We See You. We Hear You. We Will do Better.
(Tuesday, June 2, 2020) There are cries in our community that we have ignored and there are injustices every day that we have not challenged. We are horrified by the violence against Black America and move forward with renewed dedication to fighting systemic racism and white supremacy. This challenges us not only as artists, but also as humans. While we have always encouraged conversations and social justice to occur within the four walls in which we operate, we have been lacking in getting these conversations to penetrate our community any further than our front door. This must and will change. Please hold us accountable as we make this commitment to match our words and our work on stage, with action. On behalf of the entire Staff and Board of ATC, we support our Black community in their revolution and proclaim loudly that BLACK LIVES MATTER.
(Wednesday, July 15, 2020) Executive Director, Chip Decker emailed our artists, past and present, about our commitment to becoming an actively anti-racist organization. Read the statement here.
Some of Our Commitments Include:
- Review the ATC Mission Statement through the lens of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)
- Rebuild complicit programming habits that favor white cis voices as the “norm” in order to create space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) voices and stories as we move forward.
- Dedicate ourselves to color conscious casting that supports employing more BIPOC throughout our season, from backstage to front of house.
- Cultivate partnerships and reexamine our purchase patterns to reflect our support of Black, Latinx, and minority owned businesses.
- Create criteria to encourage submissions from BIPOC playwrights and stories through our nuVoices New Play Festival.
- Engaging all staff and board in Anti-Racism and EDI training.
- Provide educational support and comparative resources for ATC’s Cultural Equity Committee, which was formed in 2019 to address equity, diversity, and inclusion.
- Diversify board and staff by actively seeking BIPOC to join our team.
- Be willing to be uncomfortable by listening more and learning from our mistakes.
- Develop a set of core values to ensure these commitments are demonstrated in our daily business practices.
Photo by John Merrick / Artwork by Dammit Wesley, Dakotah Aiyanna, Zacc Mclean & Ty Adams w/ Najo Al-Ali, Abel Jackson, Garrison Gist, Owl & Arko, Kyle Mosher w/ Zachery Peele, Franklin Kernes w/ Lo’Vonia Parks, Kiana Mui, Marcus Kiser & Jason Woodberry, Georgie Nakima, Matthew Clayburn, Frankie Zombie, CHD:WCK!, John Hairston Jr., Dari Calamari
Resources for Continued Discussion
EDUCATE: Articles and Videos
- 137 Ways to Donate
- 50 Years of Racism – Why Silence Isn’t the Answer
- Antiracism Resources
- Antiracist Allyship Starter Pack
- Black Feminism and the Movement for Black Lives
- Daring Discussions Guide
- Educational Resources from Black Lives Matter
- How Black Lives Matter Changed the Way Americans Fight for Freedom
- Justice in June
- Scaffolded Anti-Racism Resources
- What is Systemic Racism?
SUPPORT: Black Charlotte Artists
- Brand New Sheriff Productions
- Charlotte Coalition of Anti-Racist Artists
- Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts+Culture
- North Carolina Black Repertory Theatre (Winston Salem)
- On Q Productions
- WoC Theatre
SUPPORT: Eat, Drink, and Buy in Charlotte
- #BlackOwnedCLT: Charlotte’s Black Business Directory
- Charlotte Agenda: How to support Black-owned businesses in Charlotte
- Charlotte Five: 100+ Black-owned restaurants and local businesses in Charlotte
- Q City Metro: List of Charlotte Black-owned restaurants for take-out and delivery
WATCH: Movies/TV Shows
- 13th
- Dear White People
- King in the Wilderness
- Loving
- Moonlight
- The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
- The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
- The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
- The Hate U Give
- Reconstruction: America After the Civil War
- Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story
- Teach Us All
- The Murder of Fred Hampton
- Time: The Kalief Browder Story
- When They See Us
- Whose Streets?
LISTEN: Podcasts
- 1619 (New York Times)
- About Race
- Black History Year
- Code Switch
- Come Through
- Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
- The Nod
- Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
- Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
- Seeing White
- The United States of Anxiety
READ: Contemporary Plays
- An Octoroon
by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins - BLKS
by Aziza Barnes - Choir Boy
by Tarell Alvin McCraney - Fairview
by Jackie Sibblies Drury - Pass Over
by Antoinette Nwandu - Pipeline
by Dominique Morisseau - School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
by Jocelyn Bioh - Skeleton Crew
by Dominique Morisseau - Slave Play
by Jeremy O. Harris - Straight White Men
by Young Jean Lee - Sweat
by Lynn Nottage - The Niceties
by Eleanor Burgess - Underground Railroad Game
Created by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard with Lightning Rod Special
READ: Non-Fiction
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander - White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide
by Carol Anderson_ - The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why
by Jabari Asim - The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin - The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century
by Grace Lee Boggs - Racism Without Racists
by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva - Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment
by Patricia Hill Collins - Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
by Dr. Brittany Cooper - Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People
by Ben Crump - Women, Race, & Class
by Angela Y. Davis - Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
by Michael Eric Dyson - Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
by Jennifer L. Eberhardt - Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
by Reni Eddo-Lodge - For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education
by Christopher Emdin - From Slavery To Freedom: A History of African-Americans
by John Hope Franklin - Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond
by Marc Lamont Hill - Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
by bell hooks - Killing Rage: Ending Racism
by bell hooks - The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement
by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris - This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work
by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand - Hood Feminism: Notes From The Women That The Movement Forgot
by Mikki Kendall - How to Be an Antiracist
by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi - Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
By Dr. Ibram X. Kendi - Queer and Trans Artists of Color: Stories of Some of Our Lives
By Nia King - Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
By Audre Lorde - They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, And A New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement
by Wesley Lowery - This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color
by Cherríe Moraga - Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
by Monique W. Morris - The Construction of Whiteness: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Race Formation and the Meaning of a White Identity
Edited by Stephen Middleton, David R. Roediger, and Donald M. Shaffer - Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination
By Toni Morrison - The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America
by Khalid Gibran Muhammad - So You Want to Talk About Race
by Ijeoma Oluo - The History of White People
By Nell Irvin Painter - Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy
by Darryl Pinckney - Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-Create Race in the 21st Century
by Dorothy Roberts - Me and White Supremacy
by Layla F. Saad - Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity
By C. Riley Snorton - Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race
By Beverly Daniel Tatum