The Problem With “Diversity” in Arts & Culture Nonprofit

Despite solidarity statements in the wake of the BLM movement, racism and abuse in BC arts & culture continue to be obscured by the optics of “diversity and inclusion” and misuse of public funds

Today I resigned from the Board of the BC Alliance for Arts and Culture (BCAAC), a nonprofit arts service organization where I served as a director for just short of 2 years.

I was the only Black director and on the board.
I was also the only independent working artist.

The BCAAC’s primary function is to advocate to various levels of government on arts policy and funding. Directors who serve on this board hold leadership positions within arts & culture organizations and institutions such as UBC Museum of Anthropology, Arts Club Theatre, City of Victoria, Arts Council of the North Okanagan, City of Kelowna, ArtStarts in Schools, Canadian Music Centre, Pacific Opera, Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance and Kamloops Arts Council.

Over a period of over seven months, I witnessed and was the recipient of anti-Black racism perpetuated by the Board president (who has a history of publicly holding an anti-BLM stance), the Executive Director (ED), and Board members. Through this time, I was excluded from meetings, accused of my involvement in meetings as being a “conflict of interest”, targeted in private phone calls and emails, gaslit, and repeatedly referred to in correspondence as separate from the Board, presumably to strip me of any rights I had as a director. Even after the president’s admission that the organization is not a safe environment for BIPOC arts leaders, the abuse increased which resulted in legal involvement and the irresponsible, unnecessary spending of public funds.

I have deliberated as to whether I should go public with this, but after trying to work effectively within processes currently in place, it is clear that the Board does not intend to be accountable for the organization’s complicity in not only upholding systemic racism, but in taking steps to actively harm Black people in the arts.

In addition to my artistic practice, I am an established antiracism educator and affiliation with the BCAAC is now a professional liability. I think the best thing for me to do at this point is walk away and speak the truth.

If you would like to know my account of the details of the situation, you can read it here.

As of today, over 7 months after the initial incident, the ED still maintains her role in the organization as an advocate and representative of the provincial arts sector. The president remains in his role too. The organization continues to position themselves as leaders of the sector while they fail to uphold their mission; representing the interests of artists and cultural workers; which includes Black people.

So far, what I estimate to be several thousands of dollars has been spent by the organization’s executive to circumvent accountability in ways that go beyond performative apologies. In order to ensure my own safety, I have had to, of my own personal resources, seek my own legal counsel to navigate this situation. Although I am confident in the truth and facts of my statement, I am acutely aware that speaking out is dangerous and may result in further harm to my businesses, professional reputation, and my personal safety. I am willing to take that risk as I recognize that abuse thrives in silence.

Racism in the arts is pathological and protected

Over the past year, abuse and racism within institutions such as Carousel Theatre for Young People, Langham Court Theatre and PuSh Festival were brought into public awareness, presented as one-off situations. I would like to say that these are isolated incidents and that these are problems with individual organizations. I really would. However, the truth is that this abusive behavior is a documented pathology that exists in non-profit. It is particularly insidious in the arts & culture sector, which endeavors to present itself as “progressive”; putting Black and Indigenous people on posters and on stages, making “diversity” statements, quoting civil rights leaders and making land acknowledgements when behind the scenes the seats of power are unbearably white and fight to remain that way.

In 2017, I was contracted by the BC Touring Council (BCTC) to assist them with enhancing their capacity to serve “Indigenous and culturally diverse” communities. Once again, I was the only Black person adjacent to the organization, their leadership being comprised of an entirely white board and white ED. This work was intended to last for a period of 24 months, beginning with a 4-month assessment where I created a report and recommendations including a 2-year strategy. In the early stages of my work on this project, I was micromanaged and bullied by their ED who did what she could to control the scope of my research, including:

· telling me who I could and could not speak with to gather information

· insisting she be copied on any and all correspondence regarding my research

· refusing to properly compensate or reimburse me for my incidentals such as travel costs (although travel was within the scope of the project)

· directing other contractors not to talk to me or assist me with navigating the organization’s policies and procedures

· accusing me of not doing the work when she discovered I had another job to supplement my income (which was far below living wage), using this information to justify withholding my pay (which I eventually received after much prompting)

When I submitted my report, which met and exceeded the deliverables outlined in my contract, I was shut out of the organization while they deleted my email account and kept the rest of the money, presumably to filter through their other programming which did not fulfill the grant’s mandate. What I received was about 7.5% of the total amount that was intended to pay for my work but because I was a contractor and not an employee, I had no legal recourse through any regulatory agencies.

This was when I began to understand the sector’s barriers to accountability.

I took my report, grievances and evidence of misuse of project funding to the program officer of the BC Arts Council (BCAC, a provincial government agency). The response I received was essentially “thanks for letting us know and we’ll keep our eyes open if BCTC does it again”. I recommended that organizations have audits before receiving funding of this sort. I was told, “that’s not ever going to happen”. I also appealed to leaders in the arts & culture sector for advocacy. There was a lot of “hand wringing” and wanting to gossip about the ED and her previous misconduct, but no support or action.

When I realized that my voice had no power in this situation, I called on the assistance of a white ally to bring this issue once again to the BCAC program officer. The officer claimed that the money was meant to hire an Indigenous contractor anyway (I have a copy of the original proposal and this was not written in it anywhere) and she didn’t want to “throw out the baby with the bathwater” (direct quote).

I was told by someone from within the BCTC that their funding was increased the following year. They continue to be funded by federal and provincial government agencies, which are funded by taxpayers.

In 2019, BCTC did hire an Indigenous person, a young Haida artist*, to do similar work to the role I had previously held.

The ED didn’t tell her that any work had been done previous to her involvement, kept her at arms’ length and paid her about the same amount of money that they did me. When she spoke out about her improper treatment on social media, she was dismissed and there were attempts by the organization to publicly discredit her.

She has not seen any justice either.

*the artist has graciously given permission for me to share her story.

The violent enforcement of racism causes real, measurable harm without accessible legal recourse

In many cases, victims of racial abuse/targeting are isolated, bullied and exhausted into silence. If/when they do speak up, they have no support from those in positions of power or are silenced through financial abuse, threat of legal action and forced non-disclosure agreements. If situations do go public, “resolutions” are presented in the form of performative apologies, disingenuous solidarity statements and promises to “do better”, with no substantial action or reform. The systems of “justice” in place through the BC Human Rights Tribunal are inadequate, fundamentally designed to produce favorable outcomes for respondents while physically, emotionally and financially draining complainants. Core funded organizations have access to capital through public funding for ongoing legal counsel, whereas the targets of abuse more than often do not.

In 2019, my friend and colleague Carla Chambers, another Black woman, was contracted by the Vancouver Maritime Museum (VMM) who refused to pay her over $10K for her work while her white counterpart was paid. As a result, she and her family of five couldn’t afford to stay in Vancouver and they had to use their savings to move back to Ontario, where they could receive family support. It was on that road trip that they were hit by a transport truck, and their eldest son was killed, leaving the rest of the family with acute, life-threatening injuries which have caused long-term disability.

Carla wrote in a statement on her social media account (used with permission):

“I know correlation does not mean causation. BUT correlation *exacerbates* the impact of what has been caused, especially, when there is malicious intent. In other words, they (VMM) may not have been driving the truck, but the thing is this we would not have been *forced* to leave if they had just paid me, or at the very least, if they had paid me the impact of our accident would have been alleviated, because I now would not have to be fighting them.”

Since this situation began, Carla has shared with me that through email correspondence, the VMM has continued to suggest that she receive less of the money owed to her and waive them of all claims through a non-disclosure agreement, while attempting to use legal loopholes to nullify her Human Rights Tribunal case. The VMM have already stated that they plan continue to appeal her complaint, presumably using public funds. In the meantime, they continue to be funded by the City of Vancouver, the ED gets a promotion through what is essentially a transfer and his professional reputation remains intact.

“This how what we call “micro-aggressions” really impact the lives of Black people. But, there’s nothing micro about aggression. There’s nothing micro about having a Board so racist, that they tolerate one of their most influential Board members to interrogate me for not being West African. There is nothing micro about taking food out of my children’s mouths, or the roof from over their heads, or their futures. There’s nothing micro about stealing my labour. There’s nothing micro about making me beg and pay for fair treatment. There’s nothing micro about my having to relive this nightmare multiple times over just to get accountability from a publicly funded organization. There’s nothing micro about the ongoing trauma this is has caused me.”

There are risks and responsibilities in daylighting abuse

What I have shared so far barely scratches the surface. As someone who has worked with several arts & culture nonprofits throughout my career, I have many other stories to tell of my own experiences with racism, but that would require a full manifesto as opposed to a blog post.

I know of several other individuals who are currently experiencing racially-motivated abuse in the sector but the consequences of speaking out often outweigh the need for survival. They have made the choice to honor what they feel is safest for them and stay silent. This is understandable, albeit unfortunate because when we examine things as a body of evidence rather than isolated incidents, only then can we dig up the roots rather than hacking at the leaves of systemic oppression.

Only white people can dismantle white supremacy. I don’t expect that the organizations or individuals I have referenced in this statement will face any consequences for their actions because the people adjacent to power in these situations continue to uphold the status quo. Although I have hope that allies will push for justice, we lack adequate processes to create lasting change and safety for people facing oppression to be full participants in this sector. What I do hope is that if any people who have experienced tokenism, racism and abuse are reading this, that they know it’s not about them and they are not alone. I wish someone had told me that a long time ago.

The roots of white supremacy are deep and are fundamental to Canada’s systems, which includes arts & culture non-profit. I have devoted my life for the past number of years to studying these systems and working with organizations to daylight our collective wounds and explore ways to heal. I have faith that we can govern ourselves differently, in a way that honors our diversity rather than using the optics of “diversity and inclusion” to obscure systems of oppression.

Diversity and inclusion cannot be realized unless we first have healing and justice.

There is likelihood that I will be barred from working in the arts following this statement, but the great news is that I don’t need “the arts” to make art or to thrive as an artist. As consciousness evolves and more people are seeing the ineffectiveness of the trickle-down model where the majority of arts funding goes to administrative and operational costs as opposed to artists, I hope that radical change will cease to be seen as “extreme” but rather necessary for the survival of the sector. Artists are creative and resourceful. Many of us have found ways outside of colonial granting models to fund our projects and support the projects we believe in.

Audre Lorde said, “the masters tools will never dismantle the master’s house”. I believe this wholeheartedly and at this point I’m not particularly interested in the master’s house anymore. The master’s house was built on a fractured foundation and rather than put my energy into saving a structure that is not meant for me and is imploding anyway, I’m excited to lend my energy to the emergence of a vibrant village where interconnection, rather than domination, guides our creativity.