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Cultural Equity Resource Center
Americans for the Arts recognizes that many existing systems of power grant privilege and access unequally, and that equity is crucial to the long-term viability of both the arts and culture sector and communities-at-large. In keeping with our Statement on Cultural Equity, we are working to ensure that everyone has equal access to a full, vibrant creative life, which is essential to a healthy and democratic society. As an extension of that work, we have launched the Equity Resource Center.
OUR COMMITMENT: Read our Cultural Equity statement, learn more about the progress we have been making, and information on our extended work.
EQUITY CONSULTANTS DIRECTORY: A crowdsourced directory and community resource to lead you in connecting with a consultant that will best help your organization's cultural equity work.
FIELD RESOURCES: A one-stop shop for resources available to help you and your organization on the equity journey.
WEBINARS AND E-LEARNING: A current round-up of digital offerings to explore.
TAKE ACTION: Dive deeper into resources that can help spark change in your work and discover opportunities to get involved or learn more about current cultural equity initatives and movements.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Learn more about programs and support through the Diversity in Arts Leadership program and the Arts and Culture Leaders of Color Fellowship. Also learn more about the Arts and Culture Leaders of Color Network.
Have a resource to share? Email [email protected].
Our Commitment
Cultural Equity Statement
Statement of Recommitment to Racial and Cultural Equity
In November 2020, the Board of Directors of Americans for the Arts unanimously adopted the Statement of Recommitment to Racial and Cultural Equity. This document, which covers acknowledgements, commitments, and specific actions by the Board of Directors, further clarifies and specifies the work of the organization regarding racial and cultural equity and justice.
Black Lives Matter Statement
Field Resources
General
- CDC: Communicating with People with Disabilities
- NYTimes: So You Want to Learn About Juneteenth?
- Harvard Business Review: How Your Organization Can Recognize Juneteenth
- Harvard Business Review: What Does It Take to Build a Culture of Belonging?
- CNN: 'They need a radical restructure': Six months after January 6, Capitol Police struggling to adapt to threats
- Nonprofit Quarterly: Moving beyond Imposter Syndrome
- Nonprofit Quarterly: Missing and Maligned: Muslims “Validated” by Representation Study
Arts Education
- Hyperallergic: Introducing the Black Painters Academy, a New School Dedicated to Black Art History
- TIME: A ‘History of Exclusion, of Erasure, of Invisibility.’ Why the Asian-American Story Is Missing From Many U.S. Classrooms
- ARTNews: Cranbrook Academy Receives Historic $30 M. Gift to Promote Diversity in Students and Faculty
- Forbes: The Arts And Humanities Deliver Untapped Value For The Future Of Work
- National Endowment for the Arts: National Endowment for Arts Announces Second Round of Grants for FY 2021
Dance
- DANCE Magazine: For Dancer Kevin Boseman, Performing with Dance Against Cancer Is Personal
- DANCE Magazine: How Neurodivergence Informs Elisabeth Motley's Creations
- DANCE Magazine: How Choreographer Christopher Scott Helped Bring In the Heights to the Big Screen
- NYTimes: Aunts Is Back, Turning City Blocks Into Dance Floors
- NYTimes: ‘Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters’ Review: Still Making Waves
- NYTimes: A ‘Rogue Ballerina’ Gives a Candid Account of Ballet Culture
Museums and Galleries
- Hyperallergic: Salary Survey Shows Widening Income Disparities at US Museums. The recent survey by the Association of Art Museum Directors demonstrates a wide income gap between top officials and other workers.
- Artnet News: It’s Been a Watershed Year for the Restitution of African Artworks. But What About Objects Stolen From the Continent Next Door? European colonialism—and all the art and loot that was acquired because of it—was a global project.
- Artnet News: The Brooklyn Museum Has Voluntarily Repatriated 1,300 Pre-Columbian Artifacts to Costa Rica. The objects once belonged to the collection of Minor Keith, a railroad magnate who exported them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
- Artnet News: As Part of Its Grand Expansion Plan, the New-York Historical Society Will Soon House the City’s First LGBTQ+ History Museum.The expansion is paid for in part by a $35 million grant from New York's cultural affairs office.
Music
- Middle Class Artist: Fat-shaming. Bullying. Is Anyone Protecting Our Singers?, discusses the impact that body shaming, diet culture, and toxic environments can have on students and artists in the opera community.
- NYTimes: For These Classical Musicians, It’s Always Been About Racial Equity.The work now being taken up by large institutions has long been the purpose of many smaller ones.
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
- Louder Than Words: Disrupting Philanthropy to Create Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- ArtsBlog: Not just now, but always. Funders must center equity
- ArtsBlog: The Uncomfortable Truth
Public Art
- Artnet News: Patricia Marroquin Norby Is the Met’s First Curator of Native American Art. Here’s How She Navigates the Field’s Thorniest Issues The curator oversees the museum's new Indigenous art program.
