Closing our FY21 and Starting FY22 as a Changed Organization.

Closing our FY21 and Starting FY22 as a Changed Organization.

This July, for the first time, the team at A.R.T./New York is embarking on a staff retreat to reflect, revise, and identify processes and priorities to guide our decision-making in FY22.


In July 2020, the We Are A.R.T./New York Coalition published a letter detailing racial injustices taking place at our organization. The staff and board of directors pledged to our members and stakeholders to work together through a transparent and collaborative process to identify and tear out our roots in oppression. The subsequent leadership transition has been one critical piece of a larger, longer, and more holistic process. In its early stages, we have taken vital steps forward, and also necessary, strategic steps back. In constant collaboration with the, We Are A.R.T./New York Coalition (composed of current and former staff) and through the formation of Ethics and Accountability Committees at the Staff and Board levels, A.R.T./New York is examining our internal practices.

Together, we’ve established the first steps towards pay parity (with the intention of implementing a pay equity process over the next two years. We have created a more equitable hiring process that is currently being implemented as we hire for 3 new roles. This hiring process is one of many important, and long-needed investments to increase our capacity that we have made. Including increased wages for our hourly staff and increased budget lines for IT and infrastructure. We’ve changed staffing structures that kept power and information siloed across and within departments, and we’ve only just begun to remove gatekeeping practices around funding and other member-facing programs. And, both our staff and our board have engaged in the first phase of anti-racism and anti-oppression work facilitated by Equity Quotient, with more to follow.

 

Over the next year, and beginning with a recap of our retreat in late July, we will be providing you with concise, regular updates about the shifts in our operations as we strive to be a more compassionate, more just workplace.

This process- multi-faceted and ongoing- is essential to innovating and rebuilding our organization in a more equitable way that aligns with our values. And now we are making the decision to say "No" to “hustle culture” - that whisper in our ear (or scream in our chest!) to press on with break-neck momentum. We see its roots in white supremacy, and we’re tearing it out. This summer, A.R.T./New York is saying "YES" to “the power of the pause”. This July, we’re saying "YES" to rest, recovery, deepening, and reimagining together all that A.R.T./New York has to offer.

 

This moment of rest will be paired with a multi-day planning session, where our staff will come together to actively tend to our internal health and external responsiveness, planning a year of programming, events, and a workflow that helps us best serve and reflect the values of New York’s non-profit theatre community. As we often say, "individually we don't know everything, but together we know a lot." In 2021 and beyond, we are looking forward to learning alongside and making progress with our members as we build a future that includes mutual accountability.

 
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