ACTIVATING DESIGN ACTION'S 5 GUIDING PRINCIPLES

24 style. Alternatively, hire guest artists to teach students. If you do not have the support in place, do not continue. Your instructors are unqualified.

In addition to oversight from masters of specific forms, considerable dramaturgical research should be conducted by students as part of their design process. This must extend beyond appropriating an aesthetic and into a deeper understanding of where those design decisions come from culturally and how they fit into the specific style.

End hurtful practices of appropriation, particularly in the field of performance studies. ● Acknowledge the patterns of academics or designers engaging in surface-level cultural research (with the intention of treating the host culture as an aesthetic commodity free for taking) and the problematic colonial nature of these practices. ● Create a learning environment where appropriated and stereotypical design decisions are identified and re-examined early in the production process. ● Avoid divorcing cultural stories from their original context to circumvent having to engage with the host culture (e.g. by transplanting these stories into another culture or whitewashing them).

REPRESENTATION IN EDUCATION Representation in Demographics We advocate for the following steps: ● A robust recruitment push for BIPOC design students in all training programs. ○ Actively recruit from underprivileged school districts. ○ Support underprivileged students in navigating financial aid and scholarship opportunities. ● Establish equal representation in faculty, staff, and students through a transparent recruiting practice that avoids tokenization. ● Advocate for rising BIPOC who may be interested in academic positions. ● Avoid using BIPOC students as institutional props to misrepresent your student demographics. ○ Get consent from students to use their image, biography, and work on any public-facing document, website, or promotional material.

Representation in Production It is essential that the canon of plays being taught and produced include equal representation of BIPOC stories. Be aware of the additional emotional labor for BIPOC students that comes with collaborating on certain shows, particularly in a