How has the dial shifted on conversations about equity, diversity, and inclusion in the arts? What factors contribute to an organization’s readiness to act in accordance with its proclaimed values?
In this recorded discussion, Dr. Zannie Voss and Carmen Morgan uncover data and share stories that reflect how organizations have fared through the pandemic and how they are grappling with equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts amidst ongoing challenges.
Carmen Morgan (she/her) is a national activist leading conversations at the forefront of the field on equity, diversity, and inclusion issues. She is the founder and director of artEquity, a national organization that provides tools, resources, and training to support the intersections of art and activism. She has provided leadership development, organizational planning and coaching for staff, executives, and boards for over 100 non-profit organizations. She is on faculty of Yale School of Drama where she addresses issues of identity, equity, and inclusion in the arts.
Zannie Giraud Voss, Ph.D. (she/her) is Director of SMU DataArts and Professor of Arts Management in SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts and the Cox School of Business. Previously she was Chair of Arts Management at SMU, a Professor at Duke University and Producing Director of Theater Previews at Duke, where she transferred two productions to Broadway. Her 70+ academic and applied research articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals and as professional publications. She has co-authored Theatre Facts for Theatre Communications Group since 1998. She serves on the boards of the International Association of Arts and Cultural Management, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Dallas Symphony Association, and she is a former member of the American Academy of Arts and Science’s Commission on the Arts.
Managing Artistic Director, Farmers Alley Theatre
“Grateful to have access to such knowledgeable and passionate humans for free. These webinars and workshops should be mandatory for all arts leaders.”
RESEARCH & RESOURCES
Findings from the recent report, Pandemic Priorities: Exploring unemployment and demographic characteristics of arts and culture workforces and artists across the U.S. reveal inequities in how arts and cultural organizations retained workforces after the initial shock of the pandemic. By April of 2020, overall arts and culture unemployment rates spiked to nearly 30%, and BIPOC and disabled individuals were disproportionately affected.
For this analysis, researchers Daniel Fonner and Rebecca Roscoe examine data starting in January 2020 to establish a baseline of pre-pandemic employment characteristics and track the monthly progression through January 2022.
Co-author Tsedale M. Melaku is a sociologist, assistant professor of management at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College (CUNY), and author of You Don't Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism. Co-author Christoph Winkler is the Endowed Professor and Founding Program Director of the Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Iona College.
A report published by Pew Research Center, August 12, 2021.
Counting Together is an evolving coalition of theater artists and service professionals. Each coalition member is engaged in separate, long-term studies of race, gender, and/or disability in the American theater.