The Forge Theater Lab’s Commitment to Antiracism
This page is dedicated to our work on antiracism, so it is a work in progress. Please visit this page frequently.
The Forge Theater Lab is committed to becoming a truly antiracist theater company. We stand in solidarity with our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) colleagues and support the ideas and guidelines articulated in BIPOC Demands for White American Theatre #WESEEYOU. We acknowledge our complicity in perpetuating systemic racism in an industry with the power to transform our cultural concepts, socialized biases, and systemic racism. We recognize it is not enough to stand in solidarity, to support, to acknowledge, and to recognize. We must be willing to do the hard work to examine our biases and assumptions, to identify our actions and complicity, and to work towards an antiracist organization at all levels. The work is long overdue and it will not be easy, but we are in it for the long haul.
“In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” - Angela Y. Davis
Thus far we have:
· Established an Antiracist Task Force, which has been delegated the responsibility to:
o Examine BIPOC Demands for White American Theatre #WESEEYOU to identify the strategies The Forge Theater Lab might adopt/adapt to work towards an antiracist organization.
o Read, view, analyze, and discuss resources to better understand the origins of systemic racism, history of systemic racism, actions that perpetuate systemic racism, and actions that can break down systemic racism in our organization and community.
o Synthesize the above in order to draft an action plan for becoming an antiracist organization.
o Seek input on the proposed action plan from our community of artists, audience members, and other stakeholders.
o Implement the approved action plan in a deliberate and systemic way.
If you have questions or feedback related to our work towards antiracism, please feel welcome to email Managing Director Jack Crory at md@theforge.ink.
Please consider making a donation to these organizations seeking positive change in our region:
NAACP Boston Black Lives Matter Boston Families For Justice As Healing Sisters Unchained |