- WAMU/NPR: An Art Installation On The National Mall Depicts Systemic Racism
- Hyperallergic: “It Makes One Speechless”: 350 Sculptures Invoke First Enslaved Africans Dana King’s sculptures surround a plinth in San Francisco that formerly held a statue of Francis Scott Key, an anti-abolitionist.
- Hyperallergic: An Indigenous Perspective on Frida Kahlo. In both in her art and personal style Kahlo promoted the construction of a mythologized Indianness at the expense of Indigenous people.
- Hyperallergic: Artists Support Victims of Surfside Condo Collapse Miami-based artists are stepping in to help the victims and families impacted by the tragedy.
- Artnet News: ‘I Got to Be the Artist I Wanted to Be’: Sculptor Maren Hassinger on What Success Looks Like for a Black Artist in America
- Yes! Solutions Journalism: Preserving Black Historical Resorts Is a Radical Act
Theatre
- Black Theatre Commons: SELF-CARE AS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT
- LA Times: The Casual Racism of Mispronouncing an Asian Person’s Name reflects on the events and impacts of an Asian actress having their name mispronounced and a photo of a different actor being displayed
- NYTimes: A Call to Diversify those Calling the Cues discusses new initiatives aim to broaden the pool of stage managers of color and introduce antiracist practices into graduate training.
- TimeOut: Every new play on Broadway this fall is by a Black playwright. The Great White Way is making up for lost time this season.
- Hyperallergic: A Staggering New Play Creates Space for Black Interiority and Grief. What to Send Up When It Goes Down holds Black people at its center, inviting unique moments of commiseration, anger, and helplessness with no apologies.
- NYTimes: New York City Awards $3 Million for Latino and Puerto Rican Theater
Webinars and E-Learning
ArtsU
Americans for the Arts' ArtsU platform is an online education forum for arts professionals to gain new skills, knowledge, and connections to further their personal and organizational goals. For educational opportunities and training resources, visit artsu.americansforthearts.org.
Digital Programs
Read, Listen, Learn: 30-Day Racial Equity Challenge (Free)
The 30-Day Racial Equity Challenge is an educational tool used to advance deeper understanding of the intersections of race, power, privilege, supremacy, and oppression. The Challenge invites participants to complete 30 short assignments, over 30 consecutive days, which include readings, videos, or podcasts.
The goal is to increase knowledge and understanding and engage people as we continue our racial equity journey. Participants are free to start at their own pace and opt out of participating along the way. The 30-Day Racial Equity Challenge is only an introduction to what we hope will be a growing and learning experience in our journey to achieving race and social equity for all Alexandrians.
Web Series: Talking Back (Free)
Presented by artEquity. “This six-part web series brings artEquity's practice of facilitating hard and necessary conversations to a broader audience. The curtain is pulled back and viewers gain insight into the activism and progress that has been achieved by theatre practitioners across the field. Through engagement with founding Artistic Directors, newly appointed leaders, and activists who have operated at all levels of leadership in arts organizations across the US, we learn what it takes to transform, not just an institution, but an entire field.”
Andrés Tapia, a diversity and inclusion global strategist with twenty-five years of consulting experience at Global 500 organizations, has a huge amount of hands-on experience with huge, complex organizations. This webinar covers the advance warning signs of performative allyship, ways to pass truly caring workplace policies, how to advocate for under-recognized colleagues, trust-building with senior leadership, and more!
Replay: Can Robust Free Speech Co-Exist with the Fight for Justice?
Produced by Aspen Ideas Now. It’s a complicated and confusing time for the idea of free speech. On the one hand, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent months, exercising their rights to free speech in defense of justice, equality, and a more inclusive America. In some cases, however, they’ve been met with military-style police crackdowns. Meanwhile, hate speech and disinformation proliferate online about everything from COVID-19 to the 2020 election. And while some might argue that there’s never been a wider variety of opinions in the ether, others argue that a culture of silencing or cancelling unpopular or offensive speech is threatening to narrow the boundaries of American discourse. Is there a middle ground in these divided times? Can we protect free thinking while promoting a more inclusive culture and protecting against the harms of speech? PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel thinks we can. She joins Vivian Schiller, head of Aspen Digital, to talk about her new book Dare to Speak.
Replay: On Power and Participation, Paul Farber (Monument Lab)
Produced by Americans for the Arts. Monument Lab's co-founder Paul Farber (He/They) offers reports of urgency and purpose for the field of public art. Over the last decade, artists, activists, and cultural organizers have pushed the status quo in public art, especially to reckon with symbols and systems of injustice. In the midst of sweeping protests against anti-Black racism, police brutality, and the carceral state, monuments continue to serve as focal points for struggle and platforms to push for new democratic visions. The reenvisioning of public art must radically change the ways we create, maintain, and engage our public art and history. Farber shares stories from Monument Lab projects and partnerships, reflections on recent monument takedowns around the world, and a wishlist and action items for the next generation of monuments.
