Centering Racial Equity as a Strategic Imperative & Dashboard

CENTERING RACIAL EQUITY AS A STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE

Building on a framework adopted during the 2020/21 season, Celebrity Series’ Racial Equity Statement (seen on this publication’s inside front cover) and Plan was adopted by the Board of Directors on September 21, 2021.

Our Racial Equity Plan marks a shift toward a proactive, equity-centered approach to organizational structure, program delivery, community engagement, and audience support. Celebrity Series seeks to become an antiracist community, working against white supremacy, racism, religious intolerance, and discrimination based on gender, sexuality, class, age, and ability. Although we are focusing on race explicitly, we are not focusing on it exclusively. We understand that many people hold multiple marginalized identities, and we strive for an intersectional approach.

Our journey toward adopting this Plan began with guided learning sessions for the full Celebrity Series staff followed by a phase of reflective and quantitative organizational assessment, and evolved into a 17-step framework designed to center racial equity as an imperative at Celebrity Series by focusing on the following key strategic areas:

● Leadership: The people who lead us, how they behave, and who they represent.

● Staff: The people who work for the organization, how we select them, how we respect them, and how we compensate them.

● Partners: The partners we commit to, how we engage with them, and how we support those partnerships.

● Audiences: The audiences and communities we serve, and seek to serve, by providing life-enhancing performing arts experiences.

Celebrity Series holds ourselves accountable through regular internal meetings, data collection and analysis, and by soliciting feedback from a variety of our key stakeholders – our colleagues, artists, supporters, and audiences.

The Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation feels very strongly that music is a universal unifying language regardless of cultural or socio-economic boundaries or barriers. Celebrity Series of Boston consistently works to provide such opportunities. We value Celebrity Series’ dedicated efforts in racial equity and inclusion, the high quality of their artistic offerings, and the genuine enthusiasm, passion, and commitment that every staff member exhibits for the organization and its mission. – Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation “

To read our Racial Equity Plan in its entirety please visit celebrityseries.org/equity.

OUR PROGRESS: RACIAL EQUITY DATA DASHBOARD

VENDORS NONPAYROLL VENDORS 8% BIPOC

BIPOC ARTISTS REPRESENTATION OVER TIME

** Artist representation was calculated through biographical artist information of all artists individually for ensembles of fourteen or fewer performers. For ensembles larger than fourteen performing artists, the identification of the artistic leader of the ensemble was used for this calculation.

BIPOC ARTIST REPRESENTATION 2021/22 DETAIL

SUBSCRIPTION SEASON COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENTS

BIPOC ARTIST FEES AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL