Here are the steps that we have put in place to build a deeper and longer commitment to change and systematically do this work:

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR BIPOC ARTISTS AND STAFF

• We followed through on our promise to hire 50% or more BIPOC designers and directors this season, as well as continuing to engage at least 50% BIPOC playwrights for our New Works Festival and Commissions.
  
  
• We’ve begun hiring BIPOC photographers for promotional shoots, providing fair compensation as well as linking our patrons to their work.
  
  
• All artists who appear at events or engage in work outside of their contracted duties are now paid for the additional work.

• We’ve created a Literary Department and structure that includes more diverse voices.

• We’ve hired a Director of Arts Engagement to continue to expand our community partnerships.

• Our hair/wardrobe crews have received training and awareness building in working with actors with textured hair. We have acquired more styling tools and products for these specific needs, and have hired wig designers with expertise in working with textured hair as well as styling wigs. When actors are cast, we ask about their hair needs up front so we can accommodate their specific and diverse needs.

PRODUCTION POLICIES

• We now budget for, hire, and empower Cultural Consultants whenever appropriate.
  
  
• We have engaged an Artist Counselor and Intimacy Coordinator to support the cast and other artists as they work through difficult material.
  
  
• If we are casting cross-culturally or multiculturally, we discuss the political, social, and historical ramifications of the interpretation, being conscious of the choices we are making and the effect on the storytelling/authenticity of the play, as well as what we are asking of the actor.
  
  
• In situations where TheatreWorks plans to reimagine works, (like Little Shop of Horrors in 2022), we work to proactively clear these changes with rights holders.

• We have eliminated the use of the term “Most Favored Nations” – we continue to work towards equitable pay amongst our artists and in the extenuating circumstances in which some artists are being paid at a different rate, we are transparent of this fact in our contracts and riders.
  
  
• When outside casting agencies are engaged, we make sure to explain TW’s policy regarding culturally specific casting.
  
  
  

HIRING PRACTICES

• We’ve created a standardized template for all job posting, which includes position description, reporting structure, company core commitment to EDI and anti-racism work, and a posted salary range. We’ve eliminated language that creates barriers to traditionally underrepresented groups. All job postings are now reviewed by at least two individuals aside from the author, at least one of whom must be BIPOC.
  
  
• Search firms will be vetted for adherence to IDEA principles and will have a diverse team, ideally led by BIPOC search consultants.  Search firms must prove that they have a commitment to anti-racist practices and that all team members have undergone anti-racism training.

• For positions where we may not be working with search firms – we are committed to increasing our job posting reach through diversity job banks.
  
  
  UPDATES TO PATRON EXPERIENCES

• We’ve hired a Patron Experience Coordinator to help cultivate audiences and ensure all patrons feel welcome in our theatres.
  
  
• We’ve created a Community Agreement that is posted on our website, in the lobby, and in the digital program for each show.
  
  
• A Land Acknowledgement is now spoken before every performance, included in our show programs, lobby signage and posted on our website.

• We have added ASL interpreted performances to all of our productions in addition to our ongoing accessibility programing which includes our audio described and open captioned performances.

ONGOING ANTI-RACISM WORK

• Both TheatreWorks staff and the Board of Trustees engaged with IDEAA consultant Randi B in 2021 and EJIC (Equity Justice for Institutional Change) as consultants throughout 2022-2023, holding monthly sessions to help us continue to move toward being an anti-racist organization.

• In alignment with the WSYWAT demands and the efforts of TheatreWorks staff, the “Rules of Play,” like a code of conduct, have been developed to guide the behavior of board members, individually and collectively.  We have outlined here the consequences of failing to adhere to these rules.

• We adopted an Inclusivity statement, which is read at all first rehearsals and is included in written form for all employees upon hiring, posted in the workplace, posted on the website, and included in the Staff Handbook.

• Our previously established IDEAA staff collective continues to meet monthly.

As of February 19, 2021

Here are the steps that we have put in place to build a deeper and longer commitment to change and systematically do this work:

• We have shared the demands and valid issues brought forth by We See You White American Theatre with our full board, our entire leadership team, and our IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) collective. We are working at the staff and board levels to prioritize these demands and issues in order to implement the policies, procedures, and cultural changes we need to make to move us toward an anti-racist future.
  
  
• We have retained an experienced consultant (Randi Bryant) to provide facilitation and training of anti-racism and IDEA work.
  
  
• We held our first full board of trustees retreat on anti-racism with our consultant in November of 2020 and are also holding IDEA-focused sessions with our board of trustees over the next 3-4 months. The first one was held on January 25, 2021.
  
  
• We are building on the work of our IDEA collective to rigorously look at the policies and procedures that we need to reevaluate in order to make meaningful change.
  
  
• We have conducted staff and board surveys to understand where we are on the continuum of becoming an anti-racist multicultural institution. These results are helping to guide us on our next action steps.
  
  
• Our staff is conducting weekly mini-seminars with our consultant on the following subjects: charting where you are on IDEA and where you want to go; fostering diverse and inclusive environments; language and its impacts on IDEA efforts; strategies for navigating difficult conversations around IDEA issues; insider and outsider dynamics; privilege and potential blind-spots for insiders, and risks of exclusion, disenchantment, and disenfranchisement that may accompany outsiders; self-assessing cultural competency.
  
  
• We have created the new staff position: Director of Community Partnerships. This position will create long-term, trust-based, and reciprocal relationships with BIPOC and under-represented communities throughout Silicon Valley, the Bay Area, and beyond.
  