Replay: Social Justice Series: How to Be an Ally + Antiracist
Produced by Comcast Utah. Comcast NBCUniversal is not only committed to advancing social justice and equality, but is providing a $100 million, multi-year plan to support social impact programs. As part of its partnership with the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs, Comcast NBCUniversal is hosting a virtual Social Justice Speakers’ Series where you can participate and learn how to be an active ally, anti-racist and become involved in your communities’ programs. Through this event, you will come away with tactics and strategies to actively participate in allyship and antiracism
Replay: America Public Health Association, Racism: The Ultimate Underlying Condition
This kick-off webinar of APHA's Advancing Racial Equity series examined racism and its historic and present-day impact on health and well-being. The series includes transcripts of the sessions and resources to advance your knowledge.
Replay: Centering Justice: Indigenous Perspectives on Art in Public Space
Replay: Public Art, Public Memory
Podcast Episodes
All My Relations is a team of folks who care about representations, and how Native peoples are represented in mainstream media. On each episode hosts Matika Wilbur (Tulalip and Swinomish) and Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), delve into a different topic facing Native peoples today, bringing in guests from all over Indian Country to offer perspectives and stories.
Coffee with my Ma is a podcast created by actress Kaniehtiio Horn that places the audience at the kitchen table with her and her radical Mohawk activist mom, Kahn-Tineta Horn.
CI TO EYE WITH BRITTON SMITH, Broadway for Black Lives Matter
Produced by Capacity Interactive. Britton and Erik talk about the recent Broadway for Black Lives Matter virtual forums, a public conversation about racism in theater that brought together thousands of industry players. The forum's mission was to "heal, listen, and hold itself accountable to its history of white supremacy while moving towards becoming an anti-racist and equitable space."
Whiteness at Work: Undoing the Red-Lining of Black Leadership in Philanthropy
Whiteness at Work is a podcast that seeks to highlight the ways in which systemic racism creates inhumane work environments, produces inequitable economic outcomes, and imposes traumatic experiences on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the United States. We also look at the ways in which cooperating with systems of racism, intentionally or otherwise, dehumanizes and hurts white people. We feature guests who are working to expose the ways in which white supremacy and institutionalized racism exist in organizations and who are offering solutions to these problems that are rooted in the foundations of our country.
Ken Lum and Karyn Olivier talk Art and Social Responsibility
Presented by ArtsBlog. Our September 23rd LIVE zoom event, “Art and Social Responsibility Today” with Ken Lum and Karyn Olivier, was a huge success! We were honored to welcome Karyn and welcome back Ken to revisit our original Art and Social Responsibility project, 5 years later.
¡Firme! The Latinx cuentos y arte platica By LTNX artes
¡Firme! is the real talk podcast on cultural heritage, inclusion in the pacific Northwest art community, multi-generational stories, and sharing the evolving community in Spokane, WA. Along with Chicano artist, Miguel Maltos Gonzales you'll hear from buena gente (genuinely good people) share their experiences on art, activism, social construct of gender, community, and other cuentos. Miguel is the principle artist of LTNXartes. com. The only online marketplace based in "el east WA" for POC creatives. #chicano #latino #latina #pnw #bipoc #gente #Spokane
Leadership Development
Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) Program
For pre-career undergraduate students interested in arts administration
The Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) internship program matches undergraduate students from backgrounds underrepresented in arts leadership with dynamic arts host organizations, supportive mentors, and environments for learning through professional development and site visit opportunities. Through the 10-week internship opportunity, interns will grow personally and professionally as they learn to build their future careers.
In 2020, the DIAL internship produced virtual professional development sessions for the public. You can access DIAL.studio recordings here.
In 2022, the nationwide, competitive selection process will grant paid, ten-week, internships with organizations based in New York City, and other national cities (New Jersey, Nashville, Boston, Sarasota, Raleigh). Summer 2022 programming currently aims to be in-person.
Applications for DIAL Summer 2022 open December 3, 2021.
Arts & Culture Equity Studio (ACES)
For early and mid-career arts administrators
The Arts & Culture Equity Studio, provides emerging to mid-career arts administrators access to tailored training aimed at helping leaders of color develop the skills needed to advance in the arts management field. ACES will consist of quarterly three-part professional development sessions spanning all topics regarding cultural equity in arts administration and career advancement. This studio is informed by The DIAL Labs program; recordings from the April 2020 series can be found here.
You can view the on-demand recordings from the 2021 Arts and Culture Equity Studio (ACES) for Emerging Leaders here.
