Creating New Futures: Working Guidelines for Ethics & Equity in Presenting Dance & Performance
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Creating New Futures: Working Guidelines for Ethics & Equity in Presenting Dance & Performance * This document does not represent the opinion of, nor is endorsed by, any single person or institution, but is rather a living document of an ongoing, mutating conversation taking place in our field. The compilers are dependent upon your feedback about how this document can better address the needs and desires of all sibling arts professionals. Please use this form to offer feedback and please join us at a conversation about the project, REAL TALK! on Thursday, May 14 at 6PM EDT/3PM PDT. 1 Table of Contents Opening Statements by Yanira Castro in collaboration with the group Statement of Purpose…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Solidarity Statement……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………6 Transparency Statement……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8 Credits & Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 14 Artist Testimonials…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17 Field Stories by jumatatu m. poe………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18 Scene Change by Karen Sherman…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 47 Programmer Perspectives by Sarah Greenbaum, Brian Rogers & Tara Aisha Willis…………………………………………………………… 73 Grief & Institutional Paralysis ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 75 Transparency ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 76 Accountability ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 79 A Working Set of Principles & Guidelines for the Dance & Performing Arts Field by Michael Sakamoto & Amy Smith……………………………………………………………………………………………………82 Principles ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 84 Guidelines ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 85 Alternatives to Cancellation by Emily Johnson……………………………………………………………………………… 89 Contracts & Force Majeure………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 105 FRAMEWORK by Laura Colby ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 106 Thoughts on Force Majeure from a Dance Artist by Amy Smith …………………… 119 APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 121 ASPIRATIONAL FUTURE SECTIONS Artists Bill of Rights, The Creation of an Ethics Council, Funder Perspectives, Academic Institution Perspectives (Colleges/Universities), Contracts (artist-artist), Funding Initiatives to Build an Equitable Future, Advocacy for Arts Workers/All Workers - Local, State, Federal return to Table of Contents 2 Statement of Purpose “Not a one-shot conversation but a road collectively being built. Each stage can come with objectives, goals, with opportunities for targeted discourse, questions about the management and distribution of resources and anchored agendas for next steps.” - Keila Cordova, Choreographer, Keila Cordova Dances on Facebook, 3/2020 * The compilers of this document wish to recognize from the start that we do not all share the same definitions for key words like mutual, ethical, equity, risk, justice. The conversations begin there. WHO: This document is an arts worker-driven effort speaking to the dance & performance field in what is called the United States. In describing ourselves as arts workers, we consciously align ourselves with all workers. We are not exceptional. The arts workers that we are addressing directly in this document are the individuals working within the dance and performance field, including but not limited to and in no particular order: dancers, performers, artistic directors, choreographers, lighting designers, tech teams, technical directors, production managers, executive directors, programmers, stage managers, sound engineers, performing arts videographers, box office staff, funding directors, funding programmers, facility staff, sound artists, composers, set designers, prop makers, dance photographers, teachers, costume designers, producers, dramaturgs, managers, curators, marketing teams, publicists, administrative teams, artist representatives, agents, bookkeepers. We all work in the dance & performance field, and this document is meant as a service for us all. The current compilers of this document are arts workers living in different locations of what is called the U.S. and all working within the dance & performance field in a variety of roles. We are writers but also fieldworkers, sourcing accounts beyond our own. We initiated this document, and our intention is to hand it off to another set of compilers. We know that we will need many perspectives beyond our own to complete this document. Our collective mission is to put this document forward as a service to the field to engage discussion. We don’t all agree on every aspect of this document. Our goal is to encourage questions, push-back and celebration and for the document to continue changing to meet the needs of the dance & performance field. By dance & performance field we mean the non-profit spaces, organizations and people that produce dance & performance, work with dance & performing artists, or are themselves dance & performing artists. More specifically, this research centers dance & performance work being presented by non-profit return to Table of Contents 3 spaces which often, but not always, fall into a category of “experimental.” We are intentionally not using the word “contemporary,” although we acknowledge that “experimental” also brings with it a host of issues. We understand defining words to be slippery and problematic, inclusive of some and exclusive of others. We intend to be generous in our scope. By all this we mean that our research does not represent the commercial dance or performance field. Although, these guidelines could (and hopefully will) be adapted across the performing arts as a whole. In this document, we highlight *dance* because, although this current group and the people we've been currently talking to come from different backgrounds and varied aesthetics, dance is our shared focus and what we know best. Our conversations/interviews have focused on an expansive definition of dance. And since this is a document that attempts conversations on equity, we must acknowledge that dance is often (not always!) last on the list in the performing arts in regards to funding, programming, collective consciousness. As one of our artist contributors said so poignantly, “Dance is anti-capitalist in its essence because it’s anti- materialist.” Centering *dance* is important. WHAT: Creating New Futures: Working Guidelines for Ethics & Equity in Presenting Dance & Performance is a “living document” that attempts to frame principles and guidelines for conversations within the dance & performance field to shape our futures in light of the extraordinary chaos and disruption caused by COVID-19. The document addresses concerns regarding cancellations and what future work, funding, survival might look like. More pressingly, it looks beyond the present moment to address long standing inequities, deficiencies, and power imbalances in the field, which directly reflect the structures of the broader culture. The document is, ultimately, a call for radical action. We feel that acknowledging and understanding the concerns of all arts workers with transparency and respect puts us all on a better footing towards conversations to reinvent working structures within and beyond the dance & performance field. This living document is 1) a house for testimonials so that we can hear the voices of individuals, 2) a handbook for transparent conversations including putting forward principles for equity in our relations and 3) a tool for change, for radical reinvention of the field and how we work together. We acknowledge that this document is insufficient. And so, we intend for it to be in process, to be in continual conversation with the field. It is our intention that the current compilers of this document cycle off to include more voices and to ensure that this document is envisioned by as many different communities as possible within the dance & performance field. WHY: Because our systems were never working, and we all knew it. They are unsustainable, and we know it. They are inequitable, and we know it. They rely on a scarcity mentality and on the precarious labor of freelance artists working with no safety net. COVID-19 has only revealed what is TRUE. It is time for radical change, to dismantle structures that we have inherited in return to Table of Contents 4 our field from colonialism/ slavery/ capitalism/ neoliberalism and to rebuild. Because this dismantling extends beyond our field into the broader culture, this work needs to be done collectively by the entire field. This is not the work of artists alone. It is the work of institutions, theaters, funders, libraries, schools, colleges, art centers, universities, residency centers, studios. We must lead together to work and act towards equity and shared risk in our field. This is and must be a mutual effort to radically reimagine our ecosystems. “...we need to change local, state, and federal policies to make sure that creative workers are better protected, better supported, and able to succeed as the creative backbone of this country.” - Clay Lord, Strategic Impact at Americans for the Arts in 95% of US Artists Have Lost Income Due to Pandemic, Survey Says, HyperAllergic, 4/24/2020 Phase 2 We end our opening with our desires for the next phase. We wanted to get to a common reference page, a “social compact” that we could all