Our Commitments to Racial Equity and Accessibility IN SUMMER 2020, Celebrity Series of Boston began a long-overdue organizational journey inspired by the racial justice reckoning taking place nationally and, in particular, within the performing arts sector. Staff and Board joined together in guided personal and foundational learning and formed an ongoing Racial Equity Task Force with the goal of formalizing an official Racial Equity Statement and Plan for the organization. The goals and statements in these plans will be incorporated into our organization’s strategic plan, mission, and vision, and will be core to Celebrity Series’ organizational values moving forward, as we know it. Our Racial Equity Statement and Plan will be released in fall 2021 as staff, Board, community partners, and more finalize the goals, metrics, and means to which we will hold ourselves accountable.
Abilities Dance Boston Abilities Dance Boston Founder and Executive Director Ellice Patterson brings together professional dancers with and without disabilities, championing artists of color and queer artists. The October 29th program centered and celebrated the diversity of human movement. The performance included audible visual descriptions and captions that made the program accessible for people who are deaf or hard of hearing or who are blind and have low-vision..
Black Voices Boston: Our stories, in words and movement Black Voices Boston is a storytelling and movement project featuring seven short works co-created by Rafael Palacios, Artistic Director of Afro-Colombian dance company Sankofa Danzafro, and seven individuals from Boston’s Black communities. Based on personal stories, the participants depicted narrative vignettes through dances, movements, and emotions, on racial and social justice, professional communities, housing, Black history, and achievements and struggles of Boston’s Black communities. Read more in the dedicated Black Voices Boston section of BRAVO! on page 14. ⊲
accessiBe Celebrity Series implemented accessibility services application accessiBe on our website, identified as a small blue symbol with a human figure in the lower right-hand corner of a webpage. The service has a multitude of disability profiles, is offered in fourteen languages, allows content adjustments to website text, color and light adjustments, and orientation adjustments to improve the cursor, hide images, and more.
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