[NFBO-Linn-benton] FW: [Beit-am] Fwd: Majestic Theatre Diversity Council

Fri May 24 21:07:50 UTC 2019

Anyone interested in being a liason?  See below:

Hello! I supervise the the Majestic Theatre, a 300 seat performing arts venue in Corvallis, for the Parks and Recreation department and am forming a council of folks to help me enact procedures and programs at the Majestic that aim to help communities of color and other marginalized folk realize ownership of our space and its resources. However I as a white, cis male in a position of authority who is a public servant don’t want to define how we should go about this and what the desired outcomes should be. I want the communities that we are wanting to connect to and enable to make those decisions through representation on this council. 

What are my goals?

My rough goals for my work with the council are:

1) To source guidelines and best practices from which I will create an education program for our Majestic Theatre staff, directors, crew, and cast about what they can do to improve diversity, inclusivity, and equity for marginalized folk who are not currently represented or have a sense of ownership of the Majestic.  

2) To source direction and desired outcomes as a foundation for creating a program dedicated to staging productions that are led by people of color and other marginalized folk, including how to select plays that tackle issues for marginalized folk, and how to combat the tokenism and sjw/white savior problems that are commonly found in such programs (i.e. a series of black plays directed by white directors).  

3) To source appropriate methodology and contacts to enable myself and directors to reach out to marginalized communities in our area and let them know that the Majestic is available for their stories to be told; via theater, music, dance, or other cultural activities. When a director is considering a show that has characters from a ethnic or social group, what procedures should they use to ensure someone from that group is cast in that role? What if no one from that group shows up? Should a straight actor play a gay character? A black actor play a Egyptian? There is a lot of discourse on these topics out there, but I want our sources to be local and specific to the community that these decisions will impact. 

But again, these are just my initial objectives. Me, as a white cis male in a position of authority who is a public servant. What I really want is for this council to tell me what the objectives should be and how we can best go about them.

How will we do this? 

My plan is to use this council to help me create a report that would suggested actions that will fulfill the three objectives above and any others that the council feels are needed. I see us doing this through a series of minimal meetings augmented with Google Group work to allow the conversations to continue in a non-linear, interruptible fashion to maximize efficiency. My goal would be to have this report completed by October 31st, 2019 in time for our next season planning process to begin. 

After the report is completed, I'd like to use the council to report to on the results and serve as a stakeholder group for holding us accountable. So, a good bit of work during the initial period but then perhaps just a couple meetings per year as needed for reporting and maintenance. 

Who am I inviting? 

Tactically, I’m trying to source folks passionate about diversity, inclusivity, and equity from as many communities in the Corvallis area as possible. When possible, I’m trying to find folks that are also involved in arts and culture activities. In order to include the voices of as many cultures as possible, I imagine we’ll end up with a large group; 10-15 folks. Being busy, passionate humans, not everyone will be able to make every meeting, and I think that’s okay. Y’all are not making the end product, I am. Y’all are establishing the guidelines and helping create how the programs should function and then approving what I create rather than being responsible for the creation itself. So, you’ll have a lot of room to advise, discuss, and create paradigms, but not much in the way of deadlines or reporting due.    

So, let me know if someone from your organization is interested in being on this council. 

Thanks!

Jimbo Ivy 

Theatre Supervisor

Corvallis Parks & Recreation 

The Majestic Theatre 

Pronouns: he, him, his

115 SW 2nd Street

Corvallis, OR  97333

541.758.7827 

 <http://www.majestic.org/> www.majestic.org

Disclaimer: This e-mail message may be a public record of the City of Corvallis. The contents may be subject to public disclosure under Oregon Public Records Law and subject to the State of Oregon Records Retention Schedules. (OAR:166.200.0200-405)

-- 

Kind Regards,

Susan Howard

Beit Am Office Administrator

 <mailto:office at beitam.org> office at beitam.org

Beit Am Office Staff Hours:

Monday - Friday

11:00 - 3:00 

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