  
• We have launched initiatives to build programming that shines light on social justice and racial equity. Examples include our Voices of Democracy initiative (launched in fall of 2020), and Simple Gifts, our multicultural holiday celebration (streamed throughout December of 2020). We will continue to work towards this in the development of our future seasons and festivals. We will also be promoting A Kids Play About Racism as a virtual school tour in spring of 2021, which will include post-show workshops with actor and writer Davied Morales.
  
  
• Recent updates to our newly announced Season 51 include two more playwrights of color.
  
  
• Updates to our new works development process include our recent Writers’ Retreat, which celebrated diverse artistic teams and new voices that we plan to champion as we invigorate our commitment to multiculturalism. Our future seasons and festivals will reflect and reinvigorate that commitment.

As of September 28, 2020

Here are the steps that we have put in place to build a deeper and longer commitment to change and systematically do this work.

• We have shared the demands and valid issues brought forth by We See You White American Theatre with our full Board, our entire leadership team, and our IDEA Collective.
  
  
• We are working at the staff and board levels to prioritize these demands and issues to implement policies and procedures and cultural changes we need to make to move us toward an anti-racist future.
  
  
• We will host a retreat with our full Board dedicated to this topic in November.
  
  
• We have retained an experienced consultant to provide facilitation and training of anti-racism and inclusion, diversity, equity, and access work.
  
  
• We are building on the work of our IDEA Collective to rigorously look at the policies and procedures that we need to reevaluate in order to make meaningful change.
  
  
• We have created the new staff position: Director of Community Partnerships, which will create long-term, trust-based, and reciprocal relationships with BIPOC and under-represented communities throughout Silicon Valley, the Bay Area, and beyond.
  
  
• We have launched initiatives to build online programming that shines light on social justice and racial equity. We will continue to deepen and grow these programs moving forward.

Open letter from TheatreWorks' leadership, May 2020

To the TheatreWorks Family and Community,

TheatreWorks has, since inception, had at its very core a belief in the shared humanity of all the world’s citizens from every race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability. The recent brutal murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and Ahmaud Arbery in Southern Georgia point to an ongoing disease, a virus, a pandemic of racism and discrimination that has plagued America for over 400 years.

We are devastated about the senseless violence that has broken the hearts and trust in justice of so many of our fellow citizens. As an arts organization we stand firm in our resolve to continue to tell the stories of those whose voices are too often silenced. We hope and believe that the theatre we produce and the resulting democratic dialogue we engender can be an essential component in our society’s ability to one day achieve justice and equality for all. We believe that Black Lives Matter and that we must as a nation work together to dismantle structural racism that dehumanizes and destroys the Black body.

In this moment of national anguish and profound unrest we have decided to temporarily suspend our online programming for a period of reflection and out of respect for the gravity of these concerns. The upcoming online reading of Pandora, by Laurel Ollstein, will be rescheduled at a time to be announced at a future date.

We are committed to making theatre that celebrates the human spirit and builds bridges between communities and individuals from diverse backgrounds. We recommit our theatre to seek ways to connect and engage more deeply with communities of color in and around the Bay Area. We stand in solidarity with our Black artists, staff members, board members, audiences, donors, and volunteers. We encourage you, our community, to seek ways you can contribute to making the world a more equitable place for us all. Below are some resources we would like to share.

May we all someday be able to equally celebrate the human spirit in harmony and peace.

Tim Bond, Artistic Director Designate
Robert Kelley, Artistic Director
Phil Santora, Executive Director

ORGANIZATIONS FOR DIRECT ACTION

National

Color of Change
https://colorofchange.org/

Anti-Racist Research and Policy Center:
https://antiracismcenter.com/

Black Lives Matter - What Matters 2020
https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-matters-2020/

In the Bay Area

San Jose African American Community Service Agency:
https://www.sjaacsa.org

San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP:
http://www.sanjosenaacp.org

Silicon Valley Debug:
https://www.siliconvalleydebug.org

Showing Up for Racial Justice Bay Area Chapter:
https://www.surjbayarea.org

FURTHER RESOURCES

Letters for Black Lives: For those of us who come from immigrant families, Letters for Black Lives offers explanations of the Black Lives Matter movement in dozens of languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Russian, and more.

Black Youth Project: Video on the differences between being "non-racist" and "anti-racist."

The Okra Project: The Okra Project is a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home-cooked, healthy, culturally-specific meals and resources to Black Trans people wherever they can reach them.

Anti-Racism for Asian Americans: A three-pronged approach for Asian Americans who want to begin cultivating an anti-racist mindset.

Shifting the Culture: An organization founded by three POC women that do consulting, training, and workshops on anti-racism, Equity Diversity and Inclusion, and sexual harassment prevention.

New York Times "Anti-Racist" Reading List

Anti-Racist Reading List from Ibram X. Kendi

'White Fragility' Author Robin DiAngelo on What White People Can Do to Address Racism on KQED

'Interrupt The Systems': Robin DiAngelo On 'White Fragility' And Anti-Racism on NPR

Code Switch on NPR

Brené Brown with Ibran X. Kendi on How to Be an Antiracist

Black-Owned Restaurants, Pop-Ups, and Caterers in the Bay Area

FAITH-BASED RESOURCES

Jewish Racial Justice Resources:
https://jewishsocialjustice.org/jewish-racial-justice-resources

Muslim Anti-Racist Collaborative:
http://www.muslimarc.org

Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S.

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America

FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES