As Cohort 4 of Diversifying Our Organizations (DOO) comes to an end, and as we attempt to draft A.R.T./New York’s Diversity Plan, I have been thinking about the challenges I have personally experienced through the program.
I originally conceived of Diversifying Our Organizations in response to the NYC Cultural Plan, which urged us to diversify our staff and board. In my early conversations with our consultants in this work, the Raben Group’s Alicin Williamson and Whitney Tome explained that before a company can successfully welcome and work with board members of color they need to demonstrate cultural readiness. In other words, we would have to get our own houses in order before we reach out to board members or staff of color. When A.R.T./New York applied for and received a generous 3-year grant from the Scherman Foundation’s Katherine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund, l knew we were undertaking a big challenge. But I had no idea just how much I would learn about myself and my implicit and explicit biases. I participated in Cohort 1 along with a board member, where I enjoyed the cohort learning process. Our final assignment was to develop a Diversity Plan, which we were encouraged to do with our staff and, ideally, a board member. Looking back, I see how incredibly naïve I was to think that the staff would rubber-stamp my draft Plan.