Art & Culture Leaders of Color (ACLC) Fellowship
For mid-career arts administrators
The ACLC Fellowship was a one-year professional development experience for emerging and mid-career arts leaders of color across arts disciplines. The two-year pilot was a model for systemic national arts leadership change by coupling advanced leadership development for ACLC Fellows with targeted learning opportunities for their close professional mentors and regional arts leaders who, all together, work to advance their approaches to management towards greater racial and cultural equity in the Great Lakes region.
Arts and Culture Leaders of Color Network
Working with today's most promising leaders of color in the arts field, Americans for the Arts provides opportunities for the growth and sustainability of diverse arts leaders in America to share their interests with each other as they continue to participate in the arts and culture sector workforce. The Art and Culture Leaders of Color Network supports arts and culture professionals who identify as a person of color in any arts administration role. Join the Facebook group here.
Equity Consultants Directory
This crowdsourced directory is presented without evaluation as a community resource and being listed on this list does not imply recommendation by Americans for the Arts.
If you are unsure of an organization’s name, you can put keywords between % signs to yield better results. For example, %Diversity% or %Equity%.
Use the combination of Organization Type and Program Area to narrow your search. For example, the Search for Org Type Museum/Gallery or Theater and Program Area Equity will give you a list of Museums or Theaters working in Equity. If you also select the state you live in, you can limit results to organizations in your area.
We have prepared some general filters for you to begin.
To see the list of consultants working in diversity/equity/inclusion follow this link:
To see a wider range of organizations working in diversity/equity/inclusion follow this link:
To search the Arts Services Directory using your own search parameter follow this link:
You can update or add to any of the directories. If you don't have access to edit your organization’s directory listing or need assistance, please e-mail [email protected].
If you would like to add a consultant to the directory that you have worked with, please email the organization’s name and website to [email protected].
The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies has also compiled a listing that might be helpful. You can access the directory here.
Take Action
Resources to Create Change
Allyship & Addressing Racism
- Chief Learning Officer: 5 moves that actually increase diversity, equity and inclusion Nearly every Fortune 500 company offers some variety of diversity training, yet many workers still face bias and discrimination. Here are five things you can do to help reduce bias and discrimination in your workplace.
- The Muse: Are You a Good Ally at Work? Ask Yourself These Questions to Find Out
- Medium: Some Do’s and Don’ts for White People Who Want to Discuss Racism at Work This should be required reading for all workplace ‘allies’
- Medium: Seemingly Harmless Racist Phrases to Stop Saying to Mixed-Race People Mixed identity is a fraught one, with varying levels of fetishization, oppression and narratives of privilege
- Fast Company: This is the biggest mistake people make with microagressions at work Racist microagressions can take place even when people have good intentions or view themselves as allies. This is the biggest way people mess up and what to do instead.
- Time's Up Foundation: Building an Anti-Racist Workplace resource for individuals trying to challenge ideas of white supremacy and racism in the workplace.
- The online Master of Social Work program at the University of Southern California shares a Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege
- Fingerprint for Success: Women of color in the workplace: The persistent obstacles and how you can rise to meet them
Inclusive Meetings & Spaces
- Fast Company: I’m deaf, and this is what happens when I get on a Zoom call Can you hear me? No, but I can read you. A hearing-impaired product designer has his team experience his world and says we need to make work more inclusive for people living with disabilities.
- Ideas.Ted.com: How to have more inclusive meetings over Zoom
- OnStage Blog: How community theaters can be more inclusive and accessible
- ArtChangeUS: Cultural Community Benefits Principles Toolkit
Get Involved & Learn More
Support LGBTQIA+ Communities
- The Okra Project is an American grassroots mutual aid collective based in New York City that provides support to black trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people.
- Victory Fund is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ public officials in the United States.
- For The Gworls is a collective that raises funds to help Black trans folks afford essential services that are often denied to them, such as rent and comprehensive healthcare.
Stop AAPI Violence
- Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit stems from 15 grassroots organizations with Asian American bases living in the most precarious margins of power: low-income tenants, youth, undocumented immigrants, low-wage workers, refugees, women and girls, and queer and trans people.
- #AsianAmCovidStories is a YouTube documentary series exploring Asian Americans’ experiences and challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC develops projects, training, education and advocacy to advance civil and human rights for Asian Americans.
Black Lives Matter
- Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization with the mission to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.
- National Action Network is a civil rights organization with multiple chapters throughout the United States with the mission to promote a modern civil rights agenda that includes the fight for one standard of justice, decency and equal opportunities for all people regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, criminal record, economic status, gender, gender expression, or sexuality.
- Showing Up for Racial Injustice is a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial and economic justice.
- This is Not a Riot! – MutualAid.NYC is a reading list created by a group of scholars, writers, and designers affiliated with MutualAid.NYC, who believe that power is in amplifying the stories of the unheard.
