technology reimbursements to assist with remote programming. We also grew our equipment library to include one touch screen laptop, 2 mobile hotspots, and an iPad thanks to several generous in-kind donations.
Looking Forward: Expand the Technology Assistance Initiative by matching expenses up to $50/month for our volunteer facilitators. When we are able to return to in-person programs, these same funds will be available as a travel reimbursement so staff and volunteers can get to and from rehearsals safely and without incurring a financial burden. We will also work to make our tech loan program more transparent and easily accessible so families and volunteers feel comfortable asking for assistance if they need it.
5. Goal: Continuing our own learning through anti-racism and implicit bias training and workshops for our staff, and sharing our learning with the wider A.B.L.E. community.
Progress: We compiled a list of resources for our actors, caregivers, and community members to help learn and reflect about race at home. This has been shared in our newsletter and is linked on our website. You can view the list here. We also expanded our Professional Development Trainings to include issues around Disability Justice.
Looking Forward: Continue our learning through organization-wide training with a focus on implicit bias, disability history and justice, and issues surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community. We will also engage our wider community by offering resources through our newsletter, spotlighting other applied theatre companies, and sharing our best practices through professional development training for teaching artists and arts professionals.
6. Goal: Developing and deploying a diversity survey of participants, staff, and volunteers. These results will serve as a benchmark for our diversity and inclusion efforts, so we can track our progress over time.
Progress: In March 2021, we completed our first organization-wide diversity survey and had 57 responses (out of 79 people invited). The survey confirmed what we already knew - that A.B.L.E. is a largely white organization, and we must work harder to ensure individuals of different racial and ethnic backgrounds feel included in and represented by our work.
Looking Forward: Set concrete short and long term goals based on the results of our diversity survey. In addition to striving for more diverse racial and ethnic representation, our benchmark survey also highlighted the importance of ensuring the financial accessibility of our programs, recognizing and supporting our many LGBTQIA+ community members, reaching different age ranges with our work.
As a new season starts, we reaffirm our ensemble pact:
We are an ensemble. We have to work together and support each other. We will listen, focus, respect each other, try our best, and have fun.
This is the promise we make to each other as an ensemble, but also the promise we make to our entire community as we continue to learn and grow together.
We pledge to listen. If you would like to contribute to this conversation, click the button below to contact our DEI Committee.
