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EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
This is The Cohen New Work Festivalʼs first ever Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) committee.
As EDI Co-Chairs, we believe that theatre and dance are for everyone. We also believe that artists, as collaborative imagination workers, are vital in building a more equitable world.
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Our goals for this festival were threefold:
First, to create a community that interrogated its relationship to existing power structures. EDI has sought to be present in all phases of festival production including selection committee, project facilitation and events. Our goal is to help folks start conversations by asking: what might we need for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion to be possible in this space, right now? What can we tangibly do?
Second, to create a system where folks felt safe naming harm with confidence that it would not fall through bureaucratic cracks. This was implemented through our EDI Liaison team - a group of students and faculty who served as “first responders” and aided those impacted by harm to find a supported way forward.
Finally, we aim to lay a foundation for a robust future in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion programming in UTʼs Department of Theatre and Dance. The challenge of university based work is that itʼs temporary. The students running this festival will graduate and leave only documents of their labor behind. But shifting systems of power by acknowledging centuries of harm takes time. Despite Greg Abbotʼs sincere efforts to disband EDI efforts across Texas, we believe this is a necessary step in creating robust programming within the department for years to come.
We hope you enjoy this week of thought provoking work and take the opportunity to engage in dialogue with fellow artists and audience members.
As this festival is free, we encourage you to make a charitable donation to our partners at Creative Action, creating arts experiences for underserved youth, and to the Austin Mutual Aid Fund, providing necessary resources to neighbors experiencing crisis.
Renita James and Malena Pennycook
